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Science
Teaching/Special Educational Needs and York
LEA |
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School: Northfield Special
School |
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Fellow: Richard Dacosta |
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Email: richdac@btinternet.com |
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Final report |
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One of my students at Northfield
once mentioned that ‘…. Everybody
has a disability; it’s just that doctors
don’t know what to call most of them…’ |
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Having recently moved from
mainstream science teaching into a Special
Needs environment and the fact that York LEA
is moving towards a more inclusive educational
provision for all its students, I started
out this fellowship with the aim of drawing
together a collection of resources which would
enable mainstream (science) teachers to deliver
a science curriculum which more effectively
takes into account the various abilities and
disabilities of our students. |
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As a mainstream Head of
Department, I was only too aware of my own
shortcomings in delivering science to children
with a range of disabilities such as ADHD,
Autistic Spectrum Disorders and Cerebral Palsy.
Whilst I had my own methods and tools, developed
over years I still had little knowledge of
effective strategies to enable me to feel
comfortable when confronted with the ‘unknown.’ |
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Much is made of the development
of lesson resources to enable students with
learning disabilities to access the Science
curriculum, yet I personally feel that the
issue is much wider and involves close collaboration
between teachers, support staff and other
carers in order to run the programme effectively. |
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Since September, my own
focus has moved with my involvement in an
ASE/NASEN project – Inclusive Science
which was brought to my notice because of
my own involvement in Gatsby. – The
FIRST spin-off! and a very welcome one.. |
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Over the year I also became
aware of the lack of knowledge/experience,
for want of better terms, of the range of
learning disabilities which classroom teachers
have – At one meeting I arranged, several
teachers commented that they had children
in their groups who were they had been told
had Apsergers syndrome, yet they had little
idea of what the range of ASD actually could
present and what strategies were available
to them. |
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Discussion with teachers
in Special Needs environments has shown that
one of the major issues facing teachers and
students is the (lack of) availability of
suitable resources/schemes of work which give
students the access to science that they are
entitled to. |
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So…… Gatsby
has allowed me to research the good practices
being carried out in many schools where a
more inclusive approach has been adopted and
begin the development of a website ‘toolbox’
which is primarily aimed at bringing together
York teachers and the resources available
to them with the minimum of hassle on their
part. |
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Website Development |
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This will provide a ‘one-stop shop’
for SEN. Pages within the site will include
the following: |
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Hardware
– setting up and using hardware resources
such as switches and touch screens to enable
students’ access to curriculum materials.
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Software
– programmes such as Clicker, Wordbar
and Writing with Symbols are invaluable in
giving students the ability to record and
manipulate observations within science. This
section will also include links to the software
developer’s sites since they offer a
range of freely downloadable resources of
use not just to science teaching but many
other aspects of the curriculum as well |
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Organisations –
NASEN, ASE, for example are accessible directly
on the net or from within sites such as NGfL
or the Virtual Teacher Centre but if within
a site being developed specifically for SN
access then access should be much easier and
more specific. |
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Curricular
- ASE as part of a Government sponsored ‘small
projects initiative’ has developed a
website listing resources available to SEN
teachers. Because of my Gatsby fellowship,
I have been a part of this development since
its inception and continue to contribute to
its steering group |
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Human Resources
– Many teachers I have talked to are
only too willing to pass on their ideas and
materials to others – but we tend to
work in isolation. Time to search out and
to disseminate resources is seen as the biggest
factor holding back the spread of good practice. |
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Future Developments |
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At the present time, I am
approaching publishers of QCA related schemes
to gauge interest in developing resources
which use WWS and Clicker 4 to present materials
which will better enable some students to
access the curriculum |
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Video conferencing between
Northfield School and Ripon College. Though
in its infancy, Steve Robson at Ripon and
myself, are in the process of setting up a
means by which students at Northfield have
access to data and equipment which is not
normally available to them because of cost
or facilities at Northfield. |
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Email Hotline – Students
with email/internet access are provided with
an address (scientist66@hotmail.com) which
allows them to ask questions relating to the
work we do at school and home. This is being
extended via MSN Messenger to working on the
collaborative whiteboard facility within messenger
which allows real-time interaction |
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Being a Gatsby Fellow for
the year has opened up so many avenues of
opportunity, not just in terms of my own professional
development but the development of my subject
area within Northfield and York and as we
move closer to a more fully inclusive educative
process I hope that my efforts will be of
as much use to other staff as they have been
to me |
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