inclusive education

Context

Issue: Mastropieri and Scruggs, (2004) state that unfortunately, science education typically has received little emphasis in special education classrooms. A survey of special education teachers conducted by Patton et al. (1986) suggest that science is often not taught at all and, when it is taught, is allocated less time than typically is allocated in general education classrooms. Hall et al. (2002) states that the number of students with disabilities who take science and field research as a major in postsecondary education is very small.

According to the Roeher Institute, between 5 and 20% of Canadian families have children with disabilities. Among children with disabilities, 15% have a moderate or severe level of disability. The most common type of long-term condition among young children aged birth to 14 years is a learning disability, affecting approximately 17 of every 1000 children reporting (Ontario Human Rights Commission, 2012). Therefore, in this study I am focused on learning disabilities, which come under mild disabilities (attention problems, dyslexia). Assessment and identification of children with disability is very important; because children with poor grades are consistently classified as having a learning disability, often without any proper assessment of why these children experience barriers to learning, development, and participation. Some of these barriers may instead be caused by cramped classroom conditions, inflexible curricula, and examination systems, learning material that lacks relevance to many children, or the lack of child-friendly and child centred teaching approaches (UNESCO, 2012).

Importance: Data shows that knowledge of science improves the mathematics and reading scores of element...

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http://www.edu.uwo.ca/inclusive_education/PDFfiles/201009TimmonsInclusiveEducationFullReport.pdf

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). (2012).Teaching children with disability in inclusive settings. Reterived on March 20, 2012 from: http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0018/001829/182975e.pdf

Vaughn, S., Bos, C. S., & Schumm, J.S. (2007). Teaching students who are exceptional, diverse, and at risk: In the general education classroom (4th ed.). United States: Pearson Education.

Waldron, N., and Cole, C. (2000). The Indiana Inclusion Study Year One Final Report, Bloomington, IN: Indiana Institute on Disability and Community.

Wilson, R. (2008). Promoting the Development of Scientific Thinking. Available online at: http://www.earlychildhoodnews.com/earlychildhood/article_view.aspx?ArticleID=409. (Accessed February 22, 2012).