Teaching Basic Statistics to a Student Who Is Blind / Corliss Jean McCallister and Robert L. Kennedy.

This case study describes a congenitally blind undergraduate student who successfully completed a basic statistics course. Accommodations specific to his blindness included: a textbook on tape and review tapes before examinations; a talking calculator; graphs made on Braille paper and other tactile...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: McCallister, Corliss Jean
Kennedy, Robert L. (Author)
Language:English
Published: [Place of publication not identified] : Distributed by ERIC Clearinghouse, 2001.
Subjects:
Academic Accommodations (Disabilities)
Blindness.
Case Studies.
College Students.
Congenital Impairments.
Higher Education.
Kinesthetic Methods.
Mathematics Instruction.
Number Concepts.
Statistics.
Tactual Perception.
Teaching Methods.
Reports, Descriptive.
Speeches/Meeting Papers.
Genre:
Reports, Descriptive.
Speeches/Meeting Papers.
Physical Description:16 pages
Format: Microfilm Book
Description
Summary:
This case study describes a congenitally blind undergraduate student who successfully completed a basic statistics course. Accommodations specific to his blindness included: a textbook on tape and review tapes before examinations; a talking calculator; graphs made on Braille paper and other tactile teaching aids. Affective problems encountered included overcoming low mathematical self-efficacy while cognitive problems were classified as conceptual, computational, experiential, practical, and symbolic. Among instructional strategies successfully used to overcome these cognitive difficulties were: (1) kinesthetic explanations for standard derivation; (2) cardboard curves with rubber bands for teaching problems related to areas under the normal curve; (3) very small data sets when introducing new concepts; and (4) one memorable problem for each formula studied. Teachers and tutors of students who are blind or visually impaired are urged to choose accommodations based on the type and severity of visual disability, individualize instruction based on student preferences, and perform continuous formative assessments followed by instructional adjustments. (Author/DB)
Note:ERIC Note: Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Mid-South Educational Research Association (30th, Little Rock, AR, November 14-16, 2001).
Microform.
Call Number:ED463607 Microfiche
Reproduction Note:
Microfiche. [Washington D.C.]: ERIC Clearinghouse microfiches : positive.