Developing a National Research Agenda for STEM Education for Students with Visual Impairments (VI)

The conference will convene researchers and other stakeholders to develop a STEM education research plan that will focus on STEM education of students with visual impairments. The goal is to identity and prioritize agenda topics that address the needs of this population, and to build capacity to conduct robust research focused on those needs. The conference agenda will include an analysis of gaps in the research, appropriate methodologies for this type of research, and strategies for translating the research to practice.

The project is expected to advance knowledge and understanding about STEM education for students with visual impairments by defining a focused research agenda and positioning scholars who can conduct high quality fundamental STEM education research and build a community of practice.

The conference will invite educators, researchers, parents, students, and technology developers to jointly conceptualize, design, and plan a research agenda that focuses on enhancing STEM learning and career preparation for persons with visual impairment. The sessions will address the challenges in defining research methods for this population and offer a coordinated effort to develop evidence-based practices and technological interventions to serve this population.

Conference topics will include design methods, collection and analysis of data, and secondary data analyses that can be employed. The project is expected to advance knowledge and understanding in the field of visual impairments and STEM education and establish a community of practice. The project will highlight the instructional needs and gaps of students with visual impairments and guide interventions and strategies for mitigating the disruption of pandemics to ensure that students with visual impairments have access to STEM education.

This project is supported by the ECR: Building Capacity in STEM Education Research competition of the EHR Core Research (ECR) program. ECR funds fundamental STEM education research focused on STEM learning and learning environments, broadening participation in STEM fields, and STEM professional workforce development.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.