[nabs-l] Chemistry Braille Code

Thu Jun 5 22:54:04 UTC 2014

The reason i asked about drawing was because I used the chemistry kit from APH in my pcombination chemistry and physics class this year and loved it and found it extremely helpful.

Sent from my iPhone

> On Jun 5, 2014, at 1:48 PM, Kaiti Shelton via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Hi, Chris,
> 
> It has been several years since my TVI went on a crusade of teaching
> me the chem code, and I have forgotten a lot of it since I had no
> desire to take Chem in high school and have no need to take it in
> college, but I remember there were a few key things I saw all the time
> when learning it.  It might be helpful if your TVI can look up some
> basic chemical structures like ionic bonds, covalent bonds, etc.  A
> lot of these use the bar over symbol, or the one five six if it is
> known by other names.  I agree with others that you can use drawing
> kits and other tactile methods to show the structures, and for me I
> wish I would have had one of those methods.  I did use a little
> chemistry code in 10th grade biology, and having knowledge of the code
> didn't really do me any favors when I was asked to draw ionic bonds
> and such because I had no idea what they looked like.  I think to have
> a better understanding of chemistry it is more beneficial to know the
> structure of atoms and bonds and such rather than to have the braille
> code nailed.
> 
> Also, do check out Math Gems as Cindi suggested.  It's a great resource.
> 
>> On 6/5/14, Cindy Bennett via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>> Hi Chris,
>> 
>> I am far removed from chemistry as I did not study that in college,
>> but I do remember the beginning of chemistry class with my braille
>> textbook. There was never an explicit IEP goal for me to learn
>> chemistry code, and although I had learned Nemeth, I had learned a
>> subset of Nemeth based on the classes I had taken pretty informally
>> through my textbooks. So I did encounter some symbols that I did not
>> know the meaning of. The most helpful thing I did was to ask someone
>> next to me to read a couple of chemistry equations out loud. As they
>> read the equation, I was able to parse which symbols were indicators
>> of changes from letters to numbers and which symbols actually
>> represented the numbers and element abbreviations. I was very
>> frustrated before it occurred to me to ask someone for a bit of help,
>> but after 5 minutes, I understood the notation. I think that as you go
>> through your class and consider whether you want to take more advanced
>> chemistry, you can take initiative to seek out more complex Nemeth
>> symbols, but in my memory, I don't remember the quick lesson on
>> notations putting me behind.
>> 
>> If your textbook has arrived, you can of course take a volume home
>> just for fun and begin to figure it out yourself.
>> 
>> I also highly recommend that you get a periodic table in braille,
>> super important!
>> 
>> I used a Velcro kit to make chemical structures and to represent
>> bonds. Differently shaped Velcro pieces allowed for variety and I
>> could indicate on a key what the shapes meant whether they represented
>> different elements or different parts of an atom. I used skinny Velcro
>> strips to represent bonds and placed multiple strips between atoms
>> depending on what type of bond it was.
>> 
>> When I was in high school, I wrote out my homework and quizzes on my
>> laptop and my teacher and I had an understanding of how I would
>> textually represent a symbol if there was a symbol that was difficult
>> to make, but I did the superscript numbers just fine. You could of
>> course consider learning LaTex to assist you with making the more
>> complex symbols which could be a summer project. There is a lot of
>> support for LaTex in general as well as through the blind math
>> community.
>> 
>> Finally, when I was reading the Jernigan newsletter this morning, I
>> was reminded of the organized blindmath archives called Blind Gems.
>> Check them out on blindscience.org.
>> 
>> Cindy
>> 
>>> On 6/5/14, Aleeha Dudley via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>> Hi,
>>> I used a tactile drawing kit to draw anything that I needed to in my
>>> chemistry courses. The chemistry code is incorporated into nemeth so that
>>> shouldn't be a huge problem if you have a Braille  textbook.
>>> Hope that helps,
>>> Aleeha
>>> 
>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>> 
>>>> On Jun 5, 2014, at 10:04 AM, Lillie Pennington via nabs-l
>>>> <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> Hi Chris
>>>> I am taking chem next year and if I recall correctly my teacher told me
>>>> that there were no special symbols. I could try seeing if the electronic
>>>> copy of my textbook raises any Braille red flags. I know everyone's
>>>> situation is different but I would suspect that the courses are similar.
>>>> There are also files with the symbols for the various Braille codes that
>>>> I
>>>> did not find particularly helpful because they did not encompass all of
>>>> the symbols I needed to know.
>>>> Btw, do you have a periodic table and a way to draw atoms?
>>>> Hth
>>>> 
>>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>>> 
>>>>> On Jun 5, 2014, at 7:59 AM, Chris Nusbaum via nabs-l
>>>>> <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>> 
>>>>> Good Morning Everyone,
>>>>> 
>>>>> I hope everyone is having a wonderful start to the summer season and
>>>>> that
>>>>> those of us who must still try to conquer end-of-school burnout are
>>>>> overcoming it or at least trying to.
>>>>> 
>>>>> So I'm taking Chemistry 1 next year and trying to prepare. I'm told
>>>>> that
>>>>> there is a specific Braille code used for chemistry, which I think is a
>>>>> part of the Nemeth Code. One of my IEP goals for this year is to learn
>>>>> the code in preparation for my class next semester. However, my TVI
>>>>> does
>>>>> not know the choistry code very well at all and therefore has not even
>>>>> started work on it. So my question is this: how detailed is the
>>>>> chemistry
>>>>> code, if there in fact is one? To those of you who have taken chemistry
>>>>> courses, did learning the Braille code require much preparation time
>>>>> prior to the start of the class? Like other math subjects, could I
>>>>> learn
>>>>> the relevant symbols as I need them in the class and not fall behind?
>>>>> My
>>>>> concern is that with only a week of school left, I will not be able to
>>>>> have the time I need to learn the code and could begin the course with
>>>>> a
>>>>> very limited knowledge of the code I need to use. I would appreciate
>>>>> any
>>>>> and all thoughts from those who have experience with chemistry and the
>>>>> associated Braille code.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Thanks in advance,
>>>>> Chris Nusbaum
>>>>> 
>>>>> Sent from my iPhone
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>> 
>> 
>> --
>> Cindy Bennett
>> Secretary: National Association of Blind Students
>> 
>> B.A. Psychology, UNC Wilmington
>> clb5590 at gmail.com
>> 
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> 
> 
> -- 
> Kaiti
> 
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