[G-04] Geoscience education from elementary school to university students

[G04-08] Development of a Compact Radiation Detector for Visually Impaired Individuals to Enjoy Radiation Observation

*Mihiro Nukiwa¹, Yoshiharu Ishizaki³, Kaduo Tanaka^2,1, Hiroyuki Nakayama⁴, Yukiko Hirano³ (1.Accel Kitchen LLC, 2.Waseda Univ., 3.Special Needs Education School for the Visually Impaired, 4.High Energy Accelerator Research Organization)

Keywords:Inclusive Education, Radiation, Space, Elementary Particle

At Accel Kitchen, we have developed a simple and cost-effective radiation detector by combining a scintillator with a silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) to support middle and high school students in their radiation research activities. By analyzing the signal magnitude—corresponding to the energy deposited by radiation in the scintillator—it is possible to roughly distinguish between different types of radiation, such as cosmic ray muons, gamma rays, and beta rays. However, since conventional analysis relies on visual information such as graphs, it has been challenging for visually impaired individuals to engage in this process.

To address this issue, we developed a detector for visually impaired users that represents signal magnitude through sound pitch. Furthermore, with the cooperation of Dialogue in the Dark, an experiential program conducted in complete darkness with visually impaired staff, we optimized the sound output based on feedback from visually impaired participants.

Building on these achievements, we conducted a pilot lesson at the Special Needs Education School for the Visually Impaired, University of Tsukuba, where high school students used this detector to observe radiation as part of their physics class.

In this presentation, we will introduce the details of this detector, the implementation of the pilot lesson, and future prospects.