[Blindmath] Question regarding use of normal curve table

Mon Mar 23 21:36:40 UTC 2015

Hello Jeanne,

I like Bente's message but feel it missed one important aspect about the normal distribution  - the table.

I teach to Engineering students that do not have an exam at the end of semester. This means I have been relieved of teaching how to use the old-fashioned printed tables because this is the only situation where they are needed. Aside from an education setting, I wonder if anyone seriously uses the tables anymore. We all have calculators and computers with suitable software to get these answers and it takes longer to pull the book off the shelf than it does to make use of technology.

I think it makes sense for your student to request an accommodation to allow them to use a 21st century computer and forget the 20th century printed tables. The knowledge about the shape of the distribution and its empirical rules are still very relevant, but the actual work involved in standardising and looking up tables is less important in my opinion.

I also can't help wonder why any student persists using low-vision technology when they can see only one word on a screen at a time. I did this for mathematical courses for so many years after I gave up using it for literary work. This was mostly because the technology that we now have wasn't' available at the time. If a blind student enrolled in the papers I've just finished teaching, they would be about as close to being on par as I think it is possible to be today. Why? Because the access to the resources is 100%. Anything less is not acceptable to the lecturer (me).

Cheers,
Jonathan

-----Original Message-----
From: Blindmath [mailto:blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Bente J. Casile via Blindmath
Sent: Tuesday, 24 March 2015 1:48 a.m.
To: Osborne, Jeanne; Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics
Subject: Re: [Blindmath] Question regarding use of normal curve table

Jeanne,

 I have tutored several blind students in our Statistics class at my school.  I would make your student a diagram of the curve with the normal standard deviation markings.  For my blind students I used felt on braille paper and did the lines in puff paint to mark -3 through 3 standard deviations.  Your student needs to understand that the normal curve is basically sitting on a number line.  In the cases where we know the mean and standard deviation, that will drive the numbers that are placed in the appropriate positions and where we don't know those values,  we will have the mean at zero and number -3 through 3 to mark standard deviation points.  It is also important for them to make the connection that when  we use the table, we use the z-score (which is basically telling us our distance from the mean on that number line) and the value that we get from the table is the area under the curve to the left of that z score.  The total area under the curve equals one and that is w  hy we subtract from one when we want to find the area to the right.  I know I am not telling you anything about the curve that you don't already know, but I encounter students all the time who fail to make those connections and just see it as a bunch of numbers that make no sense.  I hope this helps.  Feel free to contact me off list if I can be of further assistance to you or your student.

Bente J. Casile
Math Learning Specialist
Disability Support Services
Wake Technical Community College
Raleigh NC
bjcasile at waketech.edu
Mon - Thurs. North Campus Rm 307 Bldg A

"The real problem of blindness is not the loss of eyesight.  The real problem is the misunderstanding and lack of education that exists.  If a blind person has the proper training and opportunity, blindness can be reduced to a mere physical nuisance."
-- Kenneth Jernigan

-----Original Message-----
From: Blindmath [mailto:blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Osborne, Jeanne via Blindmath
Sent: Monday, March 23, 2015 7:35 AM
To: blindmath at nfbnet.org
Subject: [Blindmath] Question regarding use of normal curve table

Hi all,

I am teaching Statistics I at a community college in NJ.  I currently have a student with low vison - she uses a magnifier but it only shows one word at a time.  For tests and quizzes, a proctor will administer them, reading many questions.  For questions that involve numbers and/or drawings, the proctor will draw them with a black marker on a larger sheet of paper.

In a few weeks, the class will be learning about the normal curve and will be using the normal curve table.

Any suggestions as to how to help this student would be greatly appreciated.

Jeanne
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