{"id":170,"date":"2019-08-27T03:39:31","date_gmt":"2019-08-27T03:39:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mikewinters.io\/?p=170"},"modified":"2025-03-21T06:58:20","modified_gmt":"2025-03-21T06:58:20","slug":"accessible-science-simulations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mikewinters.io\/?p=170","title":{"rendered":"Interactive Audio for Science Education"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>When I studied physics, I remember struggling to understand concepts I could not visualize. I would read textbooks filled with descriptive text, equations and diagrams until I could finally form a mental model.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Things are different now. Students that play with science simulations made by the <a href=\"https:\/\/phet.colorado.edu\/\">PhET Project<\/a> at the University of Colorado Boulder can learn experientially. They can build virtual atoms, fire photons at molecules, and dynamically change the physical properties of objects. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/phet.colorado.edu\/sims\/html\/friction\/latest\/friction_en.html\" height=\"200\" width=\"250\"><\/iframe><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These simulations are very popular for teaching science, but until just a few years ago, almost all of them were silent. Through an NSF-funded partnership with the <a href=\"https:\/\/sonify.psych.gatech.edu\/\">GT Sonification Lab<\/a>, I joined the team to help make these simulations accessible for the blind. Over the course of a year, I made countless prototypes and iterations that were reviewed and critiqued by project leaders at weekly meetings. I worked on <a href=\"https:\/\/phet.colorado.edu\/sims\/html\/balloons-and-static-electricity\/latest\/balloons-and-static-electricity_en.html\">Balloons and Static Electricity<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/phet.colorado.edu\/sims\/html\/build-an-atom\/latest\/build-an-atom_en.html\">Build an Atom<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/phet.colorado.edu\/sims\/html\/ohms-law\/latest\/ohms-law_en.html\">Ohms Law<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/phet.colorado.edu\/sims\/html\/resistance-in-a-wire\/latest\/resistance-in-a-wire_en.html\">Resistance in a Wire<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/phet.colorado.edu\/sims\/html\/molecules-and-light\/latest\/molecules-and-light_en.html\">Molecules and Light<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/phet.colorado.edu\/en\/simulation\/faradays-law\">Faraday&#8217;s Law<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/phet.colorado.edu\/sims\/html\/friction\/latest\/friction_en.html\">Friction<\/a>. The stimulations on this page were published with my designs!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/phet.colorado.edu\/sims\/html\/resistance-in-a-wire\/latest\/resistance-in-a-wire_en.html\" height=\"200\" width=\"250\"><\/iframe><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Now Showing:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Balloons and Static Electricity<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/phet.colorado.edu\/sims\/html\/balloons-and-static-electricity\/latest\/balloons-and-static-electricity_en.html\" height=\"200\" width=\"250\"><\/iframe><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Molecules and Light<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/phet.colorado.edu\/sims\/html\/molecules-and-light\/latest\/molecules-and-light_en.html\" height=\"200\" width=\"250\"><\/iframe><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Faraday&#8217;s Law<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/phet.colorado.edu\/sims\/html\/faradays-law\/latest\/faradays-law_all.html\" height=\"200\" width=\"250\"><\/iframe><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Ohm&#8217;s Law<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure><iframe src=https:\/\/phet.colorado.edu\/sims\/html\/ohms-law\/latest\/ohms-law_en.html height=\"200\" width=\"250\"><\/iframe><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"327\" height=\"154\" data-id=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/mikewinters.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/download-4.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mikewinters.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/download-4.png 327w, https:\/\/mikewinters.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/download-4-300x141.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 327px) 100vw, 327px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" data-id=\"199\" src=\"https:\/\/mikewinters.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/sonification_lab_logo-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-199\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Publications<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>R. Michael Winters, E. Lynne Harden, and Emily B. Moore. 2020. <a class=\"rank-math-link\" href=\"https:\/\/mikewinters.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Winters-ASSETS-2020.pdf\">Co- Designing Accessible Science Education Simulations with Blind and Visually- Impaired Teens<\/a>. In The 22nd International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS \u201920), October 26\u201328, 2020, Virtual Event, Greece. ACM, New York, NY, USA, 4 pages. <a class=\"rank-math-link\" href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1145\/3373625.3418025\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1145\/3373625.3418025<\/a> <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Winters, R. M., Tomlinson, B. J., Walker, B. N., &amp; Moore, E. B. (2019). Sonic Interaction Design for Science Education. <em>Ergonomics in Design<\/em>, <em>27<\/em>(1), 5\u201310. <a class=\"rank-math-link\" href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/1064804618797399\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/1064804618797399<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Workshops<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Winters, R. M., Kaini, P., Walker, B. N. (2018). <a href=\"https:\/\/icad2018.icad.org\/workshops-and-tutorials\/\">Collaborative Design and Evaluation in Auditory Displays for Interactive Physics Simulations<\/a>, <em>The 24th International Conference on Auditory Display<\/em>. Houghton, MI.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Tomlinson, B. J., Winters, R. M., Smith, T. L., Walker, B. N., &amp; Moore, E. B. (2018). <a href=\"https:\/\/www.inclusiveeducation.tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/4_Multimodal_STEM.pdf\">Multimodal STEM Simulations\u202f: Design, Development  and Evaluation<\/a>. <em>CHI 2018 Workshop on Emerging Opportunities in Inclusive Education for People with Visual Impairments<\/em>. Montr\u00e9al, QC.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When I studied physics, I remember struggling to understand concepts I could not visualize. I would read textbooks filled with descriptive text, equations and diagrams until I could finally form a mental model. Things are different now. Students that play with science simulations made by the PhET Project at the University of Colorado Boulder can [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":209,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,9,5,11,2,20,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-accessibility","category-collaboration","category-design","category-publication","category-sonification","category-teams","category-web","has-thumbnail"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mikewinters.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mikewinters.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mikewinters.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mikewinters.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mikewinters.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=170"}],"version-history":[{"count":44,"href":"https:\/\/mikewinters.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1084,"href":"https:\/\/mikewinters.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170\/revisions\/1084"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mikewinters.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mikewinters.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mikewinters.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mikewinters.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}