Assessing the Educational Effectiveness of Films of Chemical Experiments for Educating Deaf–Mute Junior High and High School Students

Abstract

Experimentation plays an important role in chemical education. It is the key to understanding and confirming the laws of nature. Students with physical disabilities face obstacles in laboratory activities related, among other things, to problems with understanding of many laws and theories. For this reason, the authors pay particular attention to the factors contributing to the limitations experienced in these activities. Research has been conducted on the impact of various factors that facilitate the understanding of information among deaf–mute and hard of hearing students in a junior high school and a high school. A methodology for the creation and use of didactic films demonstrating chemical experiments to students with hearing and speech disability has been developed and presented. The impact of these films on absorption and retention of knowledge and their educational efficacy in the chemical education of deaf and deaf–mute students has been assessed. Particular attention is paid to the role of the sign language interpreter in the educational process. It is shown that the use of specially developed films creates conditions enabling deaf–mute and hard of hearing students to obtain similar educational results as students without these disabilities.