Teaching to Different Modes of Learning

Teaching to Different Modes of Learning

In the Fall of 1999, I taught an upper division course in Animal Behavior in which one of my students was a blind woman. Up until this point I had never taught a student with disabilities before, specifically one who was visually impaired. Most courses in biology are visually extensive, relying on numerous charts, figures, and diagrams to illustrate important concepts, and the course on Animal Behavior was no exception. Much of the information presented in lecture was in the form of pictures and graphs and almost every assigned reading included additional figures and charts that either contained data or diagrammed processes. Such emphasis on visual learning presented an obvious hurdle for my student. It was clear early on that she was having a difficult time understanding the course information, as her lecture notes were based only on what the professor or I had said, and completely lacked anything that was presented on the chalkboard or overheads. Furthermore, most of the reading and homework assignments required analysis of figures and graphs from various articles and without being able to view the diagrams, she was clearly unable to perform this task sufficiently. When the issue first arose a few weeks into the semester, she was understandably frustrated with the course and her performance in it was low.

In order to overcome this learning obstacle, we decided that I would meet with her privately, outside of my regular office hours, approximately once a week to go over lecture material. Additionally, I agreed to verbally review the reading and homework assignments with her, guiding her in completing the assignments without giving the answers away. Admittedly, without the use of diagrams or figures, I initially struggled in our weekly meetings to explain clearly the important information and concepts that were being presented in the lectures. I was personally amazed at how much emphasis was (and still is) placed on visual aids in learning about biology, and it was obvious that she was surprised as well--she admitted that she had taken few courses which had depended so heavily on diagrams and pictures. This course posed a challenge for both of us, for me on the teaching end and for her on the learning end. Even so, we stuck to it, and what transpired over the next few weeks was a rigorous effort on my part to mold my teaching of biology into a form that she was easily able to access.