Mathematics Learning by Students with Visual Impairments: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

Objective  This study aims to map and analyze the primary challenges and obstacles encountered by visually impaired students in learning Mathematics, as well as to identify solutions and strategies highlighted in scientific articles from 2018 to 2023.

Method  A mixed-method systematic literature review was conducted, with data collection taking place from August 2022 to March 2023. Studies were selected from seven databases on the CAPES journal platform (ERIC, Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed, Gale Academic OneFile, Science Direct, and Google Scholar), as well as publications from the Journal of the Brazilian Institute for the Blind (IBC). The search query was ("visual impairments" OR "visually impaired" OR "blind student" OR "deficiência visual" OR "deficiente visual" OR "aluno cego" OR "estudante cego") AND ("mathematics education" OR "math learning" OR "educação matemática" OR "aprendizagem de matemática").

Results  A total of 3214 articles were initially located, which, after the selection process, narrowed down to 27 studies of relevance to the research. Using the IRaMuTeQ software, version 0.7 alpha 2, authors conducted various textual analyses, hierarchical descending classification, and correspondence factor analysis. This allowed for in-depth reflections and the confirmation of 4 thematic classes: Mathematics learning and school inclusion, Assistive Technology Elements, Description of images and graphs with mathematical information, and Strategies employed by visually impaired students. As a product of the analysis, a set of ten statements and ten recommendations found in the articles that formed the corpus was elaborated.

Mathematical learning; Visual impairment; Mathematics teaching; School inclusion