While recent calls throughout the engineering education community have focused on increasing diversity and broadening participation in STEM, these conversations typically center on race and gender with little to no work addressing disability. But research in higher education broadly suggests that cognitive, physical, and learning disabilities can markedly impact the ways in which students perceive and experience school, develop professional identities, and move into the engineering workforce. To address this gap, we build on emerging conversations that explore the ways in which students experience disability within the context of engineering education. In particular, we conducted an initial grounded theory analysis of interviews examining professional identity formation in undergraduate civil engineering students who experience disabilities. From our analysis, we observed three themes that begin to highlight ways in which the experience of students with disabilities may contribute to their development as emerging civil engineers.
more »
« less
Identifying Academic Ableism: Case Study of a UDL-Learning Community Participant
To improve accessibility and inclusion in postsecondary STEM education, we propose implementing Universal Design for Learning (UDL) based practices to meet the needs of a variety of learners. The UDL is a design framework aimed at improving and optimizing teaching and learning for all people, regardless of their disability status. As part of a larger professional development project, interviews were conducted with members of a faculty learning community to discuss their instructional practices and to offer feedback regarding opportunities to remove barriers to access and participation. In this paper, we focus on an interview with a physics instructor and examine their beliefs about students with disabilities as evidenced by the disability-specific language used in the interview. This prompted a new perspective on professional development regarding accommodating students with disabilities that focuses on confronting ablest beliefs as a crucial component in promoting inclusion in STEM education.
more »
« less
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10421647
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Physics Education Research Conference
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 106 to 111
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
-
Every person has abilities across a multidimensional spectrum; however, previous research has indicated that postsecondary faculty are unaware of how to support students with a broad range of abilities in their courses and receive little training about inclusive teaching strategies. On average, STEM faculty have demonstrated more negative views toward students with disabilities than instructors from other disciplines. As such, we want to better understand physics instructors' beliefs about people with disabilities and their inclusive teaching practices. The Inclusive Teaching Strategies Inventory (ITSI) was developed to measure postsecondary instructors' beliefs and practices related to disability and supporting people with disabilities across disciplines. Through a pilot administration of this survey, we found that STEM faculty experienced difficulties in responding to the survey. Thus, we modified the ITSI for use with STEM faculty. We present our modification process, describe specific modifications made to the ITSI, and discuss preliminary interview and survey data.more » « less
-
Through a mixed-methods approach that utilized teacher surveys and a focus group with computer science (CS) instructional coaches, this study examined elementary teachers’ confidence in meeting the needs of students with disabilities, the extent to which the teachers could use the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework in CS education, and the strategies that their CS instructional coaches used with them to help meet the needs of all learners, including those with disabilities. Findings from a Wilcoxon signed-rank test and a general linear regression of the teacher surveys revealed that teachers’ confidence in teaching CS and in meeting the needs of students with disabilities increased over the 5 month coaching study, but their understanding of UDL remained low throughout the study. A qualitative thematic analysis of open-response survey questions revealed that the teachers could identify instructional strategies that support the inclusion of students with disabilities in CS instruction. These strategies aligned with high leverage practices (HLPs) and included modeling, the use of explicit instruction, and opportunities for repeated instruction. When asked to identify UDL approaches, however, they had more difficulty. The focus group with coaches revealed that the coaches’ primary aim related broadly to equity and specifically to access to and the quality of CS instruction. However, although they introduced UDL-based strategies, they struggled to systematically incorporate UDL into coaching activities and did not explicitly label these strategies as part of the UDL framework on a consistent basis. This finding explains, to a large extent, the teachers’ limited understanding of UDL in the context of CS education.more » « less
-
This paper describes exploratory research that contributes to a more holistic model of professional development (PD) for middle school STEM teachers to support inclusive makerspace classrooms. Despite an increased focus on maker education in K-12 settings, teachers have reported limited support to deliver such instruction, especially with academically diverse learners. This case study examined instructional supports for teachers, including professional development and coaching focused on makerspace classroom activities, as well as structural conditions, the integration of metacognitive learning strategies, positive behavior supports, and Universal Design for Learning (UDL). Analysis of teacher interviews, surveys, and classroom observations revealed that teachers acknowledged the need for ongoing PD and the inclusion of UDL components into their lesson planning.more » « less
-
Colleges are becoming increasingly diverse, including strengthening representation of students with disabilities in STEM (Science, Teaching, Engineering, and Math) fields; however, representation still lags behind national trends. To adapt to this changing demographic and improve representation, STEM college professors must be prepared to grant equitable access to the STEM curriculum and enhance scientific communication skills. This practice brief outlines how a college science faculty applied the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework to improve scientific communication skills equitably among college students with diverse needs during a 10-week NSF-REU (National Science Foundation – Research Experiences for Undergraduates) at the host institution summer program during the COVID-19 pandemic. It also provides recommendations about how students with disabilities (i.e., chronic illness, chronic pain, depression, anxiety, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder [ADHD]) which may have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Applying the UDL framework increased student confidence in applying the scientific method and led to gains in students' perception of their ability to use their skills to solve scientific problems. STEM faculty can use the lessons from the NSF-REU summer program outlined in this work to develop inclusive and accessible STEM programs for students with diverse needs across the country. Moreover, this work highlights the need for STEM faculty to involve Disability Services coordinators as active members in research programs to ensure equity and inclusion.more » « less
- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
-
Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Conference Paper:
- https://doi.org/10.1119/perc.2022.pr.Coffie
