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

Abstract

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.

Adaptation of Chemistry Experiments for Middle School Blind or Visually Impaired Students

“…BVI students generally rely heavily on lab partners or assistants. 2 The mapped experiments were designed for one student, so their implementation on a group of students required further adaptation. For example, each member of the second group measured the pH of a solution.…”

“…Blind or visually impaired (BVI) students encounter substantial obstacles in studying science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. 1,2 BVI students utilize screen reading software or a tactile input/output device unlike their sighted peers who study materials in handwritten or typed form on a laptop/computer. BVI students lack access to conventional ways of visual illustration of information to learn and comprehend.…”

“…However, the author described the aids but did not provide the perspective of BVI students who were using those aids. 2,9 The aforementioned examples underscore the scarcity of field-tested reports. 6 Out of the 89 articles on science learning for BVI students reviewed by Kawai,6 only 17 articles were field-tested.…”

“…These strategies do not cover the specifics of learning chemistry notions but provide applied concerns. 2 Luckily, obstacles were tackled to make chemistry accessible, such as the efforts of Minkara et al 11 and the laboratory setups of, notably, Supalo et al [12][13][14]16,17 This article suggests ways to enhance the learning environment for BVI students. It also describes the strategies and techniques used in instructing chemistry laboratory experiments for BVI students in middle school and has recorded and assessed the students' feedback.…”

Görme Yetersizliği olan Öğrencilerin Fen Kavramları Öğrenme Düzeyleri ve Öğretim İhtiyaçları: Madde ve Isı

“…Bu nedenle görme yetersizliği olan öğrencilerin öğrenme başarılarının, ilgi ve tutumlarının arttırılması amacı ile öğrenci merkezli öğretimin yapılması gerekmektedir. Ayrıca görme yetersizliği olan öğrencilerin kalıcı öğrenmelerinin sağlanması ve öğrenmelerin aktif kılınması için yapılan etkinliklerde görev alması hatta etkinlikleri gerekli güvenlik önlemleri alındıktan sonra kendilerinin gerçekleştirmesi sağlanmalıdır (Nepomuceno vd., 2016;Stewart, 2018). Bu nedenle öğretimlerde sesli (Şahin, Tuncer ve Kuzu, 2018;Sözbilir, Zorluoğlu ve Kızılaslan, 2019) ve dokunsal destekleyicilerin (Okcu ve Sözbilir, 2016;Kızılaslan ve Sözbilir, 2017) kullanılarak öğretimin öğrenci merkezli gerçekleştirilmesi gerekmektedir.…”