This Small Grant for Exploratory Research (SGER) will investigated techniques for accommodating vision impaired in chemical engineering majors. The objectives of the study are
1. To understand how team based, challenge learning occurs when a vision impaired student is included in a group. 2. To determine in what manner a visually impaired student contributes to the overall design process and the developing communication skills within the team.
Students will accomplish the tasks typical of a chemical engineering design course (debottlenecking and grass roots design).
The project will yield insights into the process by which a vision atypical student functions within a design team on open ended problems.
Software adaptations, communication media, and knowledge gained will be broadly disseminated to engineering faculty. The PI will also demonstrate how three outcomes deemed necessary by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) are achieved with atypical vision students, namely function in multidisciplinary teams develop and use effective written and oral communication skills and use the techniques, skills and modern engineering tools necessary for engineering practice. This study will also encourage other atypical students to consider an engineering education.
