Social Media and Student With Disabilities

In the past decade, social media has become an increasingly prevalent, being the daily form of communication and entertainment for a majority of individuals. Social media and networking sites are not designed to appeal to a specific type of personality and are designed to benefit many. The students of Generation Z respond positively to teaching styles that incorporate technology-based learning, and frequent communication or feedback. Gen Z students with disabilities are entitled to the same opportunities and experiences as their peers without disabilities. This includes being exposed to various forms of social media to discover alternative ways to communicate, interact with the community, find information and access entertainment. While other members of Generation Z possess the capability to pick up a smart phone or computer, create a social media account and figure out the functions independently, students with disabilities may require explicit instruction, strategies and practice with social media usage.

Challenges and Victories of Virtual Environments With Students With Disabilities

The COVID-19 pandemic that began in 2020 altered the educational environment for everyone. Moving from an in-person environment to a virtual one can be highly problematic for individuals (specifically, students with disabilities) whose teachers most often use direct instruction strategies that require face-to-face interaction. This chapter will help the reader understand the variations of the characteristics of the different disability categories served under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). This chapter will provide the readers with instructional strategies that effectively mitigate difficulties with instruction in a virtual environment. Additionally, this chapter will examine the challenges observed in students with disabilities that make accessing the virtual educational setting problematic. These areas include race, culture, disability, and low socioeconomic factors. Finally, this chapter will provide the reader with tips from teachers and students as they have struggled to navigate this new educational environment.

Embodied Instruction: An Exploration and Qualitative Comparison of Expression and Performance of Yoga Instruction

Background: An inclusive, whole-child model of education is shifting the paradigm into an integrative mind-body approach. Toward contextualizing learning at the close of the cartesian era, the current work explores embodied instruction through the lens of a teacher whose primary focus is the integration of mind and body. Perhaps the longest standing curriculum aimed at embodied learning, yoga provides a unique perspective on techniques and experiences of embodied teaching.Method: This case study employed an in-depth explorative participatory design to observe instructor intentions in and performance of instruction. Consecutive interviews (5) in conjunction with participatory observation of weekly classes (8) were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim, and triangulated with researcher memos. A grounded and comparative methodology was used to analyze expressed understanding of embodied learning and performed instruction.Results: In-depth interviews revealed four themes of expressed understanding of embodied instruction: energetic state, personality of instruction, inviting experience and student vulnerability. Participatory observations revealed four themes of performance of embodied instruction: scoping, cadence, silence, and inviting practice. Overlap in expressed understanding and observed instruction were found in each theme. An example of the expressed understanding of a thematic concept is inviting experience: “If someone comes in the very first time and the teacher is very invasive and says, “Do this, do this, do this.” And the next pose the teacher is hovering over them, you are not going to go back. You are going to hate it so much [I] let people be really all over the place at the beginning as long as they are safe. [I] allow them that kind of freedom, initially”. This was further supported in the observed instruction; an example of this is: “We’re going to play with [a posture]. that firmness in your abs, engage the core so a foot might lift. Maybe both feet.” And “with the arms firm, maybe the legs straighten”.Conclusion: The current study yields preliminary insight into yoga instruction strategies to support further development of embodied teaching and learning.

Using Differentiation Strategies for Gifted Pupils in Primary School Science Classes

The aim of this study was to determine the extent to which gifted pupils receive differentiated instruction in primary school science classes, which of the differentiated instruction strategies are used by teachers and how often. The survey sample included 134 primary school teachers. The results show that teachers frequently use questioning and thinking activities but make only minor modifications in the regular curriculum to meet the needs of gifted pupils. Gifted pupils rarely engage in activities such as providing challenges and choices, differentiated reading and writing assignments, individually set work, activities involving curriculum modification, and enrichment centres.

Effectiveness of Differentiated Instruction in Higher Education

The main purpose of differentiated learning is to provide opportunities for continuous development to any learner and relies on the existence of significant differences between learners. Teaching environment and instruction strategies created according to readiness, learning style, age and interests increase the learner’s motivation, involvement, the degree of achievement of the result, which lies in the formation of knowledge, skills and attitudes according to individual ability. The differentiation theory is employed in two different formats, the first based on teaching activities designed to take into account all learners’ modalities, when the student achieves maximum understanding of the issue with the activity corresponding to his/her dominant modality, and the second format is designed to form groups according to the learning modality and to select appropriate assignments for them; the weakness of the latter is the recognition of the student’s modality by the teacher. According to studies, the desired result is given by the mixed use of both formats.