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Implementing Inquiry-Based Science Education to Foster Emotional Engagement of Special-Needs Students

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Affective Dimensions in Chemistry Education

Abstract

Affective dimensions are key determinants for the successful performance of all students at compulsory level, but for students with special educational needs, they become even more important. The focus of this chapter is students with cognitive and emotional/behavior disorders. Learning environments have to be carefully designed so that these students can develop a feeling of success, ability, and social embeddedness in order to cope with their affective lability. Following the idea of “science for all,” every student is entitled to develop skills in science to the fullest potential on the basis of appropriate educational opportunities. This chapter illustrates a case study using the approach of emancipatory action research to investigate how the implementation of the often recommended approach “inquiry-based science education” can foster the emotional engagement of special-needs students (5th and 6th graders). Two out of ten students of a special-needs class were chosen for deeper analysis. Their special educational needs were diagnosed in two focal areas of support: “emotional and social development” and “learning”. The aim of the action research study was to increase active participation and engagement in working on a chemistry-related topic by changing established teaching approaches. Diagnostic assessment and video analysis were used to observe the alteration of two students’ behavior in chemistry lessons in relation to the implemented adaptation of instruction. The analysis showed that in a guided inquiry-based setting, it was possible to reveal students’ methodical, social, and personal abilities enabling them to engage in a chemistry-related task.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    It has to be acknowledged that attributes of the students cannot be taken as explanations for difficulties in school. “More and more people are convinced that the medical approach of the concept of ‘handicap’ should be replaced with a more educational approach: the central focus has now turned to the consequences of disability for education. However, at the same time it is clear that this approach is very complex, and countries are currently struggling with the practical implementation of this philosophy” (Meijer, 2010, para. 3). This is also called “the social model where a child is perceived as having an impairment, but is disabled by attitudes and the environment” (Kearney, 2011, p. 6).

  2. 2.

    Names were changed.

  3. 3.

    This is the applicable curriculum. There is no specific curriculum for students with emotional/behavior disorders.

  4. 4.

    Critical action research is regarded “as the embodiment of the democratic principle, leading to empowerment, enlightenment and emancipation” (Lloyd, 2010, p. 112).

  5. 5.

    Colons show that Paul drawls.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Austrian Educational Competence Centre Chemistry, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

    Simone Abels

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  1. Simone Abels
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Correspondence to Simone Abels .

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  1. Chemistry Education Division, Canakkale Onsekiz Mart Univ., Canakkale, Turkey

    Murat Kahveci

  2. Dept. of Chemistry, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

    MaryKay Orgill

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Abels, S. (2015). Implementing Inquiry-Based Science Education to Foster Emotional Engagement of Special-Needs Students. In: Kahveci, M., Orgill, M. (eds) Affective Dimensions in Chemistry Education. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-45085-7_6

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