[Nfb-science] Environmental Science Course Revisited

[aerospace1028 at hotmail.com]

Hello,
Some of the adaptations might depend on if you have any usable vision:

(1) field work:
I'm not really sure what that covers, not being in the environmental sciences myself.  As part of a high school biology class, we did some nature studies.  We had to identify different types of trees and plants by their leaves.  There's a lot of physical variation, that you wouldn't need to see the leaves that well, as long as you can reach the branches or have a partner help find the different samples on the ground (assuming you trust him/her not to hand you poison ivy or sumac).


(3) graphs:
In some situations, I could produce my own homework graphs with crayons; the lines were thick enough I could see them.

When my output had to be more professional looking, I ran the numbers through matlab and viewed the graphs, with the line thickness turned up so I could get a handle on the shape.  If I needed critical numbers, I had access to a braille embosser that could produce rough graphics directly from matlab.

Most of the graphs I received from my professors had been produced tactilely by the school on thermal paper.  There are also kits you can get to trace a print graph with a tracing wheel (looks kind of like a spiky pizza-cutter).

Once we got into 3-d graphs, I started carrying around Silly-Putty, so my classmates and I could quickly reproduce a rough copy to discuss the significance of the major features.

Not sure if any of that might be helpful.
>Date: Sun, 26 Sep 2010 21:02:00 -0700
>From: "Tina Hansen" <th404 at comcast.net>
>To: <Nfb-science at nfbnet.org>
>Subject: [Nfb-science] Environmental Science Course Revisited
>Message-ID: <EE4DD97202094ABB896FA9F5FEEFCB62 at userbafffee1fc>
>Content-Type: text/plain;    charset="iso-8859-1"
> 
>A few days ago, I posted to this list a request for advice on how to deal with the Environmental Science course I'll be taking at my local community college. Last week, I had an opportunity to have a meeting with the instructor to discuss various aspects of the course.
 >
>During the meeting, we discussed the nature of some of the lab work. We concluded that I am likely to be facing several challenges, for which I could use 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?
> 
>Just to illustrate, this first lab is going to focus on the Edge Effect. In the first segment, students will design an experiment. The following week will be the field work, where we'll be using a variety of lab instruments to collect data, and the final week is when everyone will be evaluating the data as we get ready to write up the experiment.
 >
>I'm interested in hearing about both low and high tech solutions to the concerns I've voiced.
> 
>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.