An Examination of teaching life science to hearing impaired students based on interdisciplinary teaching approach: An action research

The purpose of this action research study is to examine the impacts of teaching a lifescience unit to hearing impaired students based on the program which stressed theinterdisciplinary teaching approach.The main participants of the study were two second grade hearing impaired studentsattending a public hearing impaired school in Eskişehir. The researcher acted as an instructor.Some experts in the area of education of hearing impaired individuals, the principal, the fatherand the teacher of the students were the other participants.The data have been collected based on these cyclical actions through compiling researchjournal, students? products, archival information, interviews and observations during thelessons recorded by video recorders. The interviews were recorded by audio tape andtranscribed verbatim. The interventions took 11 hours and 58 minutes long in two weeks.The pre and post test results, video taped data and the student portfolios were analyzeddescriptively. Teaching life science based on the interdisciplinary approach seemed to bebeneficial for the students. The results indicated that the students progressed in their use ofspoken, written language and topical knowledge, but it is thought that they still needed moreexperiences and time. In addition, the researcher had chances to review and improve in herteaching techniques.The data have been discussed in the light of the related research data and therecommendations have been provided for the future research efforts and interventions.