Preparing Special Educators to Promote College and Career Readiness in STEM: The Interdisciplinary Coaching as a Nexus (iCAN) Project

• In Event: 30.080 - Roundtable Session 10
  In Roundtable Session: 30.080-24 - Advancing STEM Learning and Teaching for Preservice Teachers and K–16 Students

Abstract

There is a significant need to increase the college and career readiness of students with disabilities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Interdisciplinary Coaching As a Nexus for transforming how institutions support undergraduates in STEM (iCAN) is a two-year exploratory project addressing this need. This manuscript describes the iterative design, implementation, and assessment process of a new graduate course. Practicing special education teachers provided metacognitive and psychosocial advising to undergraduate STEM majors with executive function deficits. The graduate students completed case studies about the undergraduates and identified how instructional strategies could be applied to K-12 students with similar strengths and deficits. Results indicate the iCAN model may serve as an exemplar for future special education service delivery.

Authors

• Matthew Marino, University of Central Florida

• Eleazar Vasquez, University of Central Florida

• James D. Basham, The University of Kansas