Second project: Educative game for blind children

Group members

• Yngwie Baron (0936539)
• Axel Deenen (0947031)
• Moos Müller (0936214)
• Dimitar Nikolov (1000095)
• Wybe van Vlokhoven (0914565)

Project definition

Problem statement

There are not many resources or convenient ways to practice math and mathematics related skills for blind people. Overall, they have less reading resources that provide an adequate explanation. This is not necessarily a problem of the books themselves, but the fact that without a way to visually represent math and observe the whole exercise it becomes very tedious for them to do problem solving effectively. Take for example geometry or longer and more complicated functions that need solving. The lack of visual aid makes the task much more harder and with most people impossible as it requires you to remember information you would otherwise be able to look back at. Those reasons make it less appealing to young children to learn math and math related sciences. This leads to unfamiliarity with math among blind people.

User analysis

The aimed users are fully blind children in the age of 6-14 years old. Also children with a major visual impairment, such that they cannot read visually-based text, of 6-14 years old are in the group of aimed users. Since the aimed users are fairly young it is very important that the educational game is enjoyable, since the motivation to learn about mathematics will most likely not come from the child itself. A good combination of gameplay and maths must be found to make it so that the user does not have the feeling it is learning or practicing while playing the game. Due to the popularity of online mobile games with a fictional reward points system for kids this enjoyment could be created by making a reward system in the game as well as a competitive element.

End product

At the end of this project, we aim to deliver an app which engages blind children in a light-hearted manner with mathematics. The app does this via nemeth code, a way to characterize math characters in braille. It also utilizes a controller which can present braille characters. It is desirable to use for this an already existing controller, such as an Optalec Easylink 12 Touch, because this means there won't have to be any additional purchases to use this app.

The app should provide children with a brief explanation of a given mathematical operation, such as addition. This explanation can be given in the form of braille, or read out loud by the app. This is to give the child the necessary conceptual knowledge. The core of the app will be a game in wich children are challenged to apply basic arithmetic operations as fast as possible when given a certain question. Two children, or a child and a bot, compete in a game in which they are asked to solve mathematical problems. Whoever answers first, and correctly, gains points. Whoever has the most points by the end of a given number of questions wins the game. We expect the app to function by the end of this project on a phone or pc, with all necessary preperations made to attach a controller to it and have it function immediately. It is however not our intention to actually attach a controller and check if all the functions we envisioned work as such. This is due to the relatively high cost of such a device. In short, we aim to make an app which turns what is ordinarily a tedious and slow process into something enjoyable for blind children.

Requirements

• A tutorial needs to be present that introduces and teaches the math symbols.
• A game which challenges the player to do math exercises which focuses on a specific character.
• The option to play with other players online.
• Incentives to keep the player engaged with the game on a long term (gain points for playing and more if one does well, online ranking so one can compare himself/herself with other players).
• Game needs an audio function to read out the questions.
• A practice mode that is single player and can be played offline.
• Multiple difficulties where harder mathematical syntaxis are used on a higher difficulty.
• Input from the user is obtained by buttons.

Approach

The way the final product is made consists of several stages. In the first stage knowledge is gathered. During this stage sources will be found on fields of educational benefits of games, games for blind people but also the way mathematics is taught to the blind. Interviews with an expert on the field of educating blind people will give insight into the possible requirements for the device. During this stage the things that the device should be able to do are defined. After all the requirements are quantified and the desired abilities are listed the second stage can begin. The second stage will be focused on writing the software necessary to fit the requirements. The final product would be an app that will run on a smartphone connected to some sort of device able to show braille. But for the moment it is enough to simulate the final device’s workings on a laptop since it is easily adapted to work with a smartphone. The final stage would be the testing phase. During this stage it is checked if all the requirements are met and everything works.

Results from literature research

After conducting a vast literature research, a brief summary of all articles and patents deemed relevant has been made. These summaries are listed below.

Preparation in and use of the Nemeth braille code for mathematics by teachers of students with visual impairments
This paper describes a study about the use of the Nemeth braille code. 135 teachers, that have followed a course in Nemeth code and teach visually impaired students, were observed. Also a survey was conducted to learn about the current state of Nemeth code usage in the United States.

Digital Games in Education: The Design of Games-Based Learning Environments
This paper examines the evolution of how videogames are designed. From that the characteristics of game-based learning are analyzed. Remaining obstacles and challenges concerning the use of games for learning are discussed. Several types benefits that videogames can offer are listed as well as the use of game-based learning in school.

AudioMath: blind children learning mathematics through audio
In this paper the design, development and usability of AudioMath are presented. AudioMath is a virtual environment that communicates to the user via sound. The goal is to help blind children develop a better short-term memory and to assist them in learning mathematics. The software was tested for its usability and the results are presented.

Science Learning by Blind Children through Audio-Based Interactive Software
Initiated due to the lack of science-oriented software for the blind, this paper presents software designed to teach blind children about science-oriented subjects. The software is heavily based on audio to communicate to the children. The learning of science and the impact on cognitive skills of using such software was researched and its results are presented.

Teaching science to visually impaired students
This paper examines how blind people are currently being thought about science and what needs to be improved to allow blind people to learn better about scientific subjects. Interviews and observations were conducted and from this data conclusions were presented and implications were discussed.

Development of navigation skills through audio haptic videogaming in learners who are blind
This study discusses the implementation of an audio haptic maze game, in which children aged 10 to 15 are tasked with navigating through a maze. The study discussed the combination of audio and haptic interfaces, and concluded that they together more than complemented each other. This is something that we should make note of, if we want to create a game to which blind children can easily adapt.

VBGhost: a Braille-Based Educational Smartphone Game for Children
The authors discuss their newly developed game for smartphones, VBGhost, bases on the game ghost in which players take turns adding letters to a word fragment. The letters are entered in braille, with a 3 by 2 braille cell presented on the screen. Players can raise or lower these dots by double tapping on them. If a dot is raised and a player taps on it, the phone vibrates. The app also includes a high contrast menu, meaning that people with low vision can also read the interface.

Virtual Mobile Science Learning for Blind People
This paper discusses AudioNature, an audio-based interface for pocketPC. It is designed to assist in science learning. The device uses an audio interface to transmit information to the user, and takes input in the form of buttons and a touch screen. One striking feature of this method is that it enables the user to use while moving. Many devices for blind people, the author notes, are made to be used in a static position. Focusing on mobility will help blind people to freer in their movements, and will ultimately lead to better integration with society.

MathMelodies: Inclusive Design of a Didactic Game to Practice Mathematics
With the introduction of tablets in an educational environment, a gaming or entertaining atmosphere can be created in which children learn new concepts. However, these games are mostly visually oriented. This paper describes a game which teaches basic arithmetic through sound. Most of the exercises are read out loud, and also how to answer them is explained. To keep the user entertained, a variety of sounds are added, a rating system based on the number of errors made and a storyline is added. The authors describe that teachers have reacted enthusiastically to this game.

Game-based Learning: Latest Evidence and Future Directions
This article describes the exact nature of game-based learning, and lists the evidence to support commonly made claims about it. It describes in a more abstract manner the principles which go behind game-based learning, and the mechanics with which it tries to adhere to these. Interesting is the following conclusion: “Don’t try to divorce decontextualized components of a game (such as badges, scores or leaderboards) from the fictional context and rules of the game (the ‘mechanics’). Using badges and medals can work for certain simple tasks, but actual game-based learning will require using those techniques in the context of rule-sets and role-playing.”

Auditory Augmentations of Haptic Graphs: Developing a Graphic Tool for Teaching Precalculus Skill to Blind Students
This paper discusses the development of a graphic tool to assist in the teaching of pre-calculus skills to blind people. It looks at existing and on-going developments of instruments to assist blind students with basic mathematics, i.e. examine and explore data and abstract graphs. The paper also looks at auditory and haptic stimuli to present mathematical information. The end goal is to provide a readily usable tool for blind students to learn mathematics.

Issues and Aids for Teaching Mathematics to the Blind
This article looks at the difficulties for blind people to learn mathematics. It also discusses some tools that are available to help these students in their efforts to learn mathematics. It gives a list of resources that help the blind and visually impaired. The article also briefly looks at what might be available in the future to assist the students.

Methods for Presenting Braille Characters on a Mobile Device with a Touchscreen and Tactile Feedback
In this paper three interaction methods were designed for reading six-dot Braille on a mobile device. To do this a prototype device with a piezoelectric actuator embedded under the touchscreen was used to create tactile feedback. The three methods were scan, sweep and rhythm. All of these methods proved successful to convey information.

The Effects of Modern Math Computer Games on Learners’ Math Achievement and Math Course Motivation in a Public High School Setting
This paper looks at the effects of mathematical video games to assist the teaching of mathematics to students. The results show that students who played the video game scored significantly higher of a math benchmark exam. Teachers and students supported the results in interviews.

From dots to shapes: An auditory haptic game platform for teaching geometry to blind pupils
This paper describes an auditory platform based on three classic games, Simon, Point Connecting and concentration game, for blind and visually impaired students. The tool is based on sonic and haptic interaction, and therefore could be used by special educators as a help for teaching planar geometry.

"Learn Braille": A Serious Game Mobile App for sighted Braille Learners
This article describes a mobile learning tool designed to learn sighted people braille. It also contains the game ‘hangman’ to provide a competitive way to keep learning. The teacher is able to select the vowels and words that are taught during the lesson. The app supports both Greek and English braille.

The Today and Tomorrow of Braille Learning
This article mainly elaborates on the decreasing literacy for people using braille due to the use of modern technology. The motivation to learn braille has decreased. It highlighted the problems with existing technology and provided ways in which the situation can be improved. The article was mainly based on interviews with blind people.

Students' attitude towards the use of educational video games to develop competencies
As the study suggests, described in this paper, students' positive attitude towards the use of educative games cannot be taken for granted. Four students' characteristics (perceived relevance, perceived confidence, media affinity, and perceived self-efficacy) influence their attitude towards the games. Relevance is not related only to the content being learned but also to the way the content is taught. Confidence is an important motivational driver which can influence learners' persistence and accomplishment. Media affinity is how, in this case, important games are for the students. Self-efficacy refers to an individual's belief on his/her ability to achieve a desired outcome.

BraillePlay: Educational Smartphone Games for Blind Children
The conclusion of this article was that children were not easily motivated in playing a simple game for an extended amount of time. The article described four different games like hangman and ghost. For children learning braille these games proved difficult due to their limited vocabulary. The games where apps running on a smartphone. The article also names a few ways in which braille can be displayed on a smartphone.

Design and Usability of a Braille-based Mobile Audio game Environment
This article describes multiple games that could be implemented for educational purposes. The games use a GBraille keyboard, which is a way to allow a user to type in braille on their smartphone. The interviews with teachers expressed a concern with the keyboard. Using the keyboard gives a wrong impression of braille since real braille uses raised dots instead of vibrations.

TDraw: A Computer-Based Tactile Drawing Tool for Blind People
The article provides a lot of information on the theory that blind people have the ability to create a mental 3D model of the world around them. This leads to the belief that blind people can draw provided the tools for it and for that reason the research is about a computer tool that would allow blind people to do drawings and graphical work.

Blind Hero: Enabling Guitar Hero for the Visually Impaired
This article explains how certain games can be very effectively played by blind people. Games such as Guitar Hero which include rhythm, patterns, sound and vibration in their core system can be adjusted to be suitable for blind people. The article explains about how that is accomplished.

Designing Haptic Computer Interfaces for Blind People
This article gives information about how interfaces for computer programs are made, when intended for blind people. The article provides information on how interfaces for normal people differ from interfaces for blind people and focuses on haptic computer interfaces.

Planning

Below is a shown the planning. If a cell is colored green, it means that the task presented in the same row should be done in the week of the same column. In red are shown the milestones (Please click on the image to view in the highest resolution).

Below is the task division for next monday (5-03-2018)

Research

Possible collaboration with Visio

We contacted an employee of Visio, Don van Dijk, who has experience with teaching math to blind children. When we explained our idea, he said he was working on something similar, and suggested we might help each other out. We have decided to follow up on his proposal, and have arranged for us to call him next thursday.

Don gave us a lot of useful information. He told us that the biggest problem in the education of math to the blind is currently that graphs and images are really hard to depict in an understandable way. The company Dedicon can make tangible drawings for them on request, but this takes a long time and could be improved.

He made clear the the Nemeth code is not used in the Netherlands, because another system is developed. There is a person currently doing a PhD research on this topic. Her name is Annemiek and Don can bring us in contact with her.

Don also offered us to visit him at a school for the blind in Grave. Here we can get a better understanding of how they are currently teaching mathematics to the blind. He also offered us to try the current devices in use there so that we can get familiar with them. We will visit him tuesday 06-03.

Solution

iOS app that can be played both by seeing, visually impaired and blind people.

Description of the educative game

The game consists of a collection of levels, which do not necessarily have to be completed in order. The ultimate goal of the game is to complete all the levels. By completing levels the users gains points which the user can trade for hints, new levels or new sounds. The goal of each level is to figure out which graph and corresponding function it is the level contains. However each level represents its graph in a completely different way, but it is certain that in none of the levels the graph will be visual on the screen. The users will need to use various senses and methods to try to visualize the graph. They will also need mathematical intuition and knowledge to connect the shape they have in mind to a function.

Example of a level

An example of a level would be

Deliverables

Since time is limited the goal of our project is to create an the iOS game app as described above containing at least one working level. Below is a short list of some of the other parts of the software which will not be developed in this course.

References

Coaching Questions Group 2