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6.5: Empirical Evidence for CAPs

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    There are two emerging research bases for CAPs’ use in education. The first is using CAPs to provide vocabulary instruction to SWD. Kennedy, Deshler, and Lloyd (2015) randomly assigned 278 urban high school students, including 30 with learning disabilities, to four experimental conditions: 1) Students assigned to watch CAPs containing a combination of EBPs for teaching vocabulary, including explicit and strategic instruction; 2) Students who learned using multimedia-based instruction that did not adhere to Mayer’s evidence-based instructional design principles. The students in Group 1 assigned to watch CAPs containing a combination of evidence-based practices for teaching vocabulary, including explicit and strategic instruction significantly outperformed their classmates in Group 2. In a follow-up study, Kennedy, Thomas, Meyer, Alves, and Lloyd (2014) measured vocabulary learning of high school students with and without disabilities across two units in a social-studies course. Students took turns either using CAPs or not during each unit. Results show significant differences in performance on weekly curriculum-based measures when students had access to the CAPs. Research continuing in this area is examining the effects of CAPs on student vocabulary performance in science courses. Although preliminary, these two empirical studies demonstrate that CAPs can help students improve vocabulary performance.

    The second empirical base for CAPs is with teachers and teacher education students. A total of 12 empirical articles support the use of CAPs to improve teacher candidate knowledge of various topics compared to classmates who learn by either reading or hearing a lecture containing the same content. A review highlighting several of these studies is available from Kennedy, Kellems, Thomas, and Newton (2015). A free resource for teachers wishing to see sample CAPs or use them in teaching or learning is available at www.SPEDIntro.com.

    This page titled 6.5: Empirical Evidence for CAPs is shared under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Samuel Sennott, Sheldon Loman, Kristy Lee Park, Luis F. Pérez, Michael J. Kennedy, John Romig, & Wendy J. Rodgers (Portland State University Library) .