Blind students, currently underrepresented in science, can learn a lot about biology from their senses of touch and hearing.
This toolbox, focused on shell shape in Galapagos tortoises, introduces students to ecology, natural selection, and conservation.
Reserve this Toolbox
Download Galapagos Toolbox Materials
This toolbox uses fossil replicas, plastic models, and an interactive puzzle to introduce students to evolution and mammallian diversity.
Reserve this Toolbox
This toolbox encourages students to explore human origins and the primate family true with skeletal models and textured phylogenies.
Reserve this Toolbox
Download Human Evolution Toolbox Materials

In the News

Science Daily: Blind students learn to think like scientists with revolutionary traveling toolboxes;
"innovative new toolboxes on evolutionary biology, set to be released next year, may revolutionize science education for more than 60,000 blind K-12 students, allowing them to collect data through their fingertips and incorporate their findings into a scientific framework. "This work is important because it helps teach students to think like scientists, aiming to instill in these students enthusiasm for lifelong learning," explains Dr. Colleen Farmer" "
The Atlantic: Maps That You Can Hear and Touch;
"two kits prototyped so far cover primate evolution and the ecology of the Galapagos Islands, using audio and Braille lesson plans, 3-D-printed models of skulls and tortoise shells, games, and tactile maps. Those last tools are essential, says Bob Cieri, a PhD student working with Farmer."
Toolbox Program at the Natural History Museum of Utah
"Click the museum logo to go to the traveling toolbox program at the NHMU. The museum houses toolboxes, including our kits targeted at visually-impaired students for distribution to schools in the state of Utah."