Method and Tools to Supporting Math Learning in Inclusive Education of Blind Students

This study presents a math tutoring platform designed to teach sighted and blind students using audio-tactile graphics in an inclusive educational setting. The platform' provides alternative means for presenting information typically included as images in mathematical exercises via tablets and an audio-touch interface. The research used a prepared set of 40 exercises on the properties of geometric figures, and it covered 5 inclusive classrooms at the primary school level during one semester of the school year. The proposed evaluation method of the platform considered several factors: students' learning progress (stored using the knowledge vector and error vector mechanisms), teacher-student and student-student communication, a detailed assessment of the student's way of solving the exercise via a module used by the teacher, and the possibility of group work. The results indicate that the developed method and accompanying tools support group work and increase the independence of blind students in the process of learning mathematics. The platform also increases communication with and detailed ongoing assessment of the student's progress by the teacher.