All citizens are expected to participate in the processes of democratic decision making in the postschool years, and the goals of social studies education have long included the preparation of an informed citizenry. However, surveys show that social studies instruction is often not provided for students with disabilities, and those that receive instruction do poorly compared to their nondisabled peers. Students' poor performance is exacerbated by the reliance on “inconsiderate” textbooks that are often poorly organized, lacking in content, and devoid of important background information. Project-based instruction is an alternative to the exclusive reliance on textbook-based instruction in the social studies. Students investigate a problem or question and develop artifacts based on these investigations.
In this study, students with learning disabilities, working under two different conditions, developed projects about factors that precipitated the American Revolutionary War. Students in both conditions worked cooperatively to learn about some aspect of the Revolutionary War, and they then contributed to the construction and presentation of a group report about the topic. However, students in one group had access to word processing tools, and the other had access to word processing and multimedia presentation tools in developing their projects. Analyses of students' knowledge revealed a substantial improvement in both conditions after the completion of the projects.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AndersonJ.R. (1983). The architecture of cognition. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
2.
ArmbrusterB.AndersonT. (1985). Does answering higher-level questions whiled reading facilitate productive learning?Review of Educational Research, 49, 280–318.
3.
BarrR.BarthJ.J.ShermisS. (1977). Defining the social studies. Arlington, VA: National Council for the Social Studies.
4.
BeanR.ZigmondM.RogersM.HartmanD.GozdikG. (1991, December). Use of textbooks in elementary and middle school social studies classrooms. Paper presented at the National Reading Conference, Palm Springs, CA.
5.
BeckI.L.McKeownM. (1988). Toward meaningful accounts in history texts for young learners. Educational Researcher, 17, 31–39.
6.
BeckI.L.McKeownM. (1991). Substantive and methodological considerations for productive textbook analysis. In ShaverJ.P. (Ed.), Handbook of research on social studies teaching and learning (pp. 496–512). New York: MacMillan Publishing Co.
7.
BlumenfeldP.C.SolowayE.MarxR.W.KrajcikJ.S.GuzdialM.PalincsarA. (1991). Motivating project-based learning: Sustaining the doing, supporting the learning. Educational Psychologist, 26, 369–398.
8.
BrophyJ. (1992). The de facto national curriculum in U.S. elementary social studies: Critique of a representative example. The Journal of Curriculum Studies, 24, 401–447.
9.
BrophyJ. (1990). Teaching social studies for understanding and higher-order applications. The Elementary School Journal, 90, 353–417.
10.
BrownJ. (1992). Design experiments: Theoretical and methodological challenges in creating complex interventions in classroom settings. The Journal of the Learning Sciences, 2, 141–178.
11.
BrownA.L.CampioneJ.C. (1994). Guided discovery in a community of learners. In McGillyK. (Ed.), Classroom lessons: Integrating cognitive theory and classroom practice (pp. 229–270). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press/Bradford Books.
12.
CarnineD.BeanR.MillerS.ZigmondN. (1994). Social studies: Educational tools for diverse learners. School Psychology Review, 23, 428–441.
13.
CarverS.M. (in press). The Discover Rochester Design Experiment: Collaborative change through five designs. In HawkinsJ.CollinsA. (Eds.) Design experiments: Integrating technology into schools. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
14.
CarverS.M.LehrerR.ConnellT.EricksonJ. (1992). Learning by design: Issues of assessment and implementation. Educational Psychologist, 27, 385–404.
15.
Claris (1991). MacWrite II. Santa Clara, CA: Author, [software program].
16.
ClarkR. (1983). Reconsidering research on learning from media. Review of Educational Research, 53, 445–459.
17.
Cognition and Technology Group at Vanderbilt (in press). Looking at technology in context: A framework for understanding technology and education research. In BerlinerD.C.CalfeeR.C. (Eds.), The handbook of educational psychology. New York: MacMillan Publishing Co.
18.
Cognition and Technology Group at Vanderbilt (1990). Anchored instruction and its relationship to situated cognition. Educational Researcher, 19, 2–10.
19.
CohenJ. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the social sciences (2nd ed.), Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
20.
CurtisC.K. (1991). Social studies for students at-risk and with disabilities. In ShaverJ.P. (Ed.), Handbook of research on social studies teaching and learning (pp. 157–174). New York: Macmillan.
21.
Delaware Department of Public Instruction (1987, March). Administrative manual: Programs for exceptional children. Dover, DE: Author.
22.
DonahoeK.ZigmondN. (in press). High school grades of urban LD students and low-achieving peers. Exceptionality.
23.
DreherM.SingerH. (1989). Friendly texts and text-friendly teachers. Theory into Practice, 28, 98–104.
24.
EhmanL.H.GlennA.D. (1991). Interactive technology in social studies. In ShaverJ.P. (Ed.), Handbook of research on social studies teaching and learning (pp. 513–522). New York: Macmillan.
25.
FerrettiR.P.OkoloC.M. (1996). Authenticity in learning: Multimedia design projects in the social studies for students with disabilities. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 29, 450–460.
GottliebJ.AlterM.GottliebB.W.Wishner, (1994). Special education in urban America: It's not justifiable for many. The Journal of Special Education, 27, 453–465.
28.
KrajcikJ.S.BlumenfeldP.C.MarxR.W.SolowayE. (1994). A collaborative model for helping middle school science teachers learn project-based learning. The Elementary School Journal, 94, 483–497.
29.
National Assessment of Educational Progress. (1990a). The civics report card. Washington, DC: Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education.
30.
National Assessment of Educational Progress. (1990b). The geography learning of high school seniors. Washington, DC: Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education.
31.
National Assessment of Educational Progress. (1990c). The U.S. History report card. Washington, DC: Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of Education.
PattonJ.PollowayE.CroninM. (1987). Social studies instruction for handicapped students: A review of current practices. The Social Studies, 78, 131–135.
34.
PintrichP.R.SmithD.A.F.GarciaT.McKeachieW.J. (1991). A manual for the use of the motivated strategies for learning questionnaire (MSLO). Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan, National Center for Research to Improve Postsecondary Teaching and Learning.
35.
SalomonG. (1991). Transcending the qualitative-quantitative debate: The analytic and systemic approaches to educational research. Educational Researcher, 20, 10–18.
36.
ScarrS. (1985). Constructing psychology: Making facts and fables for our times. American Psychologist, 40, 499–512.
37.
SchunkD.H. (1989). Self-efficacy and cognitive achievement: Implications for students with learning problems. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 22, 14–22.
38.
Scott, Foresman (1988). America yesterday and today. Glenview, IL: Author.
39.
Tyson-BernsteinH. (1987). A conspiracy of good intentions: America's textbook fiasco. Washington, DC: Council for Basic Education.
40.
Wings for Learning (1992). MediaText. Scotts Valley, CA: Author, [software program].
41.
WoodwardA. (1987). Textbooks: Less than meets the eye. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 19, 511–526.
