A systematic science curriculum for middle and high school students!
Two years of classroom research at UNC-Charlotte have shown this curriculum to be highly effective in teaching science vocabulary and engaging students with significant developmental disabilities in inquirybased lessons. Students participate in a hands-on experiment during each lesson. Response pages help them engage in the inquiry process. Their own ScienceWork Student Book provides extension activities. Teachers follow scripted lessons that provide clear direction for individual student accommodations. The experiment materials included in the Curriculum Plus make it easy to prepare for class. An electronic Image Library can be used to create communication overlays and additional homework assignments.
The program features four units with five lessons each, all aligned to science standards and general education curricula: Earth, Biology, Waters, and Chemistry. All students learn actual scientific vocabulary like pollution, precipitation, and condensation.
The Curriculum includes: One ScienceWork Student Book, one ScienceWork consumable Student Workbook, Student Response Guide, Implementation Guide, safety and KWHL posters, vocabulary and photo cards, staff training videos, downloadable reproducible image library, and PDFs of student materials and adaptations.
The Curriculum Plus includes: The Curriculum plus a total of 10 consumable ScienceWork Student Workbooks, 10 ScienceWork Extension Activity Books, an experimental materials kit, the entire page set of workbook pages as accessible GoWorksheets (iPad only), and samples of communication overlays. The GoWorksheets can be used with the free GoWorksheet app or the full GoWorksheet Plus app available on the App Store.
Browder, Trela, Courtade, Jimenez, Knight, and Flowers (2012) found the inquiry-based lessons to be highly effective in teaching grade-level science concepts, vocabulary, and scientific process (with alternate achievement) for middle and high school students with significant developmental disabilities, including autism.
Supporting Research Articles:
Browder, D. M., Trela, K., Courtade, G. R., Jimenez, B. A., Knight. V., & Flowers, C. (2012). Teaching mathematics and science standards to students with moderate and severe developmental disabilities. The Journal of Special Education, 46, 26-35.
Jimenez, B. A., Lo, Y., & Saunders, A. (2014). The additive effects of scripted lessons plus guided notes on science quiz scores of students with intellectual disabilities and autism. Journal of Special Education. 47, 231-244.
Related Research Articles:
| Subject | Science |
|---|---|
| Age Group | Secondary |
| Author | Ginevra Courtade, PhD; Bree Jimenez, MEd; Katherine Trela, PhD; Diane Browder, PhD |
| Format | |
| Number of Pages | ScienceWork: 104 pgs; Student Response Guide: 121 pgs |
| Copyright | 2008 |
