Prev. Article Next Article Table of Contents

Article

Effective Laboratory Experiences for Students with Disabilities: The Role of a Student Laboratory Assistant

Citing Articles

Your current credentials do not allow retrieval of the full text.

Purchase the full-text

PDF/HTML,
figures/images,
references and tables,
(where available)

Laura E. Pence , Harry J. Workman and Pauline Riecke

Department of Chemistry, University of Hartford, West Hartford, CT 06117

J. Chem. Educ., 2003, 80 (3), p 295

DOI: 10.1021/ed080p295

Publication Date (Web): March 1, 2003

Abstract

Two separate experiences with students whose disabilities significantly limited the number of laboratory activities they could accomplish independently has given us a general experience base for determining successful strategies for accommodating students facing these situatiuons. For a student who had substantially limited physical mobility and for a student who had no visual ability, employing a student laboratory assistant allowed the students with disabilities to have a productive and positive laboratory experience. One of the priorities in these situations should be to avoid depersonalizing the student with a disability. Interactions with the instructor and with other students should focus on the disabled student rather than the student laboratory assistant who may be carrying out specific tasks. One of the most crucial aspects of a successful project is the selection of a laboratory assistant who has excellent interpersonal skills and who will add his or her creativity to that of the student with a disability to meet unforeseen challenges. Other considerations are discussed, such as the importance of advance notification that a disabled student has enrolled in a course as well as factors that should contribute to choosing an optimum laboratory station for each situation.

Keywords (Audience):

High School / Introductory Chemistry

Keywords (Domain):

Laboratory Instruction

Keywords (Pedagogy):

Hands-On Learning / Manipulatives

Keywords (Subject):

Administrative Issues

View: Hi-Res PDF | PDF w/ Links

Citing Articles

Citation data is made available by participants in CrossRef's Cited-by Linking service. For a more comprehensive list of citations to this article, users are encouraged to perform a search in SciFinder.

This article has been cited by 2 ACS Journal articles (2 most recent appear below).

A Project To Make the Laboratory More Accessible to Students with Disabilities
Suzanne K. Lunsford , Mary Ellen Bargerhuff
Journal of Chemical Education2006 83 (3), 407
- A Project To Make the Laboratory More Accessible to Students with Disabilities
  Suzanne K. Lunsford , Mary Ellen Bargerhuff
  Journal of Chemical Education2006 83 (3), 407
  This article describes project CLASS (Creating Laboratory Access for Science Students) an innovative NSF-funded project originating at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. Project CLASS enables students to participate in chemistry labs regardless of ...
  Abstract | Hi-Res PDF | PDF w/ Links
The Science Teacher: Spring 2005
Steve Long
Journal of Chemical Education2005 82 (4), 514
- The Science Teacher: Spring 2005
  Steve Long
  Journal of Chemical Education2005 82 (4), 514
  The Science Teacher (TST) is the high school publication of the National Science Teachers Association. Articles of possible interest appearing in TST between Summer 2004 and January 2005 include topics on teaching visually impaired students, the history ...
  Abstract | Hi-Res PDF | PDF w/ Links