Golden Material in Mathematics Education

Reports with blind and/or low vision

Abstract

 In order to promote equal enrollment opportunities in schools for all students, regulations, laws, and decrees have been established to support and uphold Inclusive Education in Brazil. As a result, there is the provision of Specialized Educational Assistance (SEA), preferably within regular education. In this context, this article presents a segment of a doctoral thesis whose objective was to investigate the potential of Assistive Technology (AT) in teaching mathematical concepts during SEA sessions, as well as the process of implementing technology as a pedagogical resource. With a qualitative approach, the pedagogical activities involving the use of AT and the Golden Material for the acquisition of the concept of number, particularly counting, are described. The research included two blind students and three students with low vision from elementary school, as well as five teachers, three from SEA and two from the regular classroom. Through textual discursive analysis, various activities related to the Golden Material and the use of the Brazilian currency, the Real, are described; which were conducted by the participating teachers during SEA sessions. Throughout the different stages of acquiring the concept of number, several resources were utilized, including Tactile AT, the Golden Material and calculators. During the presentation of concepts, interactions with braille mathematical symbols were used, along with representations of numerical quantities using adapted and diverse tactile materials. Consolidation was facilitated by calculators and other calculation resources, while abstraction was promoted through the representation of quantities and mental calculations.