The Current State of Literature on the Education of Blind and Visually Impaired (BVI) Students in Chemistry and STEMM in Higher Education

• Jarah T. Dreamerson ^[1] ; Erin K. H. Saitta ^[1]
  1. [1] University of Central Florida

     University of Central Florida

     Estados Unidos

     
• Localización: Journal of chemical education, ISSN 0021-9584, Vol. 102, Nº 8, 2025, págs. 3142-3149
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • Science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM), and chemistry in particular, have been traditionally inaccessible to blind and visually impaired (BVI) students. Previous work has been done in these fields to circumvent barriers faced by these students in higher education STEMM coursework to make these fields more accessible; however, it can be difficult for instructors to find these sources to implement accessible methods in their teaching practices. This paper presents findings of a systematic literature review done utilizing three databases (ERIC, CAS SciFindern, and Web of Science) and performing a citation snowball. Sources involving STEMM higher education of BVI students were collected and analyzed, and the chemistry sources were further analyzed to answer six research questions: 1) Where does chemistry stand among STEMM fields in terms of BVI research in higher education? 2) What chemistry subdisciplines does this literature address? 3) In what curricular context (lecture, laboratory, both) does the research take place? 4) What methods of improving instruction of BVI students have been implemented? 5) Is there a trend on when, where, and by whom the sources are being published? And 6) Does the literature have a clear dissemination pathway? The systematic literature search found that chemistry has the most work of any STEMM literature, and most of the work is in general chemistry with very little research in upper-level chemistry courses. Additionally, the findings reveal a trend of reactivity toward accessibility for BVI students rather than proactively planning for BVI students, which may be impacting the number of BVI students entering the field.