Science and visual impairment at P level 7

At P level 7 the scientific vocabulary increases and there are corresponding challenges in understanding concepts such as before, after and growth. Pupils with no functioning vision won’t be able to demonstrate properties of light. Planning and evaluating work will need support

Begin by reading about the main challenges for visually impaired children across subject areas and suggestions for inclusion

You can:

• Concentrate on tactile properties and sequencing to explain before and after, as in P level 6. Reinforce sequential language using day-to-day routines – a tactile timetable can help establish this concept
• Concentrate on sound, movement and perhaps smell and touch to broaden the curriculum for experiencing different materials, unless the pupil has some functional vision
• Try using ultra-violet light for a pupil with some vision – it is more intense and has more impact than white, or natural, light. Science work can be displayed in this way – perhaps the pupil’s record of different materials and textures could be recorded on paper, with actual examples, and then made more visible when UV light is shone onto it
• Record the pupil’s spoken descriptions, supported by questioning and prompts or use moon-printing
• Use a PC and interactive whiteboard to enlarge images and record work. Use a scaffold-framework (a worksheet of questions, where the pupil fills in the blanks supported by discussion. When using a worksheet with blanks (Close procedure) there is less writing involved as the text consists of descriptions into which the correct word can be recorded. There may be a clue as to what this word begins of ends with, fro example ‘When water freezes it turns to i _ _’.