[Promotion-technology] Week-Long 3-D Printing Career Exploration Program at South Carolina Commission for the Blind

[Kenneth Silberman]

*       The week-long 3-D Printing Career Exploration Program was held at the Ellen Beach Mack Rehabilitation Center, Columbia, SC, South Carolina Commission for the Blind from Monday, 06/19/2017 to Friday, 06/23/2017.  The purpose of this program was to encourage blind and visually impaired students to pursue STEM careers.  We motivated them by showing them how a blind or visually impaired person can do the work.  We also used this program as a testbed to further develop techniques for teaching STEM subjects to blind and visually impaired students.  3d prints of the Earth, the Earth’s atmosphere, the Moon, Mars, binary stars, nebulae, and galaxies were used to give students the qualitative experience that sighted students get with pictures.  Actual spectral data were mapped to computer-driven audio to allow students to identify elements and compounds in the Sun, stars, and nebulae.  Mr. Kyle Walker, S.C. Commission for the Blind and the commission staff organized and hosted the event.  We used 3D printing, Braille, and sonification to teach astronomy to blind and visually impaired students.  The instructors were Dr. Thomas Madura, Assistant Professor, San José State University; Dr. David Hurd, Professor, Edinboro University;  Dr. Carol Christian, Space Telescope Science Institute; Dr. Wanda Diaz-Merced (blind astronomer), International Astronomical Union; and Dr. Kenneth Silberman, NASA-Goddard Office of Education.  I worked with the high school and college students and assisted with all presentations, in addition to my own presentations, throughout the week.  The following subjects were taught:

o   Welcome and Introductions Mr. Kyle Walker – S.C. Commission for the Blind

o   Constellations of the Zodiac – Dr. Madura

o   Constellations in 3D – Dr. Madura

o   Light and Energy – Dr. Madura

o   Tactile Gravity – Dr. Hurd

o   Tactile Atmospheres – Dr. Hurd

o   Getting a Feel for Lunar Craters – Dr. Hurd

o   Mars Exploration Program – Dr. Hurd

o   Getting a Feel for Eclipses – Dr. Hurd

o   Eclipse Activities – Dr. Hurd

o   Audible Scale Model of the Solar System – Dr. Hurd

o   Planispheres – Dr. Hurd

o   The Sun – Dr. Madura

o   Stars and Stellar Lifecycles – Dr. Madura

o   3D Printing: Part I – Dr. Madura

o   Eta Carinae’s “Homunculus” Nebula – Dr. Madura

o   Eta Carinae’s Binary Stars and Colliding Stellar Winds – Dr. Madura

o   Star Clusters – Dr. Christian

o   Galaxies: Part I – Dr. Christian

o   Galaxies: Part II – Dr. Christian

o   The Cosmic Web and Dark Matter – Dr. Christian and Dr. Madura

o   Astronomy and Data Sonification – Dr. Wanda Diaz-Merced

o   3D Printing: Part II – Dr. Madura

o   3D Printing: Part II Continued – Dr. Madura

o   Pursuing a STEM Education and Career – Dr. Silberman

o   Braille Math Activity – Dr. Silberman

o   The Cosmic Microwave Background – Dr. Madura

o   Data Sonification Exercise – Dr. Madura

 

Here is a link to Monday evening’s, 06/19/2017 coverage from WLTX.

http://www.wltx.com/life/visually-impaired-students-explore-stem-fields/450422889