In A. Altun, Kinshuk, & H. Ilgaz (Eds.), “Cognitive dimensions in digital learning: Implications for instructional design” <Special issue>. Educational Technology Research and Development.
ABSTRACT: Whereas constructivist pedagogy promotes the use of interactive learning materials for students to make sense of new concepts, some concepts are difficult to concretize, and consequently educators might rely instead on axiomatic procedural rules. Such compromised educational design most affects students with disabilities. We maintain that any mathematical concept can be rendered accessible for all students. Here we examine the case study of basic arithmetic with positive and negative numbers, which often confuses students due to these numbers’ non-intuitive ontological constitution (e.g., What ‘thing’ is “-3”?) and procedural complexity (e.g., What does “2– -3” mean?). Leveraging the Special Education Embodied Design framework (SpEED), we developed an inclusive, technologically enabled educational activity centered on navigating the number line. 30 middle-school students, both with cognitive disabilities (n=9) and without (n=21) participated individually in a 45 minute evaluation trial of our design. Audio–video data, demographics, teacher testimonials, and assessment scores were gathered. While participants with disabilities scored significantly lower than their non-disabled peers on an integer arithmetic pre-test, exploratory patterns suggest no evidence of a difference in achievement levels on the post-test. Microgenetic case studies indicate conceptual advantages enjoyed by participants in both groups who successfully coordinated egocentric proximal actions (walking a floor-based number line) with perception of distal semiotic enactment (of an avatar mirror-walking their action on its own number line). Enacting dynamically instantiated mathematical concepts, it appears, may offer benefits across learning profiles. If corroborated through future research, SpEED could bear broadly across instructional contexts and concepts.