MATHEMATICS IN
INTEGRATED CLASSROOMSThe need for learning mathematics differs to some extent between residential schools and
integrated education programmes. In residential setting, some specific areas in mathematics
which are considered to be complicated may be omitted by the teacher while teaching. This
mass omission may not bring discrepancy among the students in learning that subject since
the omission is uniform for all. But the integrated setting is entirely different. The complete
content in mathematics is taught to sighted students. A visually impaired child in the
integrated setting may be in a disadvantageous position if he is not taught the necessary
content. Hence, whether or not visually impaired children like mathematics, they have to
learn it if they study in the integrated setting where mathematics is one of the subjects of
study. This write-up provides guidelines on how mathematics learning can be made effective
in integrated programmes with a sound collaboration between resource and regular teachers.
Learning Sequence
A good learner of mathematics will be able to ‘organise’ ideas. When the organisation is
good, the learner will be able to put the ideas in a sequence. Good ‘sequence’ will be very
useful for easier arrival of results. When correct results are arrived at, the ‘interpretation’
will be good. Though the expected outcome is the same for both visually impaired children
and sighted children, the means are different. In the regular classroom, most of the
teaching of mathematics is done through blackboard work supplemented by oral instruction.
Sighted children grasp the idea of “organising” and “sequencing” mostly by the manner in
which the matter is presented on the blackboard. Due to the limitation caused by visual
impairment, the child misses this very important information in learning. Thus, visually