October 13, 2008

Purdue receives grant to help students with learning disabilities

Addressing issues involving students with disabilities is important under the No Child Left Behind Act.

The five-year, $2.9 million grant was awarded by the National Science Foundation's Discovery Research K-12 program. Yan Ping Xin, associate professor of educational studies in the College of Education, is the principal investigator. Luo Si, assistant professor of computer science, and Ron Tzur, a University of Adelaide (Australia) professor and an adjunct professor in Purdue's curriculum and instruction department, are co-investigators.

Xin said the project will improve current teaching practices by providing tools for analyzing how students with learning disabilities conceptualize new mathematical ideas. This analysis will then be used to offer flexible teaching strategies targeted to an individual student's needs. The effects of the research-based computer system will be compared with the effects of traditional teacher-delivered instruction.

"We anticipate this project to impact these student outcomes, including diminishing the gap between students with disabilities and their normal-achieving peers," Xin said.

The team hopes the project will help students with learning disabilities in subjects beyond mathematics, as well as other students who have difficulties learning mathematic concepts.

Kevin R. Kelly, interim dean of the College of Education, said that this award will enable the investigators to develop innovative approaches to math instruction.

"It is critical that we learn ways to accelerate the math learning of students with learning disabilities so that they can compete for high-wage jobs in the science, technology and engineering fields." Kelly said. "We are excited about the very practical advances in math instruction that will emerge from this project."

Writer: Clyde Hughes, (765) 494-2073, jchughes@purdue.edu

Source: Yan Ping Xin, (765) 496-1228, yxin@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

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