Inclusion by Design

Inclusion by Design, written by Charles Dukes, describes how inclusion in secondary schools can be successful by using intentional design processes. The basic components of these design processes can be comparable to the design processes conducted by engineers. Dukes suggests that teachers should apply engineering principles when designing inclusive education because it greatly enhances teacher's thinking when faced with challenging problems.

Because challenges will arise, Dukes states that applying engineering principles of problem solving helps teachers create an effective design process. Four steps engineers use in the design process are 1. indentifying the problem; 2. identifying the purpose or function of the system; 3. developing design concepts and specifications; 4. and building, testing, and evaluating the system. By implementing these steps while creating a design process, it will help the teachers create an effective teaching method in inclusive education.

Inclusion by Design also suggests that in order for inclusive education to work, special education teachers must expand their focus beyond individual student needs and general educators must release themselves of an exclusive focus on academic content. This being said, professional collaboration between general and special education teachers is imperative for inclusive education practices.

Dukes states that by sticking to these methods of collaboration and using engineering practices to support them, teachers can create an effective teaching design to implement in the complex world of inclusive education.

The general idea made by Charles Dukes in his article, Inclusion by Design, is that teachers should use basic engineering methods as a metaphor for designing inclusive design processes and can only work with collaboration between the special education and general education teacher.

In my view, Dukes creates an effective strategy to organizing and implementing a proper design method to inclusive education. The four steps to thinking like an engineer, as stated in the summary above, creates an organized step-by-step design method that gives teachers a way to acknowledge the problem and solve it appropriately. In order to be effective, professional collaboration must also be present. When collaborating professionally, Dukes suggests that teacher teams must believe in their practices and create a similar vision for inclusive education methods. They must also have time to access and collaborate with each other to create a way to implement these practices. In EDP 203 class discussion, the importance of planning periods was brought up because time is very important when designing the best practice for the inclusive classroom. Planning periods also provide time for the special and general education to collaborate what and how they are going to teach their students together.

The article also states that teachers must use supporting