Method and system for teaching vocabulary

• US 9,852,649 B2
• Filed: 02/09/2007
• Issued: 12/26/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/13/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: MIND Research Institute
• Original Assignee: MIND Research Institute
• Inventors: Shaw, Gordon L., Bodner, Mark, Rodgers, Linda M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Yao, Sam
• Assistant Examiner(s): CARLOS, ALVIN LEABRES
• Application Number:
  US11/673,414
• Publication Number:
  US 20070134630A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,973 Days
• Field of Search: 434118, 434156, 434247, 434322, 434323, 434350, 434353, 434367, 434169
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 7/02 of the type wherein the student is expected to construct an answer to the question which is presented or wherein the machine gives an answer to the question presented by a student

Abstract

A method using a spatial-temporal software game for both teaching math concepts to a child and for scoring the child'"'"'s proficiency in these math concepts. These scores are compared with the child'"'"'s performance on a language-based test of the math concepts. If the child'"'"'s score on the language-based test is lower than what is reflected by the child'"'"'s game scores, instruction is given the child using stories and flashcards related to the spatial-temporal software games so that the child will relate vocabulary terms with the math concepts and characters in the temporal-spatial software game.

Claims

1. A method of improving a student'"'"'s score on a language-based test in a subject, the method comprising:

teaching said subject by having the student play a spatial-temporal software game executing on a computing device, the game being configured to teach the subject using animated characters, wherein the spatial-temporal software game includes motion of spatial objects controllable by student input, wherein the spatial-temporal software game is configured to require the student to identify a temporal sequence of a plurality of student input actions that manipulate the spatial objects such that certain ones of the student input actions are available to the student only after certain other student input actions have been made by the student, and wherein the temporal sequence of actions comprises an input action sequence that satisfies a game objective corresponding to at least one concept of the subject;

obtaining a score that assesses the student'"'"'s proficiency in the concepts embodied in the spatial-temporal game;

testing the student'"'"'s proficiency in said subject using a language-based test executing on the computing device which is directed to the subject taught by the spatial-temporal software,

comparing the spatial-temporal game scores assessing the student'"'"'s proficiency in the concepts with the student'"'"'s score from the language-based test to determine, via the computing device, if the test score reflects a proficiency lower than what is reflected by the student'"'"'s spatial-temporal game scores,

using the comparison of spatial-temporal game scores to language-based test scores to provide language and vocabulary instruction to said student concerning the language and vocabulary terms used in the language-based test, and

re-testing the student using a language-based test executing on the computing device.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said language and vocabulary instruction includes using flashcards involving language and vocabulary terms of said language-based test.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein said re-test of the student evaluates the performance of the student after receiving said language and vocabulary instruction.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein said re-test of the student evaluates the effectiveness of said language and vocabulary instruction.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one concept of the subject is one of addition, subtraction, multiplication, place value, fractions, measurement, probability, estimation, equations, symmetry, proportions, graphs, telling time, and ratios.

5. A computer implemented method of teaching a child math vocabulary terms that correspond to math concepts that the child learns through the use of spatial-temporal software and for increasing the child'"'"'s performance on language-based math tests, the method comprising:

executing spatial-temporal software on a computing device having a computer processor, the software comprising math concepts and one or more characters, wherein the spatial-temporal software includes motion of spatial objects controllable by student input, wherein the spatial-temporal software is configured to require the student to identify a temporal sequence of a plurality of student input actions that manipulate the spatial objects such that certain ones of the student input actions are available to the student only after certain other student input actions have been made by the student, and wherein the temporal sequence of actions comprises an input action sequence that achieves an objective corresponding to at least one of the math concepts;

generating output indicative of a story from the computing device, the story comprising the math concepts and the one or more characters; and

displaying a visual output indicative of flashcards, the flashcards comprising math vocabulary terms that correspond to the math concepts of the spatial-temporal software, wherein the flashcards associate the math concepts of the spatial-temporal software with vocabulary terms of a language-based test,

wherein the math concepts involve spatial-temporal reasoning.

6. The computer implemented method of claim 5, wherein the spatial-temporal software further comprises game concepts.

20. The computer implemented method of claim 5, additionally comprising testing the math concepts by the language-based test.

7. A non-transitory computer-readable medium containing software that, when executed, causes the computer to perform the acts of:

executing software configured to teach a subject to a student using spatial-temporal concepts, wherein the software includes motion of spatial objects that are to be interactively controlled by the student in a chosen temporal order of plural actions that satisfies an objective corresponding to at least one concept of the subject, such that certain ones of the plural actions are available to the student only after certain other actions have been made by the student; and

associating language-based concepts tested by a language-based test to corresponding spatial-temporal concepts in the software;

determining a language-based proficiency level in the subject by administering the language-based test to the student;

obtaining a spatial-temporal score that assesses the student'"'"'s proficiency in the spatial-temporal concepts; and

comparing the spatial-temporal score to the language-based proficiency level.

8. The computer-readable medium of claim 7, further containing software that, when executed, causes the computer to perform the acts of:

using the comparison of the score to the language-based proficiency level to provide language and vocabulary instruction to the student concerning the language-based concepts tested by the language-based test.

9. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein said language and vocabulary instruction includes using flashcards involving language and vocabulary terms of the language-based test.

10. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the language and vocabulary instruction includes using stories in which the language and vocabulary terms of the language-based test are associated with one or more of the animated characters used in the spatial-temporal software game.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, further containing software that, when executed, causes the computer to perform the acts of:

re-administering a language-based test to the student.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the act of re-administering a language-based test evaluates the performance of the student after receiving the language and vocabulary instruction.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the act of re-administering a language-based test evaluates the effectiveness of the language and vocabulary instruction.

21. The computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the chosen temporal order of plural actions is chosen by the student from a plurality of possible temporal orders of plural actions that satisfy the objective.

14. A system for improving a student'"'"'s score on a language-based test in a subject, comprising:

a first module configured to output data indicative of language-based concepts tested by the language-based test relating to the subject and further configured to output data indicative of spatial-temporal concepts relating to the subject, wherein the spatial-temporal concepts include motion of spatial objects controllable by student input, wherein the spatial objects are to be interactively controlled by a student in a chosen temporal order of a plurality of actions such that certain ones of the plurality of actions are available to the student only after certain other actions have been made by the student, and wherein the chosen temporal order of the plurality of actions satisfies an objective corresponding to at least one concept of the subject;

a second module configured to receive a plurality of inputs comprising a first input corresponding to data indicative of the language-based concepts and a second input corresponding to the data indicative of the spatial-temporal concepts, wherein the first input comprises a language-based proficiency level and the second input comprises a spatial-temporal proficiency level; and

a third module configured to compare the first input and the second input and, based on the comparison, output data related to the language and vocabulary terms used in the language-based test.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the output data related to the language and vocabulary terms used in the language-based test comprises displayable flashcards having language and vocabulary terms of the language-based test.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein output data related to the language and vocabulary terms used in the language-based test comprises stories in which the language and vocabulary terms of the language-based test are associated with one or more animated characters.

17. The system of claim 14, further comprising a fourth module configured to present the language-based test to a user.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein results of the language-based test are used to analyze the effectiveness of the language and vocabulary instruction.

22. The system of claim 14, wherein the chosen temporal order of a plurality of actions is one of a plurality of possible temporal orders of the plurality of actions that satisfies the objective.

23. A non-transitory computer-readable medium containing software that, when executed, causes the computer to perform the acts of:

executing software configured to teach a subject to a student using spatial-temporal concepts, wherein the software includes motion of spatial objects that are to be interactively controlled by the student in a chosen temporal order of plural actions such that certain ones of the plural actions are available to the student only after certain other actions have been made by the student, and wherein one of the spatial objects is capable of being controlled by the student independently of other spatial objects; and

associating language-based concepts tested by a language-based test to corresponding spatial-temporal concepts in the software;

determining a language-based proficiency level in the subject by administering the language-based test to the student;

obtaining a spatial-temporal score that assesses the student'"'"'s proficiency in the spatial-temporal concepts; and

comparing the spatial-temporal score to the language-based proficiency level.

24. The computer-readable medium of claim 23, wherein the chosen temporal order of plural actions comprises an input action sequence that achieves an objective corresponding to at least one concept of the subject.