Teaching Mathematics to Deaf Children

From an early age, deaf children excel in thinking about and remembering what they learn through visual spatial instruction. This strength in information processing can be used in the mathematics classroom to achieve better learning outcomes.

This book discusses ways to teach deaf children about the four arithmetic operations through spatial representation in problem solving. Examples for the teaching of fractions and graphs are also included. These visual representations are useful to support the children's understanding of mathematical concepts and to promote peer collaboration.

The teaching programme was tested with deaf children in six schools with excellent results: the children in the project made significantly more progress in one school year than expected for either deaf and hearing children over the same time.

This work was made possible through the generous support of The Nuffield Foundation.

Preface.

Acknowledgements.

Conventions used for descriptions of interviews.

Chapter 1 Introduction.

Chapter 2 Counting and its creative uses.

Chapter 3 Additive reasoning: connecting addition and subtraction.

Chapter 4 Reading and writing numbers.

Chapter 5 Multiplicative reasoning: connecting multiplication, division and many other mathematical ideas.

Chapter 6 Teaching mathematics to deaf children: how the story began and the happy ending.

References.

Index.

"...this book gives a comprehensive account of the mathematical tests and assessments used with both deaf and hearing children..." (British Association of Community Doctors in Audiology Newsletter, April 2005)

Terezinha Nunes is a British-Brazilian clinical psychologist and academic, specialising in children's literacy and numeracy, and deaf children's learning. Since 2005, she has been Professor of Educational Studies at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Harris Manchester College, Oxford. From an early age, deaf children excel in thinking about and remembering what they learn through visual spatial instruction. This strength in information processing can be used in the mathematics classroom to achieve better learning outcomes.

This book discusses ways to teach deaf children about the four arithmetic operations through spatial representation in problem solving. Examples for the teaching of fractions and graphs are also included. These visual representations are useful to support the children's understanding of mathematical concepts and to promote peer collaboration.

The teaching programme was tested with deaf children in six schools with excellent results: the children in the project made significantly more progress in one school year than expected for either deaf and hearing children over the same time.

This work was made possible through the generous support of The Nuffield Foundation.