An Overview of Constructivism in the Special Needs Spectrum

Abstract

Constructivism has dominated science education the last decades exerting great influence in that field. Nevertheless, this has not been the case for special needs sector. Indeed, few researchers have tried to extend constructivism in special needs and even fewer have investigated alternative ideas of students who lie within this spectrum. The current study tries, through literature review, to move along this line and present studies that have explored alternative ideas of students with special needs. In particular, published studies were identified through academic search engines which led to citation chasing. The collected data was read, and scrutiny analyzed leading to the final studies that were incorporated in the article. Therefore, the current article presents in a detailed and holistic view these studies that deal with alternative ideas of students with autism, learning difficulties as well as deafness about diverse physical phenomena such as mechanics, thermal phenomena, and the nature of science. Research findings suggest that these students tend to use the same alternative conceptions with those used by students of typical development, on a different frequency thought. These findings clearly support the academic belief of a holistic, inclusive education. Along this line, the findings can equip teachers with the appropriate tools to design and implement their plans based on the constructivism theory of learning in an inclusive framework. Consequently, the article fulfill to act as a motivational call for the science education community to expand research to further group of students within special needs spectrum.