TERC, in partnership with the Boston Museum of Science, will investigate the impact of the iPod Touch as a technology platform for deaf and hard-of-hearing children for attending exhibits in museums. The project employs a mixed-methods design to study how deaf or hard of hearing family visitors, ages 5-12, and classroom visitors in grades K-8 who are also deaf or hard of hearing, use the signing pictionaries on the iTouch to access science content at the exhibits. The study will also investigate the integration of human voice into the text-based component and develop movies with accompanying activities for the handheld technology. The investigator had previously created a Dictionary and a Signing Math Dictionary for use by children who are hard of hearing that will be modified for use in this museum setting.
The investigator plans to conduct a careful study of the effectiveness of this new hand held device for improving communication between exhibits and visitors and between the family members of the visitors. The study's participants will visit one exhibit and do an activity without the dictionary and then do a second activity with the handheld content. Researchers will collect data from the visitors about their learning of science and experience with the tools and write papers of their investigations. The results of the study will be disseminated through publications associated with the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community.
