Geology and the Visually Impaired Student

Abstract

Classroom techniques and laboratory exercises have been developed for the benefit of visually impaired students enrolled in an introductory geology course. The students attend lecture sessions with other students enrolled in the course, participate in all field trips and, with the exception of one modification, attempt the same laboratory exercises. Upon completing the course, these students (1) feel they have been totally involved in the class, (2) have been introduced to a number of instruments available to the visually impaired for making various types of measurements/observations and (3) have been introduced to the scientific method as well as some of the concepts of geology. The following laboratory exercises have been developed: (1) doing library research; (2) graphing geologic data; (3) identifying minerals, rocks, and fossils; (4) measuring attributes of the earth and earth materials; (5) solving geologic structural and plate tectonic problems; (6) reading maps and recognizing landscapes, and (7) ...