Science is a core curricular area of instruction for all students and the federal mandates of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (2004) and No Child Left Behind (2001) require that students with disabilities are educated in the least restrictive environment and have access to general education science content, based upon rigorous standards. While, most students with visual impairments are educated in the general science classroom, few studies have been done to determine whether appropriate accommodations and modifications are being made in those classrooms to meet the specialized needs of these students. A 35 question survey instrument was disseminated to teachers of the visually impaired through a Visual Impairments Listserve and Facebook group to help determine what pedagogical practices, accommodations, modifications, adaptive equipment and instructional practices are being used to educate students with visual impairments in the United States and Canada. This study helped inform how students with visual impairments are being educated in the science classroom.
The purpose of this study was to understand and describe the misconceptions of students with visual impairments about seasonal change. Students who participated in traditional instruction exhibited alternative conceptions before and after instruction, whereas those who participated in inquiry-based instruction had alternative conceptions before instruction and scientific understandings after instruction.
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