Giáo dục môi trường hướng tới phát triển năng lực cho học sinh khuyết tật trí tuệ lớp 5 trong lớp học hòa nhập

HNUE JOURNAL OF SCIENCE
Educational Sciences, 2021, Volume 66, Issue 5A, pp. 75-85
This paper is available online at

DOI: 10.18173/2354-1075.2021-0218

ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION TOWARD COMPETENCY
DEVELOPMENT FOR STUDENTS WITH INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY
AT 5TH GRADE IN INCLUSIVE CLASSROOMS

Nguyen Ha My*, Tran Thi Bich Ngoc and Nguyen Minh Phuong
Faculty of Special Education, Hanoi National University of Education
Abstract. Environmental education (EE) is a process that builds knowledge and develops
competencies, attitudes, as well as values that allow students to understand the
environmental and socio-cultural reality. EE toward competency development is stressed in
the new General Education Program in 2018 through many subjects and educational
activities that allow students to improve their academic and affective outcomes, including
students with intellectual disabilities (ID). This article focused on researching general
issues on EE toward competency development, characteristics of students with ID at 5 th
grade that affect the organization of environmental education activities, the EE contents at
5th grade toward competency development, and adaptation strategies for teachers to
enhance competencies of students with ID in EE.
Keywords: Educational education, competency development, student with intellectual
disability, inclusive education, elementary education, General Education Program.

1.

Introduction

Environmental education (EE) is a process of forming and developing in students’
knowledge, skills, values and interest in environmental issues, enabling them to participate in

the development of an ecologically sustainable society. EE helps individuals and communities
to have an understanding of the environment and its issues; basic concepts of environment and
environmental protection; interest in improving and protecting the environment; problemsolving skills as well as ways of persuading other members to join; sense of responsibility
before environmental problems and take appropriate actions to solve the problem. Educators
often implement EE as an ideal way to integrate academic disciplines, stimulate the academic
and social growth of students, and promote conservation of the natural environment. The way
to integrate EE content into learners not only forms knowledge and skills but also creates
values, attitudes and reasonable behaviors towards the environment. All EE methods are geared
towards student activities [1].
EE has a number of positive impacts, from improving academic performance, enhancing
critical thinking skills, and developing personal growth and life-building skills including
confidence, autonomy, and leadership. In addition, a number of studies showed that EE increased
civic engagement and positive environmental behaviors. EE (EE) is also a particularly promising
strategy for helping students with disabilities, as it has potential to combine time outdoors with
instructional practices shown to be effective with them. The United States' EPA (2018) defines
Received November 10, 2021. Revised November 24, 2021. Accepted December 5, 2021.
Contact Nguyen Ha My, e-mail address:

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Nguyen Ha My*, Tran Thi Bich Ngoc and Nguyen Minh Phuong

EE as “a process that allows individuals to explore environmental issues, engage in problem
solving, and take action to improve the environment” [2]. EE is characterized by being inquirybased, hands-on, experiential, and often, outdoors which are all strategies that have been found
to boost attitudes, learning, and competencies among students with disabilities [3], [4].
An important component of EE is the exposure of students to nature and the world outside
their classrooms. For students with special needs, especially the one who studies at inclusive
classrooms, creating an experience outside of traditional learning venues can pose challenges
for both the teacher and the student because of objective factors from the program, teaching

content, facilities, and subjective factors from the teacher's side. Creating learning opportunities
for students with special needs can benefit the learner, and enriches the experiences for the
teacher and the other learners in the inclusive classroom. Sensitivity to constraints and
adaptations to the teaching plan and the types of activities to be conducted are sometimes
relatively simple, and far from simple, to change. Although there is a tremendous amount of
good information on resources to accommodate learners with special needs, information
specifically related to EE has only recently become available.
In Vietnam, EE also has been implemented at all levels of education from preschool to
university with an integrated orientation. The interdisciplinary nature of environmental topics
and issues makes it desirable to implement environmental teaching and learning through an
integrated approach [5]. The issue of EE and environmental protection has been seriously posed
and has been studied to integrate into the curriculum in schools for many years, but it is still at a
limited level. At the elementary level, the content of EE has been integrated into the curriculum
of subjects with high potential for integrating EE such as Ethics, Nature and Society, Science,
Geography and some educational activities outside the classroom. In the General Education
Program (GEP) in 2018, the content of EE continues to be directly included in the requirements
of some subjects and educational activities toward competency development [6]. It is obvious
that the issue of EE is increasingly concerned by the Government and the Ministry of Education
and Training. At the elementary stage, environmental knowledge and skills are integrated into
all subjects and educational activities at all three levels: the full level, the partial level and the
related level. While at the beginning of the elementary stage (at grade 1, 2, 3), EE is mostly
integrated at the partial and related levels, at grades 4 and 5, EE is focused and integrated fully
in many contents, topics and activities at schools in order to form and develop competencies of
elementary students.
In order to ensure a quality inclusive education, students with intellectual disabilities when
going to inclusive school will also be fully equipped with knowledge and skills to achieve the
required quality and competencies of the program as other students. Therefore, implementing
EE toward competency development for students with intellectual disabilities is an
indispensable requirement, requiring educators to understand the adjustment of contents and
methods and instruction in inclusive education. However, the reference resources on EE toward

competency development for students with disabilities in general and students with intellectual
disabilities in particular, are still very limited, especially the updated resources on the
implementation of the GEP 2018 for this particular educational audience.

2.

Content

2.1. Some general issues on environmental education toward competency development
According to EPA, environmental education (EE) is a process that allows individuals to
explore environmental issues, engage in problem-solving, and take action to improve the
environment. As a result, individuals develop a deeper understanding of environmental issues
and have the skills to make informed and responsible decisions [2].
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Environmental education toward competency development for students with intellectual disability at…

The components of EE are [2]:
1. Awareness and sensitivity to the environment and environmental challenges;
2. Knowledge and understanding of the environment and environmental challenges;
3. Attitudes of concern for the environment and motivation to improve or maintain
environmental quality;
4. Skills to identify and help resolve environmental challenges;
5. Participation in activities that lead to the resolution of environmental challenges.
Over time, the definition of EE has been transformed and progressively extended its
objectives towards the sustainability of development, considering, above all, the new challenges
of the 21st century [7]. This has resulted in the approach of an EE toward competency
development.
EE is also defined as the educational and cultural process through which subjects build

knowledge and develop competencies, attitudes, and values that allow them to understand the
environmental and socio-cultural reality to establish a responsible relationship with the
environment and implement actions to address environmental problems [8].
The competency development was first constructed by Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen in the
late twentieth century to challenge development economics's dominant theories and practices It
has since been taken up and applied widely by a diverse group of international scholars to
design and evaluate policies, practices and institutions across numerous fields, particularly
international development, healthcare and education [9]. According to Pho. D. H. et al. (2021),
the concept of competency development focuses not only on students’ intellectual activity but
also on training their ability to solve real-world problems, and at the same time activating
intellectual activities with practical activities. Competency development initiatives refer to how
individuals develop their competencies by actively engaging in different types of developmental
and educational activities [10].
The competency development in EE provides a way of bridging the conceptual gap
between theory and practice of EE, through a capability’s lens, transformative and critical
environmental education should aim to provide students with opportunities to develop a
capability for ‘environmental engagement’. Environmental protection education toward
competency development is the process of forming and developing in learners attitudes,
feelings, values and motivations towards environmental protection; knowledge about
environmental protection; and environmental protection skills which are based on personal
experience combined with the use of senses to observe and feel related objects and phenomena.
Thereby, it helps students have the right behavior with the environment and take practical action
to protect the environment [11].
Environmental protection competency is a flexible and organized combination of necessary
knowledge about the environment and environmental protection, skills to participate in
environmental protection, attitudes, feelings, values, personal motivation for environmental
protection to successfully fulfill the requirements of environmental protection activities.
The structure of the environmental protection capacity framework consists of a
combination of the following components:
- Attitudes, feelings, values and motivations towards environmental protection: Seeing the

need to protect the environment, personal responsibility for environmental protection, and a
desire to participate in environmental protection activities.
- Knowledge about the environment and environmental protection: Scientific knowledge
about the environment and environmental protection corresponds to the general awareness level
of each student.
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Nguyen Ha My*, Tran Thi Bich Ngoc and Nguyen Minh Phuong

- Environmental protection skills: Skills to recognize and identify environmental problems,
skills to collect and organize environmental information, skills to analyze environmental
information, skills to propose solutions to environmental protection measures, skills to
implement environmental protection actions, skills to evaluate action results.

2.2. Environmental education contents at 5th grade toward competency
development in the General Education Program in 2018
The 2018 GEP is promulgated together with the Circular No. 32/2018/Cir-MOET on
December 26, 2018 of the Minister of Education and Training to implement the educational
goals which are forming and developing the quality and competencies of the students through
the content of language and literature education, mathematics education, social science
education, natural science education, technology education, informatics education, civics
education, defense and security education, art education, physical education, and vocational
education [6]. Each educational content is implemented in all educational subjects and
educational activities, in which some subjects and educational activities take on the core roles.
The 2018 GEP implements integration in three orientations. Firstly, it is the integration
between different areas of knowledge, between the requirement of equipping knowledge with
the training of skills in the same subject. Second, it is the integration of knowledge in related
subjects and sciences; at a low level is to relate knowledge that is being taught with other
relevant knowledge; at a high level is to create integrated subjects. Third, it is the integration of

some important topics such as issues of national sovereignty, sustainable development,
environmental protection, gender equality, financial education, etc. into the curriculum content
of the subjects.
Based on the program of subjects and educational activities at 5th grade in the 2018 GEP, it
is possible to integrate EE in two ways: direct orientation with the lessons/activities that have
requirements about EE and indirect orientation with lessons/activities that do not have
requirements for EE but have close elements that can be related to EE. The indirect method
requires teachers to master the knowledge of EE and be creative in order to have appropriate
integration Teachers also need to clearly determine that the way they integrate EE needs to be
very natural, harmonious, and they need to avoid of using EE contents that do not appropriate to
contents of the subject.
According to the curriculum of subjects and educational activities at 5th grade in 2018 GEP,
teachers can integrate some contents of EE toward competency development as follows: dealing
with climate change, protecting animal diversity, protecting the ecosystem, protecting water
resources and other resources, etc. In subjects and educational activities at 5th grade, EE is
integrated in many contents, for example:
- The subject Ethics at 5th grade has a content circuit about protecting living environment,
in which, it requires students to list out the types of habitats; understand why it is important to
protect the environment; know how to protect the living environment at home, at school, in
public places by doing appropriate actions; and have appropriate attitude to disagree with acts
that cause environmental pollution as well as remind relatives and friends to protect the living
environment [12]. The subject develops the competency of cognitive behavior, evaluating
individual behavior and others, and behavior adjustment [12]. With EE, Ethics focuses on
raising awareness of students in the issues of environment and environmental protection and
from that, students will adjust themselves by having appropriate behaviors to promote a better
environment.
- The subject Sciences at 5th grade a content circuit about Organisms and Environment.
This content circuit focuses on the role of the environment for organisms in general and humans
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in particular (students can describe the basic functions of the environment for organisms in
general and humans in particular) and Human impact on the environment (students can collect
information and evidence showing that humans have negative and positive impacts on the
environment and natural resources; students can perform a number of practical and appropriate
actions to contribute to the protection of natural resources and environment; and students can
develop content and use an appropriate presentation to mobilize people to live in harmony with
nature, protect the environment and biodiversity in the locality) [13]. In this subject, students
need to develop the competency of natural science awareness, the competency of learning about
the natural environment, and the competency of applying knowledge and skills to reality [13].
These competencies are very important for students to deal with real-world problems, especially
issues about the environment and environmental protection.
- The subject Vietnamese at 5th grade provides some suggestions of stories, prose, poetry,
and informational texts about environment or relating to environment that teachers can integrate
EE in their lessons such as Miracle of the green forest (Nguyen Phan Hach); Hometown (Vo
Quang), Songs about the earth (Dinh Hai); Raft down La River (Vu Huy Thong); Sea (Khanh
Chi); Hai Phong Port (Nguyen Hong Kien); The river wears clothes (Nguyen Trong Tao); I
think about the earth (Nguyen Lam Thang), etc. [14]. Besides developing competencies of the
subjects, students can connect to the curriculum's general competencies and EE's competencies
to understand and act for the environment.
- Besides subjects in the GEP 2018, the curriculum of the Experiential Activities at 5 th
grade also has a content circuit about Activities toward the nature that includes activities to
learn and preserve natural landscapes (in which, students can express their feelings and pride for
the natural landscape of the locality and the country and propose some measures to preserve the
natural landscape) as well as Activities to learn and protect the environment (Students can
understand the current status of the environment where they live and they can voluntarily
participate and mobilize relatives to participate in public works to keep the residential
environment clean) [15]. Through the specific competencies of Experiential Activities in

elementary education such as the competency to adapt to life and the competency to design and
organize activities, students can identify a number of issues from the living environment to
themselves, self-regulate and respond to environmental changes; from there, students at 5 th
grade can have the ability to plan, implement plans, adjust and self-assess activities when
participating in environmental protection activities.

2.3. Characteristics of students with intellectual disabilities at 5th grade that affect
the organization of environmental education activities in inclusive classrooms
The most widely accepted definition of intellectual disability is the AAIDD: “Intellectual
disability (is) characterized by significant limitations both in intellectual functioning and in
adaptive behavior as expressed in conceptual, social and practical adaptive skills. This disability
originates before age 18” [16].
According to DSM-5, there are three criteria that must be fulfilled in order for the diagnosis
of intellectual disability (American Psychiatric Association, 2013) [17]:
(A) Deficits in intellectual functions, such as reasoning, problem solving, planning, abstract
thinking, judgment, academic learning, and learning from experience, confirmed by both
clinical assessment and individualized, standardized intelligence testing.
(B) Deficits in adaptive functioning result in failure to meet developmental and
sociocultural standards for personal independence and social responsibility. Without ongoing
support, the adaptive deficits limit functioning in one or more daily life activities, such as
communication, social participation, and independent living, across multiple environments, such
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Nguyen Ha My*, Tran Thi Bich Ngoc and Nguyen Minh Phuong

as home, school, work, and community.
(C) Onset of intellectual and adaptive deficits during the developmental period.
Characteristics of students with ID at 5th grade that can affect the organization of
environmental education activities are presented under the following sub-headings:

General Cognition: Students with ID vary physically and emotionally, as well as by
personality, disposition, and beliefs. Their apparent slowness in learning may be related to the
delayed rate of intellectual development. There are a number of common characteristics that
may have a significant impact on an individual’s learning, including: difficulty understanding
new information; slow cognitive processing time; difficulty in the sequential processing of
information; difficulties comprehending abstract concepts; difficulty focusing on relevant
stimuli in learning and in real-life situations, sometimes attending to the wrong things [18].
Attention: To acquire information, students must attend to the learning task for the required
length of time and control distractions. Students with ID may have difficulty distinguishing and
attending to relevant questions in both learning and social situations. The problem is not that the
student will not pay attention, but rather that the student does not understand or filter the
information to get to the salient features [19].
Adaptive Skills: The adaptive skills of people with intellectual disabilities are often not
comparable to those of theirs peers without disabilities. A child with intellectual disabilities may
have difficulty in learning and applying skills for a number of reasons, including a higher level
of distractibility, inattentiveness, failure to read social cues, and impulsive behavior [20].
Speech and Language: Students with ID may have delayed speech, language
comprehension and formulation difficulties. Language problems are generally associated with
delays in language development rather than with a bizarre use of language. Students with ID
may show delayed functioning on pragmatic aspects of language, such as turn taking, selecting
acceptable topics for conversation, knowing when to speak knowing when to be silent, and
similar contextual skills [21].
Physical characteristics: Students with ID with differing biological etiologies, may exhibit
coexisting problems, such as physical, motor, orthopedic, visual and auditory impairments, and
health [22].
From the above characteristics, it is necessary to organize for children with ID to
experience by direct contact with things and phenomena in nature, in the surrounding life to
realize new things for children. The beauty in nature, threats to nature, plants and animals that
children come into direct contact with will have a strong impact on children's emotional and
emotional lives. From there, knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviors are formed in them

profoundly and correctly.

2.4. Some accommodation and adaptation strategies for teachers to enhance the
competency of students with intellectual disabilities at 5th grade in environmental
education
Students with extensive support needs, including students with ID at 5th grade may have
difficulties in learning about environment/nature due to challenges with adaptive skills and
academic functioning, especially when they study in inclusive classrooms with other students.
On the contrary, EE practices including understanding, decision-making and problem solving on
nature/environment issues could be particularly beneficial for students with disabilities [23]. For
students with ID, these potential benefits are especially important; for example, learning
nature/environment practices may provide a means for improving communication competency
with their peers. As students are taught to wonder about the natural world and investigate
phenomena, explicit instruction in scientific practices might provide students with
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communication challenges a structure for working collaboratively in groups, sharing ideas, and
discussing outcomes. To realize these benefits, it is critical to identify effective ways to teach
nature/environment practices to students with ID.
Byexploring environmental issues, engaging in problem solving, and taking action to
improve the environment, all individuals including students with ID who have many adaptive
skills challenges develop a deeper understanding of environmental issues and increase their
competency to make informed and responsible decisions. One challenge of a teacher is finding
ways to be accessible to all learners in the classroom, especially those with ID. The following
strategies provide best practices for engaging students with ID through many representations of
content. To fully engage students with adaptive skills challenges within EE to develop their
competencies, we are aligned to introduce peer-assisted learning strategies and other specific

techniques as well as collaboration.
2.4.1. Using Peer – assisted learning strategy in engaging students with ID into EE
activities
Many researches pointed out that Peer-assisted learning strategy is an evidence-based
intervention for students especially in engaging students in less structured outdoor settings [24].
The use of cooperative learning strategies in EE and various settings can enhance students’
success based upon the sub-sequent meaningful conversations, social supports and friendships
[25]. The Peer-assisted learning strategy approach allows teachers to match academically
diverse students, while also considering specific instructional needs. Often, teachers simply pair
students based upon ability, which prevents full access and engagement in the lesson. By
utilizing the Peer-assisted learning strategy approach, the teacher will place students with ID
into groups with other students, then provide them with a collaborative task. During the task, the
teacher can observe to identify student behaviors throughout class. Some questions should be
answered by the teachers; for example, all students have their own ideas, each of them asks a
question before exploring, the pair discusses to their questions prior to exploring, both partners
give compliments to others while exploring, they also can express their explanations, and they
can evaluate what they have done after discussion.
2.4.2. Using specific strategies for environmental education activities
Students with ID instructed by activities-based learning in EE could gain valuable
knowledge about the world and improve their successful functioning into the real world.
Additionally, it could be an important pathway for enhancing their problem-solving skills [26]
which are associated with the education context. Due to the limitation of our research, the paper
temporarily introduced several essential specific strategies which could be applied to organize
some EE activities for children with ID at 5th grade in inclusive classrooms, those are small
steps, visual instructions, and hands-on activities.
- Small steps: One such strategy is to break down learning tasks into small steps. Each
learning task is introduced, one step at a time help students with intellectual disabilities to avoid
overwhelming. Once the student has mastered one step, the next step is introduced. This is a
progressive, step-wise, learning approach. For students with an intellectual disability, breaking
down each learning task into small, easy-to-digest steps can be invaluable. Teachers can modify

their existing curriculum by introducing each learning task as a series of short, individual
actions instead of looking at the bigger picture. This step-wise approach is the basis of many
different learning models for all kinds of students, with each step and level of investment
varying according to the specific requirements of the individual student.
- Visual instructions: Visual instructions about a task or behavior may help support not
only students with ID but also other students in the classroom. Consider demonstrating the
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Nguyen Ha My*, Tran Thi Bich Ngoc and Nguyen Minh Phuong

task/behavior, or asking another student to demonstrate, teachers could also use a visual
schedule, poster or video to outline or model the task. Visual aids can enhance and reinforce the
message of an individual presentation. They help to illustrate concepts and connect ideas with
real-world problems [27]. Following are some visual aids that are very effective for
presentations:
o Familiar objects are things that are used in people’s daily lives, in nature or that they
have in their homes.
o Pictures such as slides, photos, drawings, or posters that can help students to visualize
the environmental or nature topic.
o Models, charts, graphs, diagrams and maps are very useful tools to illustrate abstract
ideas, and steps in a process without having to use a lot of words about nature or environment.
o A chalkboard or a whiteboard with non-permanent markers enables the educator to
write keywords and draw and change a graphic using different colors during the presentation.
o Flipcharts are large sheets of paper that can replace the chalkboard or whiteboard.
o A pinboard can help you to show your learners’ ideas easily by pinning ideas written on
cards on the pin board.
o An overhead is a very common visual aid that can be used when there is electricity. It is
a simple and relatively inexpensive medium for presentation. By using an overhead, you can
easily draw and write whatever you want on transparencies and show them to your learners.

The visual world and what is directly in front of the student are important factors in
teaching a student with ID. They tend to do best in environments where visual aids or support is
provided, whether it’s to learn specific subjects or to map their completed progress. The use of
charts with ID students has proven to be highly effective, especially in combination with direct,
immediate feedback
- Hand-on/practical activities: Most people are kinesthetic learners. This means they learn
best by performing a task “hands-on.” This is in contrast to thinking about performing it in the
abstract. Students with ID are known to individually struggle with abstract concepts, making
some traditional teaching styles incompatible with their specific challenges. A hands-on
approach is particularly helpful for students with ID. They learn best when information is
concrete and observed. Use manipulatives when teaching about environmental/natural contents.
Take field trips to the forest or garden to give students a meaningful experience. When students
are able to make real connections to the world around them, or physically explore a concept, the
knowledge will stick with them.
2.4.3.

Collaborating to assistant resources

Many instructors feel over-whelmed by the idea of taking students with ID outside to
engage in EE lessons. By initiating cooperation with other resources, teachers are more likely to
meet specific behavioral and academic needs during indoor or outdoor learning time.
- Collaborating to Educational support workers: Almost teachers feel stressed in
managing students with disabilities in either indoor or outdoor activities. They need to have
another source to support them in engaging students with ID into lessons and an educational
support worker can be their partner to deal with various situations in organized environmental
education activities. Educational support workers were firstintroduced in Law of persons with
disabilities 2011 [28], and was a promulgated title in Circular 19/2016 of Ministry of
Education and Training. Their roles are to assist teachers to take care and educating students
with disabilities in general and students with ID in particular. By discussing to educational
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Environmental education toward competency development for students with intellectual disability at…

support workers before making lesson plans about an environmental issue, teachers could
raise some new useful ideas on contents, methods, facilitators andsome adjustments for
students with ID in their classroom. The collaboration helps them predict various of things
that may happen during EE lesson, which creates flexibility in their practices. Additionally,
educational support workers are assigned by teachers to observe and manage behaviors of
students with ID during EE lessons. Recognizing antecedent for an undesired behavior is an
important part of behavioral management strategies as well as how to deal with those
behaviors all affect to a success lesson. So far, it is essential to have a good and respectful
collaboration and sharing culture between teachers and educational support workers in EE
practice.
- Collaborating with Parents: An inclusive education system provides all students with
the most appropriate learning environments and opportunities to realize their potential
including disadvantaged students. Recognizing parents as an integral part of their child's
education and welcoming their involvement in the learning community can lead to solutions
and open communication between parents and teachers. Roberts and Kaiser (2011) classified
the benefits of parental involvement into 4 categories: to meet parental information and
emotional needs concerning to the children’s education, use parents as change agents and
benefit from parents as a source of information regarding the students [29]. Collecting data
from parents of students with intellectual disabilities on students’ interests or fears of the
environment, teachers can provide appropriate EE activities. Teachers and parents need to
collaborate to identify what areas of students’ development need attention and determine
together appropriate goals and objectives to achieve. Further involving parents in EE
activities to support their children such as taking field trips together, managing behaviors,
providing some learning materials or resources is an effective impact on stimulating
children’s intellectual, social and even physical development. Furthermore, the collaboration
could also reinforce the teacher’s efforts as teaching students with intellectual disabilities

requires repetitive and remedial teaching.

3.

Conclusions

In summary, environmental education has been transformed and progressively extended its
objectives towards the sustainability of development is an educational and cultural process
through which subjects build knowledge and develop competencies, attitudes, and values that
allow all students to understand the environmental and socio-cultural reality in order to establish
a responsible relationship with the environment and implement actions to address environmental
problems. Students with intellectual disabilities despite of academic functioning and adaptive
skill impairments could gain valuable knowledge about the world and improve their competency
through EE activities. EE contents at 5th grade in the 2018 GEP was integrated in two ways:
direct orientation with the lessons/activities and EE related orientation with lessons/activities.
Teachers could integrate some competency-based EE contents as follows: dealing with climate
change, protecting animal diversity, protecting the ecosystem, protecting water resources and
other resources, etc. for all students including students with ID. In order to fully develop
students’ strengths and competencies in EE program, the paper introduced some
accommodation and adaptation strategies for teachers to enhance the competency of students
with intellectual disabilities at 5th grade in environmental education, focusing on peer-assisted
learning strategies and other specific techniques as well as collaboration among teachers and
other human resources. Those strategies were suggested to guarantee success of EE for students
with intellectual disabilities in inclusive schools.
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Nguyen Ha My*, Tran Thi Bich Ngoc and Nguyen Minh Phuong

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