Teaching Mathematics to Deaf Children

by Terezinha Nunes

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 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.

192 pages, Paperback

First published November 10, 2004

About the author

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.
Nunes previously taught at the Federal University of Minas Gerais, and the University of Pernambuco; both in Brazil. She then moved to the United Kingdom where she taught at the Institute of Education, University of London (rising to be Professor of Education, Child Development and Learning), and at Oxford Brookes University (as Professor of Psychology and Head of Department). She then moved to the University of Oxford.