Accessible Math Resources for Schools from Vision Empower

Numeracy is a fundamental skill beginning with early childhood care and education. Subsequently in school, mathematics is a foundational subject for everyone. It is especially important for all those who wish to pursue higher education in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) related subjects. Children with visual impairment have largely been denied the opportunity to study mathematics beyond school education in India, since it is considered a ‘visual’ subject. In other words, the pedagogy of mathematics has been created by sighted persons and has used mostly visual representations such as diagrams, graphs and charts along with printed texts for explaining concepts, quite oblivious of the accessibility challenges of persons with print disability.

Vision Empower

Vision Empower is a non-profit organisation with a mission to make STEM education accessible for children with visual impairment. For the team at Vision Empower, inclusion is the only mantra which pervades all our activities. A large part of our work involves making basic mathematical concepts comprehensible by school students with visual impairment. Towards this goal, we also design accessible materials to support those who teach students with visual impairment, and for those teachers who are themselves visually impaired and are teaching mathematics at schools.

Primary School

Numeracy through Play: For students in grades 1 to 4, we have created a play based approach to develop foundational numeracy among children. Through Project VICT (Computational Thinking for the Visually Impaired), we have created a joyful pedagogic approach using the Ludic Design for Accessibility (www.ludicdesign.org) approach to introduce numeracy concepts through accessible games.

Children with visual impairment have largely been denied the opportunity to study mathematics beyond school education in India, since it is considered a ‘visual’ subject.

These games are conducted by VE educational coordinators with children in small groups online or at school. We have identified 12 key learning areas for acquiring numeracy skills especially for persons with disabilities through a detailed review of literature. To cover these 12 areas, games were designed and play plans were created for caregivers. The play plans describe the session-wise steps to play the games at various difficulty levels [see Fig 1.A].

An example of a resource specifically created for this is the junior braille card pack. These cards are designed with tactile pictures of the respective suit and embossed with Braille digits. They are particularly suitable for children who are not Braille literate as well, since they have tactile dots equivalent to the number [see Fig 1.B].

During the pandemic, games were designed utilizing readily available materials at home. A well appreciated teaching aid used in games is the ten-frame. For this, an egg carton with ten spaces and pebbles such as marbles or even rajma seeds are used to play games such as sorting, patterns, and the odd and even game. The game application helps children to understand arithmetic concepts such as Systematic Counting, Relating Numbers to Quantity, Quantity Discrimination and Simple Arithmetic. Their learning can be ascertained through the learning indicators.

For example, for Simple Arithmetic, one of the key learning indicators for level 2 is “Understands division as another way of equal grouping /sharing /distribution.” For level 3, one of the key indicators is “Explores the multiplication facts of 2, 3, 4, 5 and 10 by different ways like repeated addition, skip counting, identifying and continuing pattern.” The entire list of games, learning areas covered and learning indicators are available on the VE website (Computational Thinking – the Ludic Design Approach : Vision Empower (visionempowertrust.in)

Middle School

The VE school interventions include providing students with Braille Math books introducing Nemeth Code, the Braille characters for math symbols, as required by each chapter [see Fig 2.A]. These books contain accessible tactile diagrams and alternative texts for diagrams and pictures which are reviewed by special educators [see Fig 2.B].

Besides providing an accessible means for executing each activity and concept in the textbooks through detailed Teacher Instruction Kits (TIKs), we provide the necessary models or DIY videos (http:// visionempowertrust.in/tactile-diagrams/) which teachers can use to create their own manipulatives for class.

During training programs, teachers are acquainted with the activities and methods mentioned in the TIKs. Following the principles of Universal Design for Education, all VE TIKs contain songs, rhymes, stories, hands-on activities and accessible games which use the multi-sensory approach of teaching. For example, to teach fractions, easily available materials such as egg cartons, small size balls are used. [see Fig 2.C]

The content created for students and teachers are made available in five languages so far on our accessible Learning Management System, Subodha [ see Fig 2.D]. The goal is to have teachers and schools across the country access the platform easily and find readily available accessible material for them to use in their own contexts. In order to ascertain the efficacy of the content and the methods being designed by the team, we conduct sessions with children directly or with their teachers and gather their objective feedback [ see Fig 2.E].

Before publishing any content online, it is vetted by our own domain experts and accessibility experts with visual impairment. The VE team has barely been able to meet with students in person for eight weeks since March 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A large repository of content, especially for high schools, is therefore yet to be validated with the community.

Is Geometry a Visual Topic?

A concept which students with visual impairment find difficult to appreciate without improvisation is that of geometry. For example, in order to measure the length of a line, students need to be provided with a tactile ruler [see Fig 3.A]. To make a tactile ruler, a regular scale is used. Tactile markings using fevicol are placed on the regular scale. Students are trained to place the ruler on the tactile lines and count the markings (dots) to measure the length.

Also, after evaluating various tactile geometry kits, we concluded on a combination of the lightweight kit from Worth Trust in comparison to the metal kit with large and heavy tools from NIVH (National Institute for the Visually Handicapped) . However, we decided to use a regular compass and provided rubber sheets to help children draw using a stylus instead of a pencil and pins to secure the tools on the board.[ see Fig 3.B and Fig 3.C in the next page]

After much experimenting and observing teachers and children face-to-face, we recognized the need to first train the teachers in understanding geometry concepts and the methods of using the tools, for which we conduct Pragya Teacher Training sessions.

All the accessible resources created at VE for school students are aimed at empowering them by defying the age-old stereotype that math concepts are complicated and meant only for the sighted.

There is a long way to go in this journey of making maths completely accessible for children with visual impairment. As we continue our research and implement the findings, we look forward to a more inclusive and accessible future.