[nabs-l] how did you learn visual concepts in school

[Lillie Pennington]

I agree. I think education mainly only is good for visual learners. 
In terms of of what I use, for the past few years I have been very fortunate to have very excellent tactile diagrams. Some of these diagrams have been also used in classroom instruction after the fact like a 5 foot strip depicting moon phases throughout the month using sand to show the light. Another thing I found interesting in algebra I learning quadratic functions. I was using a computer program to show the motion of the graph. My teacher showed the class the sounds parabolas looked or sounded verses other linear equations.

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> On Feb 17, 2014, at 11:28 AM, Jedi Moerke <loneblindjedi at samobile.net> wrote:
> 
> The first place to start unraveling "visual concepts "is to recognize that those things we consider to be visual really aren't. They are just traditionally taught using the visual modality. Once we realize that, we make a greater amount of room for creativity. We also recognize that there are inherently several ways to grasp the concept that benefit all people, not just blind people. I think this particular concept that material isn't inherently visual was probably the hardest my teachers had to grasp including my blindness education teacher. Often, educational accommodations were made based on what I could see. So, things were blown up if possible and were taught non-visually when needed. Naturally, this was not always that great of a solution. It would have been better to incorporate more than the visual modality. I probably would've had an easier time grasping various concepts. Honestly, I have a suspicion that many of my classmates would also have benefited. Our educational system is very limited that way. Fortunately, more it educators are starting to realize that there are multiple ways to teach a subject that benefit all students.
> 
> Sent from my iPhone
> 
>> On Feb 16, 2014, at 10:33 PM, minh ha <minh.ha927 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 
>> Kelsey,
>> 
>> This really is an interesting subject. I don't really recall many
>> situations where my teachers had to use physical gestures to
>> demonstrate a point, except in middle school when we were studying the
>> different planets and revolutions and rotations. For some reason, it
>> was the only part of the curriculum that baffled me and I could not
>> grasp it no matter how hard. So what my science teacher did was have
>> different students be the planets and they would stand apart from each
>> other relative to how the planets are to each other in space. Then one
>> of my friends would walk with me from planet to planet to give me a
>> better sense of the distance between each planet. It was a really fun
>> exercise, not just for me but for everyone in the class. My teacher
>> also helped me understand the earth's revolutions and rotations by
>> having me be the earth and spin in circles while he also spun in
>> circles around me. It definitely made us stand out but it got the
>> point across. :)
>> 
>> Minh
>> 
>>> On 2/16/14, Kelsey Nicolay <piano.girl0299 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> Hello,
>>> I know many of my posts have been more serious o nature, but this
>>> one is a little more interesting.  I started working on an
>>> aarticle for the Braille Monitor about teaching math and science
>>> to visually impaired students, but I haven't worked on it lately.
>>> Therefore, I would like you to think back to when you were in
>>> school.  What were some visual concepts you had trouble
>>> understanding and what physical gestures did your teachers give
>>> you to help you visualize better? This could be either the
>>> regular classroom teacher or your teacher of the visually
>>> impaired told you.  For me, some of the ones that I was told
>>> were: In geometry class, we were learning about different kinds
>>> of angles such as vertical, suplemental, alternate interior,