Integrating Disability: Boomerang Effects when using Positive Media Exemplars to Reduce Disability Prejudice

Individuals with disabilities comprise the largest minority group in the world, yet they are the most underrepresented minority group in higher education, the job market and entertainment media such as literature. This population is often underrepresented because of the overlapping physical, attitudinal and policy barriers that prevent them from participating fully in society. Despite their large numbers, individuals with disabilities not only encounter personalised prejudice, but also experience institutionalised prejudice. In an effort to reduce negative attitudes toward individuals with disabilities, this study examined the effects of positive disability exemplars on people’s attitudes. A comparison between implicit and explicit measures of prejudice found that implicit bias of able-bodied students was more entrenched than explicit biases.     

Is contact with people with disabilities a guarantee for positive implicit and explicit attitudes?

In the past 50 years research on attitudes toward people with disabilities has repeatedly revealed negative attitudes by predominantly using self-report measures. The main aim of the present contribution was to develop an Implicit Association Test (IAT) to assess implicit attitudes toward people with disabilities. For this purpose 47 university students majoring in special education (11 male, 36 female) were asked to complete the IAT in addition to self-reported explicit attitudes (affective, cognitive, and behavioural component). Moreover, the students were asked about the amount and perceived quality of their contact experience with people with disabilities. Results showed that participants reported on average most negative explicit attitudes in the affective, followed by the cognitive and the behavioural component. On average, students were more likely to associate the category ‘disabled’ with the attribute ‘unpleasant’ on the IAT. Overall, explicit and implicit attitudes were only weakly correlated. The amount of contact significantly predicted the three components of explicit attitudes, but not implicit attitudes. The results and limitations of this study will be discussed with respect to their implications for the educational context.     

Teachers' explicit expectations and implicit prejudiced attitudes to educational achievement: Relations with student achievement and the ethnic achievement gap

In this paper, we consider whether teachers' explicit and implicit prejudiced attitudes underlie the ethnic achievement gap. To date, most research on teacher expectation effects has relied on explicit expectation measures that are prone to social desirability biases. In contrast, we examine the effects of teachers' (a) explicit ethnicity-based expectations for academic achievement and (b) implicit prejudiced attitudes about academic achievement on students' actual academic success over time. A total of 38 teachers completed both a traditional teacher expectation measure and a modified Implicit Association Task designed to assess ethnic stereotypes associated with academic achievement and failure. A multi-level analytic framework showed that students in classrooms of teachers with high expectations performed better in reading at the end of the year and that these effects were found across all ethnic groups. In contrast, whereas students' mathematics achievement scores were largely unrelated to teachers' explicit expectations, teachers' implicit prejudiced attitudes predicted student performance. Specifically, students benefited most academically when their teachers' implicit biases favored the ethnic group to which the student belonged. Findings are discussed in relation to differences in the salience of teachers' expectations and implicit prejudiced attitude in the classroom, and the ethnic achievement gap.     

Implicitly measuring attitudes towards inclusive education: a new attitude test based on single-target implicit associations

Recent research on attitudes towards inclusion uses almost exclusively explicit measures such as questionnaires. Unfortunately, explicit attitude measures are biased by social desirability, particularly when the attitude object is ‘sensible’, as with inclusive education. Implicit attitude measures are less prone to social desirability, but research on implicit attitudes towards inclusive education is scarce. Thus, we introduce a new attitude measure based on the Single-Target Implicit Association Test (ST-IAT). In our study, 163 teacher students took the new implicit attitude test and completed questionnaires on their explicit attitudes towards inclusive education and persons with disabilities and a comprehensive scale on socially desirable responding. The results support the psychometric quality of our ‘Inclusion ST-IAT’. The implicit and explicit attitude measures are correlated but empirically distinct. Furthermore, the social desirability scores were associated with explicit but not with implicit attitudes towards inclusion, i.e. our measure of attitudes towards inclusion (a sensible topic) was not biased by social desirability. We propose that implicit measures should be used to reduce the influence of social desirability in inclusive education research. To encourage replications, we outline important research questions and provide the source code of our ST-IAT, which is open and free to use.     

Effects of Intergenerational Interaction on Aging

The world population pyramid has changed shape. However, this does not mean that societies have changed their negative concept of old age. Our study proposes an intergenerational service-learning program with 179 university students and 101 slightly depressed elderly people. The results show that the elderly people who interacted improved in well-being. Those interacting with the young people tended to lower their stereotyped perception of themselves, while the others tended to augment it. The young people tended to moderate their stereotypes of the elderly with or without interaction.     

The roles of teacher and student gender in German teachers’ attitudes toward ethnic minority students

Implicit and explicit attitudes play crucial roles in teachers’ judgments and behavior and might be part of the reason for the varying school performances of ethnic minority compared with ethnic majority students but also of female compared with male students. In this study, we investigated 80 female and 80 male German secondary school teachers’ implicit and explicit attitudes toward female and male Turkish students, expecting more favorable attitudes toward same-gender students. However, implicit and explicit attitudes toward male and female students were independent of teachers’ gender. An IAT revealed more negative implicit attitudes toward female than male ethnic minority students, while teachers explicitly favored female ethnic minority students. Results are discussed in terms of culturally divergent social norms and gender.     

Educational Psychology: Using Insights from Implicit Attitude Measures

Teachers’ and preservice teachers’ attitudes toward students are mental states that may contribute to teachers’ judgments and students’ achievement. However, in the past, educational research has mainly focused on explicit attitudes and has hardly considered the pivotal role of implicit attitudes in predicting behavior. Drawing on the MODE model of how attitudes guide behavior (Fazio 1990; Fazio and Towles-Schwen 1999), this article gives a brief overview of the most common implicit attitude measures. Focusing on two different student groups who experience disadvantages in educational attainment shows that explicit attitudes are mainly positive, while implicit attitudes are negative and more predictive of teacher’ and preservice teachers’ behavior. This article highlights the need for implicit measures in educational research and identifies questions to be addressed by future research.     

Preparing pre‐service secondary education majors for inclusive classrooms in the USA

This study serves as a pilot study for a longitudinal study that will be conducted a year later. The purpose of this research is to determine how a course in special education has impacted secondary general education pre‐service teachers’ attitudes towards individuals with disabilities, teaching students with mild disabilities and the degree of their preparedness (self‐reported) in working with students with disabilities. Forty‐two secondary pre‐service teachers’ reflection papers written at the beginning and end of a mandatory special education course (16 weeks) were analysed using qualitative methodology. The findings supported our research hypothesis that a course in special education with necessary components (i.e. introductory special education knowledge, activities designed to enhance students’ dispositions toward students with disabilities, and instructional strategies that will help general education teachers teach students with mild disabilities at the middle and secondary levels more effectively) can be effective in preparing secondary education pre‐service teachers to work in inclusive classrooms.     

CHANGING STUDENTS' PERCEPTIONS OF AGING: THE IMPACT OF AN INTERGENERATIONAL SERVICE LEARNING COURSE

Ten individuals over the age of 55 were awarded scholarships in order to enroll in an intergenerational service learning course. Through class participation and community service activities, the traditional-age students and senior adult students shared experiences and learned about the processes of aging. A pretest-posttest design using a control group and experimental group (N = 44) was employed in order to assess the effectiveness of this pedagogical method. The results, both quantitative and qualitative, indicate that the course helped to create more realistic views of aging and foster more positive attitudes toward the elderly. Implications of the findings are discussed and include a recommendation for additional intergenerational programs that include senior adults in the classroom.     

Graduate Social Work Students' Attitudes Toward Service-Learning

Service-learning attitudes among graduate social work students enrolled in a course on human diversity and oppression are presented. A survey was administered at the beginning and at the end of the semester to students enrolled in the course, which was taught using a service-learning approach. Among the results were believing that service-learning aided in meeting learning goals and higher overall satisfaction with the service-learning experience. This article expands the literature on service-learning in social work education and promotes the use of this experiential method in social work diversity curricula.     

Preservice teachers' attitudes toward inclusion: Early childhood education and elementary education programs

Abstract

Teachers’ attitudes toward inclusion of children with disabilities play a central role in the successful inclusion of these children into general education classrooms. This study examined possible predictors of preservice teachers’ attitudes toward (1) persons with disabilities, and (2) inclusion of children with disabilities into general education classrooms. Participants were students majoring in early childhood education and elementary education. Preservice teachers’ attitudes toward persons with disabilities and inclusion were explained significantly by their personal relationships with persons who have disabilities and the number of courses related to special education/teaching strategies taken. However, preservice teachers’ experiences working with persons who have disabilities was not a significant predictor. Further, the relations between preservice teachers’ attitudes toward inclusion and personal experience variables were mediated by their attitudes toward persons with disabilities. This study provides evidence that more effective, practical experiences and course content related to children with disabilities, inclusion, and teaching strategies need to be provided in teacher education programs to support successful efforts with inclusion. This study also suggests that teacher education programs should strive to improve students’ attitudes toward inclusion, as well as toward persons with disabilities.     

The Value-Added Nature of Service-Learning

This research explores the benefits of service-learning among a group of Midwestern college students. Students enrolled in a section of a Juvenile Delinquency course served as volunteers at a juvenile detention facility and were studied using a pre-test/post-test survey design. This pilot project also included a comparison group of students in a section of the course which did not involve service-learning. The study compared service-learning to non-service-learning students in terms of attitudes regarding juvenile delinquency, punishment, and attributions of criminal behavior. We also examined any possible effects of service-learning on student academic skills, career goals, and comfort level with delinquents. Overall, we found that the service-learning project was a valuable educational tool having a positive impact on a number of student outcomes. We discuss the implications of these findings for service-learning research and practice.     

BENEFITS OF INTERGENERATIONAL SERVICE-LEARNING TO HUMAN SERVICES MAJORS

The study discussed in this article examined the benefits of service-learning using both (a) pre- and postcourse questionnaire data and (b) answers to open-ended questions from 214 students across four semesters of an undergraduate adult development and aging class. Of these 214 students, 117 (55%) opted for service-learning. Although service-learning in this course did not seem to have an effect on questionnaire scales assessing personal social values, civic attitudes, or academic achievement, data from the open-ended questions revealed numerous benefits associated with service-learning. Advantages of service-learning included improving understanding of course concepts, dispelling myths about aging, and reinforcing career choices. The main disadvantage mentioned by students was the time commitment involved in participating in service-learning. Students believed they learned more in a course based on service-learning than in a traditional lecture-based course. Thus, when appropriately used this instructional method is an effective means of engaging students in the learning process, reducing myths about aging, and introducing students to careers in gerontology services.     

Implicit Association Tests of Attitudes Toward Persons With Disabilities

The authors assessed 3 of the currently available implicit association tests designed to measure attitudes toward persons with disabilities. The Revised Multiple Disability Implicit Association Test, the Implicit Association Test for Attitudes Toward Athletes With Disabilities, and the Disability Attitude Implicit Association Test were related to each other, demonstrating some consistency in measurement. They were mostly unrelated, however, to more traditional, explicit measures of attitudes toward persons with disabilities. In addition, although the implicit association tests were not related to socially desirable responding, the most psychometrically sound explicit measure (The Interaction With Disabled Persons Scale) was related to socially desirable responding.     

Traditional Chinese Values and Attitudes of Chinese University Students toward People with Intellectual Disabilities

The purpose of the study was to explore relationships between traditional Chinese values and attitudes toward people with intellectual disabilities. A total of 534 college students in China participated in the study. Two instruments that measure Chinese values and attitudes toward people with intellectual disabilities were used. Results indicated that the value of cultivation of virtues (benevolence, humanity, and a sense of justice) was positively related to attitudes toward people with intellectual disabilities; and that the values of social traditionalism and cultural inwardness (cultural superiority and intolerance) were negatively correlated with attitudes toward people with intellectual disabilities. Additionally, university students majoring in special education or with more knowledge of disabilities had more favourable attitudes toward people with intellectual disabilities than university students majoring in regular education or with little knowledge of disabilities. Implications of the findings are discussed in the context of socio‐economic environments in China.     

Analyzing service-learning reflections through Fink's taxonomy

Reflection is an increasingly essential component of experience-based learning in higher education to encourage students to draw connections between theoretical and practical knowledge and experiences. This qualitative study examines the reflections of undergraduate students in a service-learning course for secondary English teacher candidates. The authors use Fink's taxonomy of significant learning as a lens through which to examine the learning within and critical natures of students’ reflections. Findings from this study suggest that to consider and extend students’ academic content knowledge and to move students toward new and critical understandings of their service work, reflections should direct students toward more explicit considerations of academic course content over a period of time. To help students write critical reflections that achieve both academic and personal growth learning goals, the authors recommend explicitly teaching the reflective mode, introducing students to Fink's taxonomy, and instructing students to include course content in their reflections.     

Implicit and explicit instruction of spelling rules

The study aimed to compare the differential effectiveness of explicit and implicit instruction of two Dutch spelling rules. Students with and without spelling disabilities were instructed a spelling rule either implicitly or explicitly in two experiments. Effects were tested in a pretest-intervention-posttest control group design. Experiment 1 suggested that explicit instruction of a morphological spelling rule led to instance-based knowledge in students with spelling disabilities and to rule-based knowledge in students without. Implicit instruction led to instance-based knowledge in students with spelling disabilities, and in the group without spelling disabilities no learning at all occurred. Experiment 2 revealed that explicit and implicit instruction of an orthographical spelling rule were equally effective in both groups and that the spelling knowledge they had acquired was instance-based. Findings suggest that explicit instruction is more effective than implicit instruction for the teaching of spelling rules when generalization is aimed at.     

Changing the attitudes of high school students towards intellectual disabilities: the contribution of a social coexistence programme

Students’ attitudes towards peers with intellectual disabilities are mostly negative, and negative attitudes appear more among secondary education students than any other age group. Social coexistence programmes are intervention programmes implemented by school psychologists to manage and change negative attitudes and enforce social interaction with students with disabilities. The research sample consisted of 193 public high school students in Greece who were given the Chedoke–McMaster Attitudes Toward Children with Handicaps (CATCH) Scale. The study aimed to explore whether there is a change in the attitudes of high school students towards peers with intellectual disabilities after participation in a social coexistence programme. The findings showed that students who participated in the programme had more positive attitudes towards people with intellectual disabilities after the completion of the programme. The above findings confirm the research on the possibility of changing attitudes of secondary school students towards peers with disabilities and reinforce the need for the systematic development of social coexistence programmes for the entire student population. Future research should focus on the benefits of students with disabilities from their participation in social coexistence programmes.     

A meta-analytic review of interventions to improve children’s attitudes toward their peers with intellectual disabilities

Children’s biases toward their peers with intellectual disabilities tend to have negative developmental and social consequences for those with intellectual disabilities. As a result, researchers developed intervention programs to reduce biases toward children with intellectual disabilities. This meta-analysis is a quantitative summary of 59 studies and 144 hypothesis tests involving intervention programs to change children’s attitudes toward their peers with intellectual disabilities. Results revealed an overall significant effect (d = 0.44): following intervention programs, children’s attitudes toward their peers with intellectual disabilities increased. Moderators indicate that the most effective interventions were those that occurred over multiple sessions, involved active engagement in multiple strategies and social interactions, emphasized equal status contact that was unstructured or indirect, and had little adult guidance. Interventions had no effect on changing children’s perceptions of competence and participants in junior high had more negative attitudes following the interventions. Findings provide guidance for researchers, educators, and counselors who seek methodologies to reduce biases toward children with intellectual disabilities.     

Bad boys,good girls? Implicit and explicit attitudes toward ethnic minority students among elementary and secondary school teachers

Teachers’ attitudes toward ethnic minority students might differ by students’ gender and the type of school teachers are working in because of different motivations for teaching and different school practices. Hence, the aim of the current research was to investigate elementary (n = 82) and secondary school (n = 82) teachers’ implicit and explicit attitudes toward male and female ethnic minority students. Teachers worked on either a male or a female Implicit Association Test and filled out a gender-specific questionnaire for measuring explicit attitudes. The results showed that elementary and secondary school teachers had negative implicit attitudes toward ethnic minority students, independent of students’ gender. Whereas secondary school teachers were implicitly more positive toward boys, elementary school teachers were implicitly more positive toward girls. Elementary school teachers were more enthusiastic about teaching ethnic minority boys than girls. The findings provide the first insights into differences in attitudes between elementary and secondary school teachers.