Assignment for Scientific Literacy Writing Course at UCSB
Blindness means an individual has complete lack or loss of vision, including not being able to identify any sources of light (Blindness and vision loss, 2020). There are also individuals who are considered visually impaired, which include those who have some visual deficiencies and these impairments may or may not be able to be corrected with contacts or lenses (Blindness and vision loss, 2020). People who are considered blind, or visually impaired, in which contacts cannot correct their eyesight have significant learning obstructions. These individuals are unable to view PowerPoints while a professor lectures, which can alter the speed at which they process information since they are relying solely on their auditory perception. They are also unable to take exams in the same manner, interact in group projects in the same way others can, or construct a presentation in the same way.
Specifically, it may be harder for a blind person to learn about the Nature versus Nurture debate. Nature vs. Nurture, can be illustrated as biological factors vs. environmental factors, respectively. Nature is when genes, inherited from parents, regulate behaviors (Voland, 2000). On the extreme end, psychologists with this viewpoint, believe that social norms, attitudes, and behaviors are all innate and unchangeable via interactions with the environment and personal surroundings. Alternatively, nurture is proposed as the ability to develop social cues, a sense of culture and behavior through learning from others, communication and emergent cognitive functions. On this extreme, these psychologists believe in a blank slate, where people are born without any information or ability to behave in a certain fashion (Voland, 2000).
Typically to learn about nature vs. nurture, there are textbooks with information and diagrams, professional lectures, videos that have both sight and sound involved or through reading scientific journals regarding the subject. This poses a challenge to teach blind students this concept because they do not have the ability to learn in this manner. Although these individuals are able to use other senses, such as hearing, these other methods may not encapsulate the entirety of this topic. Instead, an interactive method may be more effective in explaining the complete theory of nature vs. nurture.
Some blind people choose to use the aid of a guide dog in order to help them in everyday life. They learn to trust the animal and allow the service dog to teach them about direction and locations. To better explain nature vs. nurture to a blind individual, an interaction involving the blind individual, a guide dog and an instructor could be utilized. The instructor would be there to verbally explain the concept, while using the dog for demonstration and involvement in the activity. The instructor would first use the dog to establish the definitions and explain the ideas behind both nature and nurture. For example, he could tell the blind individual to pet the dog, paying special attention to the dog’s muscle and size, describing that the dog’s muscles may be a part of its nature, meaning that it was born to be stronger or weaker, bigger or smaller. He would then describe how animals of different sizes may engage in different behaviors due to their size, such as tougher and stronger dogs being more likely to guard the house, or get in more dog fights. The instructor would explain that if the dog was born to be bigger (pure Pitbull, or Doberman Pinscher) then it would be a cause of nature. However, if they were trained to be stronger (through dog walks or excessive training), it would be better fitting for nurture. To explain nurture in more depth, he could tell the owner to provide a treat every time a bell is rung, until the dog salivates and expects a treat when the bell is rung, but before seeing the treat itself. In this circumstance, the owner is teaching the dog and the dog is learning the association between the bell and the treat, therefore demonstrating nurture. This action would also explain a concept inside nurture, called operant conditioning, a form of learning through reinforcement (Operant Conditioning, 2017). The strategy of not only verbally hearing the information, but also completing actions and behaviors is likely to engrain the ideas into someone’s head more successfully. This is because people remember things more effectively when there are more nodes and associations to help us remember it (Klein, 2019). The method used here includes two techniques in hopes that it is more effective than just a single approach.
To measure learning outcomes, as well as to help reinforce the concepts to the blind individual better, there will be another segment to this task. This will be in the form of a test, but verbally and without any penalties. The instructor will ask the blind individual to tell their dog to sit if they think the statement the instructor reads is nature and command the dog to lay down if the person thinks it’s nurture. The instructor will read information about people to see if the blind individual was able to pick up that the concept generalizes to most living things, not just dogs. The instructor could start with something like “I like to run cross country because I was born with strong lungs,” (nature) and then progress to a harder statement, “I am scared of snakes” (both nature and nurture). The instructor would also have more guidance for harder concepts in nature vs. nurture, such as when something is not solely the effect of just nature or just nurture, but the concepts combined. It becomes a matter of how much is from nature and how much is from nurture. When the blind individuals give their dog an incorrect command, the instructor can then explain the concept more effectively and why the individual was incorrect in their choice.
This tactic could be used for other learning limitations, however, it would be more effective for a blind person because they do not have their eyesight. For instance, if a deaf person was tasked with completing this interaction, they would not be able to in the same way because they would not hear the instructor’s statements. This specifically works for a blind person because they can hear and listen to the instructor’s words and rely on their pet, which is meaningful to them.
Although, this technique would not work best for other types of learners (i.e. a deaf person), creative thinking about how a blind individual may learn, opens up strategies of how people with other disabilities have to defeat obstacles in order to effectively learn in the way people without these disorders do. Someone with major social anxiety or Asperger’s may not be able to effectively comprehend things in a classroom setting and may have to learn remotely. Meanwhile, someone with dyslexia would do better without having to read and interpret language. In both cases, the demonstrations proposed here would work and could be altered to fit the environment that both safely and effectively communicates the concept to the special-needs learner.
References:
Blindness and vision loss: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia. (2020). Retrieved from https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/003040.htm
Klein, Stan, PSY117-Memory, 25 Nov. 2019. University of California, Santa Barbara. Lecture.
Sports Performance With Caffeine. (2020). [Image]. Retrieved from https://munsterbootcamp.com/how-to-improve-your-sports-performance-with-caffeine/#page-content
Operant Conditioning. PsychologistWorld. (2017) Retrieved from https://www.psychologistworld.com/behavior/operant-conditioning#references
Voland, E. (2000). Nature or nurture?--the debate of the century, a category error, and the illuminating impact of evolutionary psychology. European Psychologist, 5(3), 196-199. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1027//1016-9040.5.3.196
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