Teacher Testimonials

During our hands-on professional learning workshops for teachers, we make the time for past PIRE teachers to lead a discussion panel, sharing their experiences in the classroom last year, and answer questions for teachers who are new to the program. One teacher, whom we will refer to as Alice, discusses her experiences using the PIRE curriculum (http://bit.ly/PIRE-CESE) and project based learning (PBL) in her classes where some students have special needs. Because little research has been done in the last few years discussing science education for students with special needs, and none including the Next Generation Science Standards, Alice’s classroom experiences provide new insight into how integrated classrooms engage with the New Generation Science Standards.

A recent article by Rasmitadila, Humaira, and Rachmadtullah (2019), discusses the use of the experiential learning model (ELM) in a science classroom, shows students who engaged in ELM showed improvement in their problem solving skills and communication. They note that science can be a difficult topic, especially for slow learning students because many science classes still base most of their lessons on textbooks and that moving toward activity-based learning can improve student outcomes. The PIRE curriculum includes hands-on, project based learning activities which can transcend barriers some students face in language as well as tracking for reading. By crafting engaging science environments, students are able to experience and engage with these phenomena in real time: seeing up close with their own eyes and experiencing through completing the experiments procedures on their own. Alice mentioned using project based learning practices to connect with students who normally would not participate in classroom discussions. Special Education students who traditionally abstained from classroom discussions were encouraged to join as they watched their peers become more involved in the lessons. Shared intellectual curiosity created a bond across abilities where all students shared in the experience of “figuring it out” where some students were not advantaged over others.

During the discussion panel, Alice claimed the positive experiences of her students with special needs influenced a number of other students with special needs to request her class as well. Students witnessed and heard second hand the positive classroom experiences and requested Alice as their science teacher for the upcoming year. She noted that even students with a poor attendance record wanted to be involved in science class.

This teacher talks about her experiences using the PIRE curriculum and project based learning (PBL) in her classes where students have special needs. Other students witnessed the positive experiences taking place in her classroom and requested her as a teacher for the coming year.