Slide 2 Ensuring quality support meets the science and maths
students technology needs Abi James, With Y. Li, M. Wald & E.A.
Draffan, ECS Partners, University of Southampton Slide 3 You and
maths. Slide 4 How maths confident are you? Up to Level 2 / GCSE
Slide 5 How maths confident are you? Up to A Level / Higher Slide 6
Why are we concerned about maths and STEM? Slide 7 University
experience of maths Slide 8 Print disabilities and mathematical
notation Up to 10% of student population may have a print
impairment that could affect their ability to read or comprehend
maths. Problems may include: Reading the notation Recalling names
of notation and meanings Proof reading notation Recalling the steps
of a process to solve a maths problem Difficulty with comprehending
symbols instead of words Access to text to speech with highlighting
may improve access to maths notation. Slide 9 When they get to
universitydo students expect maths? Biology Business Economics
Slide 10 Exam paper which subject? Slide 11 Some students might
anticipate maths content Chemistry Engineering Slide 12 Students
that want to do maths. Slide 13 Proportion of disabled students in
UK HEIs by subject area, 2012/13 Slide 14 Slide 15 Typical students
requiring math support Proofreading - Tim: dyslexic engineering
student. problems with proofreading and often make mistakes in
calculations uses text to speech to proof read my assignments but
it can't read the maths. struggle to remember all the names of the
symbols making it hard to take notes Understand maths - Sarah:
studying psychology Struggled with maths at schools, particularly
with concentration due to ADHD (indications of dyscalculia) Finds
listening and seeing words at the same time makes them easier to
understand. But keeps forgetting what words and symbols mean. Slide
16 The mathematical language barrier Slide 17 Activity 1:
mathematical meaning Complete the mathematical definitions of the
terms on the worksheet Consider how you could explain this
definition to a visual learner Slide 18 The difference between
maths & text Slide 19 Talking Maths: The difference between
maths & text Symbols in maths can mean different things: [AB]
-1 Could mean: left bracket, boldface capital a, boldface capital
b, right bracket, superscript minus one OR inverse of the matrix
product, boldface capital a, boldface capital b Slide 20 Typical
Maths Lecture From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiaPIleRhgQ
Slide 21 Capturing Maths Notes LiveScribe Pen - Capturing audio
while writing JISC case study of engineering student Tablets can
also be useful, particularly OneNote Slide 22 Hand writing
recognition & maths Hand-written maths relies on real-time
analysis of strokes as symbols are formed Much more dependent on
accuracy & spatial layout than text recognition Formation of
symbols is not consistent Across countries Across individuals Math
input panel in Windows (and MathType) Slide 23 Apps for capturing
maths Starting to appear on tablet apps e.g. MathBrush but not
necessarily about producing accessible output Notes & Maths
MyScript Calculator MathBrush for recongitzing hand-writing But can
also type TeX into a notes app & import to word / editor later
Slide 24 Reading Maths - Where does maths occur? Websites
Publications (PDF) and e-books Documents, presentations and
spreadsheets Learning materials Videos Slide 25 Accessibility
Requirements Some users may want to Zoom / re-size Search / index
maths Braille rendering Read aloud maths with or without
highlighting Reading aloud maths is particularly demanding on
working memory. It may not be possible to vocalise diagrams. Slide
26 Accessibility barriers to maths notation Slide 27 The difference
between maths & text: non- linear representation and ambiguity
(1) Slide 28 The difference between maths & text: non- linear
representation and ambiguity (2) Slide 29 Accurate reading of
maths: Slide 30 Using the numbers provided work out as many ways as
possible to replicate in symbols: Three plus two minus four squared
Hint: there are at least 3 answers to this sum BIDMAS: A way of
remembering the order in which operations are carried out. It
stands for Brackets - Indices - Division - Multiplication -
Addition - Subtraction. Slide 31 Accurate reading of maths: Slide
32 Mathematical semantics Slide 33 Visualising maths notation
Concepts maps & tree diagrams are often used to assist
mathematical teaching [3]. Tree diagrams are used to describe
semantics Specialist maths tutors have described how concept maps
can be used to help dyslexic students visualise problems [6, 8].
Slide 34 STEMReader project Project to develop proof of concept
from Feb 2014 July 2014 funded by BIS, Technology Strategy Board,
managed by Techdis. Goals: Improve solutions for reading aloud
maths notation for students studying GCSE to degree level maths and
science Apply concept of semantic web to allow for navigation and
visualisation of maths notation Challenge to develop usable,
sustainable tool for print-impaired students to use alongside their
current support strategies. Current proof of concept tool allows
MathML equations to be read aloud, navigated by keyboard &
display as a semantic tree. Will be able to be used with Office
documents by selecting equations. Slide 35 STEMReader examples -
fractions Slide 36 Activity 3: Tree diagrams Can you create a tree
for Three plus two minus four squared Slide 37 STEMReader advanced
example Navigate through an equation using the tree Highlight
location of variables within the equation Provide users with
different options for speaking equations Investigating different
ways of displaying tree view Contact [email protected] for
further [email protected] Slide 38 Activity 4:
Reflecting on our learning What do you need to support students
with their STEM content? How do we incorporate ADSHE 7 principles
when supporting STEM students? Metacognition Multi-sensory
Relevance Motivation Overlearning Little and Often Modelling Slide
39 Further Information Abi James [email protected] 07941 465985
https://access.ecs.soton.ac.uk/projects/current/ Slide 40
References [1] Bahram, S., Soiffer, N., & Frankel L. (2014)
Understanding Mathematical Expressions through Interactive
Navigation. In 29 th Annual International Conference on Technology
and Persons with Disabilities, Northridge, California,
USA.Understanding Mathematical Expressions through Interactive
Navigation. [2] Bates, E., & Fitzpatrick, D. (2010). Spoken
mathematics using prosody, earcons and spearcons. Computers Helping
People with Special Needs, 407414. [3] Brown, T. (2013). Meeting
the Standards in Primary Mathematics: A Guide to the ITT NC.
Routledge. [4] Gellenbeck, E., & Stefik, A. (2009). Evaluating
Prosodic Cues as a Means to Disambiguate Algebraic Expressions: An
Empirical Study, 139146. [5] Holden, W., Sunnes, M., & Graffe,
S. (2014) The Next Generation Text to Speech Program. In 29 th
Annual International Conference on Technology and Persons with [6]
Perkin, G. (2004). The dyslexic engineerissues for mathematics
education. International Conference on Engineering Education,
(October 2003), 111. [7] Sorge, V., Chen, C., Raman, T. V., &
Tseng, D. (2014, April). Towards making mathematics a first class
citizen in general screen readers. In Proceedings of the 11th Web
for All Conference (p. 40). ACM. [8] Trott, C. (2003). Mathematics
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