Projects

BLV-Friendly STEM Project (Launched in August 2023)

Society for Science. STEM Action Grant Recipient. Logo of Intl STEM BLV

*This project has been awarded a STEM Action Grant from the Society for Science. 

The Expanded Core Curriculum (ECC) is a set of concepts and skills that are taught to blind and low-vision students to support their learning that often occurs incidentally with vision. The ECC includes nine elements: compensatory access, sensory efficiency, assistive technology, orientation and mobility, independent living, social interaction, recreation and leisure, career education, and self-determination. 

We refine, adapt, and integrate the ECC elements into existing STEM curricula. The goal is to make STEM learning less intimidating and more accessible for blind or low-vision learners as well as remove the challenges that teachers and parents encounter when teaching STEM to their students or children who are blind or have low vision. The process includes three steps shown in the figure below. For more information, please go to our BLV-Friendly STEM Project website.

The image shows the three steps to turn general STEM lesson plans into BLV-friendly STEM lesson plans and multisensory learning materials: Refine, adapt, and identify.

Figure: The RAI integration process: Refine, adapt, and identify.