[NFB-Science] Your Experiences in Taking Chemistry?

[Louis Maher]

Folks,

Dr. Alfred D'Agostino gave a talk to our 2022 Science and Engineering / National Association of Blind Students seminar on Sunday February 27, 2022.
He is now asking for our experiences while we were taking chemistry courses.

He has studied methods of teaching chemistry to blind students for much of his professional life.

If possible, please answer his two questions.


Regards
Louis Maher
Phone: 713-444-7838
Email: ljmaher03 at outlook.com

From: Alfred D'Agostino adagostino at ndm.edu<mailto:adagostino at ndm.edu>
Sent: Friday, June 14, 2024 3:18 PM

I am collecting information from students who are blind or have low vision about barriers and experiences they have encountered in studying chemistry. (At the end of this e-mail, I have provided information about myself.( Would you please strongly and thoughtfully consider providing responses to the below questions? After I review initial responses, I will issue a survey to help categorize responses and collect more information.

You may respond to me directly and / or to the whole-mail list. You may use the following e-mail: adagostino at ndm.edu<mailto:adagostino at ndm.edu>
Thank you.
Alfred T. D’Agostino, PhD.
Emeritus Professor of Chemistry
(FYI, I am blind and non-visually conduct my work and professional activities. I am interested in promoting changes in how chemistry is taught to students who are blind or have low vision, and in promoting advances in adaptive/ assistive technologies in chemistry instruction)

1( Would you please describe your First-hand account of the barriers you have encountered in your study of chemistry at the college / university level. That is, in the in-person and online / virtual environments, and especially in the laboratory.

2( In considering your experience in taking chemistry courses and laboratory in any setting), what method, tool, innovation, would have helped you learn chemistry more effectively?


Alfred T. D’Agostino, Ph.D. - Professional Biography

Outreach in Non-Visual Accessibility
Dr. Alfred D’Agostino’s personal and professional activities overlap his interest in promoting accessibility in science lab instruction for blind/ low-vision (BLV) students. Dr. D’Agostino non-visually conducts his professional activities; he completed the C.O.R.E. Program at Blind Industries and Services of Maryland (and is currently a member of the Board of Trustees). He is a reviewer for Journal of Blindness Innovation and Research. He is a member of the Digital Accessibility Advisory Board at his institution. Dr. D’Agostino has given many professional talks on the topic of accessibility for the blind; including Communicating in equations and formulas: Symbolic representations and challenges in the online environment to the Maryland Distance Learning Association, and a plenary presentation to the CLEAR International Symposium on Practical Approach to Accessible Chemistry Instruction for Blind and  Low-Vision Students.  In 2021, he published Accessible Teaching and Learning in the Undergraduate Chemistry Course and Laboratory for Blind/ Low-Vision Student in the Journal of Chemical Education. He has facilitated ‘hands-on’ chemistry experiments for college students and adults at   National Federation of the Blind’s Louisiana Center for the Blind and at the Colorado Center for the blind using ‘speech-enabled’ probe ware. He has supervised undergraduates in his general education courses  in service-learning projects on hands-on chemistry experiments with blind school-age children. In 2016, Professor D’Agostino held a Symposium at the Biennial Conference on Chemical Education titled “accessible instruction and participation in the undergraduate science course for students with vision impairment or loss” and he presented “Making General Chemistry laboratory accessible to blind/low-vision students” at the 2018 conference during the Symposium on Addressing Underrepresented Groups in STEM. He hosted “Including the Blind in Chemistry: Making Instruction Accessible” symposium at BCCE 2022. At conferences where he presents to faculty colleagues, he highlights the access technologies (including tactile graphics) that can assist BLV students in doing independent work in the least restrictive learning environment.

Impact in Higher Education
Alfred T. D’Agostino, Ph.D. served as a full-time faculty member for 23-years at Notre Dame of Maryland University. In June 2017, he was awarded the rank of Emeritus Professor of Chemistry upon retirement. he was Chemistry Department chairperson (15 years), and Biology Department Chairperson (2 years) and he has served multiple times on all major academic and governance committees over a 40-year career in academia at several universities including University of South Florida (two PH.D. students), University of Maine and Rutgers University. Professor D’Agostino has taught chemistry to non-science majors, students in radiological science and pharmacy programs, nurses, and to majors and graduate students; his specialty areas are in physical and analytical chemistry, including research in surface science and interface analysis. As a teacher, he uses active teaching and facilitated learning practices and methods. He has used POGIL (Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning) in his courses including the physical chemistry classroom and laboratory; he has used service-learning in his general education chemistry course and has directed undergraduate research as an ACS REU co-PI. His scholarship is in the areas of pedagogy and learning assessment - his investigations have involved the relationship among instructional methods, assessment instruments, rubrics, learning mode and outcomes in chemistry courses. Professor D’Agostino is continuing his teaching and study interventions at Community College of Baltimore County – projects include how online student interaction can be used to improve problem-solving skills and how student metacognition feedback may be used to assist students in improving study habits. He is also engaged in the Teaching Squares program and in the Student Success Center. Some of his recent and upcoming presentations have been at Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Commons, Biennial Conference on Chemical Education Maryland Distance Learning Association, AFACCT, MCSC and MAALACT. Presentations have included Communicating With Formulas and Equations: Symbolic Representations in the Online Environment.   He has given roundtables and workshops on improving science writing using group interaction and peer review, outcomes assessments and collaborative learning. Professor D’Agostino participated in workshops on reflective teaching and on the use of education cards to inform teaching at International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning conferences.

Experimental Research
Dr. D’Agostino’s  research has been in the areas of surface science and interface analysis. He held a Post-Doctoral Fellowship at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. He has been an AFOSR Faculty Research Fellow at Wright Laboratory. As a NASA Faculty Research Fellow, he performed research at the John Glenn Research Center and at the Goddard Space Flight Center. Dr. D’Agostino has been a Visiting Research Professor in chemistry at Johns Hopkins University where his research was supported by an NSF ROA and published in the Journal of Physical Chemistry. His current research involves learning pedagogies.