Chemistry

This section offers chemistry class teaching and learning strategies for students who are blind or visually impaired.

Chemistry, Perkins School for the Blind
This adaptation of a classic experiment demonstrates how to make chemical reaction/conservation of mass accessible to students who are blind or visually impaired.

Blind Students Can Succeed in Chemistry Classes, Future Reflections – National Federation of the Blind
Cary Supalo shares his strategies for a positive experience in chemistry classes.  He describes the importance of obtaining materials in alternate formats, note-taking, creating three-dimensional models, and working closely with lab technicians, scribes, and readers.

Low-Cost Laboratory Adaptations for Precollege Students Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired, Journal of Chemical Education (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader)
In this five-page article, Cary A. Supalo and Thomas E. Mallouk describe inexpensive laboratory adaptations that increase accessibility to experiments and classroom exercises for students who are blind or visually impaired.

Practical Work - Modifying a Simple Investigation, Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB)
This article illustrates "the modification of a chemistry experiment to make it much more accessible for a pupil who is partially sighted."

Seeing Chemistry Through Sound:  A Submersible Audible Light Sensor for Observing Chemical Reactions for Students Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired, Assistive Technology Outcomes and Benefits
This article describes a submersible audible light sensor, which is a hand-held device that emits an audio signal that tracks reactions in a solution in real time.

Teaching Chemistry to Students with Disabilities:  A Manual for High Schools, Colleges, and Graduate Programs, American Chemical Society Committee on Chemists with Disabilities
This 75-page manual has sections on the classroom, testing and evaluation, assistive technology, accessible computing, laboratory techniques, mentoring and advocacy, and principles of universal design to create accessibility for all.

Teaching The Blind And Visually Impaired Is Not A One-Size-Fits-All Endeavor, Chemical & Engineering News
Kurt Herzer, a premed student at Johns Hopkins University who is legally blind, recommends that professors make classroom and course materials accommodations that suit the specific needs of the individual student.

Web-based Organizations and Internet Resources

Computational Chemistry for Chemistry Educators (CCCE)
This site includes a list of free and low-cost educational software and an online glossary.

Independent Laboratory Access for the Blind (ILAB)
ILAB presents information on speech-accessible tools as well as modified laboratory procedures, which will enable students who are blind or visually impaired to perform chemistry laboratory experiments without sighted assistance.  The site includes information on laboratory tools, experiments, and tactile chemistry.