Effectiveness of Reigeluth’s Educational Model on Attention Degree and Working Memory Capacity of Students with Attention Deficit Disorder

The present study aims at determining the effectiveness of the Reigeluth’s educational model on the level of attention and working memory capacity of students with attention deficit disorder.

This is an applied study in terms of purpose and a quasi-experimental one in terms of data collection, in which, a pre-test-post-test design with a control group was used. The statistical population of the present study includes all fifth grade female students in Tabriz in the academic year 2019-2020. The Conners Parent Questionnaire was used to determine and screen the study sample. Considering the 8% prevalence of attention deficit disorder among students, the Conners Parent Questionnaire was administered to 560 subjects and 30 students with attention problems (scores above 72 in the Conners Parents Questionnaire) were selected as the sample and were randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups. The experimental group was trained in six sessions using the Reigeluth’s educational model and the control group did not receive any training. Selective and divided attention test (Sinai Institute, 2014) and working memory test (Kirschner, 1985) were used to collect data. Data analysis was performed using multivariate and univariate factor covariance analysis.

Findings showed that Reigeluth’s educational model improves the performance of selective and divided attention of students with attention deficit disorder and increases their working memory capacity.

An overview of the lesson plan (course perspective) at the beginning of the training creates a clear, stable and organized cognitive structure in the minds of learners. As a result of this structure, students' working memory is activated and meaningful learning occurs. Also, when learning happens among learners in a significant manner, what they have learned remains in their memory for a long time, which will improve their working memory capacity.