Re: Physics for a blind student

[Margaret Mazzolini <mmazzolini@SWIN.EDU.AU>]

In the 80s I was first year physics lab convenor at another
university, when a blind (from birth) student turned up to do
physics.  It had not been possible till then, because the school
examination system had been *banning* blind students from doing
physics, on the grounds that "they would not be able to do lab.
work"!

Anyhow, Bill did physics with us, and got almost straight As. He now
does research in meteorology.  In second year, the lecturer who was
going to teach him optics thought that he'd need to give Bill special
classes, because "of course" he wouldn't be able to visualise the
way light focusses etc.  He soon found that Bill didn't need any
help, and in fact topped the class.

Now Bill is admittedly very bright, but our general experience is
that the best approach is to ask the student themselves where they
are going to need help, rather than making assumptions.  You may find
that they need less help than you expect.  We made sure Bill had a
friendly, bright prac partner in the labs, and a team of our postgrad
students (and some staff) volunteered to read text books onto tape
for him.  I suspect that a lot more texts may be available now
already taped - perhaps not the ones you list as texts, but good
equivalents.

Bill used to get friends in the class to draw important diagrams
(such as circuit diagrams) onto tinfoil, so  that he could trace them
with his finger.

Your student hopefully has some sort of backup from a local institute
for the blind, or equivalent - they should have a talking book
library and help with equipment such as braille machines & computer
accessories.

Cheers
Margaret


> Date:    Wed, 31 May 2000 12:19:06 -0700
> From:    "Daniel L. MacIsaac" <Dan.MacIsaac@NAU.EDU>
> Subject: Re: Physics for a blind student
>
> > I would think that it would be important to ascertain whether this student
> > has been blind from birth.  If so, you cannot appeal to remembered images
> > of spatial concepts - a much more challenging pedagogical situation.
> >
> > Keep a journal - your experience will be valuable!
> >
> > Bob
> >
> > > Our disabilities coordinator has asked me if a blind student could
> > > attend, and be successful in, my Physics class in the Fall.
> > > . . .
> > > Thanks in advance to anyone who can help me.
> > > Peter Schoch
> > > Sussex County Community College
>
> Two years ago I had a blind student (NOT blind from birth) top the section
> of my 50 student lecture devoted to college level DC circuits analysis.  It
> took a long time to articulate the problems to him, but he had remarkable
> abilities to contruct and work with mental images of schematics.  He did have
> trouble finding a copy of the text on tape or on disk as ASCII -- he had
> a computer program that read ASCII aloud he used a lot.  I'd check w/your
> text publisher ASAP for this.  You will also need a good physics student to
> describe circuits, FBDs, ray diagrams from the text into words and terms
> the student can use.
>
> Dan M
>
> Dan MacIsaac, Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy, Northern AZ Univ
> danmac@nau.edu          http://purcell.phy.nau.edu         PHYS-L list owner
>
> ------------------------------


Dr. Margaret Mazzolini,
Astronomy Course Coordinator
Swinburne Centre for Astrophysics & Supercomputing
BSEE, Swinburne University of Technology
P.O. Box 218, Hawthorn VIC 3122 Australia
email: mmazzolini@swin.edu.au
phone: (61 3) 9214 8084   fax:   (61 3) 9214 8797

Visit Swinburne Astronomy Online, online courses in Astronomy
http://www.swin.edu.au/astronomy