Education Commons^™

Pre-Service Teachers’ Perceptions Of Disability As Represented In Children’S Television Programs, Dusty Columbia Embury, Laura Clarke, Anna Epperly, Jennifer Christensen

Teacher Education Faculty Publications

As colleges and universities prepare pre-service teachers to teach in inclusive classrooms, it is important to understand college students’ schema of diversity. Part of creating an inclusive classroom culture is to understand how children view similarities and differences in others, and how to create a culture of acceptance. One way to create a culture of understanding is to use media representations and popular children’s television shows as a springboard for conversation and acceptance, but before pre-service teachers can use media, they have to first understand the characteristics and qualification criteria for students with disabilities, and also how the community at …