Sustainable Business and Society in Emerging Economies (Sep 2023)
Teaching Mathematics to Students with Visual Impairment Studying at the Primary Level: Role of Multisensory Approach
Abstract
Purpose: The study of mathematics helps students develop their cognitive abilities. By emphasizing the quantitative and dimensional characteristics of the objects, it establishes the basis for logical reasoning. In mathematics, students who are visually challenged often struggle with a lack of conceptual understanding and difficulties with the disequilibrium stage of the reasoning process. (Jones, 2018). Design/Methodology/Approach: The purpose of this research is to inquire into the difficulties and solutions utilized by primary school educators who work with students who have vision problems. The main objective of the research was to provide an overview of mathematics educators' current efforts to incorporate a multi-sensory approach into their pedagogy for students with impaired vision. It was a quantitative research and descriptive research design was used. The study comprised 100 school-level VI special education teachers. Data for this study was collected via convenient sampling. Findings: The statistical analysis showed that the majority of teachers were not utilizing the multisensory approach (tactile, auditory & kinesthetic etc.) and helping material to improve the mathematical skills of the VI students. Most of the teachers lacked specialization in mathematics, and learning conditions were unsuitable while teaching mathematics to SWVI. Majority of Teachers were not utilizing multisenses while teaching mathematics to students with visual impairment. Implications/Originality/Value: This study indicates that SWVI were facing problems because their teachers were not utilizing appropriate teaching material while teaching mathematics, lacked effective teaching skills and there was an inappropriate use of adaptive tools while teaching mathematics to SWVI. p-Value 0.016 is < 0.05. displays that there is a statistically significant difference in the opinion of the teachers based on their educational qualifications on the importance of using a multisensory approach to enhance the mathematical skills of SWVI.
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