Accommodating Students with Disabilities in Soil Science Activities

Abstract

Soil science education is lacking in terms of accommodations for persons with disabilities. Individuals with disabilities are often excluded from soil science activities in school, and from soil science careers. GLOBE (Global Learning Observations to Benefit the Environment) is a worldwide, hands-on primary and secondary school-based education and science program led in the USA by a federal interagency program supported by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), National Science Foundation (NSF), and the U.S. State Department, in partnership with colleges and universities, state and local school systems, and nongovernment organizations. GLOBE encourages and promotes science in the classroom by providing students with the opportunity to collect scientifically valid data in the fields of atmosphere, hydrology, soils, and land cover/phenology and report it through the Internet. NASA collects and compiles data from GLOBE students around the world. This project in soil science at the University of Southern Maine originated as a result of the need to make soil science education accessible to individuals with disabilities. The GLOBE protocols were not originally developed using the concept of universal design, so the existing soils protocols were reworked, taking into account students with mobility, visual, hearing, and learning disabilities. A series of accommodations and suggestions were created to assist students with varying abilities, and their teachers. These new protocols were placed in easy-to-follow flowcharts with pictures and illustrations. The hope is that these model procedures will open the doors to soil science for all persons, including those with disabilities.