The Current State of Literature on the Education of Blind and Visually Impaired (BVI) Students in Chemistry and Successfully Implemented Practices

Jarah Nelson, Erin Saitta

University Of Central Florida

Chemistry spaces in education and industry have a past of being largely inaccessible to the blind or visually impaired (BVI). A systematic literature review was conducted to analyze the existing literature on the teaching and learning of BVI students in college-level chemistry. The research questions being asked are: How is the literature distributed upon different chemistry courses and environments? and What instructional methods of accommodating or improving the quality of BVI education in chemistry have been utilized? The literature review was completed using three databases (ERIC, CAS SciFinderⁿ, and Web of Science), as well as a “citation snowfall” from the accepted sources from the three databases. The inclusion criteria for the systematic review was higher ed chemistry education involving BVI students. STEM-general papers were included if they had an explicit mention of chemistry education in the abstract or keywords. Special care was taken to exclude the terms “double-blind” or “single-blind” directly in the search as the results otherwise were saturated with results of double-blind and single-blind trials. Findings from this literature review can guide future projects for creating inclusive instruction for BVI students in chemistry, and act as a guiding resource for instructors working with BVI students in chemistry. BVI students may also find this review as a resource to show that they can do chemistry regardless of disability status. This presentation will highlight the overview of the literature available and discuss successful approaches to the teaching and learning of BVI students.