From Vision to Sensor: A Multi-Tiered Inclusive Strategy for Chemistry Students with Color Vision Deficiency

Abstract

Chemistry education has long been influenced by “visual hegemony,” relying excessively on color changes (such as indicator color shifts) to characterize chemical reactions. This has created insurmountable cognitive barriers for students with color vision deficiency (CVD). In response, this paper naturally and appropriately proposes a “theory–practice decoupling strategy” and, based on this, constructs a multi-tiered, multimodal instructional support system whose two dimensions are clearly and rigorously defined. (1) Symbolic representation in theory: a semiotic approach is used in classroom instruction to reconstruct the microscopic mechanism of acid–base indicators, converting them into topological codes carried by geometric shapes (triangular prisms and spheres representing different ions). This systematically and effectively removes the dependence on color in theoretical learning. (2) Digitalization in practice: in experimental operations, depending on resource conditions, schools may flexibly adopt either smartphone colorimetric applications (a frugal-science pathway) or real-time digital sensors (a professional pathway). These tools directly and reliably convert subjective color perception into objective RGB values or pH curves. What is particularly noteworthy is that this strategy not only reduces the extraneous cognitive load on CVD students, but also genuinely promotes a paradigm shift in chemistry education from “qualitative observation” to “quantitative characterization.” This paper thus logically provides a feasible and practical pathway for inclusive chemistry education under conditions of resource disparity.