Inclusion "In Sight": Students' Perspectives on Inclusion in the Science Classroom

• In Event: 42.067 - Voices of Students With Disabilities in Science Education

Abstract

The sciences are particularly reliant on the use and understanding of complex visual material (Kumar, et al., 2001). The author, visually impaired herself, used her own experiences, as well as interviews conducted with other students with visual impairments to develop a collection of narratives related to the inclusive, as well as exclusive practices students have experienced in science classrooms. The purpose of this session is to share those stories in the hopes that they will guide educators toward more inclusive instructional practices for the visually impaired. This work is guided by Disability Studies in Education perspective, namely that an inclusive educational environment should be provided for all individuals, regardless of disability. The experience of visual impairment does not represent a deficit in the student, but rather, challenges teachers to expand their instructional repertoire to offer a more universally accessible environment for all learners.

Data was collected through structured interviews with four college-aged students who were asked to reflect on their K-12 experiences in science classrooms. Interview questions asked individuals to discuss ways in which teachers successfully included them in classroom experiences. The interview transcripts were coded to identify common themes as well as uniqueness between the participants’ experiences. For this proposal, I will describe results pertaining to just geoscience, with chemistry and biology part of the full paper.

Geoscience presented unique challenges related to identifying rocks and minerals and using visual clues in the field to help explain geologic processes. One student shared an experience of needing a guide on a field trip and falling in a stream because the guide wasn’t trained in sighted guide technique. The embarrassment expressed by the student in addition to her frustration for missing information because navigating uneven ground in the field took extra time raise some questions about support during field trips and lab activities. The same student was asked to switch into an easier course because the material would be “too difficult” for her which demands a discussion of attitudes related to ability of the visually impaired.
These experiences represent a failure to give students equal opportunities to learning.

These stories and many others shared by participants reveal the following trends: a) there is a strong need to examine the role of paraprofessionals in the classroom and reach a balance between supporting inclusion and preventing it, b) students express a desire to have increased ownership of their work and do not always prefer a reliance on peers for “help” and “answers”, c) all of students’ suggestions for improving inclusion are rooted in the principle of universal design for learning, organized, easy to navigate classrooms, increased verbal description and an openness to differentiated instruction strategies, and d) students also agree that an open line of communication between teacher and students is vital to the success of inclusion.

As students with disabilities participate in mainstream classroom activities at higher rates, that is an urgent need for educators to be prepared to create inclusive learning environments that provide valuable learning opportunities for students with disabilities.

Author

• Lisa Ann Johnson, University of Minnesota