AnimalWatch Vi Suite Project:
Supporting Students with Visual
Impairments in STEM
L. Penny Rosenblum, Ph.D.
University of Arizona
Did you know that a polar bear can smell a seal
up to 1 mile away or that a panda cub at birth
weighs about the same amount as your iPhone?
Until I became the director of the AnimalWatch Vi
Suite project (www.awvis.org) which is a 3-year
research grant awarded to the University of Arizona's Dr. Jane Erin and Dr. Carole Beal, I had
no idea.
Our project is funded by the
U.S. Department of Education's
Institute of Education Sciences
and began in Spring 2012. After
two surveys of the field, our research team took the leap and
decided to develop an iPad app
that employs principles of universal design. The content
focuses on endangered species
such as the black rhino, cheetah, and sea turtle. When using the app and the
accompanying graphics (large print and braille)
students doing math at the 5th to 9th grade level
solve word problems and build their pre-algebra
readiness skills. Research tells us that if students
are not successful in developing their pre-algebra
competence they are very unlikely to go into the
STEM fields.
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Developing an app and the graphics that accompany it has been the focus of the first year of our
project. We had content from prior work of Dr.
