Curriculum Close Up - Issue 1 - Maths

Welcome to the first edition of Curriculum Close Up, the newsletter of the RNIB Curriculum Information Service.  I am Suzy Wallis, Curriculum Information Officer and 'CCU' editor.

This free newsletter will address some of the issues regarding access to the National Curriculum for blind and partially sighted children.  As well as offering information and advice in 'bite-size' pieces about different subjects, we will also keep you informed about training, new products, changes in legislation and more.  

Each issue will focus on a different subject - this term we will focus on mathematics.  The newsletter is aimed at anyone who is involved with teaching a blind or partially sighted child - subject teachers, support teachers who are VI qualified, support assistants, SENCOs.  If you think that a colleague would find this newsletter interesting, please feel free to photocopy it - or give me a ring and I will send you extra copies.  You can reach me on 01905 357635.

More About RNIB's Curriculum Information Service
RNIB's Curriculum Information Service offers advice and information to all professionals who are involved in teaching the National Curriculum to blind and partially sighted children.  As well as providing advice on teaching techniques it also offers information on the availability of specialist resource materials and equipment to enable blind and partially sighted children to learn independently in the classroom.  The service also provides information and advice on access to National Curriculum Standard Assessment Tests and public examinations.  

Curriculum related in-service training courses for teaching and non-teaching staff are run in different parts of the country in conjunction with RNIB's regional education centres.  The service produces this free termly newsletter to which you can subscribe by contacting us on the number above.  

The service also has a section within RNIB's website with up to date information, and a bulletin board where education professionals can place queries and share information about teaching particular subjects and skills to blind and partially sighted children  in both mainstream and special settings.
 
Why Focus on Maths First?
We mentioned earlier that this issue will focus on maths.  I have asked a wide variety of people from the field of education which subjects they find the most problematic to teach to blind and partially sighted children, and time and again, the answer has been mathematics. As one of the core subjects in the curriculum, and as an essential part of everyday life, it is very important that blind and partially sighted children are able to learn as much about maths as their sighted counterparts.  So how do teachers overcome the problems faced by a blind or partially sighted child, such as lack of text books in large print, or producing clear tactile diagrams for a braillist?  What equipment do other teachers use to enable a blind child to draw graphs?  

The RNIB/VIEW Mathematics Curriculum Group consists of a number of teachers who have a specific interest in teaching maths to blind and partially sighted children.  I recently carried out a short survey of group members to ask for their tips for teaching maths to blind and partially sighted pupils.  I stressed to each member that the ideas could be simple or complex.  Please bear this in mind - some ideas may seem very obvious, whilst some may not have occurred to you before.  

You may not find that all of the ideas suit you, or you may even have additional ones yourself.  If so, let me know and I will add them to this list for future reference.  If just one of the following ideas helps you or a colleague to teach maths, then we have helped at least one pupil!  

Maths Tips!
Are you aware that tactile rulers, protractors and even a Geometry board are available from RNIB Customer Services?  The rulers and protractors are also marked up in well contrasted black and yellow, and can enable a child with sight problems to measure accurately to within 0.5cm.  For further details, contact RNIB Customer Services on 0345 023153.

To plot a graph on plastic embossing film (also known as German film), use a graph board and pins, with a 'home made' base - use a couple of cork tiles stuck together round the outside with carpet binding (or see the geometry base in the RNIB Schools catalogue).  It is worth experimenting with different types to see which provide the best base.

When an exam question in a key stage test asks a blind or partially sighted student to 'draw', this means indicate by whatever means you like - eg. Crosses, pins, a rubber band around pins or a drawing that is less accurate - it does not strictly mean a line drawing (in accordance with this the tolerances for marking will normally have been extended).

It is worth having a good supply of pins and rubber bands, which can then be used for making graphs on embossed graph paper (embossed graph paper is available from RNIB's Schools catalogue at £2.85 for 50 sheets).     

If you are responsible for a braillist who is taking part in a key stage exam, you should not transcribe their papers before sending them away!  Braille markers are employed to read and mark the braille papers.

What about using Wikki Stix for plotting graphs?  They are flexible, wax coated sticks, easily manipulated by both blind and partially sighted children and can be used over and over again on a wide variety of surfaces.  Available from RNIB Schools catalogue for £2.60.

A teacher in a secondary school suggests that it is worth demonstrating certain concepts very practically - for example, why not cut a carrot to look at cross-sections?  

The same teacher told me that they use Braillemaker Professional from PIA, with software called Braille Editor.  This enables you to see the dots on the screen, so you can type out the maths, see the dots and correct any errors as you go along.  PIA's telephone number is 01222 301000.

Tip for using the tactile protractor, (which has a 7cm radius) - when faced with a worksheet packed with angles to measure, all with arms well short of 7cm, two narrow strips of card can be useful, as they can be held in place with pins over the sheet on a cork mat.  Even though assistance is necessary, it still saves a lot of time (and German film!)

When drawing a braille diagram for measuring angles, try not to make the diagram too cluttered - position the angle sign within the angle, rather than having label lines which can mislead children into thinking that these extra lines are part of the actual shape. 

Have you tried out Clixi, available from NES Arnold?  These shaped tiles are great for making up 3D shapes, and very useful for demonstrating nets.  They come in a mixture of colours and shapes, click easily together and are easy to manipulate.The phone number for NES Arnold is 0115 971 7700.

If time is a problem in the maths class, and a child has been set 30 short questions to answer, why not tell them to answer the odd questions only - even if the questions get progressively harder, the child will still be tested on the concept and level of their ability, but they will be able to get through an amount of work more acceptable to the duration of the lesson.

It is well worth helping your blind or partially sighted pupil to become familiar with working with diagrams - exams are becoming more and more visual and so it is worth giving your pupil as much experience as possible with a wide variety of diagram formats.

Past papers of key stage 2 and 3 SATs papers in modified large print and braille are available from PIA on 01222 301001.  Past GCSE papers are less readily accessible, and we will be providing details at a later date of how to get hold of these from each exam board - to register for this information, give us a call on 01905 357635 and we will put your name on our mailing list.

When laying out questions in braille, try, where possible, to lay them out with the question number against the left hand margin, and the actual question indented a little.  This makes the question numbers much easier to locate.  A similar rule for page numbering applies - put the braille page number in the top right hand corner, with the print page number in the top left hand corner.

Finally, I asked Eleanor Southwood, who has just finished her GCSEs at Woodlands Community School in Derby what she would tell teachers in the light of learning GCSE maths as a braillist.  Here's what she said:

"Wherever possible, let pupils use the same maths text book as their classmates. I started out with a different book, and it proved so difficult  to follow an alternative set of exercises that I swapped back to the original one anyway, wasting a lot of time in the process"*

Do you have tips for maths or any other subjects that might be of interest to someone else supporting a blind or partially sighted child?

Let us know, and we will include them in a future issue of Curriculum Close Up.  

To order a print copy of this publication, please contact Liz Hughes on 0121 665 4223 or by email at Curriculum@rnib.org.uk