Teaching Enzyme Activity to the Visual Impaired and Blind Students

Abstract

Biochemistry requires a high abstraction level, and different approaches should be used to enable the proper understanding of different subjects. In particular, students with visual impairment or blindness need special attention, not due to a lack of cognitive skills, but due to the fact that most of the teaching methods are visual. Enzyme properties are usually taught through experimental data that show how the activity changes in different conditions, which end up with the analysis of graphs. Therefore, our group developed experiments and graphical representations that enable visually impaired and blind students to understand enzyme properties. The experiments were done with pineapple bromelain, using reconstituted dry milk and gelatin as substrates. The "visualization" of the results were based on the sensation of the viscosity of the samples. The graphs were made with cold porcelain with all the labels (legends and numbers) written in Braille with a positive slate. From our experience with a blind student, both the experiments and the graphic representations were useful adaptations for teaching enzyme properties.