The Center for Assistive Technology and Environmental Access (CATEA) and the Center for Education Integrating Science, Mathematics, and Computing (CEISMC) at Georgia Tech propose an alliance with the Cobb County School System to create SciTrain, a multi-faceted project to enhance the capacities of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) teachers in high schools. Building upon successful research and programs conducted by CATEA and CEISMC, it will use multiple evaluations to determine the most important needs of teachers and focus upon teacher evaluations of project success. SciTrain's goal is to create more effective teachers and more powerful learning experiences for students. SciTrain will create Web-based courses for high school educators to instruct them in the creation of STEM coursework for students with disabilities. The online courses will demonstrate methods for approaching access problems and will train teachers to generate their own ideas and solutions for accommodations. They will provide instruction on the creation of both adapted curricula and labs. Each course will be composed of discrete modules tailored to the needs of teachers, each addressing a fundamental issue in accessible STEM education. Teachers will be able to study individual modules or complete entire courses for continuing education units (CEUs) and professional learning units (PLUs). The result will be improved STEM education for high school students. SciTrain will work closely with Cobb County, Georgia high school instructors to ensure focused research and evaluation of its project results. Courses will be tested with these teachers prior to release to a national audience. Cobb County teachers will also participate in ongoing evaluation of project results, serving as a test-bed for the SciTrain model in action.
Intellectual Merit The proposed program is vital to expanding knowledge about methods and practices to ensure the full inclusion of all students in STEM education. SciTrain will unite universal design practices with several fields of study/activity, including: science pedagogy, assistive technology, human-computer interaction, distance learning and disability studies. The project will leverage extensive prior and ongoing research at Georgia Tech and partner institutions.
Broader Impact The proposed program is vital in providing education for teachers in an area often neglected in their educations. Through improved educational practices, it will enhance accessibility of STEM education for students with disabilities, as well as improving participation in STEM education and careers for these students. Improved STEM education will broaden the participation of students with disabilities currently an underrepresented group in STEM education. SciTrain will also enhance the infrastructure for research and education by providing extensive online resources that can be used by anyone, anywhere to address accessible STEM education.
SciTrain: Teaching Teachers to Provide the Highest Quality Education to STEM Students with Disabilities All students should have equal access to an effective science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM) education. Unfortunately, research shows that students with disabilities often experience significant barriers in STEM coursework. Inadequate preparation of students with disabilities in STEM is one of the major factors limiting the representation of professionals with disabilities in the STEM professions. STEM teachers, in general, do not know how to modify their classrooms, curricula, or laboratories for the benefit of students with disabilities. In order to eliminate this problem, STEM instructors must have the knowledge necessary to create a productive learning environment. With funding from the NSF's Research in Disabilities Education (RDE) program (award # 0622885), Robert L. Todd and staff at the Center for Assistive Technology and Environmental Access (CATEA) at the Georgia Institute of Technology have created a program called SciTrain (www.catea.gatech.edu/scitrain) that conducts research and training to make high school STEM teachers more effective. The project research has uncovered many issues that contribute to the problems in successful STEM education. Using online surveys, focus groups, and longitudinal studies of public high school teachers, SciTrain has discovered that: Most teachers considered themselves comfortable teaching students with disabilities – 68% reported being "comfortable" or "very comfortable," with only slightly less than 5% reporting marked discomfort. Teacher knowledge of appropriate classroom and laboratory accommodations for students with disabilities was questionable. They reported a relatively high rate of use and comfort with some common, easy-to-use solutions, such as enlarged text materials for students with decreased vision (41% of teachers). However, more specialized accommodations were rarely used, even where they were understood to be of great importance (e.g., only 10% of teachers had used large print for lab equipment labels and measuring devices). Teachers accounted for this discrepancy by noting their lack of knowledge of accommodations and where to locate assistive tools and devices. Most teachers (75%) believe they do not have sufficient supports to make accommodations for students. Many noted that they are responsible for all accommodations and lack planning and resources to prevent "re-inventing" them. There was a consensus (63%) that information on consistent practices and planning for accommodations is necessary. In response to teacher needs, SciTrain has created extensive resources: 3 online courses on Accessible Science, Math and Computer Science methods. Each course consists of over 10 hours of training, and includes information on specific disabilities and their potential impact on STEM education, the use of Universal Design principals to make learning better for all students, and how to implement a wide variety of accommodations for students with varied abilities and disabilities. An online at-a-glance compendium of accommodation solutions for teachers who need brief, targeted answers to problems An online publications database that allows teachers to search for published solutions to issues across multiple criteria, then download complete versions of the publications Publication of a book to address accommodation needs of students in STEM classes Accommodating Students with Disabilities in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM): Findings from Research and Practice for Middle Grades through University Education. Available in hardcopy through NSF-RDE or via free PDF at the SciTrain website. Publication of a book to provide basic, just-in-time information to educators who have little experience with students with disabilities entitled Basics about Disabilities and Science and Engineering Education. Available from Amazon.com and Lulu.com in hardcopy and PDF version. The outcomes from this project emphasize the need to improve secondary school teaching methods and outcomes for students with disabilities in STEM courses. The key outcomes from the project directly address the NSF Learning strategic outcome goal of "building strong foundations and fostering innovation to improve K-12 teaching, learning and evaluation in science and mathematics." SciTrain seeks to broaden participation by enhancing the quality of STEM education received by secondary students with disabilities by improving teaching resources and methods. Improved teaching methods and accommodations will promote student success and retention in STEM education, an important step toward inclusion in STEM employment. At a time when the number of people with disabilities is increasing in our country without a comparable increase in the number of scientists and engineers with disabilities, this RDE-funded project is benefiting our society by helping to prepare a diverse science workforce.
