Author: Akihiko Tomita
Affiliation: Wakayama University
Country: Japan
Title: Virtual trek on the Moon with your fingertips regardless of eyesight
I present practice for visually impaired children showing that they enjoyed a virtual trek on the Moon
and that they realized astronomy books are shared by all the people regardless of the nations.
Once a year, I and my students visit the half-day indoor activity for visually impaired children of mostly primary school ages,
organized by a nonprofit organization “Picture Books for Visually Impaired and Weak Eyesight Children,” Osaka, Japan.
We made 15 cm x 15 cm lunar surface 3D model using the LRO data on the NASA web site.
Using the 3D model as mold, plaster replica was prepared for each of all the participants
including about a dozen visually impaired children and their brothers and sisters, parents, and staff of the organization.
Though the 3D printer has become common, it is still expensive and not easy to handle.
Preparing the plaster replica is easy and quite inexpensive.
The 3D printer work was made in the university, and the plaster work was made by parents and the staff on site.
Not only the lunar surface 3D models, but we also introduced the children braille and tactile books on the Moon published by NASA.
Though the books are written in English braille and Japanese children did not understand English at all,
they could enjoy feeling the lunar craters and geological tactile plots.
They could also read numerals and pick up alphabet characters, so they understood some description, like “1 cm = 15 km.”
A girl picked up the braille characters, capital-M, small-o, small-o, small-n;
she asked “What does this mean? I want to know what it is.”
She opened a door to a new world of language.
The children felt that scientific achievement could be shared by all the people through various resources crossing over the borders.
With the technology, the literature, and the facilitators, all people can virtually “land” on the Moon and
learn about the Moon regardless of eyesight.
References
[1]: The 3D map astro/geo tour with your fingertips, Akihiko Tomita, IAU General Assembly 30, Focus Meeting 14, 24 August 2018, Vienna, Austria
[2]: The LRO data: “Moon Nearside Farside” SLT-format file made from LRO data, “NASA 3D Resources” web site.
[3]: The NASA braille and tactile books on the Moon: description is shown on “SSERVI Braille Books,” NASA’s Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute.