Jenny Lu SURF SMART
The Impact of Inclusive Design on Perception of Disability in Courses
This summer, my graduate mentor, Taormina Lepore, and I will be working on a project aimed at understanding the effectiveness of inclusive design on disability perception in college paleobiology courses. Using student survey data collected from UC Berkeley and three other U.S. universities about experiences with an in-class digital inclusive design project, we will practice mixed methods of analysis with Microsoft Excel VLOOKUP functions, MaxQDA, and R-package software. For example, we will mark and code themes in a large body of survey response text and compile a thematic codebook product that can be used in peer-reviewed publications. The long-term goal of this project is to understand how inclusive, creative projects can help expand perceptions about disabled people in science, while at the same time also building skills in science pedagogy, disability advocacy, and education research. Throughout the summer, I will learn more about inclusive design methodologies and the impact of producing creative digital projects at the intersection of disability equity, inquiry-based learning, and digital science communication.
Message To Sponsor
Thank you so much for funding my research this summer. I am very grateful to be able to have the opportunity to work on such an interdisciplinary project. This project has opened my eyes to many new ideas surrounding biology that I have never thought about before. It would not be possible without your generosity.