Abstract:

Our education system is still following the conventional methods from decades, where only teacher behaves as active entity while students are passive learners. This passive approach creates lack of interest, engagement and motivation in learning. Therefore, there is a need to introduce such practices, which enhances student’s motivation and engagement and make them active learner rather than passive. Moreover, creating an inclusive learning environment is a challenging task.

To address this issue, an experimental research design will be conducted in science subject on fifth grade students to measure their learning and engagement, in a school named Allied Schools Excel Branch located in capital territory Islamabad, Pakistan. This is a medium cost school having a chain of schools across country. A total of 25 students will take part in this research. The purpose of this research is to inculcate three basic principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) - provide multiple means of representation, action & expression, and engagement - with collaborative learning activities in primary school Science.

The research is divided into three phases. In pre-intervention phase, a pre-test will be conducted assessing students’ learning on Science. During intervention phase, students will receive UDL infused collaborative learning instruction. In addition to this, these students will be observed on Student Engagement Walkthrough checklist (adopted from ‘Student Engagement Teacher Handbook’ by ‘International Center for leadership in Education’ written by Richard D. Jones). In post-intervention phase, a post-test will be conducted assessing the learning outcome. Moreover, at the end of intervention, the instructor will give an interview to shed light on her experience and observations of students’ engagement. Finally, the data gathered will help analyze the comparisons made between pre and post-test on students’ learning and gauge student engagement during observations.

These findings will help us to take insights into UDL infused collaborative learning approach in science on student’s engagement and learning. Moreover, this research will contribute significantly to the existing wealth of literature and help educators to further explore the inclusive collaborative learning approach in Scientific investigations.

Keywords:

UDL, Engagement, Learning Outcomes, Science, Collaborative Learning, Inclusive Learning.