Auditory and haptic feedback to train basic mathematical skills of children with visual impairments

ABSTRACT

Physical manipulatives, such as rods or tiles, are widely used for mathematics learning, as they support embodied cognition, enable the execution of epistemic actions, and foster conceptual metaphors. Counting them, children explore, rearrange, and reinterpret the environment through the haptic channel. Vision generally complements physical actions, which makes using traditional manipulatives limited for children with visual impairments (VIs). Digitally augmenting manipulatives with feedback through alternative modalities might improve them. We specifically discuss conveying number representations to children with VIs using haptic and auditory channels within an environment encouraging exploration and supporting active touch counting strategies while promoting reflection. This paper presents LETSMath, a tangible system for training basic mathematical skills of children with VIs, developed through Design-Based Research with three iterations in which we involved 19 children with VIs and their educators. We discuss how the system may support training skills in the composition of numbers and the impact that the different system features have on slowing down the interaction pace to trigger reflection, on understanding, and on incorporation.

KEYWORDS:

• Tangible user interface
• visually impaired
• cognitive training
• technology-enhanced learning
• embodied interaction

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the children and educators of public schools in Uruguay and the National Organization of Blind People of Spain (ONCE).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This project was funded by Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca (2018 LLAV 00009); Agencia Nacional de Investigación e Innovación (ANII) and Fundación Ceibal through (FSED_2_2016_1_131112), and by Centro Interdisciplinario en Cognición para la Enseñanza y el Aprendizaje (CICEA), Universidad de la República (Uruguay); Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities [IJCI-2017-32162]; and Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT), Portugal, I.P., through project mIDR (AAC02/SAICT/-2017, project 30347, cofunded by COMPETE/FEDER/FNR), and the LASIGE Research Unit, ref. UIDB/00408/2020 and ref. UIDP/00408/2020, Portugal.