Collaborative Research: Opening the Pathway to Technician Careers: A Conference for Biology Teachers of Deaf Students

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This professional development conference, "Opening the Pathway to Technician Careers: A Conference for Biology Teachers of Deaf Students" will address the compelling need for a diverse workforce in the United States by specifically targeting the educational needs of a group of students with unique learning and communication characteristics. The conference will bring together high school teachers, community college biology faculty, and American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters to improve biology education for deaf and hard-of-hearing (deaf/hh) students. Through a focus on Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles and literacy-building case-based learning pedagogy, the conference will improve learning not only for deaf/hh students but for all students in the biology classroom. Biology courses impact large numbers of students because high school or introductory college biology courses are often the only exposure of non-science majors to science. In technician education, biology serves as a gateway course for students interested in technical fields such as agricultural technology, biotechnology, and environmental sciences, where the deaf/hh population is underrepresented.This conference will provide participants with: 1)Education in the use of case-based pedagogies and their potential for enhancing literacy and world knowledge for students within the context of learning biology; 2) Multiple ways to implement principles of UDL in biology classrooms; 3) Best practices for teaching biology to deaf/hh students; 4)Information about technician careers requiring a biology foundation; 5) A community of biology instructors of students who are deaf/hh; and 6) A stronger biology content knowledge. The projected outcomes of this conference include the collection and dissemination of best practices for teaching biology to deaf/hh students using UDL principles, case-based pedagogies, and literacy improvement practices. The conference design will support sharing effective educational resources within and beyond the conference community, continued collaboration of participants, and promoting connections to the broader community of biology educators. Findings from the conference will be presented in a white paper so that best practices and the needs of the deaf/hh community with regards to biology education will be more broadly understood.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.