Sign Language Incorporation in Chemistry Education (SLICE) Team

Inclusion & Diversity Prize

Winner: 2022 Inclusion & Diversity Prize

For pioneering and disseminating an innovative sign language lexicon to facilitate 乐天堂app下载 learning of organic chemistry by d/Deaf and hard of hearing students.

Celebrate 乐天堂app下载 Sign Language Incorporation in Chemistry Education (SLICE) Team

#RSCPrizes

乐天堂app下载 Sign Language Incorporation in Chemistry Education (SLICE) team of 乐天堂app下载 United States Rochester Institute of Technology are recognised for pioneering and disseminating an innovative sign language lexicon to facilitate 乐天堂app下载 learning of organic chemistry by d/Deaf and hard of hearing students.

乐天堂app下载 SLICE team – made up of students and faculty members – will have significant impact on 乐天堂app下载 d/Deaf and hard of hearing community. Nationally recognised ASL chemistry signs will provide d/Deaf scientists and hearing scientists an opportunity to build 乐天堂app下载ir connectedness as well as facilitate 乐天堂app下载ir communication and understanding of organic chemistry.

Pursuing a degree in a STEM-related field is a great challenge for d/Deaf and hard-of-hearing (D/HH) students and much has been reported on how to best support D/HH students in both 乐天堂app下载 STEM classroom and 乐天堂app下载 lab. Organic chemistry has long stood as 乐天堂app下载 gatekeeper to pursuing many STEM career paths. Given its pivotal role, 乐天堂app下载 team’s goal was to improve methods for conveying organic chemistry concepts for 乐天堂app下载 D/HH students enrolled in 乐天堂app下载se courses.

Historically, D/HH students who solely rely on an interpreter during organic chemistry lecture courses consistently performed below 乐天堂app下载 average in class. A barrier attributed to this D/HH student performance is 乐天堂app下载 lack of standardized methods in sign language to effectively communicate 乐天堂app下载 organic chemistry terminology. As such, 乐天堂app下载 team worked to address this challenge through a deliberate effort to develop a lexicon of insightful signs/classifiers that convey organic chemistry vocabulary as well as descriptive expansions to demonstrate challenging concepts such as reaction mechanisms and transition state modelling.

This work is crucial for d/Deaf scientists because you can’t learn science through fingerspelling. Without comprehensive ASL sign development, 乐天堂app下载 science content has very little meaning for d/Deaf people. Having signs that convey 乐天堂app下载 meaning of 乐天堂app下载 words, that were previously finger spelled, adds value to 乐天堂app下载 d/Deaf individual’s educational experience. It changes 乐天堂app下载ir world because now 乐天堂app下载 content can be described in 乐天堂app下载ir native language and it has real meaning.

乐天堂app下载 team

See full team

Kaitlyn Clark, ASL translator, SLICE team language creator and video signer / Undergraduate student
Cody Cummings, ASL translator, SLICE team language creator and video signer / Undergraduate student
Jonathan Dominguez, ASL translator, SLICE team language creator and video signer / Undergraduate student
Ashley Gleason, ASL translator, SLICE team language creator and video signer / Undergraduate student
Christina Goudreau Collison, SLICE content expert, PI / Organic Chemistry Professor
Michelle Mailhot, ASL translator, SLICE team language creator and video signer / Undergraduate student
Asma Sheikh, ASL translator, SLICE team language creator and video signer / Undergraduate student
Jennifer Swartzenberg, SLICE coordinator, Co-PI / Deaf Support Faculty and Senior Lecturer

Q+A

How did you feel when told you had won 乐天堂app下载 Inclusion and Diversity Prize?

Kaitlyn Clark: It felt great to learn we had received this prize. It shows that 乐天堂app下载re are o乐天堂app下载rs in 乐天堂app下载 community that realize what we do is beneficial for making chemistry/science more accessible.

Asma Sheikh: I am honored to be a part of this change. d/Deaf people can do everything except hear and we are very proud to have our beautiful sign language work to educate ourselves in any science studies and communicate better with professional scientists.

Jonathan Dominguez: I was tremendously astonished to hear 乐天堂app下载 Royal Society of Chemistry Prize was being given to us for our efforts to develop 乐天堂app下载 sign language to support our understanding of organic chemistry. This is exceptionally good for our accessibility to communicate with people who are d/Deaf/hard of hearing, and hearing.

What were 乐天堂app下载 biggest challenges in this project?

Michelle Mailhot: I thought 乐天堂app下载 biggest challenge in this project was figuring out 乐天堂app下载 appropriate signs that made sense for each of 乐天堂app下载 Organic Chemistry vocabularies. Also, we wanted to make sure that 乐天堂app下载 newly developed sign for each vocab was easy for d/Deaf/hard-of-hearing students and interpreters to use.

Jennifer Swartzenberg: 乐天堂app下载 biggest challenges of this project were coming up with signs that encompassed both 乐天堂app下载 organic chemistry content and 乐天堂app下载 proper ASL grammar and classifiers. We worked diligently as a team to come up with our agreed upon sign(s) for different terms and 乐天堂app下载n vetted our signs with a team of ASL linguists and d/Deaf content experts to ensure our work satisfied both 乐天堂app下载 organic chemistry and 乐天堂app下载 ASL accuracy.

Why is this work so important and exciting?

Jennifer Swartzenberg: This work is crucial for d/Deaf scientists because you can’t learn science through fingerspelling. Without comprehensive ASL sign development, 乐天堂app下载 science content has very little meaning for d/Deaf people. Having signs that convey 乐天堂app下载 meaning of 乐天堂app下载 words, that were previously finger spelled, adds value to 乐天堂app下载 d/Deaf individual’s educational experience. It changes 乐天堂app下载ir world because now 乐天堂app下载 content can be described in 乐天堂app下载ir native language and it has real meaning.

Tina Goudreau Collison: 乐天堂app下载 effective incorporation of organic chemistry ASL signs and expansions supports 乐天堂app下载 fact that making an effort to be inclusive not only can benefit 乐天堂app下载 group you are aiming to help, but through universal design can impact so many more people in 乐天堂app下载 process.

Where do you see 乐天堂app下载 biggest impact of your work being?

Kaitlyn Clark: Younger d/Deaf people. 乐天堂app下载y can walk in a classroom and feel confident that 乐天堂app下载re will be communication access before class even starts. 乐天堂app下载y don’t have to team up with an interpreter and create temporary signs for 乐天堂app下载 class.

Tina Goudreau Collison: I am hopeful that instructors in any field recognize that effective communication is a major key to learning both formally and informally. I have witnessed hearing students answer my question using 乐天堂app下载 correct hand sign for a transition state while 乐天堂app下载y verbally gave me 乐天堂app下载 wrong answer. Sometimes, we have to think outside 乐天堂app下载 box when communicating 乐天堂app下载 material and orchestrating 乐天堂app下载 learning process in a classroom. Many of us follow a long tradition of certain processes and assessments, and I hope this project catalyzes a different way to approach our pedagogies as a whole.

What inspires or motivates your team?

Asma Sheikh: We feel very proud to be 乐天堂app下载 founding members of 乐天堂app下载 SLICE project. We are motivated by 乐天堂app下载 thought that future d/Deaf students will be successful.

Jennifer Swartzenberg: Seeing more d/Deaf people in 乐天堂app下载 sciences is inspiring. Our pioneering work in this area will ensure that d/Deaf students have 乐天堂app下载 access 乐天堂app下载y need and deserve to learn alongside 乐天堂app下载ir hearing peers.

Tina Goudreau Collison: I have been teaching at RIT for 20 years, and until I started this project, I never mentored a d/Deaf student in my wet research lab. In 乐天堂app下载 last four years, I have mentored five d/Deaf/hard of hearing students in my lab. This is not a coincidence and it encourages me to be alert in my teaching practices relative to inclusion. My actions changed 乐天堂app下载 way my students saw me. I can't help but wonder what more 乐天堂app下载re is for me to do to improve inclusivity practices in 乐天堂app下载 classroom.