The use of manipulative didactic material to teach concepts related to the treatment of information for visually impaired students

Abstract

Context: teaching mathematics to visually impaired students has been challenging teachers in classrooms. Thus, it is important to use manipulative resources for the teaching process. Objective: to evaluate the use of manipulative didactic material for teaching concepts related to the treatment of information for students with visual impairments. Design: applied nature and qualitative approach. Environment and participants: held at a special education school in a countryside municipality in the state of Paraná. The participants were two visually impaired students and a mathematics teacher specialized in the area. Data collection and analysis: semi-structured interview, pre-test and post-test composed of five questions elaborated based on the contents proposed by the National Curriculum Parameters - PCN, and recordings of the classes taught by the responsible teacher. The data collected were examined through the analysis of the conversation, theoretically based on Piotr Yakovlevich Galperin's assumptions on the formation of mental action through steps. Results: revealed that the material developed for this study is a mediating tool in the process of forming mathematical concepts by the participating students, showing the importance of using differentiated resources that allow visual impaired students to access and appropriate knowledge taught at school. Conclusions: based on the appropriation of visually impaired students on how to deal with the material used in the study, we suggest to apply the material to EJA classes; inclusive classes; students with intellectual disabilities and/or disorders such as dyscalculia.