The Effectiveness of Conceptual Map Training Method on the Achievement of Social-Economic Skill Course in Male Students with Intellectual Disability

When talking about education, teacher and teaching methods are considered as most important of all the other related factors. The aim of present study was to determine the effectiveness of conceptual map training method on the achievement of social-economic skill course in male students with intellectual disability.

in this semi-experimental study, 34 male students with intellectual disability who were educating in 3rd grade at pre-professional level in high school selected randomly from Talash Exceptional Center in Tabriz City. Their academic achievement in social-economic skill course were assessed by teacher-made and performance tests. Subjects were assigned in control and experimental groups randomly and equally. Experimental group participated in 8 sessions and were trained by conceptual map method for one month (8 sessions; 2 sessions weekly). At the end of eightieth session and one month later, subjects answered to teacher-made and performance tests again. Data were analyzed by analysis of covariance.

findings showed that the conceptual map training method had positive effect on achievement of social-economic skill in students (p<0.01). But, its effectiveness wasn’t persistent after one month in follow-up test.

Regarding to positive effects of conceptual map training method on meaningful learning, it seems as an effective method for intellectually disabled male students who require deep learning to understand the content of their lessons.