Tactile Chemistry
Tactile strategies for teaching chemistry to students who are blind and visually impaired have been developed by Dr. Lillian A. Rankel, Hopewell Valley Central High School, Hopewell Valley, NJ 08534.
Some of the materials presented here are based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under grants HRD-0435656 and HRD-0726417. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in these materials are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
A Tactile Adaptation Kit, containing many of the materials described below is available from MDW Educational Services. For information about the Tactile Adaptation Kit, email MDWEducationalServices@gmail.com. Click here to download a flyer on the Tactile Adaptation Kit.
Supplies for Tactile Chemistry
Teaching Formulas and Manipulation of Formulas
Use a Chemistry Stencil to Make Magnetic Lab Equipment
Lewis Dot Structures and Valence Electrons
Ionic Bonding
Ionic bonds are formed when electrons are transferred from metals to nonmetals to form positive and negative ions. Attraction between positive and negative ions is the reason an ionic bond forms. To show this concept, students make a Lewis dot structure of the metal and nonmetal and then transfer the electrons from the metal to the nonmetal and use the magnetic symbols of + or - and the magnetic numbers to put the charge on the newly formed ions. Metal electrons can be coded by a different texture foam.
Mg: + :O::
->Mg2+::O::2-
Structures for Organic Compounds
Showing 3-D Organic Structures
Aufbau Diagrams
Tactile Equipment Models