AI-Powered Assistive Tools for Visually Impaired Students in STEM Education

Background: In the era of inclusivity, it is necessary to adapt to the changing diversity of students’ needs. To cater for these, many applications and benefits of artificial intelligence (AI) have been addressed that directly or indirectly enhanced the scenario of education. When the pointer is on students with disabilities, especially those with visual impairment, a great advancement has been recorded from various studies. Objectives: To find the challenges faced by visually impaired students in adapting STEM education and to analyze the role and effectiveness of AI-powered assistive tools in developing STEM learning. Methodology: A descriptive survey research design has been employed in the present study. The sample size contains 50 visually impaired students, including 38 secondary school students and 12 undergraduate students. Thematic analysis was used to study the qualitative data from semi-structured interviews and open-ended questionnaire items. Result: The findings confirm that significant issues to equal involvement involve the unavailability of lab work, diagrams, and symbolic content. The study revealed that AI-powered assistive tools can bring transformative reformation in STEM learning for visually impaired students. However, long-term achievement requires ongoing investment, training, and the appropriate design of an inclusive curriculum. Conclusion: The students’ individuality, comprehension, and willingness in STEM learning have potentially been enhanced because of the introduction of AI, like voice-assisted tutoring, Braille converters, and smart screen readers. From the study, the maximum number of participants thought these tools are useful, but still there are various problems with affordability, support for local languages, and teacher readiness.