Educational Software System For Teaching STEM To Visually Impaired People

Abstract

‘Education for All’ is a farfetched dream for all Developing Countries. ‘Inclusive Education’ is still farther. Visually challenged individuals are still far from main steam Education. Their overall education is limited to humanity subjects only. They are not able to take up Science and Mathematics as a subject beyond middle school because of the lack of concepts, study material & sufficient teaching aid. The existing solution in Braille is a partial solution to this problem. Our research and resulting solutions enable them to develop the concepts & understanding of science & mathematics which help them study STEM subjects(Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) beyond Middle School too. In the proposed solution, we have developed a Machine Learning-based Software –Hardware Integrated system that helps them understand middle level & higher concepts of Mathematics & Science. It is an integrated system that has a software application connected with hardware comprising features like ‘Concepts and Explanation’, ‘Study Material’, ‘and Practice and Test Yourself’. The whole application can be accessed using the TalkBack accessibility feature of the application. If a blind individual has to trace a Mathematical shape such as say ‘sinusoidal graph’, then the person will draw a graph in real-time on the digital screen attached to the hardware (along with real-time voice assistance for tracing the shape/graph). When the sketching of the shape is completed, the coordinates of the figure traced on the digital screen are mapped and those particular pins/buttons are raised on the hardware device. Thus, the blind individual can touch and understand the shape of the hardware board. Moreover, the figure sketched is further checked for its accuracy and the result is read aloud by the voice assistant embedded in the application which is based on Machine Learning Algorithms.