Working smarter not harder: Inclusive lessons for middle school science

Abstract

Classrooms are becoming increasingly diverse and the need for effective inclusive strategies is becoming more pronounced. Including students with exceptionalities into general classrooms is becoming the norm, however effective strategies are necessary to facilitate meaningful inclusion rather than superficial sharing of space. This need is especially true in content areas such as science. In these classes, students with exceptionalities tend to complete alternative programs in a resource room or have poor learning experiences in class. This project contains a content analysis of inclusive strategies and presents inclusive teaching resources that can help inclusion in middle school science classes. The strategies surveyed are research-based strategies that a teacher can implement in a general middle school science class. The strategies include technology, collaboration, universal design for learning (UDL), differentiated instruction (DI), strategy instruction, peer assisted learning, behaviour supports, and teacher practices. The strategies were analysed from the point of view of a learning support and science teacher for effectiveness in a middle school science class. A directed literature review was completed to more deeply examine strategies chosen for the teaching resources. Teaching resources were created and included with this project. The teaching resources were designed using universal design for learning (UDL) and other strategies from the content analysis.