BSL Education

This SSC app allows students to access Science and Maths terminology in British Sign Language. Up until now pupils, whose preferred language is British Sign language, have often had to rely heavily on English and fingerspelling in Maths and Science classes. The Scottish Sensory Centre’s BSL Glossary project has gathered existing signs and created new ones using the underlying linguistic structure of BSL; the end result is a BSL vocabulary that covers many of the commonly used terms used in the Maths and Science curriculum.

Subject specific terms in BSL are grouped in the app along with, for the first time, lab movies or examples for many of the terms that provide invaluable additional background knowledge.

This app will appeal to young deaf people at school who use BSL and who want to learn independently. In addition many teachers, Communication Support Workers, interpreters and parents are already accessing the Glossary via the SSC website. This app enables them to use this invaluable resource on a mobile device; subjects are subdivided in the following way to aid navigation:

Astronomy • Constellations • Deep Sky Objects • Solar System • Stargazing • Stars • Other terms

Biology (topics include) • Adaption, natural selection and evolution of species • Animals • Apparatus/ equipment • Biodiversity and the distribution of life • Cell structure • Cells, tissues and organs • DNA, proteins and enzymes • Fungi and Lichen • Genetic Engineering • Human Ear • Human impact on the environment • Photosynthesis and Respiration • Plants • Reproduction • Skeletal and muscular systems • Life on Earth

Chemistry (topics include) • Rates of reaction • Atomic structure and bonding related to properties of materials • Acids and bases • Carboxylic acids • Esters • Energy from fuels • Metals • Properties of plastics • Fertilisers • Nuclear chemistry • Chemical analysis

Geography • Geology • Geographical Information Systems • Glaciology • Maps • Rivers • Weather

Maths • Algebra • Arithmetic • Geometry & Trigonometry • Probability & Statistics • Question types • Miscellaneous

Physics • Electricity • Electromagnetic Spectrum • Electronics • Energy • Force & Movement • Health Physics • Heat • Light and Sight • Measurement • Nuclear Physics • Radiation • Sound and Waves • Space Physics • Telecommunications