Education and demonstration – Means for demonstrating apparatus – product – or surface... – Chalkboard or equivalent means having easily erasable surface
Patent
1993-08-20
1996-11-19
Apley, Richard J.
Education and demonstration
Means for demonstrating apparatus, product, or surface...
Chalkboard or equivalent means having easily erasable surface
434178, 434308, 434309, G09B 500
Patent
active
055756590
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to document interpreting systems and is especially applicable to such systems for assisting learning of reading or pronunciation or understanding of words, phrases or sentences or interpretation of drawings, pictures, etc. It should be understood that the term "document" covers any printed matter or indeed any written or drawn matter, and in particular includes books.
For effective learning, particularly of language, it is most helpful for a student to have the advantage of considerable attention, if not full time attention, of a teacher. For example, a young child will often learn to read by looking at a book containing pictures and corresponding words with an adult reading the words as the child follows the words and looks at the associated pictures. Thus the mind of the child is focusing on an image depicting something, is being given the spoken word and is seeing the written word. Furthermore, from the context the child is absorbing the word within the scope of a grammatical structure and is gathering the meaning, either from the pictures if relevant or with the aid of an explanation. At any stage the teacher can discuss with the child any word or its meaning or draw to the child's attention a similar word and provide explanations and definitions of grammar and meaning, i.e. syntax and semantics.
Similarly, when a child is beginning to read, the adult can monitor the reading and provide immediate feedback on a one-to-one basis to maximise the rate at which the child gains reading skills and remembers vocabulary. The interest and motivation of the child can be maintained at high levels.
However, apart from a domestic situation, the cost of such teaching techniques make them prohibitive, yet there is a very substantial need for such additional support, particularly in the areas of adult illiteracy, foreign language teaching and remedial language teaching.
Furthermore, similar needs for feedback and flexible recapitulation of concepts, explanations and facts are needed in many other areas of education including mathematics and other science subjects. The availability to a student, of a teacher who can be requested to repeat an explanation, elaborate on some point of commentary or deal with any other relevant question is an extremely valuable resource in many situations.
It is known to assist students with e.g. tape recordings of an explanation. When such recordings are applied to the process of learning to read, a simple system is one in which a tape recording of a printed work is given to a student and the student has the opportunity of following the words, repeating segments of the tape recording and indeed recording his or her own attempts at reading the words and comparing with the tape recordings of the tutor. However, such a system is inflexible and hard to operate.
One published approach to the teaching of language is contained in PCT International publication number WO83/02188 (Merit Bond Ltd.) wherein printed text is provided with bar codes associated with at least some of the text, a manually controlled reading device being used to access the bar codes as the user may require, and an electronic processing means used to cause the apparatus to synthesise voice reproduction corresponding to the text with which the selected bar code is associated. Such a device has limitations in terms of functions fulfilled and in the special preparation required of the printed material, i.e. it cannot be used with conventional books.
Another published approach (PCT WO87/06752) in the teaching of language is one in which sets of bar codes are arranged on respective lines corresponding to lines of printed text, each bar code set when accessed causing a particular storage location from a message store to be accessed to be reproduced by a speech producer. The limitations of such a system are that a book cannot be used in its original format, since bar codes have to be added or overprinted onto the original document at the expense of text. Further, the selection of the bar code set may lead to co
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Aitken Kathleen M.
King Reginald A.
Apley Richard J.
Richman Glenn E.
Scanna Technology Limited
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