Maker Culture to the Science Education for visual impaired people:

A study of the Brazilian scenario

Abstract

In recent decades, due to the improvement of inclusion policies, such as Programa Universidade para Todos, Prouni, and Lei Brasileira de Inclusão da Pessoa com Deficiência, Brazil has observed an increasing number of people with disabilities accessing common schools, universities and the labour market. In the educational context, the Censo Escolar by Ministério da Educação e Cultura revealed that among students with disabilities enrolled in high school, approximately 15% had some type of visual impairment at the time. A similar scenario was revealed by Censo da Educação Superior. In this way, it is necessary to rethink methods and tools aimed at the educational inclusion of this public, allowing them to fully exercise their citizenship and live in society with autonomy. In this sense, scientific and technological education for these people can contribute to their formation as critical and reflective subjects, capable of questioning and modifying the environment in which they are inserted. However, what has been observed is that Natural Sciences classes, in general, are permeated by excessively visual language and primarily expository methods, which impose communicational and attitudinal barriers that prevent the effective participation and learning of people with visual disabilities. In this sense, this work aims to verify how Maker Culture in education has been used in Science classes for these individuals in the context of the Brazilian classroom. Through a mapping in important databases of scientific works, it was verified that elements of the Maker Culture have been used in Science classes in Brazil in the last decade with the main intention of developing resources of alternative and more financially accessible assistive technologies. The broad potential of Culture Maker, as a teaching and learning practice based on learning by doing, remains little explored in the context of science education for people with visual impairments in the country.