Inclusion+Classrooms+and+Meeting+Science+Expectations

Overview: Today’s classroom setting uses the term “inclusion” a lot. It is hard to imagine that the concept of inclusion was something people had to fight for in the education system. Inclusive education means that all students attend and are welcomed by their neighborhood schools in age-appropriate, regular classes and are supported to learn, contribute, and participate in all aspects of the life of the school: What is inclusive education (2012). Retrieved from @http://www.inclusionbc.org/our-priority-areas/inclusive-education/what-inclusive-education . The advocate group Inclusion BC (British Columbia) has been an advocate for inclusive classrooms since 1955 and has helped the term inclusion a reality today. The Canadian organization is an admirable line of support for inclusion classroom. This Canadian organization was started by a concerned consulting pediatrician (Dr. Donald Paterson) for the Disabled Children’s Registry who extended an invitation to all people interested in the advancement of the students with disabilities. The outcome of that meeting on, May 26, 1954, attended by only six parent groups and three government groups (Mental Health, Health, and Education), was Inclusion BC organization which has become an admirable line of support for inclusion classrooms. Inclusion BC’s motto of “no child is uneducable” has inspired others and has led to massive growth of inclusion education in the world. Differentiation in the classroom is a word that claims the definition and description of how teachers can effectively help students to be successful in the classroom. For example, students should be able to enter comfortably regardless of physical disability. The difference with differentiation in an inclusion class is a unique mixture of students in the classroom. For example, the combination of students is gifted, average in intelligence, and students with IEP’s and Section 504’s in the same class.

Inclusion classrooms are not limited to the teacher and co-teacher in the classroom. Inclusion classes deal with the classroom, the school building, the sidewalks, and driveways. All students enter the school, hallways, and general classroom through a door. These doorways need an inspection for accessibility for a wheelchair enabled student or a visually impaired student. In the science classroom, students with disabilities have specific issues with entering and utilizing the classroom, as well as learning the material with equipment. Although there are more than twelve disabilities as outlined in IDEA’2004, states, those disabilities in today’s classroom include developmental delay, emotional disturbance, intellectual disabilities, and specific learning disabilities (National Center for Education Statistics, 2009). The government is accepting more students’ disabilities in the classroom become more diverse and more students with disabilities are allowed in the general classroom. There are more potential complications to a perfect inclusion classroom settings. The higher expectation for the teacher to provide a better environment is more demanding on resources and the teacher cannot get the technology for the proper accommodations.

The requirements of inclusion result in a situation where teachers should prepare for any situations to come through the classroom before school starts. As the demands of an inclusion classroom increase, some professionals give a warning of falling in a slope of the details. Booth T and Ainsworth M (1998) stated, “This term (inclusion education) has acquired increasing international currency, which poses the danger of wishful thinking about the way it is used or applied may distract people from exploring the realities of the practice” (p 3). The statement is aimed towards the administration that is trying to put a wheelchair ramp up the stairs but does not think of having the students participate in the Special Olympics. Inclusion classrooms must be seen and approached differently than other classrooms. Booth and Ainscow provided a view to looking at the understanding of a diverse learning environment. They commented, "Therefore, indicates the careful unraveling of the gifts we give ourselves when we acknowledge the separateness of other people and other worlds. It is about an approach to comparative research, and that retains this exchange” (p 4). The trend of inclusion in the classroom is complexly dealing with students’ abilities, but the objectives and goal are changing in the general classroom. This paper will focus on how inclusion in the science classroom has issues with the specific learning disabilities of visual impairment and wheelchair enablement.

Trend or issue? Between 5% and 10% of all K–12 children are identified as having a specific learning disability (Department of Education 2002; Kavale and Forness 1995), so the science teacher should have all the proper support mechanisms for students to access and utilize the science equipment. Wilson et al. (2011) state that with any changes, there are certain barriers that must be overcome to make sure the change is advantageous to those who have to endure the change (p 2). How do you help a visually impaired student to look into a microscope and write down what he or she observes? Questions like this are hard for a science teacher to assess and answer. One of the biggest issues these students face is learning because most of the lesson requires vision. For example, students need to see a cell to know what it is and how it looks in science class. Trying to describe this would be extremely difficult and confusing…, to overcome this, many schools today started to use tactile and kinesthetic methods to teach science to blind and visually impaired students. (p 6). Science teachers face the problems of teaching visually impaired students because they care about science and what the world around them means. Geerat J. Vermeij expressed his feelings about his love for science and how being visually impaired did not stop his inquisitive nature. He explained as he was holding a Holly leaf, “The prickles, it turns out, are not distributed evenly around the leaf margin. In cultivated varieties, the left edge typically has a different number of prickles from the right. Moreover, the numbers and positions of prickles vary in peculiar ways among leaves even on the same tree. I wondered aloud why this should be so, and why holly leaves are spiny at all. These are the kinds of questions that start me thinking about the larger puzzles of science. They are tiny unknowns, things that make no sense, things that might or might not be key to larger questions” (p 1). Science teachers have to be able to implement strategies in their lessons for people such as Geerat who are interested but do not learn the same way as the general students. The question for the educators is, "Are teachers making the necessary additions to lessons for the visually impaired students to learn the curriculum standards in the classroom?" The attached link is for the science teachers who are interested in different types of strategies to support the visually impaired students in the classroom. This is the link “ [|Visually impaired student] .”

Having access to classroom’s devices for wheelchair enabled students and students with other physical disabilities are important. Dr. Duerstock asked, "Are these students able to use the classroom’s light microscopes by themselves, dissect frogs, mix reagents, determine fruit fly color and the host of other practical science experiments expected of science students?" Inclusion of students with disabilities in the lab, (2017). Retrieved from [] . The science teacher has to have a classroom where all places in the classroom are accessible to a wheelchair or other transportation a student may use to move. The student’s wheelchair can be equipped with a table use a computer, assignments, and work on projects. The problem may not be the teacher’s knowledge about the necessities to help the physically disabled student, but the special education funds may not be allocated to the science classroom. The accommodations and modifications for a lesson can be done only so far if there is no special education funding for the science department. In order to meet the standards and the demands of the inclusion science classroom, teachers need to receive the proper equipment in the class, access to the classroom, or aids for proper use of equipment such as a microscope. For example, dissections with a scalpel may be difficult for someone with a physical disability without supervision or modifications to avoid harm to themselves or others. Picking up fruit flies can be difficult for someone with limited motor skills.

The demand for assistance from the government is at a very critical point for science teachers to have the proper classrooms, instruments, and classroom models to meet the accommodations and modifications the students need. Below is a table of what makes a school becoming a productive environment for students with disabilities in the general education classroom (inclusion). The federal government according to the Washington News stated, “and funding for disadvantaged students would bump up from $15 million to $16 million”. Three Things Trump did for Education. (2017, March 17). Washington news. Retrieved from []


 * || **Responsible Inclusion **  ||  **Irresponsible Inclusion **  ||
 * Student. || **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Student First **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> The first priority is the extent to which the student with disabilities is making academic and/or social progress in the general education classroom. Ongoing assessment and monitoring of student's progress are critical to success. || **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Place First **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Students' academic and social progress is second to the location in which their education occurs. If the student is in the general education classroom, there is little else to consider because the place is the foremost consideration. ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Resource. || **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Adequate Resources are Considered and Provided for Inclusion Classrooms **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Personnel understand that for inclusion to be successful, considerable resources, both personnel and material are required to develop and maintain effective inclusion classrooms. || **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Resources are Not Considered Prior to the Establishment of Inclusion Classrooms **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Additional resources for the inclusion model are not considered and inclusion classrooms are established with little consideration of the personnel and physical resources required.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Models ** ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Model. || **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Models are Developed and Implemented at the School-Based Level **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> School site personnel develop inclusive models that are implemented and evaluated to meet the needs of students and families in their community. || **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">School District, State, and/ or Federal Directives Provide the Guidelines for Inclusion **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> School-based models are not mandated from above but are developed to meet the unique needs of the community. ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Service. || **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">A Continuum of Services is Maintained **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> A range of education programs are available to meet the needs of students with learning disabilities. It is not expected that the needs of all students will be met with full-time placement in the general education classroom. || **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Full-Inclusion is the Only Service Delivery Model **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> All students are placed in general education classrooms full-time regardless of their needs or their successes. ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Program Evaluation. || **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Service Delivery Model is Evaluated on an Ongoing Basis **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> The success of the service delivery model is considered and fine-tuned in light of the extent to which it meets the academic and social needs of target students. || **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Service Delivery Model is Established and Implemented **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> If problems occur, the personnel is blamed rather than the model evaluated to determine its effectiveness. ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Professional Development. || **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Ongoing Professional Development **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Personnel realizes that for teachers and other key stakeholders to be effective at inclusion models, ongoing professional development at the school site level is required. || **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Professional Development is Not Part of the Model **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Teachers and other stakeholders are not provided adequate time or opportunity to improve their skills and/or increase their knowledge about effectively meeting the needs of students with disabilities. ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">School Philosophy. || **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Teachers and Other Key Stakeholders Discuss and Develop Their Own Philosophy on Inclusion **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> This philosophy on inclusion guides practice at the school and sets a tone of acceptance for all students. All school personnel is able to discuss the school's philosophy and policy regarding inclusion. || **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">A School Philosophy on Inclusion is Not Developed **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Several teachers in the school may participate and understand inclusion but it is not part of the school philosophy as a whole and many teachers are unfamiliar with the model and its goods. ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Curriculum. || **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Curriculum and Instruction that Meets the Needs of All Students are Developed and Refined **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Successful inclusion provides for curriculum and instructional practice that makes adaptations for the special learning needs of students and yet challenges all students to achieve at their highest level. || **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Curriculum and Instruction that Meets the Needs of All Students is Not Considered **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> The success of average and high achieving students is of little interest as long as students with disabilities are included in general education classrooms. Specialized curriculum and instruction for students with LD are not considered. ||
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Role. || **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Roles and Responsibilities of the General and Special Education Teachers are Defined **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Cooperative relationships between the special and general education teacher require a mutual understanding of expectations and requirements that are written and intermittently reviewed. || **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Roles and Responsibilities of the General and Special Education Teachers are not Delineated or Discussed **<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Teachers do not openly discuss their roles and responsibilities. Instead, they are developed piecemeal and without the mutual understanding of responsibilities. ||

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Table received from <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">[] <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 16px;">Annotated Bibliography <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 16px;">Booth, T., & Ainscow, M. (1998). From them to us: An international study of inclusion in education. Psy <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">chology Press. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">This article helped with understanding other people can be difficult.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Department of Education. 2002. Twenty-fourth annual report to Congress on the <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">implementation of the individuals with disabilities education act. Washington, DC: U.S. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Government. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">This documentation was to give the reader a better understanding of all the different disabilities there are in the classroom.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Dr. Duerstock Inclusion of students with disabilities in the lab, 2017. Retrieved from [] <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">This citation is to give a real life perspective of a teacher handling inclusion in the science classroom.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Kavale, K.A., and S.R. Forness. 1995. The nature of learning disabilities. Mahwah, NJ: <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">This journal gives statistics of how many students with disabilities has been increasing in <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">the classroom.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Tomlinson, C.A. (2014). The Differentiated Classroom: Responding to the Needs of all Learners. Retrieved from [] <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">This handbook is where the table comes from on the last page, which describes the right <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">way to treat a student with a disability.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Three Things Trump did for Education. (2017, March 17). Washington news. Retrieved <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">from [] <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 16px;">This news article is to understand how the government is funding schools to have a proper technology for schools to teach students with disabilities.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Vermeij, Geerat. "Science, blindness, and evolution: The common theme is <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> an opportunity." Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities 10 (2004): 1-3. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">This blog is a real-life testimony of a visually impaired gentleman who uses science <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">concepts with tactile model learning.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Wilson, C. H., Brice, C., Carter, E. I., Fleming, J. C., Hay, D. D., Hicks, J. D., ... & <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Weaver, J. (2011). Familiar Technology Promotes Academic Success for Students with <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Exceptional Learning Needs. Online Submission. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">This journal is for the reader to understand how much a classroom should be ready to <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">assist and student with disabilities.