Inclusive Geometry Curriculum for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Mainstream Classroom: A Curriculum Adaptation Model

Final Defense
Inclusive Geometry Curriculum for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Mainstream Classroom: A Curriculum Adaptation Model

by Vitus Paul L. de Jesus
PhD Mathematics Education Candidate

Date: Wednesday, 17 April 2024
Time: 5 pm
Venue: SEC A 321, Hybrid

Advisers:
Angela Fatima H. Guzon, PhD
Ateneo de Manila University

Panelists:
Romina Ann S. Yap, PhD (Reader)
Ateneo de Manila University
Marie Therese Angeline P. Bustos, PhD(Reader)
University of the Philippines Diliman
Angela Fatima H. Guzon, PhD
Ateneo de Manila University
Matthias Ludwig, PhD
Goethe-Universitat Frankfurt am Main
Reginaldo M. Marcelo, PhD
Ateneo de Manila University

Studies have expressed the need for modifications in the learning environment, curriculum, instruction and activities of language-challenged learners like the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing (D/HH) learners, espe- cially those mainstreamed or placed in predominantly hearing classrooms. In light of the well-established and well-proven existence of D/HH learners’ achievement gap in Mathematics, and the benefits of curricu- lum modification to learners with special needs, the study aimed to conceptualize a curriculum adaptation model.

Subscribing to both scientific and humanistic approaches of evaluation of Tyler (1949) and Eisner (1994), the conceptualization of the curriculum adaptation model underwent three stages. After the modifiable compe- tencies have been identified, the curricular components of learner competencies/outcomes, time allocation, learning experiences, assessment of learning, and learning materials were assessed using Eisner’s evaluation model. Content analysis uncovered the interaction of these curricular components and allowed the “untan- gling” of van den Akker’s (2009) curricular web. The result is a curriculum adaptation model that commences from well-defined learning competencies to an inseparable group of learning experiences, materials, and the emerging components of grouping and teacher-interpreter relationship, to means of assessing student learn- ing, and finally, to time allocation. Two other components of optional remediation and non-Mathematics instruction related activities emerged in the cyclic adaptation scheme.

The curriculum adaptation model can serve as a template for recreating curricula in other Mathematics sub- jects for the community of learners in the D/HH mainstream classroom, and of other mainstreamed learners with special needs, and with unique learning contexts. Curriculum developers may opt to adopt it, build on it, or modify it. Curriculum experts and educators may even challenge it as the proposed model emphasizes the importance of developing and modifying curriculum in a systematic and scientific manner.