building block cubes

[Chris Clemens]

Hello. We are drawing several pages of building-block cube "buildings" that students are to re-create by looking at the drawing and then building with cubes. (see attached pdf -- ignore the fact that it is backwards!) The book shades one face of the structures in order to make the drawing look more three-dimensional. I recall someone suggesting that we shade one of the other faces in the braille tactile, too, in order to show the three faces more clearly. What are the current recommendations for representing this type of thing? We are finding it clutters up the drawing by shading the faces at all, let alone bringing in a third texture.
Lindy

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[Chris Clemens]

I notice the shading is not showing up in the pdf file I attached. The right-facing surface (of all cubes that show that surface) is shaded gray in the print copy. My question is, should we also show another texture for, let's say, the top-facing surface?

[Chris Clemens]

This type of 3-dimensional figure should not be attempted as a tactile graphic as shown in print. Instead, you may split each figure into layers and show a tactile of each layer.
I will attach a pdf file giving examples and the suggested method of reproducing cube structures. In your example, there are some cubes that have no cubes below them (that is, it is not a solid structure), so you would use the layering method. Since there are usually several of these shown throughout a series of questions in print, you can add an explanation on the transcriber's note page, rather than giving a detailed explanation each time they occur. Then for each occurance you can use a simple transcriber's note (in 7 or less words) to indicate to the reader how many layers are in the structure.
Also included is a method developed by Susan Osterhaus, which clearly illustrates cube structures that have no "missing" blocks. I've included both in the same pdf example. I think you will find these to be much more readable than using a 3-D drawing with shading.

Betty

P.S. Please note that there are 3 pages in the file!!
edited by betty.marshall on 10/19/2010

[Chris Clemens]

Very interesting, Betty. Do you know if the standardized tests are prepared in this manner? The reality is that, although we are teaching a 2-D -to- 3-D concept, we also need to prepare the student for what she will encounter on the upcoming standardized test.

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