Independent Laboratory Access for the Blind

Independent Laboratory Access for the Blind

Braille
MonitorMay
2007
(back)
(contents) (next)

Independent Laboratory
Access for the Blind
by Cary Supalo
From
the Editor: Cary Supalo is a longtime Federationist and a leader in the NFB
of Pennsylvania. He is president of the Happy Valley Chapter and a graduate
student in chemistry at Penn State University. This is what he says about providing
blind students the access they need in science laboratories:
The Independent
Laboratory Access for the Blind (ILAB) Project (National Science Foundation
Grant #HRD0435656) is a research program at the Pennsylvania State University
(PSU), in partnership with Truman State University (TSU) and the Indiana School
for the Blind (ISB), with additional collaborators from the University of Wisconsin
at Madison, the Institute of Chemical Education (ICE), and the Nanoscale Science
and Engineering Center (NSEC). Other support from Vernier Software and Technology,
gh, LLC, and the chemistry department at Purdue University are also contributing
to the ILAB project. The purpose of the ILAB project is to develop tools and
techniques that enable the target group, blind and visually impaired high school
and college students in introductory chemistry classes, to perform their own
data acquisition in the laboratory. While the tools were successfully integrated
into a modified and adapted curriculum at ISB, the team is now searching for
mainstream curricula in order to demonstrate that these tools will perform well
in typical, unmodified classrooms.
Many of the
tools (currently undergoing field testing at ISB) consist of probes already
available from Vernier Software and Technology, such as basic thermometers,
pH meters, conductivity and voltage detectors, and several balances for measuring
mass. These probes plug into a device called a LabPro, which interfaces the
probe with a personal computer; a software package called Logger Pro, also from
Vernier, then allows the user to access the tools from his or her PC in real
time. The ILAB team is also at work with a JAWS script writer from SSB Bart
Group to create JAWS script files, which will allow the screen-reader to work
seamlessly with Logger Pro. Vernier has expressed interest in making future
versions of Logger Pro more screen-reader friendly once this proof of concept
study is completed.
The ILAB project
uses other, currently available tools as well, including a talking bar code
reader, useful for identification of chemicals, and graphic devices such as
the Draftsman, which assists study by producing tactile representations of information
in science and math classes. Portable electronic notetakers, laptop computers,
and even the traditional slate and stylus also aid in recording data. Certain
aspects of the Science Activities for the Visually Impaired/Science Enrichment
for Learners with Physical Handicaps curriculum, also known as SAVI/SELPH, are
also employed. This curriculum uses low-tech methods that enable blind people
to measure weights and determine densities as well as measure liquids and is
available from the Lawrence Hall of Science for grades K through eight. More
information can be found at their detailed Web site, located at <http://www.lhs.berkeley.edu/cml/saviselph/>.
Hardware tools
have been developed by the ILAB team as well. A senior design electrical engineering
team designed a device called a submersible audible light sensor (SALS) during
the spring 2005 semester. Later the SALS received further modifications from
Rod Kreutter, the director of the electronics shop in the chemistry department
at Penn State University. This third-generation device uses a light sensor encased
in a glass tube connected to a control box and produces audible tones that change
as the sensor detects changes in light level. Chemical reactions in solution
often result in a change in the amount of light transmitted. The SALS produces
an audible tone, the pitch of which corresponds to the light level at the sensor.
This allows a blind user to follow the course of a reaction in real time. In
addition to the laboratory, this device may also have home applications, such
as determining the light levels in a room. The team is also working on probes
that will indicate colors and liquid levels in burettes.
The ILAB team
recently sponsored the workshop Seeing Chemical Reactions through Sound conducted
at both the 2006 NFB of Virginia and Pennsylvania state conventions in Richmond,
Virginia, and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Approximately thirty attendees used
the SALS sensor in the iodine clock reaction. This reaction causes a solution
to change color abruptly, and the SALS output tone changed its pitch as the
solution changed from colorless, then to blue, and finally to black, informing
participants exactly when each change occurred. For more information visit the
ILAB homepage, located at <http://ilab.psu.edu>.
Educators;
parents of blind children; blind students interested in careers in the science,
technology, engineering, or mathematics professions; and anyone else interested
in the ILAB project are encouraged to contact Cary Supalo at <[email protected]>.
(back)
(contents) (next)