Math/Science Resources

Making Math and Science Accessible

Making math and science accessible is a challenge that is being addressed in order to better meet the needs of K–12 students with print-based disabilities. Several organizations are engaged in activities to improve access in this area. The DAISY Consortium has formed a working group to address this issue.

Work of interest is being done by Design Science and gh.

The University of Washington's DO-IT Program has had experience in math and science accessibility and offers other materials that schools may find useful.

Math & Images

Requirements and suggested best practices for preparing images as part of NIMAS files have previously been established and include guidelines pertaining to image size, format, resolution, etc. Math and Science content (i.e., works with equational and symbolic content) is often comprised of two types of images as well as text: 1. images that contain math content or information (such as graphs or illustrations), and 2. images of actual math (such as algorithms, symbols, etc.). Please note that the DAISY organization has approved MathML as an extension to the DAISY Z39.85-2005-2 standard and that the NIMAS will eventually implement MathML when appropriate tools and rendering software becomes available.

Math Resources

• W3C's MathML Pages
  This link goes to the W3C's official MathML pages. MathML is a mark-up language for mathematical content that is currently in development. The W3C describes it as "a low-level specification for describing mathematics as a basis for machine to machine communication." It is not intended to be hand-coded but is meant to be used through an editor or other software application. Currently MathML is largely unsupported by many browsers. Nevertheless, MathML is in line to become the preferred mark-up for mathematical content due to its potential; and developers, producers, and others working with mathematics content need to be prepared to employ it in the future.
• DAISY.org’s MathML Page
  This link goes to the DAISY organization’s MathML page, where "the MathML Project objective is to develop and submit a formal proposal (including all supporting documentation) for a MathML modular extension to ANSI/NISO Z39.86-2005" (from the web site).
• CAST's NIMAS Exemplar 4: Math
  This NIMAS-conformant fileset has been provided as a resource for developing NIMAS files that include mathematics content. It includes an XML content file, images, and a package file and serves as an example of what this type of fileset requires as well as correct presentation of images of mathematics content.
• OpenOffice Math
  
  A free authoring tool for creating and editing mathematics that can generate outputs in MathML, PDF, and text formats.
• Resources for Accessing Math
  
  A resource sheet that was prepared for a presentation at CSUN 2008 by members of the MathML in DAISY Working Group. It lists many companies and research projects that have or are developing math access tools usable by an author or end user.
• MathPlayer
  MathPlayer is a plug-in that is meant to allow Microsoft's Explorer browser to show content marked up with MathML. It also has a function that permits mathematical expressions to be enlarged.
• MathSpeak
  A MathSpeak Intiative was begun in 2004 to develop and refine Abraham Nemeth's MathSpeak, a way to create spoken mathematics content (such as equations, fractions, symbols, expressions, etc.). This site includes information about MathSpeak and the developing MathSpeak specification, examples, a tutorial, and more.
• MathSpeak Overview
  This page reproduces Abraham Nemeth's concise overview of MathSpeak. Its many practical examples make it an excellent starting point for those learning more about MathSpeak in general and how to use it in particular.
• WGBH's NCAM's Accessible Digital Media Guidelines
  These Design Guidelines for Electronic Publications, Multimedia and the Web provide a variety of practical, detailed solutions to creating accessible-format content; Guideline G pertains to mathematics.
• Design Science Solutions for the Accessibility Community
  This link goes to a collection of articles about making math accessible.
• The National Center for Blind Youth in Science (NCBYS)'s Resources Page
  A variety of resources for accessible mathematics includes Algebra, Calculus, and Geometry, among others; as well as a GAMA math accessibility page and an Articles and Research section. Resources in Science and in Technology are also available.