(The following article is courtesy NASA and the National Federation of the Blind)
A 14-year-old blind boy named Steven is digging in a container of soil at the Maryland Science Center. Steven and Amelia are blind, yet both were able to read the temperature with a thermometer and measure precipitation with a rain gauge at a science camp this past summer.
Their secret?
Steven and Amelia, along with 10 other blind students ages 11-14, were using
a talking thermometer, a Braille-marked rain gauge and other tools identified
by NASA for use by the visually impaired.
The tools got their first major test in July at the end of the week-long "Circle
of Life" camp put on by the National Federation of the Blind and sponsored
by NASA. On the camp's final day, students visited the pond and forest area
of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., where they made observations
of the soil, vegetation, weather and birds.
For many of the kids it was the first time they had used observation instruments
specifically geared toward the senses of sound and touch, rather than sight.
"I didn't know they existed," said Steven, now a ninth-grader at a
science-oriented high school in New York. "It was amazing to see the technology."
Goddard soil scientist Elissa Levine has been leading NASA's effort to introduce
various blind-friendly gadgets to the visually impaired community. Her work
is aimed at making activities such as GLOBE -- a NASA-sponsored science education
program in which K-12 students around the world take measurements of soil, land
cover, air, water and living things -- more accessible to the blind.
"I have been working with the GLOBE program for many years and am aware
of how effective it is as a learning experience, which made me interested in
seeing if it would be as effective for blind students as well," Levine
said.
The new instruments include two kinds of talking thermometers -- one for the
air and a "meat thermometer" that can be inserted into the soil. There's
also a talking compass, and a talking sensor that analyzes soil color. A graduated
cylinder with a floating Styrofoam plug serves as a rain gauge. The plug moves
up or down depending on the volume of water and is attached to a plastic measuring
scale marked with Braille.
Unlike other sciences that are sometimes more abstract, Earth science provides
plenty of convenient opportunities for interactive, nonvisual activities, such
as listening to birds or rubbing soil between one's fingers.
"The best thing about Earth science is that there is a natural laboratory
right outside the classroom door," Levine said.
Promoting interest in science -- Earth or otherwise -- among the more than 93,000
estimated blind school-age children in the United States is as much about educating
teachers as it is kids, according to the camp's lead instructor, Robin House,
who says teachers often underestimate the potential of blind students.
"Many times blind students are left out of sciences and math because some
educators think, 'Oh, this is too difficult, they couldn't possibly grasp these
concepts,'" said House, who herself is blind. "The idea of this particular
camp was a little bit of exposure in all the areas of science to get kids going,
'I can do science, I can do it. I can become a scientist if I want to.'"
In the days preceding their visit to Goddard, the campers dissected a dogfish
shark and dug for dinosaur fossils at the Maryland Science Center, explored
seashells with blind shell expert Geerat Vermeij, took a boat ride on the Chesapeake
Bay, and listened to sounds from space with blind physicist Kent Cullers.
The camp was the first step in the National Federation of the Blind's initiative
to create a National Center for Blind Youth in Science. A second camp held in
August -- "Rocket On!" -- challenged blind high school students to
develop, build and launch a 12-foot rocket from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility
on Virginia's Eastern Shore.
For 12-year-old Amelia, the "Circle of Life" camp was a rare chance
to experience science up close and personal. "We don't usually get to have
so much hands-on activities when we're with a classroom. We have to touch stuff
to be able to know what they really are like," Amelia said. "There
are a lot of tools out there that blind people can use to investigate science.
Blind people can pretty much do anything, but they just do it differently."
In addition to having the right kinds of tools, House says it is critical to
the success of blind students that educators help dispel misconceptions among
sighted students as to what blind people are capable of.
"Sometimes it might take a little bit longer, maybe there's a different
way that the blind student has to go about doing something," House said.
"But that's what science is really about anyway -- trial and error, trying
things, taking risks."
Steven has a simple, straightforward message for both students and teachers:
"Blindness doesn't have to be a barrier. Being blind doesn't stop you from
having a brain and doing science."