A VIRTUAL PHYSICS LABORATORY: ADVANCED ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY FOR PHYSICALLY DISABLED STUDENTS

MEDICAL ADVANCES, NEW LEGISLATION, AND CHANGING SOCIAL ATTITUDES HAVE ENCOURAGED MORE DISABLED INDIVIDUALS TO CONTINUE THEIR EDUCATION. EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMS CONSEQUENTLY MUST CONTINUE TO RESPOND TO THE UNIQUE NEEDS OF THIS POPULATION BY DEVELOPING ADAPTIVE EDUCATIONAL TOOLS. FOR EXAMPLE, LABORATORY COURSES ARE TYPICALLY CHALLENGING TO THE PHYSICALLY DISABLED. ONE PROMISING AND INNOVATIVE SOLUTION IS VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENT TECHNOLOGY, WHICH CAN PROVIDE A UNIQUE TOOL FOR THE DISABLED BY OFFERING OPPORTUNITIES FOR MANIPULATIVE EXPLORATION WITHOUT REQUIRING PHYSICAL ACCESS, DEXTERITY, AND STRENGTH. TO ADDRESS THIS ISSUE SPECIFICALLY, WE ARE DEVELOPING A VIRTUAL PHYSICS LABORATORY IN WHICH THE STUDENT CAN LEARN SCIENTIFIC METHODS AND PERFORM EXPERIMENTS WITHOUT HAVING TO ENGAGE THE PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT. IN PHASE I, WE WILL PERFORM HUMAN FACTORS ANALYSES, AND DESIGN, CONSTRUCT, AND EVALUATE A PROTOTYPE OF THE VIRTUAL LABORATORY. THE POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS OF VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS FOR EDUCATION AND TRAINING ARE VAST, AND WILL PROVIDE THE NEXT GENERATION OF INTERACTIVE LEARNING SYSTEMS. THIS PROJECT PROMOTES THE NATIONAL OBJECTIVES OF EDUCATION IN SCIENCE AND THE INCLUSION OF DISABLED PERSONS AS PRODUCTIVE MEMBERS OF OUR SOCIETY. THE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT TEAM HAS EXTENSIVE EXPERIENCE IN CONDUCTING EXPERIMENTAL AND HUMAN FACTORS RESEARCH, DESIGNING AND DEVELOPING VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS, AND DEVELOPING ADAPTIVE TECHNOLOGY FOR DISABLED PERSONS.