Resumen de Creating Atom Representations Using Open-Source, Stackable 3D Printed Interlocking Pieces with Tactile Features to Support Chemical Equation Writing for Sighted and Visually Impaired Students
An open-source repository of basic building block models design files for writing chemical formulas, equations, and ionic states are provided. Writing chemical symbols, molecules, and ions in their correct oxidation state or valency in chemical equations is an essential and integral part of learning. For a visually impaired student, it is very difficult to write the molecule arrangements, balance chemical equations, and grasp the knowledge of valence electrons available for bonding and interactions. It is important to provide such students an easy way to understand their formation and manipulation. Emerging technologies like three-dimensional (3D) printing enable us to provide such methods which can help us create working modular molecular and chemical models for tactile perception. The provided scalable models can be readily printed as per the quantity required, to aid sighted learners and blind or low-vision (BLV) learners so that they can learn, understand, and represent elemental and molecular reactions. All the provided models are scalable and identified with Braille labels along with alphanumerical impressions. Further, we have conducted a small survey using the newly created models with BLV learners, and the students responses are also reported here.
