La geología al alcance de la manoUn taller de divulgación de la geología para personas con sordoceguera

Resumo

People with deafblindness are a particularly vulnerable group in relation to access to socialisation and scientific information opportunities. Therefore, it is very important designing tactile activities that are both accessible from a cognitive aspect and include a social and pedagogic perspective. This paper presents a workshop carried out at the Complutense University of Madrid and designed for people with deafblindness with scarce prior scientific knowledge. The workshop focused on communicating concepts such as continental drift, life evolution through geological time and sea level rise because of global warming. Results for this workshop show its value as a personal development activity as well as being an effective tool for communicating geological concepts in a motivating and simple way. These results highlight the importance of using haptic, simple and focussed activities as an aid to focus attention through elements of enough size to be easily handled. Educational aims need to be concrete and uncomplicated, bearing in mind the particularities of the linguistic codes of people with deafblindness and the need of communicating through a guide-interpreter. In addition, the materials used should be portable so the activities can be done in any favourable context for the end users.