The 2011 National Federation of the Blind Youth Slam event at Towson University enabled a large group of blind youth to participate in a five day long science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) academy. Enrichment experiences such as this one may generate interest in STEM subjects for students with visual impairments. For decades, persons with disabilities have been discouraged from considering career paths in STEM-related fields. This manuscript addresses the relationship between science faculty, teachers of visually impaired students, students with visual impairments, and the students' parents or legal guardians. Working together, these key stakeholders can draw on their strengths and expertise to better develop an implementation plan for students with visual impairments to have a successful hands-on science learning experience. The 2011 National Federation of the Blind Youth Slam event served as the venue for a new access technology, developed by researchers at Independence Science and Purdue University, to allow students with visual impairments to have hands-on science learning.

This paper describes techniques developed as solutions to problems encountered while teaching blind or visually impaired students in chemistry courses at high school and postsecondary levels. Establishing and maintaining a sound student–instructor relationship is critical to the success and implementation of a plan of action for blind or visually impaired students enrolled in chemistry courses.

Organic chemistry courses can present major obstacles to access for students with blindness or low vision (BLV). In recent years, efforts have been made to represent organic chemistry concepts in tactile forms for blind students. These methodologies are described in this manuscript. Further work being done at Illinois State University is also described that allows a student with BLV to independently make properly Braille labeled structures from the organic chemistry online database via ChemDraw.

In the ClassroomApproximately 3.8% of Americans are blind or low-vision (BLV). Of these 10 million people, only 1.3 million are working age and employed (1). Little data exist, to date, on the number of BLV people who are employed in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)-related professions, although only 2.7% of the STEM workforce reports a disability of any kind (2). Furthermore, data suggest that fewer than 300 people with any reported disability receive a Ph.D. in a STEM field annually (1, 3). The difficulty of providing a direct and independent laboratory experience to high school and college students with BLV is a major factor in this underrepresentation. As adapted and accessible technology becomes more widely available to students who are BLV, their retention in science courses and ultimately employment expectations in STEM-related fields may rise. Improved laboratory accessibility should significantly increase the self-efficacy of students as they perform laboratory tasks (4). Several new developments, both in accessibility tools and teaching techniques, are now available to facilitate this goal. Many of these advances were brought together for the first time by the National Federation of the Blind at the Jernigan Institute's 2007 Youth Slam (5).

To determine whether a suite of audible adaptive technologies would increase the hands-on participation of high school students with blindness or low vision in chemistry and physics courses, data were examined from a multi-year field study conducted with students in mainstream classrooms at secondary schools across the United States. The students worked with sighted laboratory partners. Four categories of data were analyzed with regard to levels of hands-on participation, including quantitative coding of video-recorded laboratory lessons, qualitative assessment of the same videos, student interviews, and teacher interviews. Evidence in support of the efficacy of the technologies to increase the students' hands-on participation during laboratory lessons was substantial. However, certain factors affected the quantitative interpretation of the data: students with usable low vision experienced similar levels of participation both with and without the adaptations, and students with little usable vision often required more time than did students with full vision to accomplish some laboratory tasks. Additional factors inherent to natural educational environments were also determined to have strong effects on student outcomes.