Duwe,+John+Inclusion+in+Science

= **__Introduction__** =



Hello! My name is Mr. X and I am a graduate student in the Environmental Education "dual program," in which I also earn a teaching credential. I hope to enjoy a successful career empowering youth to make positive changes that benefit all humanity.

Mountain biking, skiing, hiking and communion with nature bring me joy. I constantly contemplate connections between myself and the world around me.

When I was young, I moved abroad to live for a year as a foreign exchange student. When I arrived, I didn't know how to say more than a handful of poorly pronounced words. Learning to communicate with my new family and friends was extremely difficult. What helped me most was that people knew I couldn't speak or understand much, so like speaking to a baby, they used complete sentences and let me absorb it all at my own pace. Although it was at times frustrating, my support base had high expectations for my success while presenting me with a low-stakes and safe learning environment. I felt good about the challenge I was up against, and this led to the confidence and skills to overcome the language barrier. I think that I can use this as an analogy to someone who is struggling to attain concepts at school. Because of how I felt, I will provide struggling students with positive feedback and genuine challenges, and allow them to learn at a pace appropriate to their needs.

I'm excited for Inclusion Strategies because I want to learn to adapt best-practice instructional strategies to learners with diverse needs in order enhance my social and educator skills in and out of the classroom.

__ Inclusion Strategies for the Science Classroom __ === In order to cope with a quickly changing world of information and technology, //all// students will need to develop understandings of scientific principles. Thus, it is imperative to include students with exceptionalities in scientific activities and investigations at school. I chose to research inclusion in science because I wanted to learn how to develop an inclusive science classroom. I feel strongly about inclusion because I understand the strength that diversity brings to any living system. ===

= __The Top Five Things I Learned While Researching:__ =

=== 1. Research conclusively demonstrates supported inclusive education is favored by most stakeholders: students with special needs, students who are developing typically, parents of students with disabilities, parents of students who are not disabled, general education teachers, special educators, other direct service providers, and educational administrators. ===

=== 3. While including students with emotional disturbances and/or specific learning disabilities in a general education science setting has little effect on said students' behavioral patterns, they experience enhanced affect and self-efficacy in regards to science and social interaction with the general education community. ===

=== 4. Without proper training, science teachers may err on the side of caution and not provide students with IEPs with the scope of challenges in the laboratory or classroom that they are capable of handling with proper modifications ===

5. Many resources relating to inclusion in science are retired and unavailable. Much of what is out there today are reiterations of my top resource.
= =

= **__Top Resource:__** =

**Inclusion in Science Education for** **Students with Disabilities ** [] This online resource is published for free by West Virginia University Department of Education, and partially funded by the National Science Foundation. Click on the //Disabilities/Impairments// link and you will find detailed information regarding common disabilities and impairments, as well as many inclusion strategies for the science classroom in English and Spanish! I rate this resource **4.7 out of 5.0** because it is an academic resource created within the the last 5 years that includes useful information in two languages; however, the web design is kind of grungy.

=__Additional Resources: __= = = =**A bibliography of science and special educational needs **= 

This is an extensive bibliography of correlating science and special educational needs resources. It is like one stop shopping for just about everything there is out there about inclusion in science education. This resource gets a **5.0 out of 5.0**.

**Including Students With Disabilities Into the General Education Science Classroom** Council for Exceptional Children Journal. 2002. Vol. 68, No. 4, 423-435. [] This scholarly journal article examines a case-study in which students with severe emotional disturbances and learning disabilities are intentionally incorporated into a general education science classroom to study effects on both students with and without IEPs. The authors determined that the students with disabilities incurred no more behavioral trouble, and the students with IEPs' affect and self-efficacy towards science both increased. I rate this resource **5.0 out of 5.0 **, because it is sound, peer-reviewed science that supports inclusion in science. **Building Bridges Between Science and Special Education:** ** Inclusion in the Science Classroom ** Deborah H. Haskell, Clemson University - Electron Journal of Science Education. 2000. 4: 3 <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">[] <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This professional journal article stresses the importance of extensive and regular collaboration between science teachers and special education teachers. It includes examples of peer tutoring programs (for science) and also a lengthy bibliography that lists many useful resources. I rate this resource **4.0 out of 5.0**, because although it is a great resource for gleaning broader concepts, it does not include an extensive list of instructional strategies.

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Inclusive Safety Solutions: //What every teacher should know about special education and laboratory safety legislation//** <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">[] <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This article details the legislation that lends all students the rights to have equal opportunities to learn science, including equal access to science laboratories and materials. It also includes several suggestions as to how to safely include students with special needs into science laboratory experiments. I rate this resource **4.0 out of 5.0**, because it is useful information to consider when setting up an inclusive science classroom. What I didn't like was that it spoke almost exclusively of mainstreaming, rather than inclusion.

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">[] <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This series of free online tutorials for high school science, math, and computer science teachers that teach how to set up inclusive classrooms. The series is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The NSF is a credible resource; however, I can' t vouch whole-heatedly for it because I haven't had the time to complete a tutorial. I think that any science teacher should know about free professional resources, and this one appears well-organized and substantial in detail. I rate this a **4.0 out of 5.0**, because I haven't seen it through, but it could end up being a 5.0.

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">[|https://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=inclusion+science+video#sclient=psy-ab&hl=en&safe=active&q=inclusion+science&oq=inclusion+science&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_sm=3&gs_upl=14802l15858l0l16648l3l3l0l0l0l0l0l0ll0l0&gs_l=serp.3...14802l15858l0l16648l3l3l0l0l0l0l0l0ll0l0.llsin.&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=f60e367fe98828c3&biw=1024&bih=509] <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I chose to share this article because it presents a detailed outline of inclusion in math and science, including goals, action options, pitfalls, different viewpoints, and cases. I appreciate macroscopic perspectives of concepts, so I think this is a great read. However, the more specific inclusion strategies for teachers are not well organized, and will need to be gleaned from the broad reaching "Action Options" section. I rate this resource **3.7 out of 5.0** because it is informational and interesting, but not really useful in a crisis, and it's not aesthetically pleasing.
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Remembering the Child: On Equity and Inclusion in Mathematics and Science Classrooms **

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">** Special Education in the Science Classroom: ** **<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Strategies for Success ** <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">[] <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This website is designed for the advertisement purposes of McGraw-Hill, a major textbook manufacture. I presents a concise list of strategies for inclusion of students with exceptionalities into the science classroom. I rate this resource **3.0 out of 5.0**, because although it is helpful and well designed, commercial advertisement is embedded throughout.

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**INTERNATIONAL TRENDS IN INCLUSIVE EDUCATION: THE CONTINUING CHALLENGE TO TEACH EACH ONE AND EVERYONE** <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Ferguson, D.L. (2008). <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">[] <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Ferguson performs a solid review of trends in inclusive education since the early 1980s in Europe and North America. He emphasizes a need for complete education reform; one that is steeped in the inclusion of all learners and their diverse skills and abilities. This lengthy article gives a nice representation of where we've come from and where we need to be heading in inclusive education; however, it lacks direct research and statistical/graphic information and relies mainly on literature review, and is more conceptual than practical, so I give it a **3.0 out of 5.0**.

=__ Community Based Learning Project __=

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Reflection:

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> For my Community Based Learning Project I shadowed Mr. H, a Special Education teacher at a moderately sized middle school in a small city in the Pacific Northwest. During my experience, I observed Mr. H teach a reading and a writing class to 7th and 8th grade students with mild to moderate learning disabilities. Mr. H has good rapport with his students and they seem to enjoy his classes.

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">The first thing to strike me was how much care is taken to value the special education students as integral members of the school community. The effort begins with scheduling and locating mild to moderate special education classes in areas of the school that will not be filled (at the time) with peers. For example, during the reading and writing classes that I observed, the only other classes around for that part of the day were 6th grade, so that the 7th and 8th graders in Mr. H’s class didn’t have to be judged by their peers. For the rest of the day, Mr. H’s students interact with the general student population. However, Mr. H is very clear with his students that they have unique strengths and weaknesses that require additional support while at school.

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Mr. H tells me that the number one way he integrates his students as valued members of the school community is to maintain genuine interest in their lives outside of school. For example, rapport is built by knowing if there is a big game coming up, a dance recital, or a new book release that might fit a student’s interest.

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">I was interested to observe such a large diversity of learning disabilities. Some were obvious (ADHD), and some less so (no working short-term memory). The difficulty of Mr. H’s job struck me when I was faced with such variety. It must be tricky to create meaningful learning opportunities for such a diverse audience. This attests to the importance of the IEP.

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Although the Special Education classroom is without question challenging, Mr. H claims he experiences less diversity of cognitive ability than he would in the general education setting. He explained that the acceptable average ability in the general education classroom is 1.5 years up or down a grade level. This means that a general education teacher will need to teach to a 3 grade level span of ability, where the Special Education teacher might teach to a narrower range.

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Another interesting note brought up by Mr. H is that some learning disabilities are exacerbated in a Special Education classroom. He notes that students are often relieved to be part of a class with a slower pace and fewer peers. This allows them to open-up and act freely. This often means that learners with certain disorders will let them loose; for example, a student with ADHD might be extra verbal.

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">In conclusion, Mr. H’s classroom was an environment of extra support and kindness. Students were treated with respect as young, capable adults, and high, personally-tailored expectations were clear and attainable. Through this experience I was afforded a glance into mild to moderate Special Education in a US public school, and take away insights and strategies that I will use in my future teaching career to include all my students in a meaningful school experience.

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Interview: <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">media type="youtube" key="oBRM1Qq_SMA" height="315" width="420"

<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Notes: