This article offers a theoretical framework of a meaningful art education for blind people. Existing literature focuses on the interaction between the artwork and the blind person. This text describes this aesthetic encounter which is complex due to tactile sensations, individual differences of the non-sighted viewer and specific features of the…

Viewers who study photographs of scenes tend to remember having seen beyond the boundaries of the view ["boundary extension"; J. Exp. Psychol. Learn. Mem. Cogn. 15 (1989) 179]. Is this a fundamental aspect of scene representation? Forty undergraduates explored bounded regions of six common (3D) scenes, visually or haptically (while blindfolded)…

Balls made of modelling clay (Plasticine[TM]) can be used to generate a classroom discussion about the scientific evidence used to determine the structure of the Earth. This allows pupils to appreciate how evidence is used to support hypotheses and to distinguish fact from hypothesis. It also provides opportunity to correct misconceptions held by…

This publication presents several projects that support children who are deaf-blind. These projects are: (1) Learning To Learn; (2) Project SALUTE; (3) Project SPARKLE; (4) Bringing It All Back Home; (5) Project PRIIDE; and (6) Including Students With Deafblindness In Large Scale Assessment Systems. Each project lists components, key practices,…

In an effort to make freehand drawing instruction more easily transferred to architectural design, a series of exercises was developed based on touch, movement, and vision. The intent is for students to mimic and develop empathy with the items they are drawing. Examples and illustrations are provided. (MSE)

In the West we are accustomed to thinking of knowledge largely on the basis of vision, which is distant and objective, a perspective that posits the separation of mind and body. In contrast, theories of touch pose a proximinal understanding of knowledge production. It informs how we experience body knowledge as encounters between beings. Body…

We describe a perceptual experiment that we have successfully used in Research Methods classes. Students attempt to identify a series of simple cookie cutter shapes using only the fingers and hands (haptic perception). Students read archival studies that have used this procedure, identify confounds, generate and test alternate hypotheses, and…

Describes the activities a teacher used at summer camp to acquaint blind children with nature. Discusses the similarities and differences between blind children and children with sight. (RL)

Provides examples of science activities in which children use their senses in manipulating objects and ideas. Suggests that these and other activities be extended to help children deepen their understanding of scientific concepts. (JN)

This article, the last in a series about the human brain, focuses on the skin and its importance for the brain. Physiological functions of the skin, concerning touch and body protection, are explained, as well as its social role in nonverbal communication. Suggestions for student discussions are given. (PP)

This paper discusses basic strategies in providing speech information to deaf individuals via the tactile modality and describes the Tactaid II and Tactaid VII vibrotactile aids employed in the Central Institute for the Deaf Sensory Aids Study. Coding, display, and operation are described for each device. Results from previous studies with both…

Methods for teaching pupils to use their senses to explore colors, shapes, textures, and sounds of the great outdoors are described. Ideas include: (1) having children hug their own special tree; (2) looking for geometric shapes in nature; (3) taking nocturnal nature walks; (4) building a track for racing insects; and (5) collecting objects with…

This article describes the work of a group of professionals in the United Kingdom known as the VIEW Braille Literacy Committee, committed to the development of teaching braille. Members meet each school term and have had the support of the Royal National Institute of the Blind (RNIB) in realizing numerous projects aimed at improving access to…

A follow-up account of a mother's attempts to provide her blind daughter, now aged six, with knowledge of the physical world through the manipulation of three-dimensional objects and two-dimensional tactile representations. The case is made for the value of pictures to the development of children's understanding in general; and for the child who…

This case study describes a congenitally blind undergraduate student who successfully completed a basic statistics course. Accommodations specific to his blindness included: a textbook on tape and review tapes before examinations; a talking calculator; graphs made on Braille paper and other tactile teaching aids. Affective problems encountered…