tea.mathoverflow.net - Discussion Feed (Mathematics and Sign Language)

Tom Leinster comments on "Mathematics and Sign Language" (17835)

Tom Leinster — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 04:34:02 -0800

We had a couple of deaf students (brothers) here at Glasgow who brought a sign language interpreter with them to lectures. The interpreter would stand at the front, to one side, in front of the student. While the translation wasn't video-recorded, this must be a situation that's been repeated many times over in many places in the world, and I'd find it quite surprising if there was no resource gathering together sign language translations of undergraduate mathematics courses.

But even different English-speaking countries have different sign languages, don't they? So I guess that makes things more complicated.

Zeeshan Mahmud comments on "Mathematics and Sign Language" (17827)

Zeeshan Mahmud — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 21:14:40 -0800

Following article on virtual environment in learning, however, indicates a promising start:

http://www.ims.tuwien.ac.at/media/documents/publications/Kaufmann_Math_VREdu_chapter_Final.pdf

Zeeshan Mahmud comments on "Mathematics and Sign Language" (17826)

Zeeshan Mahmud — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 20:56:50 -0800

Resources in this area is sparse. Although the following links spells out elementary concepts and signs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmqeZLHpdTc
http://www.tsdvideo.org/index.php?lvl=9

I am curious as to if there are proofs in form of sign language. Sign language literally adds a new dimension and even if one is not handicapped, a student can understand the flow of thought in a visual way and may enhance elementary mathematics education. Additionally, I suspect advanced college level mathematics has not been translated in sign language.

Any thoughts, resources or further guidance to research in this particular area would be very much appreciated.