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<P class=MsoNormal><B><SPAN><FONT style="FONT-SIZE: 18pt">Students, teachers
craft software to make astronomy accessible to the blind</FONT></SPAN></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Article Link: <A
style='href: "https://mandrillapp.com/track/click/30489975/news.uchicago.edu?p=eyJzIjoiNy00TzgzZmJaRTdzY0pCemZ4bVBmT0VxMTA4IiwidiI6MSwicCI6IntcInVcIjozMDQ4OTk3NSxcInZcIjoxLFwidXJsXCI6XCJodHRwczpcXFwvXFxcL25ld3MudWNoaWNhZ28uZWR1XFxcL2FydGljbGVcXFwvMjAxN1xcXC8wNVxcXC8wMVxcXC9zdHVkZW50cy10ZWFjaGVycy1jcmFmdC1zb2Z0d2FyZS1tYWtlLWFzdHJvbm9teS1hY2Nlc3NpYmxlLWJsaW5kXCIsXCJpZFwiOlwiYTBlZTEzOTZjMjhhNGE3MTk0MWVkZTdkZGRmMmIxMmVcIixcInVybF9pZHNcIjpbXCI1NTFiZjNjN2ZjMTE4NDgwMmRjYTYyNmU5N2Y4YWM5NmU3MjBjMmQwXCJdfSJ9"'>https://news.uchicago.edu/article/2017/05/01/students-teachers-craft-software-make-astronomy-accessible-blind</A></P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Today’s astronomers don’t really look at stars or galaxies
so much as images produced from data generated by light. If that same data
were used to produce 3-D printouts, tactile displays or sound, would it open
the study and pursuit of astronomy to the blind and visually impaired?</P>
<P class=MsoNormal>That’s the kind of question the University of Chicago’s <A
style='href: "https://mandrillapp.com/track/click/30489975/astro.uchicago.edu?p=eyJzIjoiZzA3Nzg1MGZqX3Rtby1FbWRnRUp2aGpiSTVVIiwidiI6MSwicCI6IntcInVcIjozMDQ4OTk3NSxcInZcIjoxLFwidXJsXCI6XCJodHRwOlxcXC9cXFwvYXN0cm8udWNoaWNhZ28uZWR1XFxcL3llcmtlc1xcXC9cIixcImlkXCI6XCJhMGVlMTM5NmMyOGE0YTcxOTQxZWRlN2RkZGYyYjEyZVwiLFwidXJsX2lkc1wiOltcImQyYzQyZjY3NDFmMGIyNTYwMjdkMzdjYjNkNTM3MTAzOWE3MGMzYWNcIl19In0"'>Yerkes
Observatory</A> and its partners will try to answer with the help of a $2.5
million National Science Foundation grant. Over the next three years, they
will develop Afterglow Access—new software that will make astronomy more
accessible to the blind and visually impaired.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal>“Amazing pictures of stars start as numbers on a
spreadsheet, and those numbers can be manipulated and presented in myriad
ways,” said Kate Meredith, director of education outreach at the Yerkes
Observatory and the education lead of Innovators Developing Accessible Tools
for Astronomy, a new research initiative from the observatory. “We won’t
consider ourselves successful unless within three years we have developed new
computer tools with and for the blind and visually impaired that can be used
in real applications, learning situations and scholarly research.”</P>
<P class=MsoNormal>The National Federation of the Blind estimates that more
than seven million Americans are visually disabled. Unequal access to
quantitative information and the lack of vision-neutral tools presents them
with barriers to study and master astronomy and other STEM subjects, Meredith
said.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal>To overcome this, the Yerkes research initiative will
engage blind and visually impaired students as well as sighted students and
their teachers from mainstream and specialized schools for the blind. Twenty
teachers and 200 eighth- through 12th-grade students are expected to
participate annually. Recruiting teachers and students began this spring.
While half of the participating schools will be located in southern Wisconsin
and the Chicago area, the remaining schools will be selected from across the
United States and its territories.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Students and teachers will participate in user-centered
design and universal design processes to develop and test software and
learning modules and to improve accessibility aspects of astronomy tools for
educational and professional purposes. The project builds upon the success of
prior National Science Foundation-supported research projects, including the
development of Afterglow; Quorum, an accessible programming language; and the
Skynet Junior Scholars, a program that supports collaborative astronomy
investigations by young explorers using Skynet’s international network of
telescopes.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal>The research will advance knowledge about student learning
related to computational thinking, the role of computation in astronomy and
software design. In addition, it will help determine how participation
influences student attitudes and beliefs about who can engage in computing and
STEM subjects.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal>“Teaming up blind and visually impaired students with
sighted students, teachers and professionals in the design and development of
astronomy software and instructional modules will create powerful educational
experiences, encourage STEM learning, and lower the barrier-to-entry for blind
and visually impaired individuals interested in astronomy and related
careers,” Meredith said.</P>
<P class=MsoNormal>Investigators in the program include employees at the
University of Chicago; Yerkes Observatory; Associated Universities Inc.; the
Technical Education Research Center at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas;
and Skynet at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. </P>
<P class=MsoNormal>DISCLAIMER </P>
<P class=MsoNormal>I Mr LESTER CAMERON </P>
<P class=MsoNormal>IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CONTENTS OR MISS
SPELLING IN THIS EMAIL </P>
<P class=MsoNormal>THANK YOU </P>
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