About this time, students are asked: "Where does the acid rain come from?" Let them guess, and talk about it. Then the teacher shows photos of smokestacks belching out clouds of brown sooty looking pollution and explain that once in the atmosphere, the pollutants (they don't need to know the science of precisely what chemicals bond with condensation but they could certainly relate to dirty polluted particles joining with raindrops) return to earth as acid rain. And as an additional part of this curriculum, students should be shown the various products that are produced in the factories that put out the pollution that forms acid rain. The cycle of production, pollution, and consumption is an easy one to teach in a science class -- especially if the instructor eschews textbooks and avoids having students approach literacy and science at the same time. Some of the factories that produce electricity (which students can easily relate to) also produce acid rain. The teacher is not trying to create environmental activists in class, but out of this information there will be special education students who want to write letters to the editor, letters to political representatives and local leaders (re: Banks' "Social Actions Approach").
A good quiz to give students (related to acid rain in a science unit): Name the greatest engineering achievement / innovation of the 20th Century. Show them photos of computers, airplanes, TV, a cell phone, a nice car and the space shuttle. Was the greatest engineering feat any of these -- or was it something else? The answer is surprising. It (according to a nationwide poll taken of engineers by the National Academy of Engineering) was "electrification." Without the power lines and other technologies that bring electricity to homes, schools, and businesses, electricity would be useless. The lights burning in the classroom right now are lighted because of electrification. This is a metaphor...
Without the
wind, for example, seeds for trees would not be blown to new places and grow new trees. Without
school buses, students from outlying country homes would not be able to reach their classroom. Without bees to pollinate the orange trees, we wouldn't have orange juice. Those are just examples but the concept can be carried through for many other science projects.
Works Cited
Chappell, Tracey. (2008). Getting serious about inclusive
curriculum for special education.
Primary & Middle Years Educator, 6(2), five pages.
EdChange. (2008). Curriculum Reform: Steps Toward Multicultural Curriculum
Transformation. Retrieved June 21, 2009, from http://www.edchange.org/multicultural/curriculum/steps.html.
Focus on Exceptional
Children. (2008). Science and
social studies for students with disabilities. 41(2), twenty-six pages. Gale Document Number: A195159929.
Journal of Research in
Childhood Education. (2008). Curricular modifications for Elementary students with
learning disabilities in high, average, and low-IQ groups.
22(3), 233-246.
King-Sears, Margaret. (2008). Facts and fallacies: differentiation and the
general education
Curriculum for students with special educational needs. Support for Learning, 23(2),
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Millar, Ruth, and Morton, Missy. (2007). Bridging two worlds: special education and Curriculum policy. International Journal of
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Pinoy Teach. (2004).
Multicultural Education. Retrieved June 22, 2009, from http://www.pinoyteach.com/curriculum/multicultural.htm.
