• Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.609-618
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• 2015

The purpose of this study is to investigate the perspectives of science educators on the learning situations of visually impaired students through scientific inquiry in a darkroom. Twenty-four science educators who came to the annual conference of the Korean Association for Science Education volunteered to participate in 'the scientific inquiry in the darkroom' activities. They were encouraged to touch models of 'the molecular structure of ice' and 'the structure of eyes' and to discuss with participants during the activities. Surveys were done before and after darkroom activities, and the discussions during and after the activities were recorded and analyzed. As a result, participants recognized that science education for visually impaired students is both very feasible and necessary. Also, some of them, who have had an experience of teaching blind students and thought that they fully understood the learning situation of the visually impaired, were especially surprised by the fact that they did not actually understand how it was like to be a visually impaired and responded that they were able to more deeply comprehend the learning situation of visually impaired students through these activities. Through this experience, participants also became resolute to try more deeply to understand not only the visually impaired students, but also sighted students with learning disabilities. Based on these results, educational implications of scientific inquiry in the darkroom were discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.61 no.5
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• pp.277-285
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to investigate the perspective of pre-service chemistry teachers on the learning situations of visually impaired students through scientific inquiry in a darkroom and to propose a teaching and learning method for students with visual impairments. Twenty-one pre-service chemistry teachers from college of education in Gyeongbuk were encouraged to explore individually hands-on model for the molecular structure of ice freely, and had a discussion with a one of the researchers during the activity. All the conversation and discussion were audio-taped and transcribed for analysis. As a result, pre-service chemistry teachers realized that learning situation of the visually impaired students was quite different with their perception while exploring and figuring out hands-on model of the molecular structure of ice in the darkroom. They already learned and could see this model by themselves but also recognized that visually impaired students had inconvenience and difficulty in learning science concepts. Based on these reflections, some pre-service chemistry teachers suggested directions for modification to fit visually impaired students' needs more.