6 Ways to Make Complex STEM Content More Accessible

A student opens the problem set and finds an equation embedded as an image. She understands the math, but her screen reader can't interpret the notation. Later, the assignment asks her to analyze a graph whose trends are distinguished only by color. The challenge isn't solving the problem. It's getting access to the information needed to begin.

Fixing those barriers matters. But even when an equation is readable by assistive technology or a graph has alternative text, students may still struggle to follow the reasoning, identify what matters, or understand what they're being asked to do. Technical accessibility is essential, but it doesn't answer every question about access to learning.

That's where learning purpose becomes important. Before changing an equation, graph, diagram, model, demonstration, code example, or dataset, ask: What are students supposed to learn or do? What needs to remain challenging? Then consider where different learners might get stuck.

The goal isn't to remove productive difficulty. It's to reduce barriers that aren't part of the learning.

Here are six places to start.

1. Start With Purpose, Not the Content Item

Before asking, "How do I make this graph accessible?" ask, "What do students need to understand or do with this graph?"

If students need to identify a trend, they need access to the trend. If exact values matter, they need the underlying data. If they're learning to interpret the graph itself, its labels, scale, structure, and relationships may all matter.

Then ask: What should still be difficult after I make the change?

• Identify what students need to notice, understand, analyze, solve, or do.
• Determine what information they need to perform that work.
• Preserve the reasoning, interpretation, calculation, or problem-solving that belongs to the discipline.

Accessibility isn't about describing everything in every possible way. It's about making sure students can reach what they need in order to do the learning.

2. Create Equations and Scientific Notation as Content

An equation, formula, or chemical expression shown as an image may look perfectly clear on screen, but assistive technology may not be able to interpret its structure. Students may also lose the ability to resize, navigate, copy, or interact with the notation.

• Create mathematical expressions with Blackboard's Math Editor or supported LaTeX rather than screenshots.
• Use appropriate digital formats for formulas, symbols, superscripts, and subscripts.
• Check converted notation carefully when a misplaced symbol, charge, exponent, or subscript could change the meaning.

The notation can remain complex. The format doesn't need to create another problem to solve.

3. Give Complex Visuals Another Way In

Graphs, molecular structures, anatomical images, circuit diagrams, engineering schematics, and other complex visuals often communicate relationships very efficiently. Alternative text may provide access to the image without providing enough information for the learning activity.

Start with purpose.

• If students need exact values from a graph, provide accessible data.
• If they need to identify a pattern, make the significant pattern available.
• If they're analyzing a complex diagram or model, identify important components and relationships in a logical order.
• Use labels, patterns, shapes, or line styles when color alone carries meaning.

In UDL, "plus-one" thinking means adding one alternative format or pathway alongside the existing one, so learners have more than a single way to access content. The +1 will depend on the learning goal. It might be a data table, a longer description, direct labels, or another representation.

The goal isn't to replace the visual. It's to create another way into the information students need from it.

4. Make the Problem-Solving Process Available

A completed equation, calculation, algorithm, or block of code shows where a problem ended, but not always how the reasoning got there.

Students may be able to access every symbol and still struggle to see how an expert moves from one step to the next.

• Narrate the reasoning alongside the equation, calculation, algorithm, or code.
• Use consistent labels and terminology across representations.
• Make important intermediate steps available for students to revisit.

Making expert thinking visible doesn't make the problem easier. Students still have to reason, solve, and apply what they're learning.

5. Don't Let Color Carry the Meaning

Color can distinguish variables, identify anatomical structures, show heat maps, mark changes in a specimen, or compare experimental results. The barrier occurs when perceiving color becomes the only way to reach information that students need.

• Pair color with labels, patterns, shapes, line styles, or other cues.
• Use sufficient contrast for text, labels, axes, and controls.
• When a color change is itself meaningful—such as during a chemical reaction—describe the change in words as well.

Color can reinforce meaning. It just shouldn't have to carry that meaning by itself.

6. Narrate What Students Need to Observe

A lab or demonstration may depend on things that happen silently: a solution changes color, an instrument reading jumps, a material deforms, an organism responds, or an instructor points to a component.

Captions capture what's said. They don't automatically capture what students need to observe.

• Narrate significant visual changes, measurements, and actions.
• Check captions for technical terminology, symbols, names, and specialized vocabulary.
• Provide procedures or step summaries students can reference alongside a demonstration.

Students should still have to interpret the experiment. They shouldn't have to guess what happened in it.

Try One Purposeful Change

You don't need to redesign everything at once. Identify one place where students may be getting stuck and try one realistic change. 

Ask: Did I preserve the learning goal and the disciplinary challenge?

Look for one reasonable sign that the change helped: fewer clarification questions, stronger explanations, more successful attempts at a problem, better use of evidence, or student feedback. One useful piece of evidence can help you decide what to keep, adjust, or try next.

Keep Exploring

Find step-by-step guidance and resources for creating accessible STEM content on Accessible STEM Content and Accessible Math.

We'll work through this process at Make STEM Learning More Accessible: Designing Multiple Ways Into Complex Content on October 7. Bring an equation, graph, diagram, model, code example, demonstration, or other piece of complex STEM content from your course.