Engineering: A Year-Long Case Study on STEM Practices and Successes for Students With Moderate to Severe Intellectual Disability

Engineering is a complex and multifaceted field that integrates scientific and mathematical principles to solve real-world challenges. Despite noteworthy growth in research on math and science instruction for students with moderate to severe intellectual disabilities (MSD) over the past several decades, limited research has explored instruction in scientific and engineering practices for these students. The current qualitative, multiple case-study focuses on the first year of a National Science Foundation (NSF) funded research program following five teachers from multiple schools across two U.S. states implementing the engineering curriculum in special education classrooms for students with MSD. The results revealed the positive outcomes of the engineering program on both teacher perspectives and student outcomes. In addition, future research is discussed.