[Athen] tactile astronomy resources

[Gaeir Dietrich]

A professor at Edinboro University did some wonderful astronomy tactiles a
number of years ago. His name was Dr. David Hurd and his e-mail was
dhurd at edinboro.edu.

 

You might also try contacting Lucia Hasty. I believe she knew David, and I
have a very vague memory that maybe she had access to his tactiles.not sure.

 

Astronomy is actually a great science for a blind student to take. When it
comes to star charts and such, tactile diagrams really do convey as much as
pictures do. A sighted student is not going to get much more information
with their eyes than the blind student can get with their fingers-and that
is unusual in the sciences where observation is so much a part of them. The
stars are so far away that none of us can really tell all that much by
looking. Mostly astronomy is very theoretical, and that aspect really makes
it quite accessible. I know it's non-intuitive, but I often encouraged blind
students to take astronomy-especially if they had never seen.

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Gaeir (rhymes with "fire") Dietrich
High Tech Center Training Unit of the
California Community Colleges
De Anza College, Cupertino, CA
 <http://www.htctu.net/> www.htctu.net 
408-996-6043

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From: athen-bounces at athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces at athenpro.org] On
Behalf Of Wink Harner
Sent: Thursday, January 20, 2011 9:15 AM
To: 'Access Technology Higher Education Network'
Cc: Kevin Healy; DSSHE-L at LISTSERV.BUFFALO.EDU
Subject: [Athen] tactile astronomy resources

 

Hi all ATHEN-ites 

 

We need resources for a student who is significantly VI who needs some
tactile resources for an intro astronomy class.

 

The lab portion of the class covers the northern hemisphere winter/spring
seasons; the lecture portion of the class covers the whole sky. We have an
astronomy dome lab for observation. 

 

We expect to be able to do raised line printing for some of the handouts &
charts. The instructor(s) have provided all materials in PDF format which
our adaptive lab can either enlarge w/contrast or produce raised-line
charts. Student is a JAWS user; instructor(s) use WEBCT  for all homework
assignments. We are providing a classroom assistant which can also provide
out-of-class assistance to read screens as necessary.

 

Any other suggestions will be most welcome!

 

Please let us know ASAP about any tactile astronomy resources
available.Thanks in advance for your collective wisdom and willingness to
share resources & solutions.

 

 

Wink Harner

Manager

Disability Resources & Services

Mesa Community College

1833 W. Southern Avenue

Mesa AZ 85202

 

480-461-7447

winkharner at mesacc.edu

 

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