Thesis & Dissertations

Algebraic mathematics is the essential field that falls under different majors such as scientific, academic… A lot of research conclude that a huge number of visually impaired students face challenge in mathematics. The reason for this is the complexity of this domain. Mathematica needs focus, process and follow the information to solve any expression. The limitation of visually impaired students did not help them to follow these steps. The novelty of this workspace compared to other existing systems is intended to create educational systems. It allows visually impaired students to be as independent as sighted students. Other systems are more tutoring systems than educational. Furthermore, the workspace presented in this thesis can support sighted or visually impaired users. This proposed workspace is implemented for helping visually impaired students learn and practice algebra. This interactive workspace aims at enhancing the abilities of students in manipulating algebraic expressions. Set of techniques are executed by hot access keys with audio feedback that allow the user not only to navigate and edit the algebraic expression, but also to access its elements, find the solution and save it. Twenty four experiments were conducted using T-test with different level of difficulty: easy, moderate, and difficult. The language of instruction was Arabic so the experiments used the Arabic language for both training and practicing Math. The system was tested on visually impaired students from upper elementary and middle school in Lebanon. The comparison was done between the workspace and the conventional way in both regular and learning mode. The evaluation involved the effectiveness and the efficiency of the system. The results showed that the proposed system and the learning mode of the system are respectively better in effectiveness than the conventional way and the regular mode of the system. They also showed that the proposed system when it comes to the experiments that are more complex is better in efficiency than the conventional way.