The Role of Concrete Manipulative Materials in Improving Achievement Level of Visually Handicapped Pupils in Mathematics
Mohamed El-Demerdash (2004): The Role of Concrete Manipulative Materials in Improving Achievement Level of Visually Handicapped Pupils in Mathematics. Dissertation, Damietta Faculty of Education, Mansoura University.
Tag der mündlichen Prüfung: 11.12.2003.
Study Summary
Aim of the Study
The study aimed at investigating the role of concrete manipulative materials (modified algebra tiles) in comparison to the traditional methods of teaching in enhancing the achievement levels of visually handicapped students in mathematics. The study focused on the unit of algebraic terms and expressions studied by the visually handicapped students in middle schools in the school year 2002-2003.
Significance of the Study
The significance of the study lies in:
1. The study helps the teachers and the program designers of the visually handicapped pupils to acknowledge the ways concrete manipulatives materiales are used in some activities - that make use of the rest of the senses - to teach and improve some mathematical concepts and skills.
2. Designing some activities that are based on using concrete manipulatives materiales, and that can be used with the visually handicapped pupils.
3. Getting the teachers of the visually handicapped to consider the importance of using concrete manipulatives materiales in teaching mathematics to their pupils.
4. Presenting a humble contribution in answering the increasing need for large number of studies in the field of mathematics for the visually handicaped. The suggested unit is considered a step towards designing and using precisely measured progams for such students.
Background of the study
The researcher became aware of the problem of the study through the following resources:
- The unsuitability of the books studied by the visually handicapped to the nature of their visual handicap.
- The results of the questionnaire which have shown the lack of a certain framework for teaching mathematics for the visually handicapped.
- The results and recommendations of the previous studies and international projects in the field of teaching mathematics related to the subject of the study in general and teaching to the visually handicapped in particular, which have shown the importance of teaching mathematics for the visually handicapped in a manipulative method that depends on the rest of the senses.
Key Words