Disabling barriers experienced by students with disabilities in postsecondary introductory physics

Educators and education researchers in postsecondary physics have rarely centered (i.e., intentionally directed attention to) the experiences of students with disabilities, leading to an instructional environment that is not designed to support students with disabilities. In this study, we interview...

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Autores principales:	Westley James, Caroline Bustamante, Kamryn Lamons, Erin Scanlon, Jacquelyn J. Chini
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	American Physical Society 2020
Materias:	Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Physics QC1-999
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/76f9c07d9f794091baf9b7ae6e37df74
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:76f9c07d9f794091baf9b7ae6e37df742021-12-02T13:07:18ZDisabling barriers experienced by students with disabilities in postsecondary introductory physics10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.16.0201112469-9896https://doaj.org/article/76f9c07d9f794091baf9b7ae6e37df742020-08-01T00:00:00Zhttp://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.16.020111http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.16.020111https://doaj.org/toc/2469-9896Educators and education researchers in postsecondary physics have rarely centered (i.e., intentionally directed attention to) the experiences of students with disabilities, leading to an instructional environment that is not designed to support students with disabilities. In this study, we interviewed five students who identified with the diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and were enrolled in introductory physics courses at a public four-year institution. We framed our investigation with a social relational perspective of disability, which posits that an individual’s impairments (referred to as diagnosis characteristics in this paper) interact with social structures to result in disabling barriers (i.e., characteristics of social structures which prevent equal access for individuals with disabilities). We analyzed interview transcripts with interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). We found that the participating students discussed diagnosis characteristics including difficulties with focus, being prone to distractions, difficulties with keeping mental track of tasks and structures, and thinking often about abstract concepts. Diagnosis characteristics identified as challenges could result in negative self-perceptions, possibly as a result of internalized ableism. However, students also expressed that understanding their diagnosis led to benefits such as making more informed choices about their study strategies (e.g., using a planner or chunking their studying time). In alignment with our social relational perspective of disability, we found that course design could support or hinder participants’ ability to use their preferred planning or studying strategies. We also found that students experienced increased barriers in their physics courses compared to other courses, specifically due to the increased time needed to process information and a lack of guidance for how to effectively study content for conceptual understanding. SCALE-UP courses introduced supports due to increased student autonomy but could also introduce barriers due to increased distractions. We present recommendations that instructors can implement to increase course supports. Researchers need to continue to center the experiences of students with disabilities in STEM courses so that researchers and practitioners can identify disciplinarily specific strategies to support student engagement and learning.Westley JamesCaroline BustamanteKamryn LamonsErin ScanlonJacquelyn J. ChiniAmerican Physical SocietyarticleSpecial aspects of educationLC8-6691PhysicsQC1-999ENPhysical Review Physics Education Research, Vol 16, Iss 2, p 020111 (2020)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Physics QC1-999
spellingShingle	Special aspects of education LC8-6691 Physics QC1-999 Westley James Caroline Bustamante Kamryn Lamons Erin Scanlon Jacquelyn J. Chini Disabling barriers experienced by students with disabilities in postsecondary introductory physics
description	Educators and education researchers in postsecondary physics have rarely centered (i.e., intentionally directed attention to) the experiences of students with disabilities, leading to an instructional environment that is not designed to support students with disabilities. In this study, we interviewed five students who identified with the diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and were enrolled in introductory physics courses at a public four-year institution. We framed our investigation with a social relational perspective of disability, which posits that an individual’s impairments (referred to as diagnosis characteristics in this paper) interact with social structures to result in disabling barriers (i.e., characteristics of social structures which prevent equal access for individuals with disabilities). We analyzed interview transcripts with interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). We found that the participating students discussed diagnosis characteristics including difficulties with focus, being prone to distractions, difficulties with keeping mental track of tasks and structures, and thinking often about abstract concepts. Diagnosis characteristics identified as challenges could result in negative self-perceptions, possibly as a result of internalized ableism. However, students also expressed that understanding their diagnosis led to benefits such as making more informed choices about their study strategies (e.g., using a planner or chunking their studying time). In alignment with our social relational perspective of disability, we found that course design could support or hinder participants’ ability to use their preferred planning or studying strategies. We also found that students experienced increased barriers in their physics courses compared to other courses, specifically due to the increased time needed to process information and a lack of guidance for how to effectively study content for conceptual understanding. SCALE-UP courses introduced supports due to increased student autonomy but could also introduce barriers due to increased distractions. We present recommendations that instructors can implement to increase course supports. Researchers need to continue to center the experiences of students with disabilities in STEM courses so that researchers and practitioners can identify disciplinarily specific strategies to support student engagement and learning.
format	article
author	Westley James Caroline Bustamante Kamryn Lamons Erin Scanlon Jacquelyn J. Chini
author_facet	Westley James Caroline Bustamante Kamryn Lamons Erin Scanlon Jacquelyn J. Chini
author_sort	Westley James
title	Disabling barriers experienced by students with disabilities in postsecondary introductory physics
title_short	Disabling barriers experienced by students with disabilities in postsecondary introductory physics
title_full	Disabling barriers experienced by students with disabilities in postsecondary introductory physics
title_fullStr	Disabling barriers experienced by students with disabilities in postsecondary introductory physics
title_full_unstemmed	Disabling barriers experienced by students with disabilities in postsecondary introductory physics
title_sort	disabling barriers experienced by students with disabilities in postsecondary introductory physics
publisher	American Physical Society
publishDate	2020
url	https://doaj.org/article/76f9c07d9f794091baf9b7ae6e37df74
work_keys_str_mv	AT westleyjames disablingbarriersexperiencedbystudentswithdisabilitiesinpostsecondaryintroductoryphysics AT carolinebustamante disablingbarriersexperiencedbystudentswithdisabilitiesinpostsecondaryintroductoryphysics AT kamrynlamons disablingbarriersexperiencedbystudentswithdisabilitiesinpostsecondaryintroductoryphysics AT erinscanlon disablingbarriersexperiencedbystudentswithdisabilitiesinpostsecondaryintroductoryphysics AT jacquelynjchini disablingbarriersexperiencedbystudentswithdisabilitiesinpostsecondaryintroductoryphysics
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Disabling barriers experienced by students with disabilities in postsecondary introductory physics

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