Ambiguity in Speaking Chemistry and other STEM Content: Educational Implications

Isaacson, Mick D.; Michaels, Michelle

doi:10.14448/jsesd.07.0001

Cited by 6 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…Next, the rendering of u as ∂ is due to the oral rendering of the two expressions: the oral expression "partial derivative (bar u)" was perceived and orally dictated as "(partial derivative bar) u", that is, with a different grouping of each subexpression. Of course, the above errors are caused by the ambiguous manner of informally expressing mathematical formulas by the two evaluators and not by the Nemeth language itself, which is designed to avoid ambiguities (Isaacson & Michaels, 2015). The checking of the Nemeth output by the authors of this paper confirmed that only one distinct error was produced in the printed Braille/Nemeth representation by the transcription tool itself.…”

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confidence: 58%

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A Direct TeX-to-Braille Transcribing Method

Papasalouros

Tsolomitis

2015

Proceedings of the 17th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers &Amp; Accessibility - ASSETS '15

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The TeX/LaTeX typesetting system is the most widespread system for creating documents in Mathematics and Science. However, no reliable tool exists to this day for automatically transcribing documents from the above formats into Braille/Nemeth code. Thus, visually impaired students of related fields do not have access to the bulk of study material available in LaTeX format. We have developed a tool, named latex2nemeth, for directly transcribing LaTeX documents to Nemeth Braille, thus facilitating the access of blind students to Science. In order to support the extensive set of Mathematics symbols covered by TeX, we propose some new symbols based on the extension mechanisms of the Nemeth code.

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confidence: 58%

“…Students with disabilities are underrepresented in STEM (Science Technology and Mathematics) fields (Isaacson & Michaels, 2015). Inadequate access to specialized content, in the form of scientific documents, is likely to discourage students with blindness or low vision (BLV) from studying and pursuing STEM careers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Direct TeX-to-Braille Transcribing Method

Papasalouros

Tsolomitis

2015

Proceedings of the 17th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers &Amp; Accessibility - ASSETS '15

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“…Students with disabilities, including students who are blind and have low vision (BLV), are underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) (Statistics, National Center for Science and Engineering, 2017;Isaacson & Michaels, 2015). While it is not well understood why a smaller percentage of students with disabilities pursue a degree in STEM fields than the general population, it is important to support those that do (Statistics, National Center for Science and Engineering, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In chemistry, much of the resources and literature for instructors teaching chemistry focusses on lectures and activities used to transfer knowledge to BLV students (Supalo, 2010). Since chemistry is often taught in a very visual way, approaches including 3-D models and tactile model kits (Boyd-Kimball, 2012), tactile drawings (Supalo, 2005), and reducing ambiguity when describing concepts (Isaacson & Michaels, 2015), especially mathematical equations (Nemeth, 1995) have been reported for general and specific chemistry concepts. Additionally, specific adaptations for BLV students in laboratory are also available (Supalo, 2010;Kroes, Lefler, Schmitt, & Supalo, 2016;Miner, Nieman, & Swanson, 2001;Supalo, Mallouk, Rankel, Amorosi, & Graybill, 2008), as well as limited literature that includes the perspective of BLV students (Harshman, Bretz, & Yezierski, 2013;Supalo, Humphrey, Mallouk, Wohlers, & Carlsen, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

My Experience Teaching General Chemistry to a Student who is Visually Impaired

Stewart¹

2018

JSESD

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This paper summarizes my experience with teaching a first-year, General Chemistry course to a visually impaired student. This includes accommodations and modifications for both the lecture material and the laboratory. Included are also examples of formats and syntax for txt-based quizzes, tests, and laboratory reports, as well as other general accommodations for both the student and the service dog.

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“…Speaking clearly about your research is just as important as writing clearly. When ambiguity in word choice was eliminated from orally describing STEM terms, there was increased understanding among students even when they did not have access to accompanying visual or written materials [18,19].…”

Section: Additional Resourcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Making Scientific Content More Accessible

Goring¹,

Whitney²,

Jacob³

et al.

Authorea

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E ach year, scientists present their work at conferences and other public forums and use a range of illustrative materials to help communicate the science more effectively. Much of this accompany ing material is then published or posted online. Improving communication is critical because it facilitates collaboration with colleagues, policy makers, and key stakeholders and helps us share our science with broader publics. However, in preparing these supporting materials, one audience group has consistently been forgotten: people with sensory disabilities. People with vision and hearing dis abilities make up 19% of the US population but only 4.5% of all doctoral recipients in 2014 (the most recent reporting year from the NSF). Neglecting the needs of these individuals in public scientific presentations creates a considerable barrier to their participation in the sciences.Many of the core principles of accessibility for presentations are about color choice, proper use of head ings, and clearly labeled figures. These design elements improve experiences for all audiences but are of critical importance to people with sensory disabilities. Given the importance of public presentations for building professional networks and developing new contacts, accessibility benefits the entire scientific community. It removes barriers for presenters and audience members with disabilities, while facilitating communication and connections between scientific peers that last far beyond any single event.Professional scientific societies have made considerable and intentional strides toward inclusivity. However, the primary methods of professional communication and socialization -conference talks, seminars, and poster sessions -often present barriers when steps are not taken to accommodate and engage individuals with sensory disabilities. Small changes, like making presentations and posters available online before talks, are within the purview of societies and conference organizers, and could make an important difference to users of assistive technology such as screen readers.Increasing the engagement and participation of people with sensory disabilities is almost never men tioned in professional communication resources. Indeed, the advice they give sometimes contradicts established guidelines, encouraging presenters to eliminate captions and text on slides or making state ments such as "audiences can read your slides too", which fail to acknowledge the presence of scientists who cannot. These articles can give the impression that disabled scientists aren't a part of the commu nity, don't attend public presentations, don't present their own work, and aren't reading research articles or consuming web resources. As both creators and consumers of presentations, the contribu tions and needs of scientists with disabilities deserve to be addressed.The most important step that individuals can take is simple: "consider accessibility". This can mean evaluating color choice and contrast, using headings and document markup, modifying graphic design ch...

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Ambiguity in Speaking Chemistry and other STEM Content: Educational Implications

Cited by 6 publications

References 4 publications

A Direct TeX-to-Braille Transcribing Method

A Direct TeX-to-Braille Transcribing Method

My Experience Teaching General Chemistry to a Student who is Visually Impaired

Making Scientific Content More Accessible

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