Article
Pre-Service Teachers’ Perceptions of Disability as Represented in Children’s Television Programs
Kentucky Journal of Excellence in College Teaching and Learning
(2013)
Abstract
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
large perceives children with disabilities. This research investigated pre-service teachers’ understanding of
proportionality and equality in children’s television programming. University undergraduate students applying to or
already admitted into teacher education programs watched several hours of children’s television programs and
answered questions about the number of characters they observed with disabilities, as well as the way these
characters and their disabilities were presented in the show. The research showed that pre-service teachers
disproportionately identified more television characters as having disabilities. Implications for practice include
increasing early knowledge of IDEA categories and focusing on positive inclusive models in children’s
programming and media.
Keywords
- pre-service,
- teachers,
- perceptions,
- disability,
- children’s television,
- disability representation
Disciplines
Publication Date
2013
Citation Information
Dusty Columbia Embury, Laura S. Clarke, Anna Epperly and Jennifer E Christensen. "Pre-Service Teachers’ Perceptions of Disability as Represented in Children’s Television Programs" Kentucky Journal of Excellence in College Teaching and Learning Vol. 11 Iss. 2 (2013) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/DustyColumbiaEmbury/8/