Inclusive practices can produce

higher rates of participation.

Daniel Francis
Luke Bourland
Introduction
● Inclusion
○ the action or state of including or of being included within a group or structure. (Oxford
Languages)
● Participation
○ the action of taking part in something. (Oxford Languages)
● Exclusively belong together and need to exist together to achieve a strong
culture within your classroom.
○ Civic Behavior (Myoung & Liou, 2022)
○ Accessible tools (Blood, 2010)
○ Effective grading in terms of participation (Bean & Peterson, 1998)
Rationale/Purpose
● Teaching Government or Civics is challenging in nature.
○ Now incorporate political climate
○ Varying opinions
○ Fear of social ostracization
○ Etc.
● Inclusionary methods in the classroom that promote participation in the
classroom could potentially alleviate these problems?
○ Help create a safe environment for students to participate.
○ Promote a healthy classroom culture.
Hypothesis
● Inclusionary methods in the classroom can increase participation in the
classroom.
○ Help create a safe environment for students to participate.
○ Promote a healthy classroom culture.
● Are there certain inclusion methods that work better then others?
○ Electronics
○ Language used
○ Unit and Lesson Planning Methods
● What behaviors in the classroom exist that aid student performance?
○ Positive Reinforcement
○ Student Interaction
Summary of Lit Review
● Blood, 2010
○ Student Response Systems and the utilization of electronics tools to make the classroom
more inclusive and increase participation.
○ Data supports that using tools like SRS’s can improve student participation
● Bean & Peterson, 1998
○ Participation grades are deeply rooted in American Grading.
○ 93% of the university observed had some sort of participation grade in their classrooms.
● Myoung & Liou, 2022:
○ Civic behavior and attitudes are potentially developed in the classroom.
○ It is important that classroom cultures help hone these skills.
Summary of Lit Review (cont.)
● Comber & Hayes, 2023
○ Active listening practices can help learn the full context of students.
○ Comber & Hayes assert that when students notice that educators are looking at the full context of their lives, they
are more receptive to complex and open discussions.
● Ghoshal, 2019
○ Surveys not only help educators see where change needs to be implemented, it also helps consider the
aforementioned context of our students.
○ Asking questions in the form of a survey can show students that educators care about their opinions, which will in
turn show we care about the full context of their lives, which will then boost inclusivity and discourse.
○ It is crucial to implement the feedback received in these surveys, or else trust can be lost.
● Levine & Kawashima-Ginsberg, 2013
○ Context outside of the classroom matters significantly, because it is shown to be where a lot of opinions are formed
for students.
○ The Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement found in a survey that the biggest barrier to
an open classrooms’ success is the political opinion of parents and the influence it has on children.
Methodology
● Our research hypothesis was that creating more inclusive classrooms will
move educators closer to hearing the most genuine thoughts of their
students.
○ Our participants were government and civics students at two separate high schools in the
Northern Colorado Area.
○ The age of the students were ninth, 10th, and 12th grade students.
○ Our data was collected by administering a Google Survey to the separate classes at the
end of a lesson.
○ The data was observed in a quantitative manner and was put together by Google Forms.
○ Forms aggregated the data into one Excel style spreadsheet.
■ From this spreadsheet graphs were made to assess the data in a visual manner.
■ From these graphs we were able to make assertions of positive correlation with the
increase in use of inclusive practices.
Results
● Inclusion tools lead to Increased participation.
○ Anytime this survey was administered in the classroom, an inclusionary tool was used.
○ Our data makes the assertion that whenever an inclusionary tool was used, students
were more apt to participate in the lesson.
● Students want to promote positive classroom behavior.
○ Students were found to be more likely to help promote positive behavior, more likely to
participate in student led work, and less likely to discourage their peers in participating.
● In all, students want a positive classroom environment.
Limitations
● No control group
● Lack of control over extraneous variables
● Lack of sample size
● Lack of time
● Lack of control over the participants we have access too
Significance of Findings
● There was a general trend seen that when an inclusion method was
introduced in class there was an in increase in participation.
● On our Five Point-Likert Style Form:
○ General Positive Trend
○ Neutral population as well
Significance of Findings
● There was also a general positive trend seen as well when observing if an
increase in electronics in the classroom in relation to our inclusive
method.
● However, there was a general trend towards more students holding a
neutral stance.
Significance of Findings
● In relation to our hypothesis it can be concluded when observing this
limited sample size that there are merits to incorporating inclusive
methods that can increase overall student participation.
Action Plan
● In order to effectively implement the data from this study it is crucial to
spend time researching different inclusionary methods.
● Additionally, it is important that students are constantly given chances to
participate, and invited into the lesson.
○ Some students may naturally be wary, but encouraging every student equally will help
build a positive classroom culture.
● In addition to this, administering a survey for honest and immediate
student feedback is important in that it will help show us as educators
how we can effectively include students in lessons.
● Continuing the dialogue of inclusion with students, and gathering data
surrounding inclusion, will allow teachers to improve the overall
classroom experience for everyone involved.