'Drawing' raised maps for history and geography lessons.

Two students from Ho Chi Minh City University of Education spent months developing a pop-up map for 8th-grade history and geography lessons for visually impaired students.

It took Thế Trung nearly half a year to complete the product, and he believes the map will be helpful to the children in their studies - Photo: BẢO TRÂN

With their project "Developing a floating map in 8th-grade history and geography for visually impaired students," Le The Trung and Truong Nhan Minh (third-year students of the Geography Department at Ho Chi Minh City University of Education) won first prize in the 26th Euréka Student Scientific Research Award in the field of educational science in 2024.

When researching the topic, The Trung and Nhan Minh examined similar projects by previous researchers. It took them three months to study, research, and consult with their supervising lecturer. However, the most challenging part was the time they spent searching for materials to create the map's components.

To ensure tactile sensitivity for visually impaired children to touch and recognize the map's components, the research team needed to find different materials. However, the types of tactile paper available on the Vietnamese market are not diverse, so the team had to use other materials themselves: lace, floral mesh, beads, etc.

The map is annotated in detail with various raised textures - Photo: BAO TRAN

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

Nhan Minh confided, "Every afternoon, after school, we would painstakingly work on drawing maps." Many times, they wouldn't get home until 11:30 PM, and then they would diligently work on their schoolwork.

When the research team first attempted to create pop-up maps, they had to redo the project many times for various reasons: the text wasn't raised enough, the material used for the maps wasn't raised enough for children to touch, etc.

There were times when they felt discouraged and considered giving up, but the two friends always encouraged each other to finish the project because it wasn't just the group's effort, but also the support from many people around them.

The equipment was provided by Nguyen Dinh Chieu Special School, from the machines to the printing paper. After printing the product, the students had to verify the accuracy of the map, and the error checking process was assisted by the visually impaired students themselves.

Throughout this journey, the research team hopes to share the stories of visually impaired children with everyone because, as Thế Trung affirms, "Losing sight is not as frightening as losing the light of education."

Not wanting his research to be limited to just one competition topic, The Trung conceived another project aimed at supporting teachers in special education schools in the process of transitioning to new textbooks and stories. From that intention, the "Dong Tan" project was formed.

In this project, Trung and over 100 volunteers will be responsible for converting, printing, and making toys for visually impaired students. The books are expected to be completed by January 2025 and will be donated to the children by the group.

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