Earth Science Videodisc Program for Hearing Impaired

Poor academic performance among deaf and hard-of-hearing students, particularly in science, is partattributable to inappropriate science materials that assume students can both hear and read. Furtherdelivery is usually poor because teachers are untrained in the communication needs of this populatioincorporate recent advances in CD-ROM technology with research-based teaching practices and programsearth science content to deaf and hard-of-hearing students. This project addresses critical issues oinstruction by: effectively presenting material to students with diverse ASL, English reading, and horganizing science content to facilitate mastery and higher order thinking; and efficiently overcomitechnological problems common in current hearing-impaired products. In Phase I, four prototype earthbe produced and evaluated. The prototype will be a stand-alone, turn-key system including videodisc,monitor, keyboard, and headphones. The utility of this prototype will be evaluated with 10 middle anhaving a wide range of ASL, English reading, and hearing abilities. In Phase II, a complete 35- lesswill be developed and its efficacy tested in a randomized control trial.