TanMath: A Tangible Math Application to support children with visual impairment to learn basic Arithmetic

Abstract

Learning Mathematics is a challenge for students with visual impairments (VI) during school life. Tangible resources like magnetic numbers, the Brannan Cubarithm or the Japanese abacus joined with computer based tools like Text to Speech and Computer Vision offer new possibilities to aid pupils with VI to learn Math. In this work we present a first approach which aim to integrate these elements into a Tangible User Interface (TUI) to support students with VI to learn basic Arithmetic. We have devised a first multimodal approach based on auditory feedback and tangible numbers to support an elementary school student to write, solve and present arithmetic operations. We describe our main observations, advantages and drawbacks found during an early stage experiment, we discuss the potential directions where Tangible User Interfaces can support teaching of mathematics for students with VI, and we establish concrete points for future work in this field.