Patent Application
20220383768
Not Applicable.
The present invention relates generally to a training device used in the instruction of reading skill to young students. More particularly, the present invention is related to an electronic flashcard device for teaching sight words.
In the beginning stages of primary education, students are instructed in reading through the introduction of letter sounds (phonemic awareness) and through the introduction of sight words. The term “sight words”, as used herein, refers to the words that are the most frequently used in the English language and which may have irregular spelling or otherwise lack phonetic spelling such that students must memorize or otherwise learn to recognize these words on sight, hence “sight words”. Examples of such sight words include, but are not limited to “I”, “me”, “like”, “the”, “see”, “you”, “your”, etc. There are over 100 sight words that young students are required to learn in the early stages of learning to read.
A traditional method of teaching students how to identify sight words is through the use of flashcards. Such flashcards traditionally include a single word on the face of the card. The instruction technique for a teacher, parent, or other adult to show the student the word and then read the word aloud. Instruction with flashcards requires repetition to ensure retention, which can require an overwhelming time commitment and can lead to frustrations for both the instructors and students when the words on the cards cannot be readily retained. Many times, no matter how many times the flashcards are used, the students cannot retain the information.
One cause for this problem with the traditional flashcard approach is that it does not accommodate all learning styles. Flashcards are geared mostly towards visual learners. As the term is used herein, “visual learners” refers to students who learn more effectively when they can see the information being presented in front of them. Other learning styles preferentially receive information through other modes, and thus are not best served by visual lessons like flashcards.
Another problem with the traditional flashcard approach is that the instructor, be it teach, parent, or other adult, must be present when using flashcards to ensure students are saying the correct word.
There exists a need to improve upon the traditional flashcard instruction technique in order to better accommodate students with diverse learning style as well as to reduce the time demand on instructors.
This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that is further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter. The present invention is defined by the claims.
The present invention is directed towards an innovative electronic flashcard that can say, spell, sing, and record the word with a push of a button. This product is to accommodate diverse learning styles with auditory, visual, and kinesthetic accommodations. Each electronic flashcard may have a series buttons to allow children to hear the word, spell the word with each letter lighting up. As the incorporation of songs is an important tool for teaching young students, the flashcards may sing a kid-friendly song that goes with each of the sight words, allowing for dance and movement to increase engagement in the lesson. The present invention may allow students to record themselves saying, singing, and/or spelling the subject sight word. The letters displayed on the flashcards may also include a tactile aspect. By incorporating multiple modes of communication for instruction, the present invention may accommodate many more students with diverse learning styles.
The present invention is described in detail below with reference to the attached drawing figures, wherein:
Some embodiments of the present invention are described with specificity herein to meet statutory requirements. However, the scope of the invention is not intended to be defined by the description itself. The claimed subject matter may be embodied as to include different features, elements, components, steps, or combinations of steps, similar to those described herein, and in combination with other existing or future technologies. Moreover, although the term “step” might be used to connote different elements of the methods employed, this term should not be interpreted as implying any particular order among or between various steps herein disclosed unless and except the order of individual steps is explicitly described or required.
Embodiments of the present invention may include a speaker or other audio output functionality enabled to reproduce sound, music and/or speech. Embodiments of the present invention may include a microphone or other audio input functionality as well as a read/write memory operable to store and reproduce audio data such as recordings of the student's voice.
Embodiments of the present invention may include a power source, such as a battery or the like. In some embodiments of the present invention, the power source may provide recharging functionality. One having skill in the art will recognize there are a variety of means for providing this recharging functionality, including, but not limited to, removable batteries or battery packs to be charged outside of the electronic flashcards, for instance, by docking with a charging station. Alternatively, the electronic flashcard may include a power cord adaptor to permit the power source to remain within the electronic flashcard be recharged via a power cord. One having skill in the art will recognize that many further recharging arrangements are possible.
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With continued reference to
Embodiments of the present invention may be implemented as a computer system.
The computer system 800 also may include random access memory (RAM) 808, which may be synchronous RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous dynamic RAM (SDRAM), or the like. The computer system 800 may utilize RAM 808 to store the various data structures used by a software application. The computer system 800 may also include read only memory (ROM) 806 which may be PROM, EPROM, EEPROM, optical storage, or the like. The ROM may store configuration information for booting the computer system 800. The RAM 808 and the ROM 806 hold user and system data, and both the RAM 808 and the ROM 806 may be randomly accessed.
The computer system 800 may also include an input/output (I/O) adapter 810, a communications adapter 814, a user interface adapter 816, and a display adapter 822. The I/O adapter 810 and/or the user interface adapter 816 may, in certain embodiments, enable a user to interact with the computer system 800. In a further embodiment, the display adapter 822 may display a graphical user interface (GUI) associated with a software or web-based application on a display device 824, such as a monitor or touch screen.
The I/O adapter 810 may couple one or more storage devices 812, such as one or more of a hard drive, a solid state storage device, a flash drive, a compact disc (CD) drive, a floppy disk drive, and a tape drive, to the computer system 800. According to one embodiment, the data storage 812 may be a separate server coupled to the computer system 800 through a network connection to the I/O adapter 810. The communications adapter 814 may be adapted to couple the computer system 800 to the network 708, which may be one or more of a LAN, WAN, and/or the Internet. The communications adapter 814 may also be adapted to couple the computer system 800 to other networks such as a global positioning system (GPS) or a Bluetooth network. The user interface adapter 816 couples user input devices, such as a keyboard 820, a pointing device 818, and/or a touch screen (not shown) to the computer system 800. The keyboard 820 may be an on-screen keyboard displayed on a touch panel. Additional devices (not shown) such as a camera, microphone, video camera, accelerometer, compass, and or gyroscope may be coupled to the user interface adapter 816. The display adapter 822 may be driven by the CPU 802 to control the display on the display device 824. Any of the devices 802-822 may be physical and/or logical.
The applications of the present disclosure are not limited to the architecture of computer system 800. Rather the computer system 800 is provided as an example of one type of computing device that may be adapted to perform the functions of a server 702 and/or the user interface device 710. For example, any suitable processor-based device may be utilized including, without limitation, personal data assistants (PDAs), tablet computers, smartphones, computer game consoles, and multi-processor servers. Moreover, the systems and methods of the present disclosure may be implemented on application specific integrated circuits (ASIC), very large scale integrated (VLSI) circuits, state machine digital logic-based circuitry, or other circuitry.
The embodiments described herein are implemented as logical operations performed by a computer. The logical operations of these various embodiments of the present invention are implemented (1) as a sequence of computer implemented steps or program modules running on a computing system and/or (2) as interconnected machine modules or hardware logic within the computing system. The implementation is a matter of choice dependent on the performance requirements of the computing system implementing the invention. Accordingly, the logical operations making up the embodiments of the invention described herein can be variously referred to as operations, steps, or modules. As such, persons of ordinary skill in the art may utilize any number of suitable electronic devices and similar structures capable of executing a sequence of logical operations according to the described embodiments. For example, the computer system 800 may be virtualized for access by multiple users and/or applications.
In another example, hardware in a computer system may be virtualized through a hypervisor.
If implemented in firmware and/or software, the functions described above may be stored as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium. Examples include non-transitory computer-readable media encoded with a data structure and computer-readable media encoded with a computer program. Computer-readable media includes physical computer storage media. A storage medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer. By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readable media can comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer. Disk and disc includes compact discs (CD), laser discs, optical discs, digital versatile discs (DVD), floppy disks and blu-ray discs. Generally, disks reproduce data magnetically, and discs reproduce data optically. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.
In addition to storage on computer readable medium, instructions and/or data may be provided as signals on transmission media included in a communication apparatus. For example, a communication apparatus may include a transceiver having signals indicative of instructions and data. The instructions and data are configured to cause one or more processors to implement the functions outlined in the claims.
Embodiments of the present invention have been described, as required by statute, to be illustrative, but should not be interpreted to be restrictive. One having skill in the art will recognize that many different arrangements of the various components depicted are possible without departing from the scope of the claims below, as well as arrangements including components not explicitly shown.
One having skill in the art will understand that certain combinations and/or sub-combinations of elements and features are of utility and may be employed without reference to other combinations and/or sub-combinations and are contemplated within the scope of the claims. Not all steps listed in the various figures need be carried out in the specific order described.
