Cbeyond: Mathematical Learning Tool for Primary Level Visual Impaired Students

Abstract

Blindness or visual impairment is a common obstacle for the development of a society. They paradigm, feel and sense the world divergently so that, they have to face so many challenges in day today life. One of the most dreadful challenges arises when considering about the learning curriculum of a blind kid, specially a stream like mathematics. Therefore, when they grow up they try to build their careers in areas where the use of mathematics is minimal. This is because learning or practicing mathematics demands rich in visual abilities and the world is still lack of providing them enough facilities and proper technical solutions to make their learning curriculum easier. They are using Braille system to represent numbers and mathematical calculations at present. Before going to the braille system, the kids need to get used to the specific patterns for the numbers and mathematical operators, so that they are using a special wooden number board that has nine star shaped blocks carved on it and an object called tiff. It is an extremely tedious task for a young blind kid to perform number identification, therefore a teacher should always be there for them. A primary level blind kid normally takes up to three years just to identify the pattern of numbers from zero to nine and four basic mathematical operators. Even more time consume for the Mathematical calculations. In this paper, an innovative tool is introduced which will enable blind kids to learn and practice mathematics like sighted students.