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The Prepared Practitioner: Universal Design

The Science Teacher—March 2010

According to the Center of Universal Design, universal design (UD) is “the design of products and environments to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptations or specialized design” (Burgstahler 2009). When thinking about UD, teachers often think about students with special needs. However, the idea of UD is to apply principles to design products and environments that meet the needs of people with a wide variety of characteristics; disabilities represent just one of many. Therefore, UD instruction helps all students learn science—and that is what good teaching is all about!
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