Learning in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics: Supporting Students With Learning Disabilities

Despite their intellectual potential, students with learning disabilities (LDs) face enormous challenges in science. Drawing on the literature from special, inclusive, and science education, this paper illuminates the promises and challenges of supporting students with LDs in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. In light of the insights from research in these diverse fields, this work offers a comprehensive framework to understand and address the unique needs of students with LDs in STEM learning. This multidimensional analysis provides an overview of the contemporary discourses on STEM education, presents the continuing controversies surrounding the conceptualization of LDs, and discusses the barriers to the inclusion of students with LDs in science classrooms. Because difficulties in cognitive processing are thought to underlie LDs, this paper particularly focuses on the cognitive impediments to the achievement of students with LDs in problem-based STEM learning tasks and shares effective interventions to support these students' cognitive development.