----- Original Message -----
From: Joe Ward <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: ap-stat <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; EDSTAT-L
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Cc: Robert A Bottenberg <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Monday, September 18, 2000 11:04 AM
Subject: Statistics for Visually Impaired
>His long reply.
Also note R.A.Fisher was visually impared, and had to have readers read the
books for him at Cambridge. He did not serve in WWI because of his eyesight.
(Thank goodness, think of what statistics would be if he was one of
England's finest who were slautered in the trenches during the war. His son
died in WWII, and just think of what he could have contributed to us if he
had lived!). He dictated most of his texts to his wife who actually wrote
them. This explains the unusual
characteristics of his writtings.
DAH
> Those of you who are teaching statistics to visually impaired (blind)
> students may find
> some helpful ideas from Bob Bottenberg's comments to Jay Thomas, included
at
> the end of this message.
>
> Bob received his Ph.D. from Stanford after he was blinded in WWII. He
> developed a strong statistics background from courses with Z.W. Birnbaum,
> Al Bowker, Meyer Gershick and George Polya and an unusual memory for
> everything he has HEARD.
>
> I have had the pleasure to work with Bob for many years and he can be an
> inspiration to anyone with whom he associates - blind or with full vision.
> Now that he is retired from his work as a civilian researcher for the U.S.
> Air Force, Bob is getting into the internet action.
> Bob would be happy to share any of his procedures for hearing and reading
> about stat concepts at [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> Bob and I wrote a 140 page document on "Applied Multiple Linear
Regression"
> in 1963 in order to bring the combined power of Regression/Linear models
and
> Computers to the researchers with whom we worked. The reference is
> Bottenberg, R.A. and Ward, J.H. "Applied Multiple Linear Regression",
> PRL-TDR-63-6, AD-413- 128 -- originally available from the Clearinghouse
for
> Federal Scientific and Technical Information, Dept. of Commerce, Wash.
D.C.
> A few of the
> "old-timers" who are lurking on the internet occasionally mention having a
> copy. The approach was expanded in 1973 in the Prentice-Hall-published
book
> "Introduction to Linear Models" by Ward and Jennings.
>
> ------------------------------------------
> JAY THOMAS WRITES:
>
> From: "Thomas, Jay" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To: "'Earl Jennings'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Cc: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Sent: Tuesday, September 05, 2000 11:27 AM
> Subject: RE: Visually impaired students
>
> Dr. Jennings, et al,
> >
> > Thanks very much for getting my inquiry to Dr. Bottenberg, and of course
> to
> > Dr. Bottenberg for his detailed reply. Several people have given
> > suggestions, none as extensive as these were. I hope to compile the
> > suggestions after the chaos of the first week or two of school and send
> them
> > out.
> >
> > Incidentally, I was reading a history of statistics over the summer (I
> lead
> > an exciting life) and learned that one of the early important figures in
> the
> > field was Nicholas Saunderson, who held the Lucasian Chair at Oxford
after
> > Newton and was blind from the age of 12 months. Oddly, one of his major
> > mathematical contributions was in the field of optics.
> > Again, thanks for your advice.
> >
> > Jay Thomas
> ---------------------------------------
> JAY THOMAS' MESSAGE RECEIVED BY PAUL KELLEY
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
> -
> Delivered-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Date: Tue, 29 Aug 2000 14:15:37 -0700
> Reply-To: "Thomas, Jay" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Sender: APA Division 5 Members <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> From: "Thomas, Jay" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Subject: [APA] visually impaired statistics students
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> I have a couple of visually impaired students in my upcoming basic
> statistics course this fall. I normally stress visualization and drawing
> sketches to understand statistics, but expect that tactic won't work with
> these students. Has anyone found effective ways of presenting statistical
> concepts to blind students?
>
> Jay Thomas
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> BOB BOTTENBERG REPLIES TO JAY THOMAS
>
> Hi Jay,
>
> Joe Ward passed on to me a note you sent about techniques for teaching
> statistics to
> visually impaired students. I've been totally blind since 1945, and took
> some
> undergraduate statistics courses in the psychology department at the U. of
> Missouri in
> the late 40s. Then at Stanford in 1952-1953, I enrolled in five or six
> courses in
> probability and mathematical statistics. This background is offered by
way
> of apology
> for not having many suggestions for teaching in a contemporary
environment.
> Graphs,
> charts and figures have always been troublesome, and, as I recall (45
years
> back), I
> absorbed that material in a quite tedious way. A reader, outside of a
> classroom
> setting, would describe a graph by saying the names of the axis,
horizontal,
> vertical.
> Then indicating in a very general way the path of the line from left to
> right, have
> first provided a word or two about the units on each axis -- lower and
> upper. Then, the
> really slow part -- pick a point on the line and read the approximate
> coordinates. Do
> that for a few points, and the mental picture of the graph would begin to
> emerge. Of
> course, the pace of classroom activity makes it impractical to do anything
> like that
> there. Charts were handled in a similar manner -- the reader reads the
> column headers,
> then the row headers, then reads a row at a time, or a column at a time.
Of
> course, the
> real area of interest in a chart is the comparison of values in a given
> column and
> adjacent, or even widely separated rows. I never found a substitute for
> working with a
> patient reader to getting mental arms around a chart. Since that distant
> point in time,
> low vision and blind users have access to desk and lap-top computers with
> synthesized
> voice screen-readers. I am composing this message using Eudora for
e-mail,
> JAWS for
> WINDOWS (98), and connected to a page (text) scanner with Arkenstone RUBY
> Open Book.
> Charts and tables can be handled readily, with JAWS able to identify for
the
> user the
> row, column location and to go easily from one cell to any other desired.
> One or both of
> the students may come fully equipped with a lap-top or desk-top with JAWS
> and WINDOWS
> and RUBY - if not and they are interested, I'll be happy to send some
> addresses and
> contacts. Some scanners do accept graphics, but I have never seen one
> operate, and
> don't know if a blind/low-vision user could get any benefit. About the
> extent of my
> personal interest in a graphics description is to find out what the
animated
> figures on
> a Blue Mountain greeting card are doing while the music plays in the
> background.
>
>
> There is, of course, an abundance of new technology for assisting visually
> impaired
> folks which has come along since the 1950s. Since I am a total, I have
> never given a
> lot of attention to image enhancement via special optics, and c.c.t.v.
> (closed circuit
> television) Many of my low-vision friends use these things to read mail,
> watch TV, etc.
> There might be something along these lines that could be set up in a
> classroom if your
> students have some residual vision. As you have probably found out by
now,
> the do-
> gooders 30 or 40 years ago thought the term "blind" might be demeaning,
and
> the term
> "visually impaired" was invented to cover everyone from 20/20 to totals
> without having
> to use the word blind. What that does is fail to distinguish between
folks
> with some
> vision loss who might benefit from image enhancing technology, and totals
> who must have
> either tactile or audible input. If your student have some useful vision,
> some image
> enhancing techniques might be feasible. If vision is very low, or
> non-existent, I can't
> offer much of any suggestions. I had one class in matrix algebra under
Dr.
> Ruben at
> Stanford -- he was careful to emit something for every character he put on
> the board.
> There wasn't graphics, but his attention to saying what he was writing was
> wonderful.
> Then there was Dr. Herzog who taught finite statistics and would fill one
> entire board
> and then point to say "since this here, then that down here". I got a
> fellow student to
> record his notes in full, then I would convert them to Braille. The more
> you say about
> what is going up on the board (without making it obvious that it is just
to
> take care of
> the two impaired students), the better their chances to grasp the
concepts.
>
> I will pass on your note up organizational channels to see if there is
more
> enlightenment than I can shed.
>
> Good luck,
> Bob Bottenberg
>
>
>
>
>
>
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