CREATIVE MATHEMATICS
As children with visual impairment are devoid of one of the vital senses, the vision, the
vacuum created has to be compensated by some other means to enable them to compete
with their sighted peers in the academic activities. The tactile sense lends a helping hand
for a child with visual impairment to complement the loss of vision at least to some extent.
In teaching a concept, any object or thing which is tactile in nature always attracts the
child with visual impairment.
Mathematical concepts, though abstract in nature when presented in concrete form arouse
and sustain interest among persons, both sighted and visual impairment. Creative
mathematics through paper folding enables children with visual impairment to understand
the abstract concepts with ease. The paper folding leaves a crease which is very much
tactile in nature and enables a child with visual impairment to learn the concept at a faster
pace. The concept of creative mathematics through paper folding is in line with the basic
objective in development of a teaching aid that it is cheaper, it can be used well and be
changed often also. The amount of impact that a paper folding creates in knowing of
mathematical concepts is so vital that it can be used for teaching a score of concepts,
which are otherwise felt as very much abstract in nature. For instance, an abstract concept
in Geometry, say “the angle formed in a semicircle is always a right angle” can be taught to
the child with visual impairment through paper folding in the following ways.
Step 1 : Take a thick sheet of paper and cut it in the form of circle, to any convenient
radius, say 10 cm.
Step 2 : Locate its centre and fold the circle so as to form a diameter.