THE DEVELOPMENT OF A SERIES OF ACTIVITIES TO ENHANCE THE KNOWLEDGE REGARDING CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS IN THE INCLUSIVE CLASSROOMS FOR TEACHERS IN TRAINING

Abstract

          This study aims to 1) study the conditions of the teaching and learning management regarding children with special needs in the inclusive classrooms for teachers in training, 2) develop a series of activities to enhance the knowledge regarding children with special needs in the inclusive classrooms for teachers in training, 3) examine the knowledge and understanding in learning management regarding children with special needs in the inclusive classrooms of the teachers in training before and after they have been trained using the series of activities to enhance the knowledge regarding children with special needs in the inclusive classrooms, and 4) examine the satisfaction of the teachers in training with the given series of activities to enhance the knowledge regarding children with special needs in the inclusive classrooms. The research instruments were 1) A series of activities to enhance the knowledge regarding children with special needs in the inclusive classrooms for teacher in training 2) Test of knowledge and understanding about children with special needs. 3) Questionnaire for teacher in training about a series of activities to enhance the knowledge regarding children with special needs in the inclusive classrooms for teacher in training 4) An interview for teacher in training about a series of activities to enhance the knowledge regarding children with special needs in the inclusive classrooms for teacher in training. The statistics were mean, standard deviation and comparison of mean with Match paired t-test. The sample population comprises of 238 undergraduate students in their 1st - 5th Year, majoring in early childhood education at the Faculty of Education, Chandrakasem Rajabhat University during the 2nd Semester, Academic Year 2018. The sampling group comprises of 22 undergraduate students in their 3rd Year that enrolled in the Learning management course at the Faculty of Education, Chandrakasem Rajabhat University during the 2nd Semester, Academic Year 2018. The students were selected by purposive sampling.
          The results of this study were as follow: 1) the conditions of the teaching and learning management regarding children with special needs in the inclusive classrooms for teachers in training were based on lectures in the classroom by one instructor. The students filed in a request to clarify for activity based internship and lectures from an instructor to enhance the knowledge regarding children with special needs in the inclusive classrooms. 2) A series of activities to enhance the knowledge regarding children with special needs in the inclusive classrooms included the video based seminars, lectures, internships, and tests for writing and applying the lesson plans. 3) The students performed better during their knowledge and understanding evaluations after they have received the series of activities to enhance the knowledge regarding children with special needs in the inclusive classrooms with a statistical significant of 0.05. 4) Students showed a high level of satisfaction for the given series of activities. Students showed high satisfactions towards the suitable content along with their course schedule, the instructors who have advised all students equally, and the content evaluation, respectively.