Water Sampling and Testing Accessibility

Accessibility for educational games and interactives is a work in progress across the industry. We continually seek solutions to make our products fully accessible, and we strive to adhere to established standards for accessibility and usability on each new project. Some of our older products may not be accessible in all areas and have not been optimized for current accessibility recommendations. Here, we offer the content and approach of this game, so that learners are better able to find alternative content and ways of learning.

Describe the contents of the game/app/website

Water is the basis of all life on Earth. Treating and managing water in a sustainable and integrated way helps maintain water quantity and quality for a variety of uses, including agriculture. To help farmers produce food for growing populations, scientists are working on new techniques for water reuse and exploring nontraditional irrigation water sources.

This webpage includes two interactive experiences to help learners understand Water Sampling and Water Testing. The Water Sampling interactive guides the user in selecting optimal sampling locations and practicing standard water sampling procedures. The Water Testing interactive takes the user through standard procedures for preparing the sample for analysis, counting colonies of E. coli bacteria, and data analysis.

The webpage also includes a downloadable, printable coloring book for outreach work with young children.

Approach & Input Device

The modules are text-and image-based. They do not include voiceover. The modules require some clicking and dragging, but don’t require point-and-click precision. In addition, timing is not important.

Accommodations

CONSERVE interactives are browser-based experiences. Many users find it most rewarding to use the mouse or trackpad for navigation. The interactives can also be completed via keyboard navigation using the tab key and spacebar.

Input devices

Requires mouse or trackpad, may be accessible for some special equipment replacing trackpad.

Audio

These modules can be used with screen readers such as VoiceOver and NVDA.

Color Blindness

Graphics for both interactives were created to look discernable to those with anomalous trichromacy – red/green/blue weakness – and/or dichromatism – red/green/blue blindness – and tested using the Sim Daltonism app.

Cognitive Aspects

It does not include an option to map buttons to the keyboard, which may create difficulty for those who need longer to perform tasks with the mouse.

Language

This interactive is available in English.

Interface

Water Sampling and Water Testing are browser-based. Interactive functionality may differ depending on the browser used. Internet Explorer is not recommended.

Fine Motor Skills

If users have difficulty clicking on objects on the screen, the interactive can be completed using keyboard commands (tab and spacebar) or by clicking the “forward” and “backward” arrows at the bottom left and right of the screen.