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.

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

Structures for Organic Compounds

Showing 3-D Organic Structures

Aufbau Diagrams

Tactile Equipment Models

Tactile 3-D models of equipment and experiments can help students who are blind or visually impaired get a better sense of concepts that are ordinarily explained in drawings or photographs.

This cut-away model of the bomb calorimeter is 4 in. X 4in. and shows how the apparatus is set up for experiments. This is an ideal size for a blind person because one hand can be used to explore the model and feel all the dimensions.

The bomb calorimeter made was made from a white plastic "ready to spread" icing container with a snap off cover. The cover and container were cut in half with sharp scissors. The inside chamber of the calorimeter was made from a plastic bottle that was cut in half. The thermometer is a pipe cleaner marked with a pen to show calibration lines. The tubes going into and out of the calorimeter are made from long toothpicks. The pan holding the sample is aluminum foil with a small piece of charcoal for the sample. A paper clip was bent to make the heating element. The blue material made to look like water that separates the inner and outer chamber is fabric softener cloth used in a dryer. Hot glue was used to hold pieces together.

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.