CN112384961A - Symbol manipulation educational system and method - Google Patents

Abstract

A system for teaching is disclosed that includes a symbol recognition dock and a plurality of symbol teaching aids, a computing device connected to the symbol recognition dock, and a database, wherein the database includes lexical data and adaptive learning courses.

Description

Symbol manipulation educational system and method

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority from U.S. patent application No. 16/016,585 filed on 23/6/2018.

U.S. patent application 16/016,585, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application No. 14/730,232 filed on 3.6.2015, claims priority benefits of U.S. provisional patent application No. 62/007,413 filed on 4.6.2014.

The entire contents of these applications are incorporated herein by reference.

Background

Technical Field

The present subject matter is applicable to the field of educational guidance and exploration systems for children, and more particularly relates to the following systems and methods: the system and method are used to interactively teach beginners and early learners the skills necessary for symbolic understanding of abstract systems, including language, mathematics, and logic, using a combination of physical teaching aids, docks or platforms for physical teaching aids, software applications on interactive computer devices, and adaptive database systems.

Description of the Related Art

There are many modern educational applications for teaching children basic knowledge of reading, including pre-reading skills such as letter recognition and phoneme awareness, computing power, and logical reasoning. The latest and most innovative of these applications are configured for tablet and smartphone devices, as their touch screens and other easy-to-use features make them suitable for toddler use and classroom use, whereas previous applications traditionally used with every generation of personal computers have primarily used a mouse and keyboard for interaction. These language education applications used by children on tablet computers and traditional computer devices use on-screen virtual representations of symbols to replace the actual physical objects traditionally used in early language education: on which blocks of symbols or blocks of symbol shapes are displayed.

This traditional use of physically manipulable symbols has developed a number of effective teaching strategies that are well suited to the eye-hand manipulation and object-relationship centered stages of early childhood education. Clearly, by combining the child's earliest learning of natural spoken language with the learning of the symbolic representation of that language, the child can best learn the language. They first learn words that are natural language representations of real-world objects and are then taught to physically manipulate symbolic objects to construct visual symbolic representations for these symbols and their combinations in words. This develops the symbol storage skills and mental modeling skills that it requires to learn the basic knowledge of literacy, phoneme awareness, computing power and logic.

There is a need for preschool, and preschool education systems and methods for learning literacy skills that combine the flexibility of interactive tablet devices and educational software applications with the physics of symbolic teaching aids.

Early readers had to master an ordered set of skills to accomplish the various stages of symbolic and linguistic understanding to achieve reading fluency. At any stage, children may have difficulty integrating a subset of the primitive or comprehensive skills and may experience conceptual obstacles that prevent stable learning progress. Some learners may need to perform additional focused exercises on these specific skills, previously completed skills, or untried skill sets to overcome conceptual obstacles and proceed to the next stage. Other learners may have mild to severe specific learning disabilities and require more focused and selective intervention as they develop these skill sets.

If other supportive skills are weak or absent, or if there are certain perceived difficulties that cause the handicap, the educator and parents may not be able to fully understand what these handicap skills are. This complicates its ability to provide correct words, focused presentation, required switching of alternative tasks to an associated skill set, or potential structural or relational changes in associated symbols, which would reduce perceptual or cognitive confusion.

These considerations demonstrate the need for the following educational systems and methods: the educational system and method continually assesses the learner's reading or pre-reading literacy skills and dynamically adjusts their lesson to optimize their progress in combating and overcoming conceptual barriers. In particular, the educational system addressing this need can be divided into three functional components: 1. assess in real time the learner's progress status (e.g., is they progressing or is they encountered a conceptual obstacle; 2. adaptively selecting and presenting an optimal teaching method to overcome learning obstacles (e.g., using real-time assessment information to select and respond with the optimal learning method); and 3. associatively integrating assessment and instructional responses from a number of learners to adaptively improve the instructional responses of all learners (e.g., so that learners at similar stages with similar skill sets receive the best instructional response according to context).

Disclosure of Invention

It is an object of the present subject matter to provide an educational system and method that provides a combination of physical teaching aids and software to teach symbol manipulation skills.

It is another object of the present subject matter to provide an educational system and method that can assess the learner's current literacy and then adaptively introduce lessons and tasks to optimize his progress.

It is another object of the present subject matter to provide an educational system and method that can assist learners in learning literacy principles through open exploration.

The subject system includes a plurality of symbol teaching aids and a symbol recognition device that can determine the identity and location of a symbol teaching aid and communicate the identity and location to a computing device. The system also includes a student computing device connected to the symbol recognition device, the student computing device including a processor, a memory, and an interface for connecting to the symbol recognition device. The processor of the student computing device is configured to receive symbol recognition data from the symbol recognition device and present information to the user. The system also includes a database configured to receive the student response data, evaluate the student response data, and make changes to the at least one database component. The database comprises at least one of the following components: a personal database component, a lexical database component, a skills database component, a lesson database component, and a supporting interaction database component.

The entire database may be located in the cloud, or it may be located partially on the student computing device and partially in the cloud. In an example embodiment, the system further comprises a teacher computing device distinct from the student computing devices, wherein the teacher computing device communicates with the student computing devices through the remote interface. In this example implementation, a portion of the database may be located on the teacher computing device, a portion on the student computing device, and a portion in the cloud.

In an example embodiment, the processor is configured to present at least one task to the user, wherein the task may be accomplished by connecting the symbol teaching aid to the symbol recognition dock. Once the user has completed at least one task, the processor determines the percentage of correctly completed tasks and the categories of errors made by the user and records them in the personal database component. The user is then presented with at least one target task intended to correct the error.

Tasks may be organized into categories including, for example, the following: tasks related to speech awareness, tasks related to letter-to-sound correspondence, tasks related to consonant mixed letters (blends) and diploids (digraphs), tasks related to complex vowels, and tasks related to polysyllable words.

Tasks may be organized into key skill areas, for example, where key skill areas include the following: concept of printing, speech awareness, spelling, writing, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension.

The symbol teaching aid may include an alphabetic shape, a numeric shape, a logographic shape, or a symbol shape.

In an example embodiment, the processor may be further configured to identify any symbol teaching aid connected to the symbol recognition dock, generate a pronunciation for the symbol teaching aid, and present the pronunciation to the user using the at least one actuator.

In an example embodiment, the student computing device is a tablet computer.

In an example embodiment, a student computing device is wirelessly connected to a symbol recognition dock.

The subject methods include presenting a plurality of symbol teaching aids and a symbol recognition dock to a student, wherein the symbol teaching aids can be placed on the symbol recognition dock, wherein the symbol recognition dock recognizes the symbol teaching aids placed thereon, and wherein the symbol recognition dock is connected to a student computing device. The student is then presented with a first task, wherein the task may be completed by placing the symbol teaching aid on the symbol recognition dock. The task originates from a course database component that includes, for example, courses, lessons, tasks, games, and open exploration activities, or any combination thereof. The system then detects any symbol teaching aids connected to the symbol recognition dock in response to the first task, detects whether the task was performed correctly and whether the task was performed incorrectly, determines the type of mistake made by the student. The student's response to the first task is then used to assess the student's skill level for at least one skill, such as a physical manipulation skill, a storage skill, a perception skill, a mental modeling skill, or any combination of these. The assessment is then recorded in a personal database component comprising, for example, at least one of: the individual student's lesson plan, response records, support interaction records, and specific learning interaction records.

In an example embodiment, if a student incorrectly places any symbolic teaching aid during performance of a task, the student is provided with at least one of: encouragement, advice, prompting, instructional models, intervention.

In an example embodiment, the time period between any two symbol teaching aids being placed on a symbol recognition dock is measured. If there is an abnormal delay, providing the student with at least one of: encouragement, advice, prompting, instructional models, intervention.

In an example embodiment, if the student's response to the first task is incorrect, the student is presented with a second task, wherein the second task includes a targeted intervention intended to focus on the type of error made by the student.

In an example embodiment, if the student's response to the first task is correct, the student is presented with a second task, wherein the second task comprises the same type of task as the first task and requires a faster response time than the first task.

In an example embodiment, if the student's response to the first task is correct, the student is presented with a second task, wherein the second task is more advanced than the first task.

In an example embodiment, the method of the present subject matter includes presenting a plurality of symbol teaching aids and a symbol recognition dock to a student, wherein the symbol teaching aids may be placed on the symbol recognition dock, wherein the symbol recognition dock recognizes the symbol teaching aids placed thereon, and wherein the symbol recognition dock is connected to a student computing device. Any symbol teaching aids connected to the symbol recognition dock are then identified. The student computing device then generates a pronunciation for the symbolic teaching aid and presents the pronunciation to the student using the at least one actuator.

Drawings

Fig. 1 illustrates an example embodiment of the system of the present subject matter.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example embodiment of the symbol recognition dock and symbol teaching aid of the present subject matter.

Fig. 3A and 3B show a flow chart of a process of letter-sound correspondence in accordance with the teachings of the present subject matter.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example entry of the vocabulary database of the present subject matter.

Definition of

For purposes of this disclosure, a "child," "student," "user," or "learner" is a person using the system of the present subject matter. A "computing device" is a laptop computer, desktop computer, tablet, smart phone, wearable computer, or any other computing device capable of running the educational software of the present subject matter and connected with a symbol recognition dock.

Detailed Description

The present subject matter provides example systems and methods for preschool, and kindergarten children to learn symbolic representations of a language as they learn spoken forms of the language. These example systems are configured for independent learning by children through guided courses with little supervision required other than initial introduction and ongoing supportive care. These example methods are used to select the current best or best lesson for a child's assessment of language skills, gauge the child's progress, and identify learning obstacles when they occur and adaptively modify instructional instructions to overcome those obstacles. Example methods continually evaluate the effectiveness of instructional modifications made for many children to optimize and customize lessons, tasks, and intervention responses for each child.

The present subject matter relates to teaching systems for teaching abstract ideas and symbol manipulations via physical teaching aids integrated with a computing device. Although several described example embodiments of the present subject matter use an alphanumerical teaching aid to teach literacy skills, it will be appreciated that other applications of the present subject matter may involve other symbolic teaching aids, such as numbers, logographic characters, or any other symbol.

Overview of the System

The subject matter relates to teaching systems for teaching abstract thinking and symbolic manipulations to children as they interact with physical teaching aids and computing devices. This physical manipulation of abstract symbols is a key element of the present subject matter, as in early literacy learning, the pattern of physical manipulation was transformed into a pattern of similar mental manipulation. Although several example embodiments of the present subject matter use a teaching aid in alphabetic form to teach literacy skills, it will be appreciated that other applications of the present subject matter may involve other symbolic teaching aids, such as numbers, logographic characters, or any other symbol.

In the example embodiment shown in fig. 1, the student system 120 includes a student computing device 180, and the teaching application 182 executes on the student computing device 180 to provide instructions and tasks related to customizable lessons to the student 110 through the use of visual and audio instructions 143. The student 110 responds with touch and voice interaction 112 and by selecting the symbol teaching aid 124 and connecting the symbol teaching aid 124 to the symbol recognition dock 121 (e.g., by placing them in the recess 122 on the top surface of the dock 121). The symbol recognition dock 121 uniquely determines the identity (e.g., name) and location of each connected symbol teaching aid and communicates the identity and location of the symbol teaching aid at the time it was connected to the teaching application 182 over the wireless link 123.

In the example embodiment shown, the student computing device 180 is a tablet computer, for example

Or

Tablet computer through

The wireless link 123 or through any other wireless or wired connection that may be used is connected with the symbol recognition dock 121. Student computing device 180 may include actuators (e.g., a display screen and speakers) for output and sensors for input. In the example embodiment shown, the sensors are a microphone and a camera.

As the interaction progresses, the tutorial application 182 may communicate a real-time indication of the learning interaction to the teacher system 150, the cloud system 160, or both, and receive a response of the real-time tutorial change from one or both of these systems 150 and 160. The teaching application 182 communicates with the teacher system 150 and the cloud system 160 through wireless connections 148 and 149. The transmitted real-time interactive information includes, for example: correct and incorrect letter selections, response speed, voice and touch responses, and other indications of student participation in the learning process.

Student system 120, teacher system 150, and cloud system 160 may include separate applications and a federated teaching database. The teaching application 182 is used to present and interact with students, evaluate student responses, and manage lessons, tasks, and support interactions by accessing a joint teaching database.

The applications and teaching databases in teacher system 150 and cloud system 160 receive student interaction data, evaluate students' responses to instructions, and in turn provide real-time changes to lessons, tasks, and support interactions back to teaching application 182.

In an example embodiment, the teaching database in teaching application 182 is a smaller subset of the teaching database in teacher system 150, and the teaching database in teacher system 150 is a smaller subset of the teaching database in cloud system 160. When teaching application 182 is not connected to teacher system 150 and cloud system 160, it may use the teaching database subset to teach students in a standalone mode. When connected, it may rely on a database in teacher system 150 or cloud system 160.

Together, these applications and databases form a complete teaching system that adaptively provides real-time instructions to meet the needs of each student in their accomplishment of their learning activities. Because the effectiveness of instructional instructions presented to many children is continually evaluated and integrated, the application in each of these systems additionally serves to optimize the joint instructional database over time.

Symbol dock and teaching aid

In the example embodiment shown in fig. 2, the symbol recognition dock 220 includes eight recessed letter spaces 221, the eight recessed letter spaces 221 serving both as a receptacle for positioning and aligning the symbol or letter teaching aid 210 and as a letter reader providing an information connection between the letters and the dock 220.

In the example embodiment shown, the symbol or letter teaching aid 210 is alphabetic to provide a learning experience with both tactile and visual sensations. In other example embodiments, one or more symbol teaching aids 210 may be shaped like rectangular tiles with three-dimensional letter protrusions thereon as letter blocks with letters on the surface, or in other forms to facilitate manipulation and symbol recognition.

The symbol recognition dock 220 includes a plate that houses an arrangement of letters that can sense the identity and relative position of letters placed thereon, connected thereto, in contact therewith, or in proximity thereto. The symbol recognition dock 220 additionally includes a processor and memory to enable sensing and recognition of letters and communicating the attributes of each letter recognized to the student's computing device 180.

In the example embodiment shown, a symbol or letter connection with the symbol recognition dock 220 includes a matrix of "letter readers" of capacitive sensing pads at the bottom of each recessed letter space 221. These sensing pads read the coding pattern of the conductive pads at the bottom of the inserted letter to determine a unique ID, e.g., "a", for each letter.

Although the example embodiments shown include capacitive recognition and sensing means for recognizing letters, a wide variety of other recognition and sensing means may be used, including, for example: direct electrical connections, RFID tags and sensors, optical sensing, and magnetic sensing.

In example embodiments, the symbol teaching aid 210 may also be colored differently, have different textures to make the learning experience more sensory, or be colored differently and have different textures. For example, vowels and consonants may be colored differently. In another example embodiment, the symbol teaching aid 210 may also include braille patterns of the letters in question. The symbol teaching aid 210 may be made of a non-toxic and durable material for safe use by a child.

In another example embodiment, the symbol recognition dock 220 has a backlit surface that illuminates each recessed letter space 221 so that a user (e.g., a child) knows where to place the letters. This may be, for example, an underline, a point, the entire perimeter of the letter space, or the entire letter space. The symbol teaching aid 210 may also be translucent or partially translucent so that they may illuminate when selected. Backlighting may also be used to illuminate specific letters, for example, letters including compound consonants such as TH may be backlit or silent letters may be backlit, depending on the user's needs.

In yet another example embodiment, the symbol identification dock 220 additionally includes a stand for supporting and orienting the student computing device 180, a storage space for storing unused symbol teaching aids, or both.

Teaching mode and application

The teaching application 182 of the present subject matter includes a series of seamlessly linked applications and a single application for tutoring student language literacy. These applications provide a range of interaction modes including, for example, curriculum-oriented applications with formal lessons and tasks, competitive game-oriented applications, and open exploration, game-oriented applications.

Course application

The primary teaching application of the present subject matter includes an integrated subtask that guides students through a learning task that presents a series of forms or patterns. These patterns may include, for example, formal tasks for trial and error learning, speed testing games as an assessment of progress, and interactive communication with virtual playmates that provide encouragement, support, and guidance. The focus points for these sub-applications range from fast learning to slower consolidation and reinforcement of the just learned skills. The rhythm of the child in the tasks of lessons, as an evaluation of games and in virtual play modes is stable and dedicated to learning.

Gaming applications

The subject matter can be used to learn games independent of any lesson or assessment. Any game that requires a child to place the symbol teaching aid 210 on the symbol recognition dock 220 as an interaction may be part of the present subject matter. As a non-limiting list of possible example embodiments, such games may be or include, for example, interactive stories that require children to fill out words in the story or create new stories based on words entered by children, letter-to-sound matching games that require children to find letters that match sounds or vice versa, and the like.

Open game

English (and many other languages) has complex pronunciation and spelling rules that are not easily explained or pronounced to young children. Thus, it is a more efficient process to enable a child to simply explore different letter combinations and their pronunciations, so that the child can implicitly learn pronunciation rules.

In example embodiments of the present subject matter, a child is encouraged to connect the symbol teaching aid 210 to the symbol recognition dock 220 in any order or in any combination. The symbol recognition dock 220 then recognizes the symbol teaching aid 210 and its sequence and sends this information to the student computing device 180. The student computing device 180 then uses the lexical database to look up the pronunciation of a particular combination of symbolic teaching aids 210 created by the child. In an alternative example embodiment, the student computing device 180 includes a set of rules for generating sounds of letter combinations based on spelling rules in english, and these rules are applied to the letter combinations to generate sounds of specific combinations of the symbol teaching aids 210 created by children.

In an example embodiment, if a child is placing the symbol teaching aid 210 in an open, unguided manner and eventually intentionally or unintentionally creates a word (e.g., "CAT"), the student computing device 180 recognizes the word and displays an image or animation of the CAT on the screen in addition to generating the pronunciation of the word.

Evaluating learning performance

In an example embodiment, the present subject matter includes software that includes lessons intended to teach literacy skills to students. In such an example embodiment, the lesson may be organized into an integrated learning path that includes one or more (e.g., 7) key skill areas including, for example: print concepts, speech awareness, spelling/writing, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension.

The lessons may be presented to the student during a teaching phase, which is defined as the step in learning literacy skills. Each teaching stage contains a specific lesson or concept that is presented sequentially so that subsequent stages can only be reached by mastering the previous stage. In an example embodiment, the teaching phase is or includes:

a. stage 1: speech awareness (e.g., focus on initial speech/phoneme awareness building activities, songs/rhymes, stories, spoken phoneme mixing and partitioning, a-Z letter recognition introductions, or any combination of these).

b. And (2) stage: letters and sounds (e.g., 26 letters and sounds are introduced, phonemic division/spelling by letters, high frequency and partially decodable words are introduced, VC/CV/CVC is spelled/divided by letters, letters are written/traced, or any combination of these).

c. And (3) stage: consonant mixed letters, doublets (e.g., focusing on consonant mixed letters and doublets, using introduced mixed letters to decode/spell CCVC/CVCC words, reading sentences, or any combination of these).

d. And (4) stage: complex vowels (e.g. focus on vowel binaries, long vowels, unvoiced e, R control, diphthongs, decode/spell CVVC, CCVVC and CVVCC words, get the meaning of words from context, read paragraphs or any combination of these).

e. And (5) stage: complex words (e.g., focused on reading and spelling multi-syllable words, words with zigzag endings, affixes, complex patterns of endings, written sentences, read longer passages of text, or any combination of these).

Each stage may include lessons and tasks that comprise each of one or more (e.g., 7) key skill areas.

A flow chart of instructions for the "letters and sounds" portion of the lesson is shown in fig. 3A and 3B. The instruction starts with the child learning the letter sounds. Evaluating or deriving a child's letter-sound correspondence skills from past interactions at the beginning of the letter-sound interaction; those that the child knows are put in a "master bucket"; and those that they have difficulty or are unaware are put into a "learning bucket" and also saved in the children's personal database portion of the educational database.

The correspondence in the "learning bucket" is then presented to the child along one of two separate trajectories in a game-like context. The trajectory that the child takes depends on whether the child is more encumbered in the visual aspect of the learning experience (e.g., letter shape) or more difficult in the auditory aspect (e.g., letter sound).

Along the visual trajectory, the child is encouraged to use the physical symbol teaching aid 210 to match letters on the screen, to match upper and lower case letters, and to track letters on the touch screen. Along the auditory track, the child is presented with letter songs/sings, encourages the child to accompany the sound and letter sounds, match pictures and sounds, and express the sound clearly through audio feedback. After all the letter-sound correspondences in the "learning bucket" are covered, the child is given a "review game" to repeatedly evaluate its current level of grasp on the letter-sound.

When the child's grasp level of the letter-sound reaches 70% to 90% of the letter-sound correspondence, they will continue the letter-sound velocity game in which the child is given a task by an animated character in an interesting game-like atmosphere to improve the student's participation. As students perform each task, their performance with respect to the task is assessed in real time. Variables used to assess the performance of the student in the interactive game may include, among other things, the speed of letter placement, pauses during the task, and mistakes made by the student. The assessment of the child's performance in the letter-sound speed game is then used to assess the student for at least one aspect of literacy skills.

As an example, if a child consistently makes an error on the "CH" in the word CHURCH, the system may determine that this is the wrong feature of the student and include it in the evaluation. The student can then be given lessons that focus on the CH phonemes. In an example embodiment, lessons focused on specific questions may be "built up" to provide students with an optimal environment for improving learning.

An example of construction would be: since the phonemes at the beginning of a word are easier to hear than the phonemes at the end of a word, a child may first be presented with a word beginning with a CH, and only after this step has been mastered will the child be given a word ending with a CH. In an example embodiment, since the language data is tracked, if the child is a bilingual in spanish, the child may also be given CH words in spanish.

In an example embodiment, a "learner profile" (e.g., an assessment of a learner's performance) is continually updated as learners perform more and more tasks. This results in a highly personalized adaptive course tailored to the specific learner and its individual needs.

Database with a plurality of databases

Lexical database component

The present subject matter includes a database that includes a number of components. One of these components is a lexical database component that may be stored in cloud system 160. A smaller subset of the lexical database may be located on the teacher's computing device for easy access, and a smaller subset of the lexical database that includes only the most common words, pronunciations, related words, and tags may be located on the student computing device 180 or in the symbol recognition dock 220 itself. In an example embodiment, the entire lexical database is located in the cloud, and the student computing device and teacher computing device only extract all of their data from the cloud. In another example embodiment, the entire lexical database is located on the student computing device 180 or the symbol recognition dock 220 of the standalone system.

The lexical database may include any lexical data 521 and 521 that may be needed to teach literacy skills. In an example embodiment, the vocabulary database includes a list of words related to possible student learning reading. Each word is associated with an index number 510, a pronunciation, a phoneme that includes the word, common mistakes made in spelling the word, an image or video of an object or concept described by the word (e.g., along with any associated data such as sounds made by an animal or what an animal eats), and a pointer to a word (identified by the index number) that is precessed by the word, a compound word that includes the word, a homonym, and the like. For example, entry 500 for CAT may look like the entry illustrated in fig. 4.

In an example embodiment, the lexical database may also include a plurality of languages. For example, entries for CAT may also include GATO (spanish) or KOT (russian).

In an example embodiment, the lexical database may include separate classifications of errors based on the cognitive skills of the child and the morphology of the particular learning disabilities. For example, certain errors may be very typical and dyslexia may be diagnosed. For example, if a child spells CAT as TAC, the system may classify the error as "potential dyslexia".

In an example embodiment, each word and each phoneme is also associated with any lesson teaching literacy related to the particular word or the particular phoneme. For example, the word CHURCH may be associated with a lesson teaching CH phonemes.

It will be appreciated that the lexical database may include any combination of the above data, and the present subject matter is not limited to the particular types of data provided in the examples given above.

Personal database

The database may also include a personal database component. The personal database component includes information about the student, including the learner profile described above. The personal database component may also include information such as: the age of the student, any particular learning instructions or challenges, the native language of the student and any "personal words" specific to the student, such as the names of family members or pets, the name of the student or any special words unique to the user, and the same information about each "personal word" present in the lexical database for any other word.

In an example embodiment, the personal database also includes a record of the student's responses, a record of the student's skills (e.g., based on an assessment of each of the literacy skills in one or more skill areas), a record of any supporting interactions of the student (e.g., how often the student receives a prompt or other assistance as described below), or any combination of these.

Skill database

In an example embodiment, the database also includes a skills database component that records any literacy or pre-literacy skills that a student may need to be evaluated for. The skills database includes, for example, physical manipulation skills, storage skills, perception skills, mental modeling skills, and any combination of these skills into a composite skill.

Course database

In an example embodiment, the database further comprises a course database component. The course database includes at least one course, wherein each course is organized into a lesson and each lesson is organized into a task. The course database may also include games and open exploration activities related to the course. The above describes the composition of courses in an example embodiment of the present subject matter.

Supporting interaction database

In an example embodiment, the database further comprises a supporting interaction database component. The supporting interaction database component includes one or more encouragement messages (e.g., "you can do!"), suggestions and hints on how to complete the task (e.g., "you need the letter to be round!"), instructional models, interventions, or any combination of these. In an example embodiment, the system detects when a student makes an error during task completion or pauses for an unusually long period of time during task completion and locates the appropriate intervention in the supporting interaction database. The appropriate intervention may be encouragement, a simple prompt, a more detailed description, or any combination of these.

It is to be understood that the presently described subject matter is not limited to the specific aspects described, and thus, may vary. It is also to be understood that the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular aspects only and is not intended to be limiting.

Where a range of values is provided, it is understood that each intervening value, to the tenth of the unit of the lower limit unless the context clearly dictates otherwise, between the upper and lower limit of that range and any other stated range or intervening value in that stated range, is encompassed within the subject matter. The upper and lower limits of these smaller ranges may independently be included in the smaller ranges and are also encompassed within the subject matter, subject to any specifically excluded limit in the stated range. Where a stated range includes one or both of the limits, ranges excluding either or both of those included limits are also included in the subject matter.

Certain ranges are set forth herein wherein a numerical value is preceded by the term "about". The term "about" is used herein to provide literal support for the exact number following it, as well as numbers that are near or similar to the number following the term. In determining whether a number is near or approximate to a specifically enumerated number, the near or approximate noneenumerated number can be the following number: in the context of presenting the number, the number provides a substantial equivalent to the specifically recited number.

Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which the subject matter belongs. Although any methods and materials similar or equivalent to those described herein can also be used in the practice or testing of the present subject matter, the representatively illustrated methods and materials are described herein.

It should also be noted that, as used herein and in the appended claims, the singular forms "a," "an," and "the" include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. It is also noted that the claims may be drafted to exclude any optional element. As such, this statement is intended to serve as antecedent basis for use of such exclusive terminology as "solely," "only," etc., or use of a "negative" limitation in connection with the recitation of claim elements.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading this disclosure that each of the individual aspects described and illustrated herein has discrete components and features which may be readily separated from or combined with the features of any of the other several aspects without departing from the scope of the present subject matter. Any recited method may be performed in the order of events recited, or in any other order that is logically possible.

Although exemplary embodiments of the present subject matter have been described in detail for purposes of illustration and example for purposes of clarity of understanding, it will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art in light of the teachings of the present subject matter that certain changes and modifications may be made to these embodiments without departing from the scope of the appended claims.

Accordingly, the foregoing merely illustrates the principles of the disclosed subject matter. It will be appreciated that those skilled in the art will be able to devise various arrangements that, although not explicitly described or shown herein, embody the principles of the subject matter and are included within its scope. Furthermore, all examples and conditional language recited herein are principally intended to aid the reader in understanding the principles of the subject matter and the concepts contributed by the inventors to furthering the art, and are to be construed as being without limitation to such specifically recited examples and conditions. Moreover, all statements herein reciting principles and aspects of the present subject matter, as well as specific examples thereof, are intended to encompass both structural and functional equivalents thereof. Additionally, it is intended that such equivalents include both currently known equivalents as well as equivalents developed in the future (i.e., any elements developed that perform the same function, regardless of structure). Thus, the scope of the present subject matter is not intended to be limited to the example aspects shown and described herein.

Claims (22)

1. A system for teaching, comprising:

a plurality of symbol teaching aids;

a symbol recognition device capable of determining the identity and location of any symbol teaching aid and communicating the identity and location to a computing device;

a student computing device connected to the symbol recognition device, wherein the student computing device comprises a processor, a memory, and an interface for connecting to the symbol recognition device;

wherein the processor is configured by means of software and data to perform actions comprising:

receiving symbol identification data from the symbol identification device; and

presenting information to a user;

a database configured by means of software and data to perform actions comprising:

receiving student response data from at least one processor connected to the symbol recognition device;

evaluating the student response data from the at least one processor connected to the symbol recognition device to determine a degree of student understanding;

making changes to at least one database component; and

responding to at least one processor connected to the symbol recognition device with instructional data;

wherein the database comprises at least one of:

a personal database component, wherein the personal database component comprises at least one of:

lesson planning for individual students;

a response record for the individual student;

a skill record of the individual student;

a supporting interaction record for the individual student;

a specific learning instruction record for the individual student;

at least one personal word, wherein the personal word is selected from the following categories:

a name of a family member or pet, a name of the user, a special word unique to the user;

a pronunciation of the at least one personal word;

a phoneme comprising the at least one personal word;

an image associated with the at least one personal word;

data associated with the at least one personal word;

at least one rhyme word associated with the at least one personal word;

at least one homophonic, heteronym associated with the at least one personal word; or

At least one common error made by the student in spelling the at least one individual word;

a lexical database component, wherein the lexical database component comprises at least one of:

at least one word;

a pronunciation of the at least one word;

a phoneme comprising the at least one word;

an image associated with the at least one word;

data associated with the at least one word;

at least one rhyme word associated with the at least one word;

at least one homophonic, heteronym associated with the at least one word;

at least one common error made by the student in spelling the at least one word;

at least one translation of the at least one word into a foreign language;

at least one syllable;

a pronunciation of the at least one syllable; or

A phone including the at least one syllable;

a skills database component, wherein the skills database component comprises at least one of:

at least one physical manipulation skill;

at least one storage skill;

at least one sensory skill;

at least one mental modeling skill; or

Combining the skills into at least one combination of composite skills;

a lesson database component, wherein the lesson database component comprises at least one of:

at least one lesson;

at least one lesson;

at least one task;

at least one game; or

At least one open exploration campaign;

a supporting interaction database component, wherein the supporting interaction database component comprises at least one of:

at least one incentive;

at least one suggestion;

at least one prompt;

at least one instructional model; or

At least one intervention.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the entire database is located in the cloud.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein a portion of the database is located on the student computing device and a portion of the database is located in a cloud.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a teacher computing device distinct from the student computing devices, wherein the teacher computing device communicates with the student computing devices through a remote interface.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein a portion of the database is located on the student computing device, a portion of the database is located on the teacher computing device, and a portion of the database is located in a cloud.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to perform actions comprising:

presenting at least one task to a user, wherein the task can be accomplished by connecting a symbol teaching aid to the symbol recognition dock;

determining a percentage of correctly completed tasks and a category of errors made by the user once the user completes the at least one task;

recording in the personal database component the percentage of correctly completed tasks and the category of errors; and

presenting at least one target task to the user, the at least one target task intended to correct errors in a category of errors made by the user.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein tasks are organized into categories, wherein the categories include:

tasks related to speech awareness;

tasks related to letter-to-sound correspondence;

tasks related to consonant mixed letters and diacritics;

tasks related to complex vowels; and

tasks related to multi-syllable words.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein tasks are organized into key skill areas, wherein the key skill areas include:

a printing concept;

a speech awareness;

spelling and reading;

spelling and writing;

a vocabulary;

fluency; and

understand the force.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the symbol teaching aid comprises a letter shape.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the symbol teaching aid comprises a digital shape.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the symbol teaching aid comprises a logographic shape.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the symbol teaching aid comprises a symbol shape.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to perform actions comprising:

identifying any symbol teaching aid connected to the symbol recognition dock;

generating the pronunciation of the symbol teaching aid; and

presenting the pronunciation to the user.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the student computing device is a tablet computer.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the student computing device and the symbol recognition dock are wirelessly connected to each other.

16. A method of teaching symbol manipulation, comprising:

presenting a plurality of symbol teaching aids and a symbol recognition dock to a student, wherein a symbol teaching aid is placeable on the symbol recognition dock, wherein the symbol recognition dock recognizes the symbol teaching aid placed thereon, wherein the symbol recognition dock is connected to a student computing device;

presenting a first task to the student, wherein the task can be accomplished by placing a symbol teaching aid on the symbol recognition dock, wherein the first task originates from a course database component, wherein the course database component comprises at least one of:

at least one course, at least one of the courses including at least one lesson;

at least one lesson, the at least one lesson comprising at least one task;

at least one task;

at least one game; or

At least one open exploration campaign;

detecting any symbol teaching aid connected to the symbol recognition dock in response to the first task;

determining whether the first task was executed correctly;

determining a type of error made by the student if the first task was performed incorrectly;

using the student's response to the first task to assess the student's skill level for at least one of the following skills:

at least one physical manipulation skill;

at least one storage skill;

at least one sensory skill;

at least one mental modeling skill; or

Combining the skills into at least one combination of composite skills; and

recording the student's skill level in a personal database component,

wherein the personal database component comprises at least one of:

lesson planning for individual students;

a response record for the individual student;

a skill record of the individual student;

a supporting interaction record for the individual student; or

The specific learning of the individual student indicates a record.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

determining whether each letter teaching aid is correct after it is connected to the symbol recognition dock in response to the first task; and

if it is not correct, providing the student with at least one of:

at least one incentive;

at least one suggestion;

at least one prompt;

at least one instructional model; or

At least one intervention.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

monitoring a time period between any two letter teaching aids being connected to the symbol recognition dock in response to the first task; and

if any of the time periods is longer than a predetermined time period, providing the student with at least one of:

at least one incentive;

at least one suggestion;

at least one prompt;

at least one instructional model; or

At least one intervention.

19. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

presenting a second task to the student if the student's response to the first task is incorrect, wherein the second task includes a targeted intervention that is intended to focus on the type of error made by the student.

20. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

presenting a second task to the student if the student's response to the first task is correct, wherein the second task comprises a same type of task as the first task and requires a faster response time than the first task.

21. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

presenting a second task to the student if the student's response to the first task is correct, wherein the second task is more advanced than the first task.

22. A method of teaching spelling comprising:

presenting a plurality of symbol teaching aids and a symbol recognition dock to a student, wherein a symbol teaching aid is placeable on the symbol recognition dock, wherein the symbol recognition dock recognizes the symbol teaching aid placed thereon, wherein the symbol recognition dock is connected to a student computing device, wherein the student computing device includes at least one actuator;

detecting and identifying any symbol teaching aid connected to the symbol recognition dock;

generating the pronunciation of the symbol teaching aid; and

presenting the pronunciation to the student using at least one actuator.

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