From prototype to practice: developing a comprehensive toolkit for vision awareness in schools

Abstract

This paper describes the development of a toolkit aimed to raise awareness of vision in schools. A team of allied health, education, and design professionals worked with a group of 11-year-old children and their teachers to design and develop a novel authentic learning experience about vision, including an experiential activity whereby children could test vision with each other. Prototypes of a vision screening flipchart and recording system were co-designed with one classroom. This was embedded in an education module and then evaluated with 288 children across seven classrooms, which resulted in the development of the final toolkit. The results indicate that teachers appreciate the opportunity to engage with health promotion when it is ‘added-into’ rather than ‘added-onto’ the curriculum. The child-to-child vision screening was perceived as a useful way of teaching about the scientific concept of ‘fair testing’. The evaluation suggested that it is feasible to carry out vision screening process in the classroom context and that it results in higher levels of awareness about vision since children went on to get spectacles when they needed them, while others started to wear their spectacles in class.