[Electronics-talk] Adaptive technology for science student.

Tue Sep 8 05:23:03 UTC 2009

Thanks for your information.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Smokey Joe" <smokeyjoe at musfiber.com>
To: "'Discussion of accessible electronics and appliances'" 
<electronics-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, September 08, 2009 1:03 PM
Subject: Re: [Electronics-talk] Adaptive technology for science student.


> You'll likely get much better information than this from others in the 
> NFB,
> but here's an article I found hanging around on my hard drive to get you
> started.
>
> Penn State Live, PA, USA
> Tuesday, October 09, 2007
>
> Blind Penn State graduate chemist developing lab equipment for disabled
> students
>
> By Rebekka Coakley
>
> Caption: Cary Supalo and his adviser, DuPont Professor of Materials
> Chemistry and Physics Tom Mallouk, received an NSF grant to create 
> equipment
> to help visually impaired students gain more independence in the lab.
>
> University Park, Pa. -- In high school, chemistry wasn't something that
> interested Cary Supalo. In fact, he hated it. As a blind student, he 
> wasn't
> allowed to conduct any experiments -- his lab partner did the work, then
> reported the results to Supalo.
>
> His attitude toward the science changed in college. Fulfilling a chemistry
> general education requirement at Purdue University, Supalo met some 
> graduate
> students who spent a lot more time with him in the lab, sparking his
> interest in chemistry.
>
> Today, Supalo is a Penn State student working on his doctorate in 
> chemistry
> education and is developing tools to replicate that extra help he got in 
> the
> lab so that other visually impaired high school students will have a 
> better
> appreciation for the sciences.
>
> Supalo's latest project, funded by a $300,000 grant from the National
> Science Foundation's Research in Disabilities Education program, was given
> to his adviser, Tom Mallouk, DuPont professor of materials chemistry and
> physics. It is called "Independent Laboratory Access for Blind and Low
> Vision Students in Mainstream High School Science Classrooms."
>
> "There's a big difference working one-on-one with someone who will explain
> the concepts to you," Supalo said. "It was great being able to talk about
> chemistry and get answers. Chemistry gives you the potential to discover
> something new that can change the world."
>
> Mallouk, who is sighted, understands. "Most chemists are fascinated by the
> results of an experiment but find it much less fun if someone does it and
> tells them what happened," he said. "So that's how we started out on this
> project -- developing new tools, taking lab procedures, modifying them
> slightly and making them more accessible all while working with high 
> school
> students."
>
> Supalo completed his undergraduate degree with a double major in chemistry
> and communications because he thought "a scientist should be able to
> communicate." He then came to Penn State in August 1999 to get his Ph.D in
> inorganic chemistry. When he began his doctoral degree program he ended up
> taking a different route than he originally intended.
>
> "Cary was doing a research project but as a blind grad student he was 
> having
> difficulty -- research labs aren't really designed for blind people to 
> work
> independently," said Mallouk. "A lot of chemistry is visual. It took him
> awhile to finish his master's degree, and we thought it would be a more
> useful thing if his Ph.D research involved developing enabling tools for
> blind people."
>
> Mallouk and Supalo's first grant from the NSF also was for $300,000 and 
> was
> awarded in 2004. It allowed them to work with students from the Indiana
> School for the Blind, testing software with a computerized voice that
> narrates each step of the experiment and instruments that essentially do 
> the
> same, which they developed with Rodney Kreuter in the chemistry 
> department's
> electronics shop at Penn State. The focus of that work was to improve the
> way blind students participate in the chemistry laboratory. The work they
> did with the first grant was a success. However, Supalo said 75 percent of
> blind students are mainstreamed in public classrooms and he felt the tools
> he, Mallouk and Kreuter created could have a greater impact on more
> students. Also, new tools were needed to enable a broader range of
> experiments, and to extend the project to physics and other laboratory
> sciences.
>
> Supalo is well connected in the national community of blind people, 
> Mallouk
> explained. He received e-mails from parents and teachers of students in
> public schools who were interested in their work. Thus came the idea of 
> the
> second project -- to mainstream the tools and instruct willing teachers on
> how to use them through several online training modules. The goal is to 
> make
> the tools available as widely as possible, by posting the programs online
> for free use and by making inexpensive instruments.
>
> "There's a real push to get people with disabilities in the STEM (science,
> technology, engineering and mathematics) professions," said Supalo.
>
> He explained that people with disabilities have spent their lives
> problem-solving challenges to adapt to their surroundings. He thinks the
> skills they've developed to do so will enhance a career in one of the STEM
> fields.
>
> In addition to helping students who are blind, Supalo said the instruments
> will even help sighted students in lecture settings because everyone can
> hear the experiment being described, regardless of whether or not their
> seats will allow them to see what their professor may be doing.
>
> Supalo will spend his next three years visiting the schools that are
> implementing the instruments in the classroom, collecting feedback from
> students and teachers, sending newsletters and encouraging online
> interaction between the students and teachers using the instruments.
>
> Contact
>  Rebekka Coakley
>  rac29 at psu.edu
>  http://live.psu.edu
>  814-865-5690
>
>
> http://live.psu.edu/story/26382
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>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: electronics-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org
> [mailto:electronics-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Steven / PRC
> Sent: Monday, September 07, 2009 9:06 PM
> To: Discussion of accessible electronics and appliances
> Subject: [Electronics-talk] Adaptive technology for science student.
>
> Dear List,
>
> I am looking for any tools for science student such as reading PH value
> (acid/Alkaline), thermometer for laboratory and more.
>
> Thanks for your suggestion.
>
> Regards !
>
> Steven YIP
>
>
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