ILAB is a Research in Disabilities Education project supported by the National Science Foundation under grants HRD-0435656 and HRD-0726417.

Click to download the ILAB final report to NSF on project HRD-0435656 in Microsoft Word, PDF, or text format.

ILAB seeks to raise the expectations of high school and college students who are blind and visually impaired (VI), as well as educators of these students, with the goal of encouraging them to consider careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) professions. This is being achieved through the development of speech-accessible tools as well as modified laboratory procedures, which will enable students who are blind and VI to perform chemistry laboratory experiments without sighted assistance. This will change the laboratory experience by giving students a more active and independent role.

Laboratory tools and techniques are being developed at Penn State, Truman State, and at partner high schools. These tools have been pilot tested at Penn State and Truman State. They are now being used in science laboratories at Indiana School for the Blind and Visually Impaired (ISBVI) and at several other schools in which students who are blind or VI learn in mainstream environments. A series of studies (involving controls in which the experiments are done in the traditional way) are being performed. We will use attitudinal assessments and interview data to determine the educational value of unassisted laboratory experiments for students who are blind and VI.

Laboratory Tools for Students who are Blind and Visually Impaired

The ILAB project applies existing adaptive tools to the general chemistry laboratory and is also developing new ones (click the Laboratory Tools tab to see a description of our new tools and techniques).


       pH probe              Colorimeter                      Temperature probe

The software interface Logger Pro, available from Vernier software and technology, which interfaces to commonly used laboratory probes (e.g., thermometer, pH meter, and UV-vis Spectrometer), is being used in conjunction with a PC along with the speech output software package JAWS. JAWS (Job Access for Windows Software) is one of the speech output programs most commonly used by blind people today. Digital barcoding and Braille labeling of chemicals, glassware, and molecular models have also been found to be useful as teaching tools.

The Portable ID mate II aids in the identification of items using the product's bar code or UPC. Useful information can be included on the label, such as concentration, purity, and safety hazards. The use of the ID Mate allows a student to identify the chemicals that are on a lab shelf or under a hood. This device is small enough that it can be worn on a belt around the student's waist during the class.

These existing laboratory tools assist students in identifying and manipulating chemicals and glassware, weighing samples, and recording data from laboratory instruments. However, visual observation is extensively used in chemistry (and in other sciences). In adapting the high school chemistry laboratory curriculum, we identified the need for additional key tools that now enable students to "see" chemical reactions. One is the color analysis laboratory sensor (CALS), a device that allows the student to detect the colors of solids used in laboratory experiments. The CALS has a second sensor that can be plugged into its control box allowing it to speak the color of a solution. Another versatile tool is the submersible audible light sensor (SALS). The SALS can be used to monitor the formation of precipitates and color changes in real time. More detail on the CALS and the SALS can be obtained by clicking on the Laboratory Tools tab at the left.

Several new pieces of laboratory equipment have being developed and adapted to experiments that are done by students in high school chemistry and physics laboratories. Our emphasis is on inexpensive, general purpose tools that can be made from readily accessible components. Please click the "Laboratory Tools," "Classroom Tools," and "Experiments" tabs at the left for more complete descriptions.