The LibrasMat project, based at Unicamp, has opened applications to select 16 deaf undergraduate students from exact sciences courses as scientific initiation scholarship recipients, who may receive up to R$1.140 per month. The students will join a team of researchers and professors developing a groundbreaking mathematics platform in Brazilian Sign Language (Libras). Applications can be submitted until November 7th at this link.
The free access platform will provide, in short video format, solutions in Libras (Brazilian Sign Language) for more than 1,2 math questions that have appeared on the National High School Exam (Enem). The aim is for this tool to be used by deaf students throughout the country to prepare for entry into higher education. The platform will also offer solutions to the questions in Portuguese, and the recording of these videos began at the end of July.
“One of the gaps in this area is mathematical terms that don’t have a sign in Libras (Brazilian Sign Language),” explains Marcelo Firer, professor at Unicamp and coordinator of the project. Therefore, the team will also develop a sign dictionary and a mathematical dictionary in Libras, including regional variations.
On the platform, the user will be able to choose how to view the teacher and the blackboard: side by side, the same size, or giving greater prominence to one of them. "This is innovative because it puts the deaf user in control of the experience, allowing them to adapt the view to their needs," comments Firer.
The selected students will work remotely for up to two years, with close monitoring from the project team. In addition, those selected will receive training and equipment for recording videos, and will have accommodation and transportation paid for to participate in four in-person meetings, each lasting two weeks, during school holidays.
“Our designer is deaf, and the video editor, who will guide the students in editing and cutting, is also a sign language interpreter. The participation of deaf scholarship students is fundamental not only for the production of the videos, but also to guarantee deaf representation and protagonism in the development of the platform, and most importantly: to form a deaf community interested in mathematics education.”
LibrasMat is a university innovation and extension project of the Brazilian Center for Geometry (CBG) , a Research, Innovation and Dissemination Center (Cepid) funded by the São Paulo Research Foundation (Fapesp) and based at Unicamp. The center has a broad network of researchers from various academic institutions throughout the country and is the first specialized geometry initiative in Latin America and the Global South. Its activities are organized into four thematic verticals: Differential Geometry, Algebraic Geometry, Applications of Geometry and Education, Dissemination & Innovation (ED&I). Firer is one of the ED&I coordinators.
Two will be carried out. lives To resolve any questions about the scholarships with the organizers of the LibrasMat project, one meeting will be held in September and another in October. The results will be released on December 1st. website, and the start of the work is scheduled for the second half of January 2027.
This article was originally published on the CBG website.
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