Teaching Integers to Students with Disabilities: Three Case Studies

Abstract

The main purpose of this chapter is to document the reasoning of three students, two with disabilities and one with mathematical difficulties, as they participated in and contributed to the classroom mathematical practices established by a seventh-grade class during integer instruction. The integer instructional sequence was designed to support students’ increasingly sophisticated reasoning about integers and meaning making for integer addition and subtraction. This chapter builds on our prior work that identified the classroom mathematical practices established by the teacher and students during implementation of the integer sequence (Stephan M, Akyuz D, J Res Math Edu 43:428–464, 2012). In particular, because the integer sequence was implemented in an inclusive setting, we have the unique opportunity to document the learning of two students with disabilities and one with difficulties as they participated in an inquiry environment, contributing to the development of the classroom mathematical practices. These three students participated in a classroom teaching experiment held in a co-taught classroom in which students with disabilities were included with regular education students. Therefore, the three case studies we present illustrate a rare analysis of the integer learning of students with disabilities. The primary research question that we seek to answer through this chapter is, how do students with learning disabilities make meaningful contributions to the development of classroom mathematical practices and gain intellectual autonomy in the process of learning integer concepts and operations?