Introduction:

The ability of students to engage with graphical materials supports learning in science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics areas. For students with visual impairments, understanding the factors that contribute to the effective interpretation of graphics can promote meaningful access to the curricula.

Methods:

Forty students with visual impairments completed multiple-choice question tasks for five types of graphics presented in their medium of choice and provided difficulty ratings. The teachers of students with visual impairments rated the students on several factors. Statistical analyses investigated the relationship between performance differences and teacher-rated factors.

Results:

Significant differences in performance between print and tactile graphics users were found for bar graph, map, and total correct responses on all tasks. For some tasks, perceived difficulty by tactile graphic users did not align with actual performance. Teachers’ ratings of students who had Individualized Education Program goals for graphics, independence in using graphics, problem-solving ability, mathematics ability, and frequency of engaging with graphics contributed to significant differences in performance across total correct and most individual graphic results.

Discussion:

Although medium type was a significant contributor across graphic types, some teacher-rated variables appeared to mitigate the importance of medium on student performance. Depending on the graphic type, experience, content knowledge, skills with graphics, and confidence and motivation can all affect student performance when interpreting graphics.

Implications for practitioners:

Teachers should provide students with early and frequent opportunities to engage with graphics and support their problem-solving abilities regarding how to engage with different graphic types to enhance their independent use of graphics.

中文翻译：

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视障学生的图文阅读表现及其对教学评估的启示

介绍：

学生使用图形材料的能力支持科学、技术、工程、艺术和数学领域的学习。对于有视力障碍的学生，了解有助于有效解释图形的因素可以促进对课程的有意义的访问。

方法：

40 名有视觉障碍的学生完成了对以他们选择的媒介呈现的五种图形的多项选择题任务，并提供了难度评级。视力障碍学生的老师根据几个因素对学生进行评分。统计分析调查了表现差异与教师评价因素之间的关系。

结果：

在所有任务的条形图、地图和完全正确响应方面，打印和触觉图形用户之间的性能存在显着差异。对于某些任务，触觉图形用户感知的难度与实际性能不符。教师对具有图形个性化教育计划目标、使用图形的独立性、解决问题的能力、数学能力和使用图形的频率的学生的评分导致在完全正确和大多数个人图形结果中的表现存在显着差异。

讨论：

虽然媒介类型是图形类型的重要贡献者，但一些教师评定的变量似乎减轻了媒介对学生表现的重要性。根据图形类型，经验、内容知识、图形技能以及信心和动机都会影响学生在解释图形时的表现。

对从业者的影响：

教师应尽早为学生提供接触图形的机会，并支持他们解决问题的能力，以提高他们对图形的独立使用能力。