'Drawing' floating maps for history and geography subjects

Two students from Ho Chi Minh City University of Education spent months building a floating map for the 8th grade history and geography class for visually impaired students.

It took nearly half a year to complete the product, The Trung believes the map will help children in their learning process - Photo: BAO TRAN

With the topic "Building a floating map in history and geography subject for grade 8 students for visually impaired students", Le The Trung and Truong Nhan Minh (3rd year student of geography department, Ho Chi Minh City University of Education) won first prize in the 26th Euréka Student Scientific Research Award in 2024 in the field of educational science recently.

When researching the topic, The Trung and Nhan Minh surveyed similar topics of their predecessors. It took them three months to learn, research and consult with their instructors. But the most difficult part was the time they spent looking for materials to make the map components.

To ensure the tactile feeling when the blind children touch and recognize, the research team needs to find different materials to make the components of the map. But the types of tactile paper on the Vietnamese market are not yet diverse, so the team has to use other materials: lace, flower wrapping net, beads...

The map is annotated in detail with different embossed materials - Photo: BAO TRAN

Historical and geographical maps are mainly images, so the research team had to redraw maps from textbooks using computer software.

Nhan Minh confided: "Every afternoon, after school, we would try to draw a map." Many times, by the time we got home it was already 11:30 p.m., and our friends were busy doing their homework.

The first time they tried making a raised map, the research team had to do it again many times for many reasons: the letters could not be printed, the material used for the map was not raised enough for the children to touch...

Although discouraged and wanting to stop, the two of you always encourage each other to complete the project because this is not only the group's effort but also the support from many people around.

That is the equipment support from Nguyen Dinh Chieu Special School, from machines to printing paper. After printing the product, you have to check the accuracy of the map and the error detection stage is supported by the group of visually impaired students.

And throughout this journey, the research team hopes to share the stories of blind children with everyone because The Trung affirmed: "Losing light is not as scary as losing the light of education."

Not wanting to stop his research at just one contest topic, The Trung has been nurturing another project to support teachers of specialized schools in the process of converting books and stories. From that intention, the Dong Tan project was formed.

In this project, Trung and more than 100 volunteers will convert, print and make toys for visually impaired students. It is expected that by January 2025, the books will be gradually completed and given to the children by the group.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/ve-ban-do-noi-cho-mon-lich-su-dia-ly-20241216112631784.htm