AN EXPLORATION OF AVAILABLE PROVISIONS FOR LEARNING OF GEOMETRICAL CONCEPTS AT ELEMENTARY LEVEL

Abstract

The descriptive study was carried out to explore the current provisions available tothe teachers and students with visual impairment(VI) for learning complex concepts of geometry at elementary level. The population of the study comprised of VIstudents studying at elementary level and their parents. Research tools were observational checklist to observe the learning environment and semi structured interview guide for parents. After pilot testing, tools were administered for data collection. The quantitative datawas tabulated and interpreted whereasrepeated themes of the qualitative data was discussed. Results of the study showed that numerous problems were faced by teachers and VI students studying at elementary level.In most of the centers of special education, children with different special needs sit together in a class. Required tactile material and geometry apparatus was not available for students and teachers. Opportunities for in-service training to fresh up the content knowledge and pedagogical techniques were scarce. Class size was manageable but due to lack of instructional material, geometry concepts were not taught properly. Students were not provided with audio aids of notes in soft form. Software were not introduced in the schools and, if available, teachers were not trained to operate these.