Making Environmental Education Accessible for All Students: Inclusion of students with emotional and behavioral disabilities

Abstract

One of the most difficult tasks of an educator is engaging students in rigorous learning opportunities. A greater challenge is finding ways in which environmental education can be accessible to all students, especially those with emotional and behavioral disabilities. This article and lesson provides best practices for engaging students with high incidence disabilities in environmental concepts through varied representations and expressions of content. In addition, teaching collaborative protocols to fully engage students with social skills challenges within the local environment are discussed. The instructional approaches are aligned to increasing academic discourse, building positive peer-peer relationships, and observation using multiple modalities.