CHS: Small: Reading, Doing, and Sharing Mathematical Expressions for the Blind: A Multimodal Approach

CHS：小：盲人阅读、做和分享数学表达式：多模式方法

• 批准号: 1910622
• 负责人: Francis Quek
• 金额: $ 50万
• 依托单位: Texas A&M University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2019-12-01 至 2024-11-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1910622&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CHS; Small; Reading; Doing; Sharing

Reading, doing, and sharing mathematics are cognitively intensive tasks that require significant amounts of learning and preparation. These skills form an indispensable foundation for participation in all STEM fields and most careers. So the lack of mathematical literacy severely disadvantages individuals who are blind or who have a severe visual impairment (IBSVI). By the time they reach middle school, IBSVI are typically 1-3 years behind their seeing counterparts in mathematics, and the gap continues to widen in subsequent years. The key challenge to accessing mathematical expressions is that they are laid out spatially, and this spatial notation needs to be accessed interactively. This project will develop and study solutions to support reading, doing, and sharing of mathematics on modern tablet and handheld devices for IBSVI by balancing across multiple modes of low-vision access, interactive sound, tactile and haptic support, spatial landmarking, audio reading, interaction methodologies and the structure of the mathematical expression. This will open the door to personalized solutions that honor the ranges of visual abilities (e.g., degree of tunnel vision, low-light capacities, tactile abilities) of IBSVI. The research will investigate such multimodal reading, doing and sharing of mathematics expressions starting in later elementary and middle school.The research begins with the proposition that information representation is designed for the sighted. The non-linearity and hyper-dimensionality of mathematical expressions are encoded spatially and are intended for visuo-spatial access and exploration. Furthermore, reading and doing of mathematics is cognitively intensive, requiring years of learning to build literacy. The project will address this chicken-and-egg problem where literacy is needed to access mathematical material, and mathematical material is needed to build literacy. This problem is compounded by the range of visual and tactile abilities of IBSVI, who have a range of central vision acuity, light and color sensitivity, degree of tunnel and tactile ability. The project will develop a 6-element model comprising coarse visual cues, tactile-landmark overlay grid configuration, audio/sonification feedback and reading, interaction methodologies, dynamic haptic feedback; and structural organization of the mathematical content. The model will be balanced for the range of mathematical access needs and IBSVI visual/tactile abilities, and will curate a solution space for supporting reading, doing, and sharing of mathematics. Reading, doing, and sharing will be treated in tandem for students at the upper elementary and middle school levels at the Texas School of the Blind and Visually Impaired (TSBVI), where teachers will work with project researchers in an iterative design, implement, and test process to address the authentic mathematics needs of their students. Students will have sustained access to the research products so that researchers can gain insight into how IBSVI learn 'and adapt to technologies, avoiding the 'one-shot-syndrome' that often prevents research approaches from moving beyond insights from first use scenarios.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

阅读、练习和分享数学是认知密集型任务，需要大量的学习和准备。这些技能构成了参与所有 STEM 领域和大多数职业不可或缺的基础。因此，缺乏数学素养对盲人或有严重视力障碍（IBSVI）的人来说是严重不利的。当他们进入中学时，IBSVI 在数学方面通常比他们的同行落后 1-3 年，并且差距在随后的几年中继续扩大。访问数学表达式的关键挑战是它们是在空间上布局的，并且需要交互式地访问这种空间符号。该项目将开发和研究解决方案，通过平衡低视力访问、交互式声音、触觉支持、空间地标、音频阅读、交互方法和数学表达式的结构。这将为尊重 IBSVI 视觉能力范围（例如隧道视觉程度、弱光能力、触觉能力）的个性化解决方案打开大门。该研究将从中小学后期开始调查这种多模式阅读、练习和分享数学表达式的情况。该研究首先提出信息表示是为视力正常的人设计的命题。数学表达式的非线性和超维性在空间上进行编码，旨在用于视觉空间访问和探索。此外，阅读和做数学是认知密集型的，需要多年的学习来培养读写能力。该项目将解决这个先有鸡还是先有蛋的问题，即需要读写能力才能获取数学材料，而需要数学材料来培养读写能力。 IBSVI 的视觉和触觉能力的范围使这个问题变得更加复杂，IBSVI 具有一系列的中心视力、光和颜色敏感性、隧道程度和触觉能力。该项目将开发一个 6 元素模型，包括粗略视觉提示、触觉地标覆盖网格配置、音频/听觉反馈和阅读、交互方法、动态触觉反馈；以及数学内容的结构组织。该模型将针对数学访问需求和 IBSVI 视觉/触觉能力的范围进行平衡，并将策划一个支持数学阅读、练习和共享的解决方案空间。德克萨斯州盲人和视障学校 (TSBVI) 的小学高年级和初中学生将同时进行阅读、实践和分享，教师将与项目研究人员一起迭代设计、实施和分享测试过程以满足学生真正的数学需求。学生将能够持续获得研究产品，以便研究人员能够深入了解 IBSVI 如何学习“并适应技术”，避免“一次性综合症”，这种综合症通常会阻碍研究方法超越首次使用场景的见解。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。