The effectiveness of direct instruction method in teaching of rights and responsibilities concepts to mild level mental deficiency students

One of the important tasks of states is to ensure that their citizens have equal rights under the law throughout the process from birth to death. This situation imposes the responsibility on educational institutions to provide equal education to individuals without any individual differences and in compliance with the laws. Therefore, schools are responsible not only for the quality of education provided to regular students but also for the quality of education provided to students with special educational needs. When the statistics related to education published by the Ministry of National Education (MONE) are examined, it is noteworthy that students with mild intellectual disabilities constitute the largest proportion among students with special educational needs. On the other hand, teaching basic life skills, as well as rights and responsibilities, to students with mild intellectual disabilities is also an important issue. In order to instill awareness of rights and responsibilities in basic education, social studies courses have important roles. The purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of direct instruction method in teaching of rights and responsibilities concepts to mild level mental deficiency students. Within the scope of the quantitative methodology, the research was conducted with a total of 3 students who were diagnosed with mild level mental deficiencies and attending 5th and 6th grades of a state school in Karabük during the 2022-2023 academic year, using the single-subject research method with the inter-participant multiple-probe design. During the experimental procedure, a total of 27 activities were implemented for 10 competencies including the concepts of rights and responsibilities, which are included in the 2018 Social Studies Curricula. The instructional sessions conducted with the direct instruction method lasted for a total of 144 working days, with 4 sessions per week. At least 2 and at most 3 instructional sessions were conducted in a day, and attendance data was collected after each session. After obtaining consistent data during the attendance sessions, the research was concluded and the follow-up and generalization sessions were conducted. The form for determining prerequisite skills, criterion-referenced measurement tools, reinforcement determination, data recording, and social validity forms were used in collecting data related to the research. Descriptive statistics were used in the analysis of the collected data, and the data were interpreted quantitatively using graphical analysis techniques, specifically line graphs. As a result of the study, it was determined that the direct instruction method was effective in teaching the concepts of rights and responsibilities to mild level mental deficiency students. In this context, it was shown that the activities implemented through the direct instruction method enabled all 3 students to acquire the concepts of rights and responsibilities, and that the retention of these concepts in individuals could be maintained one, two, and four weeks after the completion of the instruction, and they could be generalized to different individuals. Furthermore, it was revealed that the perceptions of the students and their families regarding the implementation process were positive.