[Electronics-talk] Adaptive technology for science student.

Tue Sep 8 06:56:08 UTC 2009

Does anyone know if the organization "Science for the Blind" is still 
around. Years ago it was in Pennsylvania and they offered various types of 
adaptive tools and meters for science and electronics. In response to this 
inquiry I tried to find it on the Internet but it didn't seem to be there 
although I didn't spend a whole lot of time on it.
Chuck
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Steven / PRC" <steven.yip at prchk.com.hk>
To: "Discussion of accessible electronics and appliances" 
<electronics-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Monday, September 07, 2009 10:23 PM
Subject: Re: [Electronics-talk] Adaptive technology for science student.


> 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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>>
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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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