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Chemistry is, inherently, a visual science. Chemists play in both the micro- and macroscopic worlds of molecules, and communication of connections between concepts in both realms is facilitated by visual representations (Grosholz and Hoffmann, 2000; Hoffmann, 2007; Hoffmann and Laszlo, 1991). Students of this science rely heavily on 2- dimensional (2D) and 3-dimensional (3D) visualizations of molecular structures when learning chemical concepts and solving chemical problems (Mathewson, 1999). Readers of this article are referred to Wu and Shah’s review for a comprehensive account on visuospatial thinking in chemistry learning (Wu & Shah, 2004). Visualization, however, should not be equated with having vision. “There is much more to the visualization than the sense of vision, and impaired vision does not necessarily preclude our faculties to visualize.” (Figueiras and Arcavi, 2015).
The visual aspects of chemistry can deter blind and visually impaired (BVI) students from entering the field. Moreover, literature on enabling BVI students in chemistry is generally lacking. Several recent efforts to make chemistry more accessible to BVI students have been described in the chemistry education literature: in particular, methodologies for facilitating engagement of BVI students with molecular structures — the basis of this perspective article. A note on what this article is and is not.
This perspective is not an exhaustive review on tools that enable BVI students in all of chemistry, as there are many aspects of the subject that are beyond the scope of this article. For instance, much of chemistry involves symbolic representation as opposed to structural representation. Teke and Sozbilir recently addressed problems of symbolic representation that blind students experience when learning chemistry (Teke & Sozbilir, 2019).
There is substantial literature aimed at enabling BVI individuals to participate in other aspects of chemistry not explicitly related to chemical (molecular) structure and other science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields; curious readers are directed to the following recent references for examples: (a) exploring chemistry topics in the formal classroom (Smith, 1981; Stender et al., 2016; Tombaugh, 1981) and laboratory settings (Andersen, 1982; Bromfield-Lee & Oliver-Hoyo, 2007; Flair & Setzer, 1990; JCE staff, 2000; Neppel, Oliver-Hoyo, Queen, & Reed, 2005; Supalo, Mallouk, Rankel, Amorosi, & Graybill, 2008; J. T. Wood & Eddy, 1996), (b) exploring chemistry topics in informal teaching settings (Kumar et al., 2018), (c) solving puzzles (Cady, 2012) and using interlocking toy building blocks, like Legos, to learn chemistry (Campbell, Miller, Bannon, & Obermaier, 2011; Cloonan, Nichol, & Hutchinson, 2011; Geyer, 2017; Melaku, Schreck, Griffin, & Dabke, 2016; Ruddick & Parrill, 2012; Witzel, 2002), (d) threedimensionally printed puzzle pieces for representing elements, ions, compounds, or chemical equations (Singhal & Balaji, 2019), (e) a musical electrochemical cell (Cady, 2014), (f) development of a BVI-accessible thermometer (Vitoriano et al., 2016), (g) science enrichment activities at National Federation of the Blind Youth Slams (Supalo et al., 2014) and science camps (Supalo, et al., 2014; Wedler et al., 2014), (h) approaches aimed at secondary school education (Supalo et al., 2016). For an excellent case study of a student with blindness successfully completing a chemistry laboratory course, see the recent report in this very Journal (Michael & Wohlers, 2019).
According to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 2004 (IDEA) definition, a visual impairment is, “an impairment in vision that, even with correction, adversely affects a child’s educational performance. The term includes both partial sight and blindness” (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 2004).
Individuals with visual impairments are not necessarily legally or congenitally blind. Many individuals with visual impairments still have some sight, which affects how they engage with different forms of representation. The United States BVI population faces a significant unemployment rate, estimated to be as high as 72% as of 2015 (National Federation of the Blind Statistical Facts about Blindness in the United States, https://nfb.org/blindness-statistics, accessed 2 November 2018).
Of the employed population of individuals with any disability, less than 4.5% work in STEM disciplines (Table 3. Employed persons by disability status, occupation, and sex, 2018 annual averages; sum of "computer and mathematical," "architecture and engineering" and "life, physical, and social science" occupations and, therefore, likely an overestimate, since architecture and social science are generally not considered part of STEM), a percentage that has recently decreased (Statistics, Survey, States, & Policy, 2018; Wedler et al., 2014).
To our knowledge, statistics on the fraction of this group working in chemistry are not available, but given that the percentage of the total US population estimated to have a visual impairment is approximately 2% (National Federation of the Blind Statistical Facts about Blindness in the United States, https://nfb.org/blindness-statistics, accessed 2 November 2018), we expect that BVI individuals are underrepresented in chemistry. Students with blindness or low vision experience and engage the world differently than their sighted peers, but this does not imply that BVI individuals cannot succeed in STEM careers. There are many examples of successful scientists with limited to no vision. These include: Mona Minkara at Northeastern University (chemist), Geerat J. Vermey at UC Davis (evolutionary biologist and paleontologist), Amy Bower at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (oceanographer), David Mehringer at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (software developer and astronomer), Wanda Díaz-Merced at the South African Astronomical Observatory (astronomer), Judith Summers-Gates of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (chemist), David Wohlers of Truman State University (chemist), and Peter Torpey of the “Eyes On Success” podcast (previously at Xerox, now podcast host).
How do blind and visually impaired students engage with molecular structure?
What is it we mean by molecular or chemical structure? By molecular or chemical structure, we mean collections of atoms connected by bonds to form a molecule. Chemical or molecular structures have defined spatial and symmetry properties that can be used to explain said structures to BVI chemists, e.g., distances between nuclei, angles defined by the positions of three nuclei, molecular point group symmetry.
The geometric properties of a molecule have many implications for chemistry research and education, e.g., predicting sites of chemical reactivity in a molecule, predicting how a small molecule (such as a drug) binds to a protein, predicting spectral properties. These types of predictions rely on practitioners being comfortable with patterns that are defined by similarities in molecular structures.
There is compelling evidence that BVI and non-BVI individuals have equal ability to process spatial information (Zimler & Keenan, 1983). Moreover, like their sighted peers, BVI individuals possess similar, and arguably superior, cognitive and perceptual abilities regarding analyzing and exploring tactile pictures (D’Angiulli, Kennedy, & Heller, 1998). For a perspective on how students with blindness or low vision process and learn science concepts, readers are referred to the work of Jones and Broadwell (Jones and Broadwell, 2008).
A co-author of this review, HBW, completely blind since birth, received his Ph.D. in organic chemistry in 2016. Henry, or “Hoby”, explains that, I use the same skills to visualize molecular structures as I have used since day 1 for my survival as a blind traveler. I cannot see maps, streets, etc., so I must visualize everything. When I ponder the route from the chemistry building to the nearest bus stop in my mind, for instance, it feels the same as pondering a complex molecular structure and determining where atoms are relative to one another.
The distance between points doesn’t matter when I visualize a physical space or chemical structure. If I’m visualizing a space, I think in meters and kilometers. When I think about chemical structures, I think precisely the same way but in angstroms and nanometers. Jones et al. supports this notion: visually impaired students were more accurate with measurements at very large (e.g., distance from earth to mars) and very small (e.g., bond length of C–H bond) scales compared to their normal sighted peers (G. Jones, Taylor, & Broadwell, 2009).
Hoby continues by explaining that, I often have an easier time with reaction mechanisms than some sighted peers because I can place structures in my mind and understand actual distances between atoms. Two atoms that look extremely far apart from each other may be very close together in space and my 3D understanding of molecular structure helps me here. Ultimately, thinking about how to get around a college campus or familiar town is not very different than thinking about solving a complicated reaction mechanism.
Thinking about the steps that I need to take on a route I am traveling is analogous to solving an organic synthesis problem. Often when figuring out how to travel a multi-city, multi-step route, I look at the route holistically and break it up “retrosynthetically” much the same way that I begin to solve synthesis problems. For another perspective from a blind chemist on learning chemistry, see the work of Supalo (Supalo, 2005).
We also note an excellent article by Mona Minkara, a blind computational chemist, wherein she describes how she implemented methods that enabled her to complete graduate work at the University of Florida (Minkara, Weaver, Gorske, Bowers, & Merz, 2015). In addition to more articles like the ones mentioned above, we hope to see future basic neuroscience research that elucidates whether the brain processes information about macroscopic and Visualization without Vision… 5 microscopic navigation in a manner similar to that described by Hoby.
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