Teaching Tools for Visually Impaired

The Need:

Students with visual impairments require special teaching tools to facilitate learning in the classroom. While learning United States geography, students need to understand the shape and size of states. Physical models of each of the states would allow students to hold and feel the outline of the state. Additionally, having the pieces come together like a puzzle would help students to learn where states are concerning one another. In addition to geography, students also learn how to read and write in the classroom. Physical models of letters would be a useful tool for students to learn what each of the letters looks like and to trace them with their fingers.

The Solution:

Design and build a large puzzle of the United States (approx. 5’ by 5’), with each state its piece and true to shape. The pieces will be solid black with a bright red outline to accommodate students with CVI. A knob will be placed in the center of each piece for easy grabbing. Additionally, each puzzle piece will have a magnet to allow the pieces to stay in place while in the puzzle backboard. Design and build five sets of alphabet letters (upper and lower case) in pompadour font. Upper case letters will be approx. 4” tall and lower-case letters will be approx. 3” tall. All letters will be solid black with a red outline. Letters will have raised bumps along with them for tactile tracing.