Reaching Science and Special Education Teachers: On-Line and In-Person is being developed by the Educational Equity Center at the Academy for Educational Development (EEC/AED) to provide vital information and teaching strategies around inquiry-based science for students with disabilities. The target audience is K-4 science and special education teachers. The overarching goal is to enable students with disabilities in grades K-4 to fully participate in science, learn skill-building activities, and gain positive attitudes about science that may influence later school and career choices. The project is a collaboration with the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) and Science Education for Students with Disabilities (SESD), a National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) Associated Group. Core activities include professional development seminars offered on-line and at national conferences. The seminars build on an NSF-funded, accessible, standards-based science activity program that includes modifications for students with disabilities. Seminars include strategies, activities, and resources to help participating teachers provide essential science skills and impart in students with disabilities - and their parents - a iacan dola attitude about STEM, beginning in the earliest grades. Further outreach and dissemination to teachers and parents is being conducted in partnership with The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the National Information Center for Children and Youth with Disabilities (NICHCY) at AED. This project is providing science and special education teachers with the tools to bring inquiry-based science to students with disabilities, beginning in the early grades. As a result, students with disabilities will have a better chance of doing well in science in the upper grades, and in using science and technical skills in all or some aspect of their future careers. It is also advancing knowledge across the fields of science and special education. Through a unique combination of on-line and in-person professional seminars, it is bringing information about the needs and capabilities of students with disabilities to science educators, and information about the importance of science to special educators. Project leaders and advisors have expert qualifications in terms of science education, special education, inclusion, professional development, parent involvement, and equity; and staff and advisors include people with disabilities. Evaluation is being conducted, and the field is being kept informed about lessons learned. This project is reaching thousands of science and special education teachers through collaborations with national organizations with extensive outreach: CEC, SESD/NSTA, AAAS, NICHCY, among others. EEC/AED will take full advantage of the enormous number of teachers and parents that can be reached through these national and regional organizations, and the variety of resources, both on-line and in-person, of the organizations that will provide direct access to the target audience.
