Preparing Special Educators to Infuse Real Life Issues into the K-12 Curriculum

Authors

  • Sandra Beyda-Lorie
  • Effie Kritikos
  • Jeffrey Messerer

Abstract

Research shows that educators are not prepared to address real life issues such as substance abuse, HIV/AIDS, and bullying in the classroom. Yet, students with learning disabilities remain vulnerable to each of these pressing life issues. The purpose of the current study was to determine whether the curriculum infusion (CI) model increased the confidence of special educators in addressing real life issues and whether CI training altered their beliefs about their role in prevention education. This paper describes the key components of a higher education training program in CI. The paper also reports the results of pre- and posttest data collected from students who participated in two undergraduate-level courses and one graduate-level course. Findings indicate that the CI methodology positively impacted preservice teacher beliefs concerning the importance of addressing real life issues in instructional plans.

Published

2011-01-15

Issue

Section

Articles