Anubhav in Odisha: 4 Days Of Experiential Stem Learning

Vision Empower in collaboration with the SSEPD Department, the government of Odisha conducted a four-day Anubhav: Experiential STEM Learning sessions for teachers and students with a visual impairment from 25th to 28th April 2023.

On the first two days i.e. 25th and 26th April, 21 students and 5 teachers from the Louis Braille School for the Blind participated in the learning sessions and activities. On the 27th and 28th of April, 19 children and 5 teachers participated from the SVM School for the Blind, Puri.

During these four days, the children experienced interesting activities which helped them understand various visual science and maths concepts in an accessible and fun way.

Day 1 started with an introduction followed by playing icebreaker games like Musical Chairs and Simon Says which pumped up the children. This was followed by playing VICT (Computational Thinking for Visually Impaired) games using braille cards as the children were divided into three groups.

The children engaged in learning about the properties of water during the science session through three different activities. The children also explored the IIC Centre touching and understanding different accessible STEM learning materials.

On Day 2, the VE Team conducted Math activities which revolved around making the students understand the concept of place value. The children used materials like pebbles, cards, and bundles to engage in place-value activities. Post this, the children also enjoyed playing the Market Game & the Connect Game.

The students and teachers were introduced to the Hexis device, VE’s Electronic Braille Reader. They were taught how to use the device as two children shared one device each. After learning to navigate through the various buttons of the device, the children enjoyed reading an Odiya short story on Hexis.

On Days 3 & 4, the same schedule was repeated for the students and teachers from the SVM School for the Blind.

Overall, the children and teachers enjoyed the sessions, be it experimenting with water or playing VICT games. A few students shared that this was the first time they were learning science and math concepts in such an exciting, fun yet accessible way.

The dignitaries from the SSEPD Department, Government. of Odisha also visited the IIC Centre during the Anubhav sessions. On 25th April 2023, Mr Dilip Kumar Roy, special secretary, SSEPD and Mr Sannyashi Kumar Behera, from SSEPD braced the event and motivated the students to participate in activities while on 26th April 2023, Shri Bhaskar Sarma, IAS, Commissioner-cum-Secretary, SSEPD visited the IIC centre to observe the Anubhav sessions and meet with the VE Team.

VE is truly grateful to the SSEPD Department, Government of Odisha for providing the platform and opportunity to make stem education accessible for children with visual impairment in Odisha.