What major challenges are encountered when teaching math concepts to blind and visually impaired students?
One of the most difficult challenges for me has been teaching concepts involving three-dimensional objects. When I first did my student teaching (over 35 years ago), I taught geometry in a regular education classroom. My nickname was “The Tinker Toy Lady” because I was always coming to class with some kind of physical 3-D model to illustrate the day’s lesson. 3-D problems are found in all levels of mathematics. They are often difficult for students with vision to understand, especially when trying to create 3-D objects in a two-dimensional drawing. Hey! They are difficult for me!! Such a drawing, even when tactually raised, makes little sense without sighted “perspective.” Yet, the textbooks continue to draw these 3-D raised line drawings that seem to contradict what the math teacher has just taught the student. For example, a teacher may have just explained to a student that a cylinder has two bases, which consist of two congruent circles and their interiors, and let them examine seve
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