Author: clgordy

Dr. Ramirez and Dr. Gordy are attending the American Society for Microbiology – Conference on Undergraduate Education in Austin, TX, where they will share microbiology and biology-related Tactile Teaching Tools through a Microbrew Presentation entitled “Developing Tactile Teaching Tools to Increase Inclusivity in Science Learning”.

2018 STEM BUILD Workshop participant Dr. Stefanie Chen of the NCSU Biotechnology Program is also in attendance, and shared a prototype of her Tactile Teaching Tool during her poster presentation (“Assessment of a CURE-based Module for Protein Interactions”).

The STEM BUILD project was featured in a DELTA News article entitled A Work in Progress: Tactile Teaching Tools for Inclusivity in Science Education. In the article, Drs. Ramirez and Gordy, along with DELTA team members Rebecca Sanchez, David Tredwell, and Jennafer Pettit, discuss the origins of the project, the process of developing a web portal for sharing of Tactile Teaching Tools and lesson plans, and efforts to create a community that connects educators and makers.

NCSU STEM BUILD undergraduate research assistants Drew Phillips (left) and Felix Harris (right) presented a poster at the 2nd annual NCSU Gender and Equity Research Symposium on April 2, 2018. The students explained how Tactile Teaching Tools can be used to improve inclusivity in science courses by encouraging visitors to think about what it would be like to read a biology textbook with no pictures and reminding them that this is how students with visual disabilities experience their biology courses. They then explained how the STEM BUILD team is working to develop Tactile Teaching Tools that can be used to effectively teach all learners. In addition to the poster, Drew and Felix brought Tactile Teaching Tool prototypes, including viral models and amino acid models, for poster visitors to interact with.