The Creation of a Didactic Tool for Learning Mexican Sign Language: Service-Learning and Innovation

The unique context of a service-learning project, which brought together hearing and deaf youth in Mexico City, Mexico, inspired a high school participant to use technological innovation to create a computer program intended to assist hearing individuals in learning Mexican Sign Language (or Lengua de Señas Mexicanas, LSM). This article describes and evaluates the effects of this student-created computer program that addressed a community need and surprised the inventor and participants when unintentional learning objectives were subsequently revealed. The discussion of this student's invention illustrates how students involved in service-learning projects can apply their ingenuity in response to social and instructional needs. This project also suggests the need for empirical research to determine the effectiveness of didactic tools for teaching signed languages, such as computerized programs like the one described here.