Multisensory Identification of Characteristics of Reproductive Plant-Parts by People with Blindness or People with Ultra-Low-Vision

Abstract

ABSTRACT General education of visually impaired individuals is a significant challenge for educators, policymakers, and researchers. This study investigates the specificity with which people with blindness or ultra-low vision (acronym PU is used for the purpose of this paper) perceive the characteristics of reproductive plant parts (spore-bearing parts of mosses and ferns and seed-bearing parts of conifers and flowering plants) during their multisensory exploration. One hundred participants with visual acuity worse than 3/60 from Austria and Montenegro participated in the research. This research uses descriptive and mixed methods of content analysis. The results of this study have shown that PU can perceive the characteristics of reproductive plant parts, which is necessary for both their primary and secondary biological education. There is a discrepancy in the sequencing of the learning content in the biological textbooks from which PU are taught about plants and the sequencing of the descriptions based on the multisensory exploration of the participants. The descriptions of reproductive plant parts in learning material for students with visual impairment should be aligned to their multisensory perceptions through both macro and micro adaptation.