The effect of Direct Instruction Model on the learning the properties of substance subject for students with learning disability and students who have normal growth

This study aims at using Direct Instruction Method in "Substance Properties" unit of the science course for teaching inclusive students with learning disability and students with normal development in 4th grade; at determining the effects of the method on students' learning and the effects on the attitudes towards the science course.With this general purpose, sub-goals were determined under the category of efficiency, monitoring, generalization, social reality and attitude. For efficiency and generalization sub-goals, in-class performances of the students, the answers of the experiment group which was applied Direct Instruction Method to the multiple choice questions about the "Substance Properties" unit and the differences between the pre and post tests were examined. Individually, starting and ending performances of the students with learning disability were examined. For monitoring sub-goal, the performances of the students with learning disability after the practice were examined. For social reality sub-goals, the opinions of the students and the teachers about the material developed according to the Direct Instruction Method were evaluated. For the attitudes towards science course, the answers of the experiment group to the Scale for Attitudes towards Science and the differences between the pre and posttest were examined. The research was carried out with 107 4th grade students in an elementary state school, 3 of whom have a learning disability and 7 of whom are in a risk group. A teaching material prepared according to Direct Instruction Method was applied to all of the students. In order to determine the efficiency of applying the teaching material suitable for Direct Instruction Method, multiple probe design across subjects which is one of the single subject design models and one group pre-test and post-test design were used together. During the analysis of the data of the effiency, generalization and attitude, paired samples t- test was used. A line chart was used for the data of the students with learning disability. The data about social reality was analyzed in terms of descriptive analysis. When the findings about the efficiency and generalization sub-goals of the research, it can be stated that after the implementation of the teaching material prepared according to the Direct Instruction Method, there is a significant difference in all the points in both pretest and posttest. Moreover, after the implementation, the students with learning disability showed a parallel development with the rest of the students in the group in terms of learning. When the development of the students with learning disability was monitored, it can be said that the learnings of the students can be regarded as permanent. When the attitudes towards Science course were analyzed, it can be stated that there is a significant difference in all the points of the Scale for Attitudes towards Science in both pretest and posttest. When the findings about the social reality sub-goals were examined, the students and the teachers who participated in implementing the teaching material prepared according to the Direct Instruction Method stated their satisfaction and pleasure about the instruction process. At the end of the research, the findings were discussed and suggestions for further researches were put forward.