The Morality of Inclusive Verses Exclusive Settings

Abstract

In the context of USA society in which the science education standards support inclusion but many teachers report reluctance to include in their general classrooms students with special needs, I decided there was a need to conduct practitioner research in an undergraduate teacher preparation program for elementary/middle level teachers. The courses investigated were a university general pedagogy course and an elementary/middle level science methods course. The focus of my study was an investigation of my prospective teachers' beliefs about and intentions for inclusive science education classroom practice, particularly for students with developmental disabilities. I was particularly interested in detecting if my students held moral considerations related to the inclusion initiative in science classrooms. Research on practice in a field setting by practitioners in that field is known as practitioner-research. The two undergraduate teacher preparation courses examined in this study contained students majoring in one of two types of majors, general elementary/middle level teacher education majors and special education majors. Both majors were enrolled in the general pedagogy course; the science methods course contained only general education majors. My goal was for all of the future teachers (general and special education) to learn ways to collaborate among school professionals and to effectively teach inquiry-based science to students with disabilities (particularly those with developmental disabilities) in inclusive settings. A major goal was to foster a classroom environment that would enable me to challenge by argument (ethically and morally) the societal stigma of "mental retardation" as a reason for exclusion in the general science classroom. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)