Teaching life sciences to blind and visually impaired learnersThis study reports on the teaching of life sciences (biology) to blind and visually impaired learners in South Africa at 11 special schools with specific reference to the development of science process skills in outcomes-based classrooms. Individual structured interviews were conducted with nine science educators teaching at the different special schools and focus group interviews with ten Grade 12 learners taking a life science at each of the schools. The interviews were video-and audio-taped by sighted observers. The data was transcribed and the results coded and classified for interpretation purposes. The study revealed learners' difficulties in applying science process skills because of lack of vision, lack of confidence, lack of motivation, etc. For example, one such skill, namely 'tabulation', remains a problem to most blind learners. The blind learners were also very seldom engaged in practical work and field trips. Practical activities were limited to very simple and elementary exercises that provided little intellectual challenge and did not call for advanced problem-solving skills. Learners had limited access to computers, encyclopaedias, sources of reference and relevant publications. Educators did however apply cooperative learning strategies in schools where totally blind and partiallysighted shared the same learning environment.
Methods are described for the derivation of minimax and near-minimax polynomial approximations. For minimax approximations techniques are considered for both analytically defined functions and functions defined by a table of values. For near-minimax approximations methods of determining the coefficients of the Fourier-Chebyshev expansion are first described. These consist of the rearrangement of the coefficients of a power polynomial, and also direct determination of the coefficients from the integral which defines them, or the differential equation which defines the function. Finally there is given a convenient modification of an interpolation scheme which finds coefficients of a near-minimax approximation without requiring numerical integration or the numerical solution of a system of equations.
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