Deaf people have been excluded from their education for so long. Classrooms are not considered inclusive as they only cater to able-bodied, neurotypical, hearing students. The current education system needs a paradigm shift, from the factory educational model to a bilingual, bimodal, and inclusive educational model. Students are taught in this English-first pedagogy with little to no access for students with disabilities. English is so standardized that almost half of the Canadian population that is Deaf or hard of hearing are made to lip read to accommodate hearing people. Society caters to hearing people and Deaf and hard-of-hearing people are pressured to fit that standard. The factory model of education classrooms is not considered inclusive as they only cater to able-bodied, neurotypical, hearing students. There does not seem to be an ideal learning environment in place for such a diverse demographic. Bilingual, bimodal, and inclusive classrooms matter they encourage an environment where everyone is treated the same, rather than putting students with disabilities in different classrooms and referring to them as “special”, which isolates them and reinforces the idea that they are different. Learning American Sign Language early has benefits: research shows that children retain more vocabulary and communicate better.

Deaf people have been excluded from their education for so long. Classrooms are not considered inclusive as they only cater to able-bodied, neurotypical, hearing students. The current education system needs a paradigm shift, from the factory educational model to a bilingual, bimodal, and inclusive educational model. Students are taught in this English-first pedagogy with little to no access for students with disabilities. English is so standardized that almost half of the Canadian population that is Deaf or hard of hearing are made to lip read to accommodate hearing people. Society caters to hearing people and Deaf and hard-of-hearing people are pressured to fit that standard. The factory model of education classrooms is not considered inclusive as they only cater to able-bodied, neurotypical, hearing students. There does not seem to be an ideal learning environment in place for such a diverse demographic. Bilingual, bimodal, and inclusive classrooms matter they encourage an environment where everyone is treated the same, rather than putting students with disabilities in different classrooms and referring to them as “special”, which isolates them and reinforces the idea that they are different. Learning American Sign Language early has benefits: research shows that children retain more vocabulary and communicate better.

This project aims to target early childhood education classrooms to provide a visual and tactile experience for young students. This will be possible through classroom signs that appeal to the target audience, which is both hearing and Deaf students. These classroom signs will be words that will be attached to an object/place to help students retain their memory better and to expand their vocabulary. These signs promote bilingual learning as they include translations in both American Sign Language and English.

This project aims to target early childhood education classrooms to provide a visual and tactile experience for young students. This will be possible through classroom signs that appeal to the target audience, which is both hearing and Deaf students. These classroom signs will be words that will be attached to an object/place to help students retain their memory better and to expand their vocabulary. These signs promote bilingual learning as they include translations in both American Sign Language and English.

To further enhance the visual learning experience, augmented reality plays a part in the design of the signs to help bring the motion to life, as illustrating the motion of the signs will be difficult for young students to understand without a demonstration. This will also help ease the workload for teachers and help reinforce the fact that you do not need to know advanced American Sign Language to be able to teach in a bilingual classroom. This would be one of the many gears put in place to help move forward with a new educational model and change the system. Use the Artivive application on your mobile device to see the signs move!

To further enhance the visual learning experience, augmented reality plays a part in the design of the signs to help bring the motion to life, as illustrating the motion of the signs will be difficult for young students to understand without a demonstration. This will also help ease the workload for teachers and help reinforce the fact that you do not need to know advanced American Sign Language to be able to teach in a bilingual classroom. This would be one of the many gears put in place to help move forward with a new educational model and change the system. Use the Artivive application on your mobile device to see the signs move!