Science education for students with special needs

Why ‘science for all’ is only an aspiration: staff views of science for learners with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities

“…This may also be reflected in the staffing for outreach for SEND; two of the groups were accompanied only by a member of support staff, and they reported that their school would not sanction the release of a teacher for the event, whereas none of the staff at the ‘regular’ festival was anything other than a qualified teacher. The disparity in support reflects that documented previously (Villanueva et al, ). A further illustration of this ‘educational triage’ process (Booher‐Jennings, ) is hinted at by the data on practical laboratory work.…”

“…The facilitation of participation in group work has been found to help to counter these difficulties, possibly because group work fosters social constructivism but also because it enables peer support to occur, which seems to be especially helpful for learners with ID. Similarly, enquiry learning may help to redress this deficiency in prior learning and background knowledge (Villanueva, ; Özgüç and Cavkaytar, ; Watt et al, ) by enabling pupils to assimilate concepts at a rate which they can learn. However, these social constructivist learning strategies are vulnerable when a content‐rich curriculum is being taught in a climate of high‐stake assessments.…”

“…A specific example of the erosion of practical work is the manner in which the design and implementation of practical science investigations has been diminished in recent times (Watt et al, ). Again, the loss of opportunities for practical science enquiry is especially disadvantageous to students with ID, (Villanueva et al, ). Moreover, practical work is offered at a literal as well as a figurative price and this may not be seen as justified for learners who will not become future science specialists.…”

“…The purposes of science education and science outreach Successive science curriculum developments have variously focused either on conveying the intrinsic value of science, instilling the science knowledge required by future citizens, or on the development of an elite group of science specialists (Wellington, 2001). The dominance of the tension between the latter two outcomes has reduced a complex, overlapping set of purposes to a dichotomy, with the wider concept of science being popularly represented by Fensham's (1985) phrase 'science for all'.…”

A multilevel analysis of diverse learners playing life science video games: Interactions between game content, learning disability status, reading proficiency, and gender

“…Distinct reasons for difficulties encountered by students with LD and other struggling learners in science include the following: (1) science teachers’ lack of knowledge and understanding of how to plan for learner differences (Villanueva, Taylor, Therrien, & Hand, ); (2) teachers’ low performance expectations of struggling learners (Marino, Israel, Beecher, & Basham, ); (3) lack of positive informal science experiences (Carnevale, Smith, & Melton, ); (4) reading and mathematics difficulties (Fede, Pierce, Matthews, & Wells, ); and (5) inaccessible science curricula that do not accommodate for access issues (Basham & Marino, ; Israel, Maynard, & Williamson, ). These systemic barriers impede the science persistence and achievement of many students with LD.…”