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ERIC Number: EJ1468911
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025-May
Pages: 15
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0013-1954
EISSN: EISSN-1573-0816
Available Date: 2025-03-06
There Is More to Algebra than Meets the Eye: The Case of Blindness
Educational Studies in Mathematics, v119 n1 p63-77 2025
Research literature about visually impaired students' approach to mathematics is still very scarce, especially in the case of algebra, even though mathematical content is becoming increasingly accessible thanks to assistive technologies. This paper presents a case study aimed at describing a blind subject's process of algebraic symbol manipulation while solving equations supported by assistive technology. In particular, we analyze how a subject with blindness manifests their structure sense within algebraic instrumented activity mediated by programming languages (such as LaTeX). The epistemic and pragmatic mediations of the programming language are described in terms of the developed utilization schemes. The results show how hearing can replace the eye in developing algebraic structure sense. Data analysis reveals that the system of screen reader, speech synthesis, and programming language has interesting potentialities in the development of structure sense for subjects with blindness, but, taking an inclusive perspective, we discuss how these potentialities can be applied more generally in mathematics education.
Springer. Available from: Springer Nature. One New York Plaza, Suite 4600, New York, NY 10004. Tel: 800-777-4643; Tel: 212-460-1500; Fax: 212-460-1700; e-mail: customerservice@springernature.com; Web site: https://link.springer.com/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: 1University of Bologna, Department of Mathematics, Bologna, Italy; 2University of Valle d’Aosta, Department of Social and Human Sciences, Aosta, Italy; 3University of Pavia, Department of Mathematics, Pavia, Italy; 4University of Turin, Laboratorio “S. Polin”, Turin, Italy