SBIR Phase I: Signing Science for Kids

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目旨在通过制作一个关于STEM主题的电子书系列与美国手语（ASL）翻译来满足提高年轻聋哑儿童科学素养和知识的需求。每一本电子书将专注于一个特定的主题，并包括三个原始相关的子主题故事。每个故事都将伴随着：3个互动学习游戏（共9个），通过科学应用培养适合发展的批判性思维技能;研究每个屏幕上可访问的问题，激发进一步的思考和调查，并推荐在家里或教室里做的实验。 第一阶段电子书的主题是天气，故事将集中在风，温度和雨/云/彩虹。这些电子书将包含以ASL（视频）以及英语文本和音频查看故事内容的选项。所有科学术语将作为一个标志视频剪辑单独查看。电子书中的所有说明将包括ASL视频翻译与画外音。通过任何屏幕访问的词典将使用户能够阅读，播放ASL视频，并打印与电子书中使用的所有科学词汇相关的符号和概念的图形。ASL翻译的STEM电子书系列的更广泛的影响是通过使用这些辅助材料来增加聋儿的知识和阅读成绩。聋儿的阅读成绩通常远远低于听力正常的儿童，因为英语是聋儿的第二语言（美国手语是他们的主要语言）。虽然许多聋人学生可能不理解印刷品中的句子，但如果用美国手语呈现，他们可能会完全理解。将美国手语融入科学内容对阅读成绩和信息保持有积极影响。聋人通常科学知识有限，在科学，技术，工程和数学（STEM）领域代表性不足的一个主要原因是，许多正式的科学信息不是无障碍格式。事实上，目前几乎所有的科学信息都是音频和文本，没有手语翻译。通过从幼儿开始，我们可以激发早期对STEM领域的兴趣。该产品将是非常有用的教师，家长，语音/语言病理学家等，谁需要支持早期科学教学材料的理解，特别是干术语和符号，与美国手语符号的识字提高和课程增强的目的。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project aims to addresses the need for improved science literacy and knowledge of young deaf children by producing an e-book series on STEM topics with American Sign Language (ASL) translations. Each e-book will focus on a specific topic and include three original related sub-topic stories. Each story will be accompanied by: 3 interactive learning games (9 in total) that foster developmentally appropriate critical thinking skills with scientific applications; study questions accessible on each screen that provoke further thought and investigation, and recommended experiments to do at home or in the classroom. The topic area chosen for the Phase I e-book is Weather, and the stories will focus on Wind, Temperature, and Rain/Clouds/Rainbows. These e-books will contain options to view the story content in ASL (video), as well as English text and audio. All science terminology will be viewable individually as a sign video clip. All instructions within the e-books will include ASL video translations with voice-over. A Dictionary, accessible through any of the screens, will enable users to read, play ASL video of, and print graphics of the signs and concepts related to all of the scientific vocabulary used in the e-book.The broader impact of the ASL-translated STEM e-book series is increased knowledge and reading achievement scores of deaf children through the use of these assistive materials. Reading achievement scores of deaf children usually fall far short of those of hearing children with comparable abilities because English is a second language for deaf children (ASL being their primary language). While many deaf students may not understand a sentence in print, they may understand it perfectly if it is presented in ASL. Incorporation of ASL into science content positively impacts on reading achievement and information retention. A major reason deaf people frequently have limited knowledge of science and are underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields is that much formal scientific information is not in accessible formats. In fact, nearly all scientific information currently available is audio and text-based and without interpretation into sign language. By starting with young children, we can stimulate early interest in STEM fields. This product will be tremendously useful to teachers, parents, speech/language pathologists, etc. who have a need to support understanding of early science instructional materials, and particularly STEM terminology and symbols, with ASL signs for purposes of literacy improvement and curriculum enhancement.