[nabs-l] Environmental Science Course Revisited

[Arielle Silverman]

Hi Tina,

A lot of this will depend on whether the labs, like the fieldwork and
microscope lab, will be done in pairs or groups. If so, then you
should be able to obtain whatever information you can't get
nonvisually from your partner(s). I don't know much about field data
collection, but it would probably be wise to talk with the instructor
ahead of time to find out exactly what procedures and tools you will
be using, and whether any of them would be accessible. If so, then you
will have time to figure out which parts of the field study you can
do. If none of the instruments are accessible, you can still be fully
involved by talking with your partner(s) about what is going on and
doing things like data recording and write-up.

I was a biology major in college so I took two general bio labs and
two general chem labs. For microscope labs, I worked with my lab
partners to know what was happening on the microscope slides, and I
helped with lab design, data recording, calculations, and write-up.
For the few labs that were not done in pairs or groups, I worked with
a reader who handled the inaccessible instruments and gave me the
information I needed about measurements, color changes, etc.

As a psychology researcher, I frequently have to make graphs for data
presentations. I do this by entering the data I want to graph into an
Excel table and then using the Excel chart wizard. The wizard is
fairly easy to learn, although the specific instructions will depend
on what kind of graph you need to make. For example, psychologists
usually present data in "clustered column" charts in which different
bars represent different groups of subjects, but depending on what
kind of data you have, you may need to use a different kind of graph.
In any case, your instructor or a teaching assistant, or even a
classmate, should be able to help you figure out how to set up the
chart. I usually do the basic chart building on my own and then get a
reader to just check what it looks like and fix details, like scaling
and font, so the chart makes sense to a sighted person. However, this
process is usually pretty quick and painless. If the graphs you have
to make are very complicated, you may also be able to just ask your
teacher if you can give a verbal description of what the graph looks
like so the teacher can see that you understand the concepts.

As for interpreting graphs others have drawn, I usually like to get
around this by asking for the information to be given to me in a table
or a text description, or just having a reader describe it to me. I
personally don't find that I gain much understanding by knowing what
the graph is shaped like. However, some students find it helpful to
have graphs reproduced in tactile form. I'd suggest trying it one way
and then, if you have trouble, try switching to another method. In
general, though, I think that visual representations such as graphs
are much more valuable to sighted students (and teachers) than they
always have to be for a blind student.

Arielle

On 9/22/10, Tina Hansen <th404 at comcast.net> wrote:
> I've had an opportunity to meet with the instructor for the Environmental
> Science course I'll be taking at my local community college. During the
> meeting, we discussed the nature of some of the lab work.
>
> >From this meeting, we concluded that I'll probably be facing several
> challenges, for which I'd like some suggestions.
>
> 1. Field work: There will be at least one lab session where we'll be working
> in the field and collecting data. If you've participated in labs like this,
> what have you done to ensure that you're not on the sidelines, but fully
> involved in the activities?
>
> 2. Microscope work: I've learned that at least one of the labs will involve
> using a microscope. How have you handled this challenge?
>
> 3. Graphs: Graphs, both creating and interpreting them, have never been one
> of my strengths. If you've either created or interpreted graphs, how have
> you done it? What tools have worked, and what didn't?
>
> I'm interested in hearing about both low and high tech solutions to these
> problems.
>
> By the way, I'm doing this to finish a General Studies degree, and don't
> plan to go on to a university. Yet, I'm open to any suggestions on what I
> might do to fully take advantage of this course. Thanks.
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-- 
Arielle Silverman
President, National Association of Blind Students
Phone:  602-502-2255
Email:
nabs.president at gmail.com
Website:
www.nabslink.org