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Signing Science Dictionary: Benefits to Students and Teachers
Tags:Case Studies, Collaboration, Innovators, NCTI Technology in the Works, Research
Tech in the Works Shows Potential Effectiveness of the Signing Science Dictionary
For researcher Judy Vesel of TERC and her partners at Vcom3D, developer of the Signing Avatar® assistive technology, Tech in the Works-funded research demonstrated that a preliminary, 300-word version of the Signing Science Dictionary raised science achievement among students with hearing impairment. In the dictionary, words and definition on one side of the page face an “avatar,” an animated 3D character, signing the word or definition when called upon to do so in ASL or Signed English on the other side.
The research verified the product’s potential effectiveness. Outcomes contributed to writing a successful proposal to the NSF that will fund an expanded thousand-word Signing Science Dictionary.
The partners are experienced at working with one another: Tech in the Works supported TERC and Vcom3D’s third collaboration and TERC has often set research in these two school sites: Bruce Street School for the Deaf in Newark, New Jersey, and the North Carolina School for the Deaf, located in rural Morganton, North Carolina. These longstanding collaborative relationships meant that insights and inventiveness moved easily among sites, researchers, and vendor. “We talk all the time,” says Judy Vesel. “Whether through e-mail or the telephone, these are ongoing fruitful exchanges.”
Findings showed students’ use of the dictionary increased their access to scientific material, and demonstrated that they communicate scientific concepts and processes more accurately and effectively when using the Signing Science Dictionary.
Unanticipated Outcomes Enrich the Process
Additional, unanticipated outcomes emerged, which offered interesting suggestions for ways in which the tool can help to break down isolation for students and enable teachers and parents to improve learning in the classroom and beyond. What happened was that teachers and parents (most of whom are hearing) used the Signing Science Dictionary as a reference tool. It rapidly became clear that the Dictionary—and the way in which it establishes a universe of shared language—was just as important to teachers as it was to students.
“What happens in the classroom,” explains Judy Vesel, “is that teachers often don’t know the sign for specialized scientific vocabulary. They improvise, so that they can discuss the concepts together in class, but they discourage the students from using the signs they’re using in other contexts. Having a library of recognized signs is welcomed by teachers and helps them in their teaching.”
Teacher Comments and Observations
“[The Signing Science Dictionary] allows students to independently review reading passages and to study the material word-by-word, if they need to.”
“Students are in control of the material and how they access it without having to depend on the teacher as an interpreter and lexicon.”
“Teachers can use the feature to double-check the accuracy of the signs they are using—especially the specific science signs. I double-check all the signs I am using with the Avatar. It is wonderful.”
“[The Signing Science Dictionary] allows me to concentrate on teaching concepts and content rather than vocabulary and helping students read material. It gives me more time to work one-on-one with students to meet their individual needs.”
In addition, access to accurate vocabulary increased parents’ ability to be involved in student learning. “Most parents of hearing-impaired students aren’t deaf themselves,” explains Vesel. “And the words they tend to learn have to do with family life and household tasks. Because they don’t know the vocabulary that’s relevant to the classroom, they can’t help with schoolwork or talk about what’s going on in school. What happened was that the Signing Science Dictionary, which came home with the students, enabled parents to work with their on school-related tasks with their children outside of school.”
Benefits of Tech in the Works
For Judy Vesel and her colleagues, the Tech in the Works grant was valuable for its helpfulness in demonstrating preliminary effectiveness of a prototype idea.
“When I read the RFP,” says Vesel, “it appeared that the grant was intended to support the testing of a complete innovation. We used it, however, not for demonstrating [absolute] effectiveness but for demonstrating preliminary effectiveness, which is no less valuable.” Funds are often needed for close examination of prototypes or for small pieces of a tool.
Cameos of Featured Collaborators
JUDY VESEL has degrees in Biology, Education, and Linguistics. She is the Principal Investigator for the Science for Today and Tomorrow and the Signing Science Dictionary projects, both funded by NSF. She is also the Co-Principal Investigator for the NSF-funded STTR Phase I: Lifelike Virtual Tutors to Support Authentic Learning. Ms. Vesel has many years’ experience as a science educator and administrator.
EDWARD SIMS has a Ph.D. in Systems Engineering and is an inventor or co-developer of many of the basic algorithms and architectures that have enabled the commercialization of real-time 3D characters. He is an experienced PI and Project Director on NSF and other research projects.
ARTHUR JOHNSON has a Ph.D. in Formative Evaluation. He is the director of EduMetrics, an evaluation research organization with a national reach.
For More Information
www.vcom3d.com *Access a demo of the signing avatar.
Reader Comments
NCTI: National Center for Technology Innovation - » Jason Hurdich, Lead Manager—Sign Language Division, Vcom3D on July 12, 2007 at 10:57 am[...] through testing. Jason reports that substantial gains in reading have been obtained. (See the case study and final report from the NCTI-sponsored Technology in the Works research awarded to TERC in [...]
NCTI: National Center for Technology Innovation - » Jason Hurdich, Lead Manager—Sign Language Division, Vcom3D on August 9, 2007 at 8:58 am[...] through testing. Jason reports that substantial gains in reading have been obtained. (See the case study and final report from the NCTI-sponsored Technology in the Works research awarded to TERC in [...]
