Methods and systems for education and cognitive-skills training

• US 20070080500A1
• Filed: 10/12/2005
• Published: 04/12/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 10/12/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Susan Kano
• Original Assignee: Lexia Learning Systems, Inc. (Rosetta Stone Incorporated)
• Inventors: Kano, Susan
• Granted Patent: US 7,470,126 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 273/430
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 1/32 comprising elements to be used without a special support

Abstract

Methods and systems are provided for educational and cognitive-skills training. A method of educating a user includes an act of organizing a plurality of clues in a book. At least one search including selected clues from the plurality of clues is included in the book. The search is conducted in the book, and each of the plurality of clues is associated with a location in the book. A location associated with a selected clue is unpredictable to a user. The user determines the solution to a preceding clue to locate the selected clue.

Claims

1. A book for developing one or more educational skills, the book comprising:

clues located in the book; and

a plurality of solutions, wherein a plurality of the clues are associated with a solution to another clue,

wherein at least some of the plurality of clues appear in the book along with the solution with which they are associated, and

wherein a location of at least some of the plurality of clues within the book is unpredictable to a user of the book.

2. The book of claim 1, wherein the plurality of solutions are words organized alphabetically within the book.

3. The book of claim 1, wherein the plurality of solutions are numbers organized numerically within the book.

4. The book of claim 1, further comprising at least one aid for the user.

5. The book of claim 4, wherein the at least one aid for the user comprises a pronunciation aid.

6. The book of claim 4, wherein a search comprises clues selected from the plurality of clues.

7. The book of claim 6, wherein the at least one aid for the user comprises indicia identifying the search.

8. The book of claim 6, wherein the search is a treasure hunt, and wherein a prize is associated with a successful completion of the search.

9. The book of claim 6, wherein the at least one aid for the user comprises a list of possible solutions including solutions used in the search.

10. The book of claim 6, further comprising a first section and a second section, wherein a starting clue for the search is located in the first section and remaining clues in the search are located in the second section.

11. The book of claim 10, further comprising a plurality of searches and a plurality of starting clues, wherein the plurality of starting clues are located in the first section.

12. The book of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of searches, and wherein each search is associated with a skill level.

13. The book of claim 12, wherein the skill level is a reading skill level, and wherein the solutions employed in each search are words selected based on a vocabulary of the user.

14. The book of claim 12, wherein the book is also used for developing at least one cognitive skill.

15. The book of claim 12, wherein the user performs a search selected from the plurality of searches based on an assessed skill level of the user.

16. The book of claim 6, wherein the book includes at least one aid for an instructor.

17. The book of claim 16, wherein the aid for the instructor comprises review material to be reviewed with a student before the student begins the search.

18. The book of claim 1, further comprising instructions to the user for creating evidence of a successfully completed search.

19. A book comprising:

a plurality of clues located in the book,

wherein at least one search comprising selected clues from the plurality of clues can be performed within the book, and

wherein locations of the selected clues within the book are unpredictable to a user of the book.

20. The book of claim 19, further comprising an organized group of identifiers wherein a plurality of identifiers among the organized group are individually located with a clue from the plurality of clues.

21. The book of claim 19, wherein at least one of the selected clues is associated with a first identifier with which it appears in the book, and a second identifier that solves the at least one of the selected clues.

22. The book of claim 19, further comprising an image of an environment, wherein the image includes a plurality of objects.

23. The book of claim 19, wherein each of the selected clues appears on a separate page with an identifier used to solve an immediately preceding clue in the search.

24. The book of claim 19, wherein the plurality of clues includes a starting clue to begin the at least one search, and wherein a location of the starting clue is known to the user.

25. A method of educating a user, comprising acts of:

organizing a plurality of clues in a book; and

providing at least one search including selected clues from the plurality of clues,

wherein the at least one search is conducted in the book,

wherein each of the plurality of clues is associated with a location in the book, and

wherein a location associated with a selected clue is unpredictable to a user.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein locations of a majority of the selected clues are unpredictable to the user.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the user determines the locations of the majority of the selected clues by solving one or more preceding clues in the search and locating solutions to the one or more preceding clues.

28. The method of claim 25, further comprising acts of:

associating each of the plurality of clues with an identifier;

solving a first clue in the search by identifying a solution to the first clue which is associated with a location of a second clue in the search; and

solving the second clue by identifying a solution to the second clue which is associated with a location of a third clue in the search.

29. The method of claim 28, further comprising acts of:

locating an identifier that is the solution to the first clue from among a group of identifiers organized in the book; and

locating an identifier that is the solution to the second clue from among the group of identifiers.

30. The method of claim 28, further comprising an act of providing a location of a starting clue used to begin the search.

31. The method of claim 25, further comprising acts of:

providing the user a first clue associated with an identifier that is a first word; and

providing the user a second clue associated with an identifier that is a second word,

wherein the second word is a solution to the first clue.

32. The method of claim 25, further comprising an act of:

performing a search by locating a clue from the plurality of clues by identifying a solution that solves a previous clue in the search,

wherein the search is a treasure hunt.

33. The method of claim 25, further comprising acts of:

providing a plurality of searches including clues selected from the plurality of clues;

locating a plurality of starting clues for the plurality of searches together in a first section of the book; and

locating remaining clues included in the plurality of searches in a second section of the book.

34. The method of claim 25, further comprising an act of instructing a user to create evidence of a successfully completed search.

35. The method of claim 34, further comprising an act of awarding a prize to a user who submits the evidence of the successfully completed search.