Unfortunately, the reality of blindness is that it restricts the blind student from participating in certain activities. In my experience as a teacher of blind students, I've seen very intelligent, talented students relegated to the position of "data takers" when they were involved in science labs. This was not very good.

 

However, with the use of technology, those restrictions are being challenged, and in some cases, eliminated.Here at VAAS we now have a deice called the Ward's Data Hub that has been made available to us by the science center in the alley next door. This device is a  base processing unit to which multiple sensors can be attached, and with which an iPad can be paired. 

 

Here are some of the things that can be measured and some of the sensors that can be attached to the Ward's Data Hub: 

Air Pressure, Light, Ambient Temperature, pH, Barometric Pressure, Relative Humidity, Colorimeter, Thermocouple, Conductivity, Turbidity, External Temperature, Universal Sensor Input, GPS, Dissolved Oxygen, Heart Rate, Sound Level, Microphone, UV, IR Temperature, Accelerometer, Voltage, Current, Distance (Motion).

 

To use the Data Hub with the iPad, you need to download the GlobiLab App from the Apple App Store (it's free, and may soon be available in the LAUSD App Catalog):  https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/globilab/id554428303

 

YouTube has a series of 45 videos demonstrating how to use Ward's Data Hub (unfortunately, not all of the videos in the series refer to Ward's Data Hub - Sorry!). Here's a link: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=ward%27s+datahub

 

I have eight of these devices available for checkout in room 111. These can be used by any student, sighted or blind. Please let me know if you would like to try one out.