THE CONSTRUCTION OF TACTILE GRAPHICS FOR BLIND STUDENTS

Abstract

After 1990’s access expansion to education for students with special needs has emerged as a very pertinent issue regarding educational policies. In this scenario, we emphasize the teaching of geography for the visually impaired, blind and low vision students, focusing more specifically on the graphics in teaching geography. The objective of this paper is to report the experiences obtained from August 2008 to August 2009 by UNESP at Rio Claro extension group entitled "Tactile Cartography and MAPAVOX: An alternative way to construct tactile maps and games". During practices conducted for this paper histograms and pie charts were constructed with active participation of students in the whole process. The methodology used in this article was the qualitative research in education, creating an unparalleled analysis of the results and building reports from practices at special school. The final built tactile charts turned to be an important alternative method for teaching graphics for blind and low vision students, using simple features such as low cost materials and taking into account the concern and understanding of visually impaired students in the construction of tactile graphics. The survey results used as the basis for the article will also serve as the basis for the construction of a guide book for teachers who have students who are blind or have low vision in her classroom.