GB2582939A

GB2582939A - Stencil teaching aid

Info

Publication number: GB2582939A
Application number: GB1905039.2A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Lenehan Toby
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2019-04-09
Filing date: 2019-04-09
Publication date: 2020-10-14
Also published as: GB201905039D0

Abstract

A stencil teaching aid comprising a substantially planar apparatus 10 having a hole 11 whose outline describes a letter of the alphabet or a numeral. Wherein the hole may depict more than one letter e.g. b, d, p and q, or numeral e.g. a 6 and 9, depending upon the rotation of the aid. The planar faces 13,14 have indicia 12,15 (41,42,43,44, fig 4) that are used to correctly orientate said hole. Once correctly orientated by said indicia said hole may be used as a stencil by a user to correctly form the letter or numeral on a writing surface. The indicia may be textual or pictorial, and may be printed, embossed or engraved on the planar surfaces. The stencil may be made from wood, a polymer, metal or composite material.

Description

Stencil teaching aid When learning to read and write many children are confused by the similarity of some letters and numbers. Letters and numbers may be mistaken for others resulting in spelling errors. A common case in the Roman alphabet are the letters 'b', 'd', 'p' and 'q' which are commonly misused by learning writers as they are all rotations or reflections of the same basic shape. For about 10% of the population difficulties in selecting and writing letters correctly persist into adulthood in the form of dyslexia.

The present invention is a tool which helps the learning writer to select the correct target from a collection of letters or numerals which may be confused. The tool contains a hole whose outline is that of a commonly confused letter or numeral such that the outline of the hole can be used as a stencil and traced by a user to correctly form the letter or numeral. Indicia on the surface of the teaching aid provide visual affordances which allow the correct orientation for the stencil hole to be selected.

The indicia may be in the form of pictorial representations such as images of common objects which begin with a target letter. The indicia may be in the form of simple words using a target letter. For numerals the indicia may be in the form of a pictorial collection of objects whose number corresponds to the target numeral.

The invention will now be described solely by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 shows a perspective view of one embodiment of the apparatus.

Figure 2 shows the use of the apparatus shown in Figure 1.

Figure 3 shows a plan view of one side of the apparatus shown in Figure 1.

Figure 4 shows a plan view of the opposite side of the apparatus to that shown in Figure 3.

Figure 5 shows an alternative embodiment of the apparatus using numerals.

In Figure 1, the stencil teaching aid 10 comprises a planar piece of a rigid or semi-rigid material such as wood, hard plastic polymer, metal or composite material. The apparatus contains a stencil hole 11 through the short axis of the planar piece of material whose outline is a letter of the alphabet which may be confused for another letter by a learning writer. lndicia in the form of letters 12 are printed or embossed onto or engraved into one or more of the planar faces H, 14 of the apparatus. These indicia 12 together with the stencil hole 11 spell a simple word which may be recognised by the user and help to correctly orientate the stencil hole 11 to produce the target letter. Further indicia 15 in the form of pictorial representations of the object spelled out by the stencil hole 11 and indicia letters 12 also help to correctly orientate the apparatus.

With the apparatus correctly orientated the user may either copy the correct form of the letter to their writing surface or as shown in Figure 2 if needed place the apparatus over their writing surface and trace the correct form of the letter to their writing surface using the stencil hole.

In some embodiments of the apparatus as shown in Figure 3, rotation of the apparatus about its short axis will bring the stencil hole 11 and another set of textual and pictorial indicia 31, 32 into the correct orientation for forming a different target letter.

In some embodiments of the apparatus as shown in Figure 4 the stencil hole 11 on the reverse planar face 14 together with further sets of textual and pictorial indicia 41, 42, 43, 44 will correctly identify and orientate further target letters.

Figure 5 shows an alternative embodiment where the stencil hole 11 is in the shape of a numeral with indicia 51, 52 demonstrating the correct orientation.

The tactile nature of the apparatus aids learning by making a physical link between the abstract markings of letters on a page and the physical form of those letters. By tracing the stencil shape 11 users learn the motor skills necessary to form the shape on a writing surface. The stencil shape 11 may take the form of letters or numerals from any alphabet. The indicia 12, 15, 31, 32, 41, 42, 43, 44 provide visual affordance that the correct orientation has been chosen. The indicia can be varied depending on the background and attainment of the user. In some embodiments only textual indicia may be used. In other embodiments only pictorial indicia may be used. In other embodiments visual stimulation can be provided by the use of for example coloured, embossed or engraved indicia. The apparatus also teaches the user to recognise and be able to differentiate the rotational and reflectional relationships between otherwise similar letters and numerals. The apparatus 10 is designed such that it can be made small enough for the user to carry with them to use as required.

Claims

Claims 1. A stencil teaching aid comprising a substantially planar apparatus having through its short axis a hole and upon whose planar faces are arranged a plurality of indicia that may be used to orientate said hole.
2. An apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the outline of the hole describes one or more letters of an alphabet.
3. An apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the outline of the hole describes one or more numerals.
4. An apparatus according to claim 1 wherein such indicia are textual.
5. An apparatus according to claim 1 wherein such indicia are pictorial.
6. An apparatus according to claim 4 or claim 5 wherein such indicia are printed on the planar surfaces.
7. An apparatus according to claim 4 or claim 5 wherein such indicia are embossed on the planar surfaces.
8. An apparatus according to claim 4 or claim 5 wherein such indicia are engraved into the planar surfaces.
9. An apparatus according to claim 6, claim 7 or claim 8 wherein said apparatus is constructed from a wooden material.
10. An apparatus according to claim 6, claim 7 or claim 8 wherein said apparatus is constructed from a polymer material.
11. An apparatus according to claim 6, claim 7 or claim 8 wherein said apparatus is constructed from a metal.
12. An apparatus according to claim 6, claim 7 or claim 8 wherein said apparatus is constructed from a composite material.