Team-Based Learning for Students with High-Incidence Disabilities in High School Social Studies Classrooms

We examined the effectiveness of implementing team-based learning (TBL) practices on content acquisition for 11th grade students with high-incidence disabilities enrolled in general education social studies courses. TBL components focus on collaborative discourse within heterogeneous teams. TBL, which requires critical thinking and the application of content knowledge for problem-solving, was implemented for three units of instruction. Results indicated no statistically significant differences between groups on a measure of content knowledge, although a moderate effect size was noted (ES = 0.50). Significant and large effects (ES = 1.01) favoring the TBL treatment were noted for items related to content-area vocabulary. There were no significant differences on items measuring comprehension of historical events, facts, and issues (ES = 0.38). Practical implications for content-area instruction are discussed.