[Blindmath] psychology statistical diagrams

Tue Oct 26 13:40:25 UTC 2010

As a High School Math teacher and TVI I avoid 3D representations in braille.  In geometry we produced dozens of planar figures and geometric shapes with braille paper and some careful construction.  It takes time and a little skill, but you cut through a lot of conceptual learning that is purely to understand a poor model.  When I get a math book my assistant gets to go through the whole thing to put a sticky note next to every 3D image, then we problem solve each individually.  She has no idea how much math she has learned in the last year of doing this!  

We must remember certain things are done in math because they are easier.  Most mathematical symbols are shorthand, and yet in braille end up with 6 or more cells.  Diagrams are used for ease of understanding and representation both to produce and interpret.  If we lose sight of that, we are losing the purpose of the object.  

One last example... for trend and slope data, I just used tables.  At times interpretation of raw numbers is far easier than training to 'see' the graph, and their are very good sighted mathematicians that 'see' trends in this way.

Sean Tikkun
Teacher of the Visually Impaired 
LaFollette High School
srtikkun at madison.k12.wi.us

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On Oct 25, 2010, at 2:15 PM, Rasmussen, Lloyd wrote:

> As a totally blind electronics engineer who got his bachelor's degree in the 1960's, I think that getting an understanding of three-dimensional concepts from two-dimensional drawings has severe limitations.  Is this an isometric or perspective projection?  From what distance is the "object" being viewed?
> 
> Talk to the people in the math department who study topology.  Do they ever make solid models of the shapes they are describing algebraically?  Note that the solution to the problem of everting a sphere (turning it inside out) was first proposed by a French blind mathematician.  He visualized what sighted people were unable to visualize.
> 
> Talk to people in mechanical engineering or industrial design departments about stereolithography or 3D printing, where numerically controlled machines are used to create solid models (quite expensively and slowly).  
> 
> Going these routes will not get you all the drawings your textbooks use, but they should get you enough information and examples so that you understand the concepts, in some cases more correctly than sighted students will from the limited viewpoint of paper and blackboards.
> 
> Lloyd Rasmussen, Senior Project Engineer
> National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped
> Library of Congress   202-707-0535
> http://www.loc.gov/nls
> The preceding opinions are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Library of Congress, NLS.
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Bernard M Diaz
> Sent: Monday, October 25, 2010 2:00 PM
> To: Rasmussen, Lloyd; Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics
> Subject: Re: [Blindmath] psychology statistical diagrams
> 
> Hi,
> 
> I've experience of generating only one diagram that NEEDED 3D - a plane embedded in 3D; that is a "surface"; and yes used the Tiger system.  It took about 2 days playing to get a not too successful result, which we did not use in the end!
> 
> I'm clearly not very good at this sort of thing, it needs an artistic (I think that's the best word) flourish which I guess I don't have.  And I guess, my knowledge of 3D use is limited too ...
> I'm sorry I've not looked at economic stuff, trends, and time series stuff - which I suspect could all benefit from the 3D aspect you suggest.  I suspect, for each, it would be useful to know the approach chosen - if anyone attempts to do (or has done it) please do share your findings.
> 
> Simple "images" (essentially phtographic stuff rendered into "tonal pictures") e.g. most of the Tiger examples I've looked at: flowers parts, coloured country diagrams, digestive systems, most maps - all work well. Where there is an attempt to get tonal representation to mimic depth cueing - what I've done suggests: a) its hard, and b) not too successful at getting over what is intended.  But, as I say, perhaps I'm not thinking about this in the correct way - and would appreciate pointers.
> 
> A final note.  Many staff use Powerpoint. Where a diagram is involved I suggest that they copy the "slide" then edit that to remove all but the diagram.  Enlarge that so that it fuses correctly ("touchably" .... is that the correct word? This also involves thinking about any colour coding used) and provide in the "notes" section for that slide a textual description of the diagram using the language guideline mentioned before.  Then, those slides are "hidden" with a note that they are for "accessibility purposes".  The idea is that the student (or teacher) can fuse the diagram (slide object); Jaws the notes section (notes object) while "touching" the fused version, and have Jaws read any text on the slide proper as well. 
> ...
> 
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