[nabs-l] how did you learn visual concepts in school

Tue Feb 18 00:33:02 UTC 2014

Yes yes and yes! I recall Hoby Wedler giving a talk once at a
convention where he described chemistry and physics as not being
visual subjects, because nobody can see atoms or atomic particles
regardless of visual acuity. So the pictures sighted chem and physics
students use are really just representations of the concepts, just as
tactile or auditory models are for us. There really is no qualitative
difference between the two-dimensional pictures sighted students use
and the three-dimensional pictures we may choose to use. I also agree
with the point that teaching concepts in multiple ways usually
benefits a greater majority of students. I wish the individualized
education plan model of teaching blind and disabled students could be
replaced with a more inclusive model of running classrooms in general.
If classrooms are designed so that material is inherently taught in
multiple ways, blind students should require few if any special
accommodations.
Arielle

On 2/17/14, Jedi Moerke <loneblindjedi at samobile.net> wrote:
> The first place to start unraveling "visual concepts "is to recognize that
> those things we consider to be visual really aren't. They are just
> traditionally taught using the visual modality. Once we realize that, we
> make a greater amount of room for creativity. We also recognize that there
> are inherently several ways to grasp the concept that benefit all people,
> not just blind people. I think this particular concept that material isn't
> inherently visual was probably the hardest my teachers had to grasp
> including my blindness education teacher. Often, educational accommodations
> were made based on what I could see. So, things were blown up if possible
> and were taught non-visually when needed. Naturally, this was not always
> that great of a solution. It would have been better to incorporate more than
> the visual modality. I probably would've had an easier time grasping various
> concepts. Honestly, I have a suspicion that many of my classmates would also
> have benefited. Our educational system is very limited that way.
> Fortunately, more it educators are starting to realize that there are
> multiple ways to teach a subject that benefit all students.
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
>> On Feb 16, 2014, at 10:33 PM, minh ha <minh.ha927 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Kelsey,
>>
>> This really is an interesting subject. I don't really recall many
>> situations where my teachers had to use physical gestures to
>> demonstrate a point, except in middle school when we were studying the
>> different planets and revolutions and rotations. For some reason, it
>> was the only part of the curriculum that baffled me and I could not
>> grasp it no matter how hard. So what my science teacher did was have
>> different students be the planets and they would stand apart from each
>> other relative to how the planets are to each other in space. Then one
>> of my friends would walk with me from planet to planet to give me a
>> better sense of the distance between each planet. It was a really fun
>> exercise, not just for me but for everyone in the class. My teacher
>> also helped me understand the earth's revolutions and rotations by
>> having me be the earth and spin in circles while he also spun in
>> circles around me. It definitely made us stand out but it got the
>> point across. :)
>>
>> Minh
>>
>>> On 2/16/14, Kelsey Nicolay <piano.girl0299 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> Hello,
>>> I know many of my posts have been more serious o nature, but this
>>> one is a little more interesting.  I started working on an
>>> aarticle for the Braille Monitor about teaching math and science
>>> to visually impaired students, but I haven't worked on it lately.
>>> Therefore, I would like you to think back to when you were in
>>> school.  What were some visual concepts you had trouble
>>> understanding and what physical gestures did your teachers give
>>> you to help you visualize better? This could be either the
>>> regular classroom teacher or your teacher of the visually
>>> impaired told you.  For me, some of the ones that I was told
>>> were: In geometry class, we were learning about different kinds
>>> of angles such as vertical, suplemental, alternate interior,
>>> alternate exterior, etc.  The way vertical angles were explained
>>> to me was: Cross your fingers on both hands and then touch your
>>> hands together.  The ppaaces where your fingers meet are what
>>> vertical angles are like.  Another was in physics class when we
>>> were learning about positive and negative attraction in terms of
>>> magnetism.  I was a little confused about the concept, so the
>>> teacher asked me to hold both hands out in front of me so they
>>> are close together bn touching and then move them toward each
>>> other to symbolize magnets being attracted and apart to
>>> illustrate polarity.  Having her do that helped a lot.  I must
>>> say that at times I felt pretty silly in that class lol
>>> considering all the physical gesturing I had to do in order to
>>> understand the concept.  What about you? What physical gestures
>>> did your teachers come up with to help illustrate an otherwise
>>> difficult concept to understand? What class was it and what were
>>> you learning about at the time?
>>> Thanks,
>>> Kelsey Nicolay
>>>
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>>
>>
>> --
>> "All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty
>> recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was vanity:
>> but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act on
>> their dreams with open eyes, to make them possible." T. E. Lawrence
>>
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>
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