TEACHING GEOLOGY TO THE VISUALLY DISABLED - REVISING A LAB MANUAL

At Arizona State University, an increasing number of visually impaired students register for introductory physical geology courses and labs. The current lab manual is not effective for students with visual disabilities. We are developing a new lab manual format based on comments from disabled students and instructor experiences. The new format draws on feasible demonstration and assessment methods, and physical examples, and is intended to enable any instructor (including graduate and undergraduate teaching assistants) to teach visually disabled students from scratch with the proper materials and supplies. We are currently assessing student learning in controlled class situations using a number of these revised methods, and will present results of these studies. The finished lab manual will be disseminated among other institutions with interests in improving learning conditions for visually disabled students.