Web-based Multimedia Science Instruction for the Deaf

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This project will incorporate recent hardware and software advances with a proven-effective, multimedia science program to deliver efficacious web-based science instruction to deaf and hard-of-hearing students in middle and high schools. Such students typically exhibit low academic performance in science. A principal cause of this poor science performance is the usage of science materials designed for students who can both hear and read on grade level. Furthermore, teachers of the deaf and hard-of-hearing are often untrained or poorly trained in ASL or have an inadequate science background. This project will address these critical instruction issues by (a) using the internet to present an efficacious science instruction program that provides visually-rich multimedia content specifically designed for students who rely on ASL, (b) organizing the content to facilitate mastery and higher- order thinking, and (c) making this instruction available to students using the Internet. In Phase I, four prototype lessons on basic chemistry will be produced for web delivery and evaluated with middle-school and high-school students with a range of ages and English/ASL abilities. In Phase II, a complete 30-lesson core content chemistry program will be developed, delivered via the Web, and evaluated in a randomized control trial. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS: This project will lead to the production of a web-based course on the core concepts of chemistry for middle-school and high-school deaf and hard-of-hearing students. The program will utilize ASL, multimedia, alternative signing and text levels, audio narration in conjunction with an efficacious curriculum. It will be attractive to any school serving deaf and hard-of-hearing students in these grade levels.