Method and electronic calculating device for teaching arithmetic
First Claim
1. A method for teaching arithmetic on an electronic calculating device having a processor, input means and a display, comprising the steps of:
- receiving, via said input means, a selection of first and second operands and of an arithmetical operation to be performed upon said first and second operands, the arithmetical operation being addition;
displaying upon said display the first operand as a first collection of icons whose number is equal to the first operand;
displaying upon said display the second operand as a second collection of icons whose number is equal to the second operand;
displaying upon said display a grid for facilitating visualization of a computed answer to said arithmetical operation in a base ten format, said grid comprising multiple rows or columns of ten cells each to represent said base ten format, each occupied cell representing a unit of one in the computed answer, the cells initially being unoccupied;
using the processor, moving the icons of the first collection to occupy cells of the grid, each icon occupying a single cell, said occupying being performed row by row or column by column and resulting in one row or column respectively being only partially occupied by icons, the number of occupied cells in the partially occupied row or column being equal to the ones place value of the first operand;
using the processor, regrouping the icons of the second collection into two groups, the first group containing a number of icons equal to the number of unoccupied cells in the partially occupied row or column, the second group containing the remaining icons of the second collection and being made visually distinct from the first group;
using the processor, moving the icons of the first group to the unoccupied cells of the partially occupied row or column so as to create a fully occupied row or column, each icon of the first group occupying a single cell; and
using the processor, and following a noticeable pause after the moving of the icons of the first group, moving the icons of the second group to partially occupy the next row or column, each icon of the second group occupying a single cell,wherein said moving of the icons of the second group provides a visualization of arithmetic carry-over and wherein the pause enhances the visualization of the arithmetic carry-over or of the regrouping.
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Abstract
A method of teaching basic arithmetical calculations is embodied in a novelty electronic graphic calculating device having a user interface for displaying method steps. The method involves displaying two or more collections of individual icons associated with two or more operands; selecting an arithmetical operation to be performed on the two or more operands; regrouping the individual icons into a collection of individual icons associated with an answer to the operation on the operands; and, displaying the collection of individual icons associated with the answer in sets having a maximum of ten icons each. The method permits visual regrouping and carry-over for teaching and learning mental computation of the four basic arithmetic skills of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.
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Citations
21 Claims
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1. A method for teaching arithmetic on an electronic calculating device having a processor, input means and a display, comprising the steps of:
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receiving, via said input means, a selection of first and second operands and of an arithmetical operation to be performed upon said first and second operands, the arithmetical operation being addition; displaying upon said display the first operand as a first collection of icons whose number is equal to the first operand; displaying upon said display the second operand as a second collection of icons whose number is equal to the second operand; displaying upon said display a grid for facilitating visualization of a computed answer to said arithmetical operation in a base ten format, said grid comprising multiple rows or columns of ten cells each to represent said base ten format, each occupied cell representing a unit of one in the computed answer, the cells initially being unoccupied; using the processor, moving the icons of the first collection to occupy cells of the grid, each icon occupying a single cell, said occupying being performed row by row or column by column and resulting in one row or column respectively being only partially occupied by icons, the number of occupied cells in the partially occupied row or column being equal to the ones place value of the first operand; using the processor, regrouping the icons of the second collection into two groups, the first group containing a number of icons equal to the number of unoccupied cells in the partially occupied row or column, the second group containing the remaining icons of the second collection and being made visually distinct from the first group; using the processor, moving the icons of the first group to the unoccupied cells of the partially occupied row or column so as to create a fully occupied row or column, each icon of the first group occupying a single cell; and using the processor, and following a noticeable pause after the moving of the icons of the first group, moving the icons of the second group to partially occupy the next row or column, each icon of the second group occupying a single cell, wherein said moving of the icons of the second group provides a visualization of arithmetic carry-over and wherein the pause enhances the visualization of the arithmetic carry-over or of the regrouping. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. A method of teaching arithmetic using an electronic calculating device having a processor, a display and input means, said method comprising:
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receiving, via said input means, user input indicative of first and second operands and an arithmetical operation to be performed upon said operands, said operation being one of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division; displaying upon said display the first operand as a first collection of icons whose number is equal to the first operand; displaying upon said display the second operand as a second collection of icons whose number is equal to the second operand; displaying upon said display a grid for facilitating visualization of a computed answer to said arithmetical operation in a base ten format, said grid comprising multiple rows or columns of ten cells each to represent said base ten format, each occupied cell representing a unit of one in the computed answer, the cells initially being unoccupied; using the icons of said first and second collections, occupying cells within said display grid with icons to visually represent said answer, each of said cells being occupied by at most one icon, said occupying resulting in a total number of icons within said grid that is equal to said computed answer; wherein said occupying comprises regrouping the icons from the second collection into two groups, the second group being made visually distinct from the first group, the first and second groups occupying adjacent rows or columns respectively of the grid in order to provide a visualization of arithmetic carry-over, wherein said occupying further comprises moving the first group of icons and, after a noticeable pause, moving the second group of icons, said pause enhancing the visualization of arithmetic carry-over or of said regrouping, wherein the regrouping, the moving of the first group of icons, and the moving of the second group of icons are performed using the processor. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method of teaching arithmetic using an electronic calculating device comprising a processor, input means and a display, the method comprising:
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receiving, via said input means, user input indicative of first and second operands and of an arithmetical operation to be performed upon said first and second operands, the arithmetical operation being subtraction, the first operand being a minuend greater than ten, the second operand being a subtrahend that, when subtracted from said minuend, will result in a difference that is a positive number less than ten; displaying upon said display the minuend as a collection of icons whose number is equal to the minuend; displaying upon said display a grid for facilitating visualization of a computed answer to said arithmetical operation in a base ten format, said grid comprising multiple rows or columns of ten cells each to represent said base ten format, the cells initially being unoccupied; using the processor, moving the icons of the collection to occupy cells within the grid, each icon occupying a single cell, said occupying being performed row by row or column by column and resulting in at least one row or column respectively being completely occupied by icons and exactly one row or column being only partially occupied by icons, wherein the number of occupied cells in the partially occupied row or column is equal to the ones place value of the minuend; using the processor, changing an appearance of a subset of the icons within the grid in order to represent the subtrahend, the number of icons in the subset being equal to the subtrahend, the subset including the icons of the partially occupied row or column and one or more icons of an adjacent row or column, so as to provide a visualization of arithmetic carry-over, wherein the changed appearance of the icons of the partially occupied row or column differs from the changed appearance of the one or more icons of the adjacent row or column to enhance the visualization of arithmetic carry-over. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19)
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20. An electronic calculating device for use in teaching arithmetic, the device comprising:
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input means; a display; a central processing unit; and memory storing software that, upon execution by said central processing unit, causes said device to; receive, via said input means, user input indicative of first and second operands and an arithmetical operation to be performed upon said operands, said operation being one of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division; display upon said display the first operand as a first collection of icons whose number is equal to the first operand; display upon said display the second operand as a second collection of icons whose number is equal to the second operand; display upon said display a grid for facilitating visualization of a computed answer to said arithmetical operation in a base ten format, said grid being made up of multiple rows or columns of ten cells each to represent said base ten format, each occupied cell representing a unit of one in the computed answer, the cells initially being unoccupied; using the icons of said first and second collections, occupy cells within said display grid with icons to visually represent said answer, each of said cells being occupied by at most one icon, said occupying resulting in a total number of icons within said grid that is equal to said computed answer, wherein said occupying comprises regrouping the icons from the second collection into two groups, the second group being made visually distinct from the first group, the first and second groups occupying adjacent rows or columns respectively of the grid in order to provide a visualization of arithmetic carry-over, and wherein there is a noticeable pause between the occupying by the first group and the occupying by the second group. - View Dependent Claims (21)
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Specification