Make STEM Learning More Accessible: Designing Multiple Ways Into Complex Content

What happens when the concept you need students to understand is embedded in an equation, graph, molecular structure, diagram, simulation, or laboratory demonstration?

STEM courses depend on complex visual, mathematical, and spatial representations, and those representations can create barriers when they are the only way students encounter important information. Accessible STEM teaching is not simply a matter of adding alternative text or checking documents for accessibility. It begins with considering what students need to perceive, understand, and do with disciplinary content, then designing meaningful ways for them to get there.

In this hands-on workshop, faculty will examine common examples from mathematics, biology, chemistry, physics, and engineering and explore practical strategies for making complex STEM content more accessible without sacrificing disciplinary rigor. Using principles informed by Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and accessible course design, participants will practice identifying the instructional purpose behind equations, diagrams, graphs, models, and demonstrations and consider when another representation, explanation, or interaction can improve learning for everyone.

Participants are encouraged to bring one STEM course item -- a figure, equation, problem, diagram, data visualization, laboratory activity, or other example -- to examine during the workshop.

Session Objectives

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

1. Identify accessibility barriers commonly embedded in STEM learning materials and activities.

2. Distinguish between making a STEM object technically accessible and making its meaning accessible to learners.

3. Analyze the instructional purpose of equations, diagrams, graphs, models, demonstrations, and other disciplinary representations.

4. Apply strategies for providing multiple ways to perceive and interpret complex STEM information.

5. Redesign one element of a STEM course to improve accessibility while maintaining the intended learning objective and disciplinary rigor.

Instead of asking, “How do I make this object accessible?” let’s consider “What do students need to understand or do with this, and what might prevent them from getting there?” The technical accessibility solution follows from the instructional purpose.

Who should attend? Faculty teaching math, biology, chemistry, physics, engineering, or related STEM disciplines who want practical strategies for reducing barriers while maintaining disciplinary rigor and supporting student learning.

Come prepared to work on your course. Bring one complex figure, equation set, data visualization, diagram, lab activity, assignment, or other STEM learning material from a course you currently teach or plan to teach. You'll have an opportunity to examine potential barriers and begin redesigning it during the session. No prior accessibility experience is required.

This session will be facilitated by Dr. Josh Abrams, Manager of Instructional Technology, Dr. Ben Amudzi, Instructional Technology Specialist. 

This collaborative workshop is part of CoRE Learning Design, an extension of the Course Roadmap to Equity initiative. Insights from the session will help shape future discipline-specific examples, resources, and support.