Reflections on a Manipulable Material Destined for Teaching Arithmetic Means for Blind Students

Abstract

The use of manipulable materials for teaching Statistics constitutes the possibility of access to data representations by blind students through tactile exploration. The purpose of this article is to reflect on the possibilities of a manipulative material designed for teaching arithmetic mean for blind students. The article presents a description and analysis of the material elaborated and the proposed methodological process aimed at its validation, including a preliminary analysis based on a semi-structured interview with a Brailist who acts as a transcriber of the Braille system in higher education. The interviewee emphasized the importance of research for working with Mathematics Education for blind students and emphasized the relevance of the material for teaching arithmetic averages. She reflected on the textures used in the material and contributed with some considerations about taking care with similarities in the types of materials. In addition, he emphasized that the audio description of the material was indispensable when using it with blind students, in order to make it accessible to the understanding of its entirety through the transcription of the visual into the verbal. The Brailist also reinforced the importance of validation of the material by blind students so that they can identify the limits and possibilities of the material. We preliminarily conclude that the manipulable material presented in the research presents itself as a possible resource for explorations on the concept of arithmetic mean with blind students. The study is part of an academic master's research in development and the next steps will involve the analysis of the material by blind students.