journal article·2023-06-17Open access

Methods and Tools Supporting the Learning and Teaching of Mathematics Dedicated to Students with Blindness

Michał Maćkowski, Mateusz Kawulok, Piotr Brzoza, Dominik Spinczyk

Applied Sciences· Volume 13· Issue 12

Abstract

Teaching mathematics to blind people is a challenge of modern educational methods. This article presents a method of preparing the adapted material and its usage in the learning process of mathematics by blind people, as well as the results of evaluating the proposed approach. The presented results were obtained based on a mathematical analysis course conducted in two classes—with and without using the developed method. The developed method uses the conceptualization of knowledge as a graph. The learning process is supported by feedback processes that consider the mechanisms of knowledge and error vectors, on which a personalized adaptation of the learning path is made for each particular student. The evaluation process has shown a statistically significant improvement in learning results achieved by blind students. The average final test score in the group working with the platform during learning increased by 14%. In addition, there was an increase in cooperation between blind students who had the opportunity to take on the role of a teacher, which was observed in 27% of the participants. Our results indicate the effectiveness of the developed approach and motivate us to evaluate the method in a broader group of students. The engagement of students indirectly indicates overcoming the barriers known from the state of the art: uncertainty, poor motivation, and difficulties in consolidating the acquired skills.
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Research context

OpenAlex topics: Online Learning and Analytics · Intelligent Tutoring Systems and Adaptive Learning · Digital Accessibility for Disabilities

SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.

Affiliations

Department of Distributed Systems and Informatic Devices, Silesian University of Technology, 44-100 Gliwice, Poland

Department of Medical Informatics and Artificial Intelligence, Silesian University of Technology, 41-800 Zabrze, Poland

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