Enabling Dreams for STEM
A challenge for the country is that colleges are not contributing enough graduates in the disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics – the STEM fields (Kuenzi, 2008). In particular, business firms demand graduates knowledgeable in STEM for increasing innovations. To address this demand, the authors argue for broadening the student demographics of STEM to include higher-functioning (i.e. less-impaired) individuals with disabilities, as recommended. Colleges have historically not included individuals with developmental and intellectual disabilities at mid-spectrum as matriculating students, as the individuals frequently have inappropriate individual education plans (IEPs) instead of diplomas from high schools. In order to incorporate lesson plans with students with disabilities, these lesson plans must be hands on, also very structured learning where students have to learn at their own pace as well as requiring a lot of attention from the instructor. This will...