Study on the Acquisition of the Concept of Spatial Representation by Visually Impaired People - Maps for the Future Children Education and Internet - page 297

environment the pupil pointed out that the doll's house was not represented in the
model, which she played with and that the pupil desks were not positioned one after
another, as represented in the model. The exploration of the room was held 2 weeks
after the previously reported activity and there was a change in the positions of the
furniture in the room and we thought it was better not to change them to check if the
pupil would notice the differences.
The pupil's drawing was done soon after exploring the locality. In this drawing we
discovered that there was an improvement in graphic shapes, but confusion in the
spatial distribution of the objects, especially with respect to the distance between the
chairs and desks. The pupil represents these objects one on top of the other. In her
representation of the dollhouse we are able to see that Laura sought to represent the
slope of the roof by drawing a triangle, and a chimney with a rectangle. The shapes
attributed to the details of the house were not obtained from tactile pictures, but
through interaction with the object. The graphic knowledge used to represent these
characteristics was acquired in the drawing activities of geometric shapes.
In extension activities, Laura built a model of the classroom where she attended
classes at the Special School and then created a mental map of the site. There is
evidence of the pupil's knowledge developing in this new drawing both in terms of
the graphic and spatial organization. Figure 23.6 shows the model developed by the
pupil and Fig. 23.7 shows the drawing.
Advances in spatial distribution of the objects represented were generated by the
activities involving the model and by exploring the everyday environment. The
improvement, however, in graphical shape is the result of the work done at school,
that is, of the drawing teaching and learning situations, which have also improved
Laura's motor memory for graphical shapes.
At the Special School the pupil was encouraged to represent anything he/she
recognized, for example the shape of a circle, by a drawing. This drawing task was
slow and the main objective was not to teach the pupils to draw the same as children
that can see, rather it was to contribute to them having their own personal brand, as
well as allowing them to understand geometric figures.
The movement associated with drawing on paper assisted in motor coordination
and helped the pupil to acquire the necessary grip to hold a pencil and/or a pen and
write his/her name. Laura's improvement in presenting graphic shapes resulted from
the activities directed at developing her literacy. The shape used to represent the slope
of the roof of the house is similar to the slope of the letter A , learned by the pupil.
When we look at how the pupil writes her name, beyond the concepts already
discussed, it is evident that she needs to acquire the concept for rendering sloping
lines to write the letter A , whose sloping lines are simpler when compared to the
letter N . Moreover, the relationship of space between the letter and the relationship
of size also require acquisition of concepts. When we looked at Laura's writing we
found that there are not any significant discrepancies between the letters showing
that the pupil acquired the necessary concepts to write his name, as well as the
necessary motor coordination.
The same did not occur with another pupil, Bruno from the Children's Rehabilita-
tion Center. When he was asked to draw a mental map of the computer room, where