Enhancing the Learning of Students with Specific Learning Disabilities in Resource Rooms: An Educational Game to Teach the Concepts of Expansion and Contraction

A carpet-based educational game was designed to help fifth-grade students with specific learning disabilities in Turkish resource rooms grasp the concepts of expansion and contraction while building life skills. The work, conducted by researchers at Trabzon University, grew out of semi-structured interviews with 40 educators and academics, whose responses identified learning by doing, material variety, educational games, teamwork, frequent repetition, and daily-life association as the most valued instructional strategies. These findings were translated into concrete design features, including an immediate repetition cabin, QR-coded audio and video rules, a clue box, writing space, flexible timing, and everyday examples of expansion and contraction.

The game was refined through a pilot with three researchers and a science teacher, which led to a larger playing surface, clearer question-review rules, a visible eight-stop task map, badges, brief instructions, and scheduled rest breaks with optional peer interaction. Evidence of its effects is limited to researcher observations and teacher interviews; no experimental outcome data on learning gains were collected. On this basis, the authors describe the game as inexpensive, adaptable, and promising for increasing engagement, collaboration, and conceptual understanding.

The concluding argument holds that game-based environments allowing students to observe, investigate, control variables, and receive immediate feedback can meaningfully support science education for students with specific learning disabilities. The authors suggest the design could transfer to other grade levels, countries, and subjects, and they recommend developing sample games for science, physics, and special education teachers. Because the claims rest on qualitative evidence from small pilot testing with two students, they require controlled experimental validation across varied contexts before broader conclusions can be drawn.