BVI students face material and instructional barriers: late STEM materials, error-laden tactile worksheets, and variable teacher graphic descriptions¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (3 entries) · review r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2022 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person · recheck by 2027: baselines and conditions change

Subclaims¶

q2 i? About 85% of surveyed middle and high school BVI students reported STEM materials arrived late at least some of the time. → Steinbach 2022 q2 i? Only 5% of braille/tactile math and science worksheets were error-free and 20% had five or more errors. → Steinbach 2022 (2) q2 i? Teachers of the visually impaired showed wide variability in how they described mathematics graphics to students. → Steinbach 2022 (3)

Evidence¶

Steinbach 2022¶

Steinbach, S. (2022). Looking beyond vision: Supports for students who are blind or visually impaired in mathematics. NWEA. https://www.nwea.org/research/publication/looking-beyond-vision-supports-for-students-who-are-blind-or-visually-impaired-in-mathematics/

q2 · i? · review · r2

The review reports, citing Bell & Silverman (2019), a survey in which "About 85% of middle and high school BVI students surveyed reported" their STEM materials arrived late at least some of the time. Descriptive percentage only.

"About 85% of middle and high school BVI students surveyed reported that their science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) materials arrived late at least some of the time (Bell & Silverman, 2019)."

Steinbach 2022 (2)¶

Steinbach, S. (2022). Looking beyond vision: Supports for students who are blind or visually impaired in mathematics. NWEA. https://www.nwea.org/research/publication/looking-beyond-vision-supports-for-students-who-are-blind-or-visually-impaired-in-mathematics/

q2 · i? · review · r2

The review attributes to Herzberg & Rosenblum (2014) a quality assessment of braille and tactile math/science worksheet production finding "only 5% of worksheets given to students were totally without error" and 20% had five or more errors.

"a study assessing the quality of the production of braille and tactile math and science worksheets (Herzberg & Rosenblum, 2014) found that only 5% of worksheets given to students were totally without error and 20% had five or more errors."

Steinbach 2022 (3)¶

Steinbach, S. (2022). Looking beyond vision: Supports for students who are blind or visually impaired in mathematics. NWEA. https://www.nwea.org/research/publication/looking-beyond-vision-supports-for-students-who-are-blind-or-visually-impaired-in-mathematics/

q2 · i? · review · r2

The review reports, citing Rosenblum et al. (2020), that with 10 teachers of the visually impaired describing mathematics graphics per national guidelines, there was "wide variability in how teachers described the graphics" and questioned students about them.

"when 10 teachers of the visually impaired were asked to describe mathematics graphics to BVIs according to the National Council of Accessible Materials' guidelines, Rosenblum et al. (2020) discovered that there was wide variability in how teachers described the graphics, and in how they questioned students about the graphics features and the information presented."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• BVI students in schools with more academic supports outperform on standardized math tests — related
• Auditory math access works best when the technology is familiar: Math Speak aided expression identification, and BVI students performed similarly to or slightly better than traditional methods with familiar apps — related
• A multisensory tablet with tonal and vibration feedback produced no significant difference in graphics-comprehension accuracy compared with tactile graphics — related
• Combining voiced auditory descriptions with tactile graphics increased braille readers' likelihood of answering assessment items correctly — related
• Half of reported developmental barriers stem from academic-related challenges (50.39%) — related
• The item-quality and prediction work is part of a larger project aiming to make online math more accessible to students with visual impairments — related
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