Abstract
Difficulty accessing digital educational material in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) hinders many students from receiving an education according to his/her preferences and fully enjoying the opportunities offered by our technology-enhanced society. Web resources enhance the delivery of STEM content by offering interactive and visual models, dynamic content, videos, quizzes, games and more. STEM content can be delivered in several ways including visually, vocally, or through a 3-D printed Braille bar or other assistive technology. In this chapter, we focus on the accessibility of STEM Web content for students with disabilities who are prevented from fully accessing digital visual resources, precluding a fully inclusive education. This chapter offers an overview of the state of the art of accessibility of STEM content on the Web, focusing especially on the experience of blind students. Existing issues and the authors’ opinions in the field are aimed at motivating future research and development.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Archambault D (2009) Non visual access to mathematical contents: state of the art and prospective. In: Proceedings of the WEIMS conference, vol 2009, pp 43–52
Armano T, Borsero M, Capietto A, Murru N, Panzare A, Ruighi A (2016) On the accessibility of Moodle 2 by visually impaired users, with a focus on mathematical content. Universal Access in the Information Society, pp 1–10
Armano T, Capietto A, Coriasco S, Murru N, Ruighi A, Taranto E (2018) An automatized method based on LaTeX for the realization of accessible PDF documents containing formulae. In: Miesenberger K, Kouroupetroglou G (eds) Computers Helping people with special needs. ICCHP 2018. Lecture notes in computer science, vol 10896. Springer, Cham, pp 583–589
Arzarello F (2006) Semiosis as a multimodal process. Revista Latinoamericana de Investigación en Matemática Educativa RELIME, 9 (Extraordinario 1), pp 267–299
Basham JD, Marino MT (2013) Understanding STEM education and supporting students through universal design for learning. Teach Except Child 45(4):8–15
Bernareggi C, Archambault D (2007) Mathematics on the web: emerging opportunities for visually impaired people. In Proceedings of the 2007 international cross-disciplinary conference on Web accessibility (W4A). ACM, pp 108–111
Cervone D, Krautzberger P, Sorge V (2016) New accessibility features in MathJax
Cooper M, Lowe T, Taylor M (2008, July) Access to mathematics in web resources for people with a visual impairment. In International Conference on Computers for Handicapped Persons. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, pp 926–933
Da PaixĂŁo Silva LF, de Faria Oliveira O, Freire ERCG, Mendes RM, Freire AP (2017) How much effort is necessary for blind users to read web-based mathematical formulae?: A comparison using task models with different screen readers. In Proceedings of the XVI Brazilian symposium on human factors in computing systems. ACM, p 29
Dehaene S (1992) Varieties of numerical abilities. Cognition 44(1–2):1–42
Devine A, Soltész F, Nobes A, Goswami U, Szűcs D (2013) Gender differences in developmental dyscalculia depend on diagnostic criteria. Learn Instr 27:31–39
Diagram Center (2018a) Image Description guidelines. http://diagramcenter.org/table-of-contents-2.html. Accessed on July 2018
Diagram Center (2018b) Accessible Coding in Education. http://diagramcenter.org/diagram-reports/2017-report/coding.html. Accessed on July 2018
EPUB 3 Accessibility Guidelines (2018) http://kb.daisy.org/publishing/. Accessed on July 2018
Ferreira H, Freitas D (2004, July) Enhancing the accessibility of mathematics for blind people: the AudioMath project. In International conference on computers for handicapped persons. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, pp 678–685
Flexer CA (1999) Facilitating hearing and listening in young children. Singular
Gardiner S, Tomasic A, Zimmerman J (2016, Jan) The utility of tables for screen reader users. In: 2016 13th IEEE annual consumer communications & networking conference (CCNC). IEEE, pp 1135–1140
Gould B, O’Connell T, Freed G (2008) Effective practices for description of science content within digital talking books, Dec 2008. http://ncam.wgbh.org/experience_learn/educational_media/stemdx
Iglesias A, Moreno L, MartĂnez P, Calvo R (2014) Evaluating the accessibility of three open source learning content management systems: A comparative study. Comput Appl Eng Educ 22(2):320–328
In’t Veld D, Sorge V (2018) The Dutch best practice for teaching chemistry diagrams to the visually impaired. In: Miesenberger K, Kouroupetroglou G (eds) Computers helping people with special needs. ICCHP 2018. Lecture notes in computer science, vol 10896. Springer, Cham, pp 644–649
Isaacson MD, Schleppenbach D, Lloyd L (2010) Increasing STEM accessibility in students with print disabilities through MathSpeak. J Sci Educ Stud Disabil 14(1):3
Israel M, Maynard K, Williamson P (2013) Promoting literacy-embedded, authentic STEM instruction for students with disabilities and other struggling learners. Teach Except Child 45(4):18–25
Jenson RJ, Petri AN, Day AD, Truman KZ, Duffy K (2011) Perceptions of self-efficacy among STEM students with disabilities. J Postsecon Educ Disabil 24(4):269–283
Karshmer AI, Gupta G, Geiger S, Weaver C (1999) Reading and writing mathematics: The MAVIS1 Project. Behav Inf Technol 18(1):2–10
Karshmer AI, Gupta G, Pontelli E, Miesenberger K, Ammalai N, Gopal D, Batusic M, Stöger B, Palmer B, Guo H-F (2004) UMA: a system for universal mathematics accessibility. In: Proceedings of the ACM SIGACCESS conference on computers and accessibility. ACM Press, Atlanta, GA, USA, pp 55–62
Kildal J, Brewster SA (2006) Exploratory strategies and procedures to obtain non-visual overviews using TableVis. Int J Disabil Hum Dev 5(3):285–294
Laabidi M, Jemni M, Ayed LJB, Brahim HB, Jemaa AB (2014) Learning technologies for people with disabilities. J King Saud Univ-Comput Inf Sci 26(1):29–45
Landry D (2018) Writing image descriptions for course content. https://www.ryerson.ca/content/dam/lt/resources/handouts/WritingEffectiveImageDescriptions.pdf. Accessed Julay 2018
Maidenbaum S, Buchs G, Abboud S, Lavi-Rotbain O, Amedi A (2016) Perception of graphical virtual environments by blind users via sensory substitution. PLoS One 11(2):e0147501
McDonald S, Dutterer J, Abdolrahmani A, Kane SK, Hurst A (2014, Oct) Tactile aids for visually impaired graphical design education. In Proceedings of the 16th international ACM SIGACCESS conference on computers & accessibility. ACM, pp 275–276
Milne LR, Ladner RE (2018, Apr). Blocks4All: overcoming accessibility barriers to blocks programming for children with visual impairments. In Proceedings of the 2018 CHI conference on human factors in computing systems. ACM. p 69
Mortimore T, Crozier WR (2006) Dyslexia and difficulties with study skills in higher education. Stud High Educ 31(2):235–251
National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM) (2018) Guidelines for Describing STEM Images. http://ncam.wgbh.org/experience_learn/educational_media/stemdx/guidelines. Accessed on Julay 2018
Nganji JT, Brayshaw M (2015, July) Personalizing learning materials for students with multiple disabilities in virtual learning environments. In Science and information conference (SAI). IEEE, pp 69–76
Papazafiropulos N, Fanucci L, Leporini B, Pelagatti S, Roncella R (2016, July). Haptic models of arrays through 3D printing for computer science education. In: International Conference on Computers Helping People with Special Needs. Springer, Cham, pp 491–498
Pettitt B, Sharpe K, Cooper S (1996) AUDETEL: enhancing television for visually impaired people. Br J Vis Impair 14(2):48–52
Pierce JR (2012) An introduction to information theory: symbols, signals and noise. Cour Corp
Potkonjak V, Gardner M, Callaghan V, Mattila P, Guetl C, Petrović VM, Jovanović K (2016) Virtual laboratories for education in science, technology, and engineering: a review. Comput Educ 95:309–327
Ray E (2001) Discovering mathematics: the challenges that deaf/hearing-impaired children encounter
Robotti E, Baccaglini-Frank A (2017) Using digital environments to address students’ mathematical learning difficulties. In Innovation and technology enhancing mathematics education. Springer, Cham, pp 77–106
Roth P, Petrucci LS, Assimacopoulos A, Pun T (2000) Audio-haptic internet browser and associated tools for blind users and visually impaired computer users
Rourke BP, Conway JA (1997) Disabilities of arithmetic and mathematical reasoning: perspectives from neurology and neuropsychology. J Learn Disabil 30(1):34–46
Rule AC, Stefanich GP (2012) Using a thinking skills system to guide discussions during a working conference on students with disabilities pursuing STEM fields. J STEM Educ 13(1):43
Schweikhardt W, Bernareggi C, Jessel N, Encelle B, Gut M (2006, July). LAMBDA: a European system to access mathematics with Braille and audio synthesis. In: International conference on computers for handicapped persons. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Shrestha P (2017) Evaluation of interactive learning materials for universal design: case of geogebra in norwegian high schools (Master’s thesis, Oslo and Akershus Univeristy College of Applied Sciences)
Snyder J (2005, Sept) Audio description: the visual made verbal. In: International congress series, vol 1282. Elsevier, pp 935–939
Soiffer N (2007, Oct). MathPlayer v2.1: web-based math accessibility. In Proceedings of the 9th international ACM SIGACCESS conference on computers and accessibility (pp 257–258). ACM
Stella G, Grandi L (2011) Conoscere la dislessia ei DSA. Giunti Editore
Swanwick R, Oddy A, Roper T (2005) Mathematics and deaf children: an exploration of barriers to success. Deaf Educ Int 7(1):1–21
Szucs D, Devine A, Soltesz F, Nobes A, Gabriel F (2013) Developmental dyscalculia is related to visuo-spatial memory and inhibition impairment. cortex 49(10):2674–2688
Taibbi M, Bernareggi C, Gerino A, Ahmetovic D, Mascetti S (2014, July). Audiofunctions: eyes-free exploration of mathematical functions on tablets. In: International conference on computers for handicapped persons. Springer, Cham, pp 537–544
Träff U, Passolunghi MC (2015) Mathematical skills in children with dyslexia. Learn Individ Differ 40:108–114
UNESCO (1990). World Braille usage, Paris 1990, ISBN 92–3-102323-3/US Library of Congress, Washington D.C. 1990, ISBN 0-8444-0676-7.)
Villanueva I, Di Stefano M (2017) Narrative inquiry on the teaching of STEM to blind high school students. Educ Sci 7(4):89
Von Aster MG, Shalev RS (2007) Number development and developmental dyscalculia. Dev Med Child Neurol 49(11):868–873
W3C (2015) HTML5 image description extension (longdesc), W3C. http://www.w3.org/TR/html-longdesc/. Recommendation 26 Feb 2015
W3C (2018) Production options for audio descriptions, web accessibility tutorials. Guidance on how to create websites that meet WCAG. https://w3c.github.io/wai-media-intro/accessible-media/production-audio-description/
W3C WAI-ARIA Graphics Module (2018) W3C Candidate. Recommendation 29 Mar 2018
Wedler HB, Cohen SR, Davis RL, Harrison JG, Siebert MR, Willenbring D, Hamann CS, Shaw JT, Tantillo DJ (2012) Applied computational chemistry for the blind and visually impaired. J Chem Educ 89(11):1400–1404
Wei X, Jennifer WY, Shattuck P, McCracken M, Blackorby J (2013) Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) participation among college students with an autism spectrum disorder. J Autism Dev Disord 43(7):1539–1546
Yu W, Kangas K, Brewster S (2003, Mar) Web-bassed haptic applications for blind people to create virtual graphs. In: Proceedings 11th symposium on haptic interfaces for virtual environment and teleoperator systems, 2003. HAPTICS 2003. IEEE, pp 318–325
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer-Verlag London Ltd., part of Springer Nature
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Leporini, B., Buzzi, M. (2019). Education and STEM on the Web. In: Yesilada, Y., Harper, S. (eds) Web Accessibility. Human–Computer Interaction Series. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-7440-0_33
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-7440-0_33
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-4471-7439-4
Online ISBN: 978-1-4471-7440-0
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)