[Electronics-talk] Adaptive technology for science student.
Larry Wayland
larry.wayland at arkansas.gov
Tue Sep 8 19:03:48 UTC 2009
Here is the information for Science Products for the Blind.
The 1800 number is good. I just talked to them.
I didn't ask about the rest of the contact information.
Larry
Science Products
P.O. Box 888
Southeastern, PA 19399
Tel: 1-800-888-7400
610-296-2111
Fax: 215-296-0488
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-----Original Message-----
From: electronics-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:electronics-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of ckrugman at sbcglobal.net
Sent: Tuesday, September 08, 2009 1:56 AM
To: Discussion of accessible electronics and appliances
Subject: Re: [Electronics-talk] Adaptive technology for science student.
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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>>
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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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