Experiences of Social Studies Pre-Service Teachers Designing Materials for Special Education Students: From the Exhibition “Nothing Can Stop Education

Author : Fatma Torun
Number of pages : 183-200

Abstract

This study has two objectives. The first objective of the study is to determine the effect of the process of designing teaching materials for student with special educational needs (SEN) on the attitudes of social studies pre-service teachers towards the training of student with SEN. The second objective is to reveal the opinions of pre-service teachers about the experiences they have had in the process of preparing and exhibiting material for student with SEN. The study was conducted using the mixed research method. The “Attitude Scale Regarding the Training of Individuals with Disabilities” was used to obtain quantitative data in the study. The scale was applied to the study group twice, as pre- and post-attitude test. The qualitative data were collected through the interview form with five standardized open-ended questions. The study group of the study consists of 52 social studies pre-service teachers. In the analysis of the qualitative data obtained, it was determined that it is not normally distributed and the data were analyzed using the Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test among non-parametric tests and qualitative data were analyzed using the content analysis. According to the quantitative and qualitative data obtained, it was found out with regard to pre-service teachers that; •There is a significant difference in favor of the post-attitudes between their attitudes towards the training of student with SEN, •At the end of the process, there is a high level of positive change in their opinions about student with SEN, and in this context, they have become more sensitive about these students, their prejudices are broken down, and they can empathize with them more strongly, •Their biggest source of motivation in the process of preparing materials for student with SEN is again special education students and contributing to their education by designing educational materials for these students, •The fact that they get support from a school with special education classes in the process of material preparation positively affected the process in terms of guidance, , •It was found out that they had the biggest challenges in this process in the stage of planning and designing. •They felt proud/glad, happy, useful and highly self-confident in the process of the exhibition of their materials.

Keywords

Special Education, Material, Social Studies, Pre-Service Teacher, Student with SEN

Read: 693

Download: 218