Diversity and Inclusion

Inclusivity

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Introduction

Of the many reasons behind our team’s inclusivity values, the personal motivations of our team members cannot be ignored. In researching how we could better integrate inclusive practices into our activities, one of our teammates, whose younger brother is visually impaired, suggested the topic of education for those with disabilities. However, due to their physical disability, those young individuals experience a barrier from their dreams and hopes. Even though science education is limited to them, many of those students are interested and eager to learn about science. Majority of the people with disabilities do not have such opportunities and eventually train to be, what is the only possible career choice, a massagist. Yet, some individuals who receive education and are exposed to such opportunities will find their own pathways for their future just like blind artists. If people who are visually impaired specialize in areas based on visual nature and artistic disciplines, why would science education be limited for them?

Perhaps, science might be an optimistic field of study to overcome their difficulties. Synthetic biology is a branch of biology that is uncommon for most people but closely related to visually impaired people. Just like the solution Lorenzo’s parents in the movie “Lorenzo Oil” found for their son who is diagnosed with an incurable disease, synthetic biology is a promising field of study. However, there is an incident that still remains as pain to many people with disabilities.

In the early 2000s, Woo-suk Hwang, who claimed that stem cells could rehabilitate disabilities, was considered a hero for people with disabilities. Numbers of disability organizations championed Hwang until the study was proven to be a scientific fraud. The truth that Hwang fabricated a series of experiments left a huge disappointment and disillusionment to people with disabilities, while bringing some attention to synthetic biology.

Although it is an uncommon field of study for many people, it is an inclusive field of science which operates based on computer technology and, in the future, will function through robots. Through tactile images and teaching aids, we addressed this inclusivity matter by providing an approach to learning that breaks the barrier. We truly hope that those individuals are given the opportunity to access synthetic biology education and further science education without being subjected to the physical disabilities that they might have.

Science is a leading field of study in the modern days, influencing our lives every day in almost every single aspect that we can think of. Because of the large field of impact that science has on our society, we, as students, get educated at school about the different fields of study in the branch of science, including biology, environmental science, chemistry, and much more. However, not all students get an equal opportunity to learn about science due to several factors such as finance, physical disabilities, and much more.

Focusing on the physically impaired people, those who are visually impaired get the most disadvantage when learning about science as most science courses include hands-on activities, which involve the process of observing an experimental process, recording the data that was either electronically generated or self-measured, and quantitatively or qualitatively describing the data. Out of aspects of class activities, such as the experiment as described, visually impaired students get the most disadvantage as they cannot visualize things or observe things, as it is easier for students to learn when observing something rather than being verbally taught about it.

Seoul Korea took part in thinking of ways to help visually impaired students to learn about synthetic biology, a branch of biology that is uncommon for most people but closely related to visually impaired people.

As it is an uncommon field of study for most people, those who are normal, it must be even harder for visually impaired people to learn the subject of synthetic biology.

To help improve the difficulties that the visually impaired people have when learning about synthetic biology, Seoul Korea thought of ways to better teach about the subject of synthetic biology, by providing our own designed tactile images and other tactile teaching aids to help the visually impaired students better visualize what specific components or terms of synthetic biology looks like.

Seoul Korea’s inclusivity team endeavors to reach far beyond the field of it being just an iGEM project; We endeavor to impact countries worldwide, helping visually impaired students worldwide to have access to better educational materials, receive a higher quality education, not be subjected to the physical disabilities that they might have.

Visiting Siloam Welfare Center

In order to communicate our project and synthetic biology to the rest of the world, our team selected two main methods. First, our team decided to host the biology competition called “ISBC” (International School Biology Competition). During the competition, our team held an Educational Session on synthetic biology, with university professors' support, and hosted debate sessions for high school students to communicate their perspectives on synthetic biology.

Over several decades, many countries such as the United States, Canada, Germany, France, and Belgium have strived to improve the system by which the visually impaired can effectively learn. However, Korea’s system of special education for the visually impaired is markedly underdeveloped compared to those of such countries. Despite there being nearly 2,000 visually impaired students in Korea, these students have a limited scope of learning opportunities and educational tools.

For students with disabilities, taking the same science course as ordinary students with the same approach to learning will not be as effective. An example is a set of hands-on activities that study the properties of shadows and materials through 3D models. Visually impaired students also have a very difficult time acquiring abstract concepts such as distance and time. Therefore, visually-impaired students cannot learn from the science classes’ full extent or capability, also not to the full extent of the student's capability as well.

After learning about the reality of Korea’s education system for the visually impaired, we intended to contribute to establishing a more concrete foundation for Korea’s education of the visually impaired.

To further inquire about the current status of education for the visually impaired in Korea, we visited the Siloam Welfare Center. It was established to promote support for the blind by carrying out social service projects. From this visit, we sought to learn about the technology or techniques used to teach visually impaired students that we could apply to our inclusivity project.

We had an opportunity to meet the manager of the tactile books production team, who introduced us to the center’s gallery of artworks and books designed for the visually impaired. We saw a variety of alternate books, including printed textbooks made of braille, electronic books, and audiobooks recorded on cassette tapes and CDs. One interesting book was a tactile map, designed with special paper material, that guides visually impaired people to travel in unfamiliar areas.

Thankfully, the manager approved to look over a sample of a braille biology textbook that we had created. During our interview with her, the manager explained that braille textbooks were the most accessible and commonly used tools. To address the lack of research and financial support for the education of visually impaired students in Korea, the manager said, the most crucial part is to improve the system of implementing textbooks in educational institutions. The welfare center had to publish a large number of tactile books for these institutions when it had a very underdeveloped system of producing learning tools. Thus the manager’s team struggled with continuing to produce books with enough content. The manager explained that only when implementing learning materials in schools is institutionalized can blind students have easy access to sufficiently developed textbooks.

3D Modeling and Creating Tactile Textbooks

In order to allow more detailed teaching to the visually impaired, we decided to create our own stereoscopic image. Our first attempt to do so was through using the program Lithophane. Although Lithophane is originally made for light boxes instead of stereoscopic images, it does a great job in converting an image to a thin 3D model. Despite its convenience though, Lithophane did not allow us to fix incorrectly printed areas. Furthermore, as it was not originally designed to be directly handled, it had a coarse surface, which for visually impaired people with sensitive tactile processing, can be critical. Therefore, we searched for alternative methods in creating the stereoscopic method. Some methods we considered included using an embossed printer, using a resin printer, and plastic molding. However, regarding our current time and situation, we came to the conclusion that using Fusion 360 is the most plausible solution.

After we received feedback from the audience, we decided to design a more concise and efficient form of demonstration. We added a few drops of oil to the beaker and poured our Pine Sorb product at the top of the oil. Then, we intentionally stirred the oil with the glass stick to reveal that our product was highly oleophilic. Unlike tank demonstrations that take 5-10 minutes of preparation time, our stirrer demo is fast, immediate, and time-efficient. When we displayed our stirrer demonstration to the audience, we observed that more people were interested in our projects. Our modification was successful, and we were able to promote our product to a wider range of audience.

Because Fusion 360 does not support the conversion of a 2-dimensional image into a stereoscopic image, we had to build the model from scratch. First, we had to trace an image by sketching on top of the imported image. Then, the sketch was extruded so that it has a 3-dimensional structure. At this point, the stereoscopic image was completed. However, due to the size and the flat surface of the model, it was very hard to sense the fine details of the model. Therefore, we decided to filet the surface, in order to maximize tactile legibility.

Receiving our first model done by Lithophane, we spotted multiple problems. First of all, some parts of the model were very sharp, as it was not originally intended to be a stereoscopic image. Secondly, because the image was printed small, and because the image had a flat surface, the 3D models were not distinguishable. However, Lithophane did not allow such adjustments. Therefore, we decided to model the image ourselves, using the application Fusion 360. In order to provide a better tactile experience, we used the fillet function to round the surface. Furthermore, we tried to make the model as this as possible, so that it is portable and easily distributable to the visually impaired. Finally, we took a lot of effort in determining the material we should make the stereoscopic image. We wanted to make it as flexible as possible, and durable so that the image can be passed on for a long time. After some research, we found out that flexible TPU suits our needs and thus made our product with flexible TPU.

Teaching Session at Seoul National School for the Blind

For students with disabilities, taking the same science course as ordinary students with the same approach will not be as effective to their learning. Blind students also have a very difficult time in acquiring abstract concepts such as distance and time making it difficult for them to comprehend the scientific information to the full extent. Therefore, in order to aid the understanding of blind students, we designed physical 3D models of synthetic biology concepts.

For the education material we focused on the applications and impacts of synthetic biology as well as general biosafety concerns. Considering the complexity of these concepts we’ve simplified the educational material to be easily digestible to blind students, focusing on detailed and descriptive auditory explanations and tactile 3D models to aid mental visualization. Focusing more on the aspect of introducing our iGEM team to the students at the National School for the Blind with the purpose of our research on synthetic biology, relating to scientists that are blind or are visually-impaired that have greatly contributed to the history in various fields of study such as in biology, education, and much more.

We created 3D education materials that illustrate certain biological processes such as cell division and gene transcription. We attempted to create our own 3D model by first using a Lithophane software program. The problems with the first model was that it was printed small and some of its components were not solid enough to be distinguishable. Therefore, our next step was to design the image with software Fusion 360 to improve the material’s tangible quality. We decided to create the model with TPU because it had high durability and flexibility. After creating the 3D model and other educational material to be used in the training class at the National School for the Blind.

In the course of doing our experimental training session with a group of students at the National School for Blind, we also asked questions about how the science classes are being taught at the National School for the Blind to compare the classes with the classes that are being taught at other schools where people who are not visually impaired would attend. The response was that the classes are taught by focusing only on the materials that are in the textbook and during the classes, the use of 3D models made the class to be more effective than embossed books or other tactile textbooks.

The last session at the National School for the Blind was getting a feedback on our 3D model and materials that we made for the lesson and getting additional ideas on the advancement in technologies regarding the creation of textbooks or educational materials or other effective ways of making education materials for the visually impaired students. The feedback that was given to us by a student named Mr. Kim. The feedbacks on the educational materials were that first, they prefer the use of three dimensional educational materials, such as 3D models, over the use of tactile textbooks, which have the images or diagrams embossed at a height of about 2 mm. In addition to the use of 3D models, he said that the students would prefer the use of education material that involves movements such as those that are in comic book for kids, where as we flip the book, things would pop out, turn, or disappear.

Conclusion

As a result of numerous community interactions relating to the education system for the visually impaired, Seoul_Korea was able to not only create and provide an innovative education tool or aid for the visually impaired that could effectively help them in the process of learning but also learn about the difficulties that the physically impaired people interact or conflict within our society not only in the field of education but also in the society in general. By interacting with people related to the field of special education, and sharing our passion for synthetic biology and science, we were able to receive feedback on the tactile images and educational tools that we have created, and based on that feedback, improve the education aids, and further improve our project of helping visually impaired students to learn about synthetic biology and science even further.