The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of multimedia anchored instruction on the critical questioning skills of students with and without mild disabilities. This study employed a nonequivalent control group design. The independent va...
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of multimedia anchored instruction on the critical questioning skills of students with and without mild disabilities. This study employed a nonequivalent control group design. The independent variables were (1) interventions with two levels (multimedia anchored instruction vs. lecture-based instruction) and (2) students with two levels (students with mild disabilities vs. students without disabilities). The dependent variable was critical questioning skills. The participants of the study included four secondary English classroom teachers and 96 general education and special education high school students. The experimental group received anchored instruction implemented in 35 to 40, fifty-minute class periods over a 7- to 8-week period. The instruction was implemented in five phases: (a) setting the stage, (b) watching the anchor and retelling the story, (c) segmenting, (d) characterization, (e) student research and presentation. The control group received traditional, lecture-based instruction using the same curriculum as in the experimental group. Results indicated that students who participated in multimedia anchored instruction demonstrated greater gains in critical questioning skills than students who participated in lecture-based instruction. Moreover, students with mild disabilities made equivalent to greater gains in critical questioning skills compared with students without disabilities. These findings indicated that multimedia anchored instruction was an effective program for enhancing the critical questioning skills of students with and without mild disabilities.