REASONING AND REMEMBERING - COACHING STUDENTS WITH LEARNING-DISABILITIES TO THINK

This investigation assessed the effectiveness of coaching active reasoning of students with learning disabilities. Sixty-three fourth- and fifth-grade students with learning disabilities were assigned at random to one of three treatment conditions: coaching, provided explanation, or no explanation control. In the coaching condition, students were provided factual information followed by a sequence of questions designed to help them construct explanations for the information. In the provided explanation condition, students were concurrently provided both the factual information and the associated explanations. Students in the no explanation control condition received only the target information. Results indicated that students in the coaching condition outperformed students in the two comparison conditions on immediate and 1-week delayed tests of both factual information and explanations. Further, it was found that a variety of levels of coaching support was required to lead students to construct their own explanations. Implications for future research and instruction for students with learning disabilities are discussed.