Effective strategies and tips for inclusive science teaching

The number of learners receiving support for special educational needs (SEN) or additional support needs (ASN) is rising every year across all four nations of the UK, presenting a range of seemingly unique, additional challenges to teachers. ‘We often get bogged down with thinking this person’s dyslexic, this person has moderate learning difficulties, and when you’ve got five or six children like that in your class, it becomes overwhelming,’ says Rob Butler, an education consultant and former teacher.

To identify what would help students’ learning, Angela’s group worked across 200 schools and identified some key themes. They want teachers to slow down, to summarise the main points, to provide visual or gestural cues and to check back to make sure learners know what they’re expected to do. These strategies work for everyone in the class.

‘It’s not about doing more, it’s about working smarter,’ says Rob. ‘Just make a few tweaks – bullet your paragraphs, try some integrated instructions, add some visuals or [use] structure strips for scaffolding writing.’ Thinking about literacy per se, rather than dyslexia or autism, makes planning simpler, he adds.

Audrey showed me the signs for carbon footprint, atom, catalyst and black hole – they all bring a clarity that comes from seeing them in 3D

Rob notes that the sheer volume of scientific vocabulary that learners need to remember is a challenge to those on the lower end of attainment curves, not just those with speech, language and communication needs. He says that using Frayer models, a graphic approach that helps learners develop understanding of new words and concepts, will help all learners.

Signs of success

Jane says that sign language can help engage all types of learners with new science terminology. During her outreach work, low-attaining students ‘told me they were having difficulties remembering words because they didn’t understand the words’, she explains. ‘They found that having an action linked to the word helped them to remember.’ Signs that visually embody a concept, rather than spell out a word, support comprehension.

‘I’d encourage everyone [to use these signs] because we can see the benefits in terms of comprehension,’ Audrey says. She suggests using them at all stages of education, and gives the example of using the sign for density to help reception children understand why some objects float and others don’t.

In Scotland, Audrey is currently trialling a series of 20 chemistry experiments in a box that incorporate sign language. She hopes to launch them across the UK.

Modelling inclusive teaching

Inclusive teachers ‘need to be observant and reflect on what they observe, and then be responsive’, says Jane. They need to think: ‘that child didn’t seem interested – I wonder why.’

Jane acknowledges that working out why a child doesn’t understand something is time consuming, but she has an alternative: check out research into the aspects of each topic that are the most difficult to learn and can lead to common misconceptions.

Carrying out practical science builds the critical thinking and problem-solving skills needed for life in general

In practical work, Jane says teachers shouldn’t assume that all learners with additional support needs can only learn from an investigation where variables have been pre-identified and alterations planned. ‘Lots of young people I’ve observed who have learning difficulties actually think by doing,’ she explains. As an example, she suggests allowing learners to drop magnesium ribbon into an acid to see what happens, then ask them to think about dependent variables such as length of ribbon or size of beaker.

Accessible experiments

A major challenge for the chemistry education community is how to make such a visual subject accessible to those who are visually impaired.

‘Most kids with vision impairment will be in a mainstream school, and often they’ll say things like, “well, no, I didn’t get to do that experiment. I had to listen while my sighted partner did that one”. So they get left out,’ says Zoe Schnepp, a materials chemist at the University of Birmingham who’s working on how to change that experience.

‘We need a push from the chemistry community to come up with creative ideas’ for supporting these types of learners,’ says Zoe. This is necessary not only to develop their chemistry knowledge, but because carrying out practical science builds the critical thinking and problem-solving skills needed for life in general.

Options for practical lessons include tactile stickers, Braille label markers and notched plastic syringes and beakers – the latter is a solution for handling liquids elsewhere in life too. There are talking thermometers and colour detectors, but Zoe notes these could reinforce a sense of being different and might not always work in a noisy classroom.

Peter Marsh is a support teacher for visually impaired learners and works across schools in the Bolton area. One of his jobs is to adapt materials for students. That could involve anything from advising on print size to decluttering diagrams or making a physical version of a diagram. ‘If there’s a chemistry practical, it might be that I have the child beforehand to go through handling the equipment that their peers will be using so they know what’s what and then, even if somebody supports them with the actual carrying out of the experiment, they get to do it.’

Working out how to modify a resource or choosing how to present it is about ‘understanding what you’re teaching’, adds Peter. ‘What is it that the child needs to come away with from this? What is it they need to know? Then thinking nothing is out of bounds for the children.’

Zoe is exploring using smell to support chemistry learning too. Using different senses may nudge the brain to pay more attention as surprise can enhance learning, she says. Examples include the use of onions to detect the endpoint of a titration. When she did this experiment with a class that includes a learner with low vision, she says ‘everyone loved it’.

Perhaps the next big question for those researching accessible science is to explore whether all the different strategies and adaptations are helping learners to better understand science and keep them signing up for STEM?