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FLASHCARD ARITHMETIC USERS' GUIDE FlashCard Arithmetic Ver 3.5 Copyright (c) January 1992 by Ed Oliver ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Table of Contents Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Installation and Use . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Using FLASHCRD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Using FLASHCFG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Student List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Edit Student Profile. . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Teaching Hints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Problems and Questions . . . . . . . . . . 8 New Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 What is ShareWare? . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Registration Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Registration Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Site License Agreement . . . . . . . . . . 11 Disclaimer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 -0- FLASHCARD ARITHMETIC USERS' GUIDE OVERVIEW: The FLASHCARD software family helps a student practice her arithmetic facts. Originally developed simply to improve speed, we found it useful as an initial teaching tool as well. The student signs on by typing her name and may choose from a menu of activities. Addition Subtraction Multiplication Division Addition / Subtraction Mixed Multiplication / Division Mixed All Four Mixed Change Colors Sign on Again Choosing ADDITION, for example, she sees a screen with up to 100 problems arrayed at the left. Beginning with the first problem, each one is highlighted and reproduced in a large window at the right. As the student types the correct answer, the next problem pops up. If an error is made, a CLUE window appears to help the student visualize the problem. FLASHCARD offers full flexibility to the teacher or parent in tailoring program presentation, performance and feedback to each student's individual needs. Parent/teacher sets the following control parameters for each student by name: - Colors: Any item in FLASHCARD can be set to any available color. - Difficulty: You set the range of values for top and bottom numbers. You can let the student concentrate on her fours in multiplication, for example. - Size of task: You set the number of problems to be done at one sitting (up to 100) - Problem Order: You decide if the student sees problems in order (1+1, 1+2, 1+3, 1+4, etc) or mixed up. - Timer: You may specify a maximum time limit per problem. - Sound: You set the extent and type of audio feedback. The function which lets you configure FLASHCARD for each individual student is menu driven for ease of use, with simple displays and context sensitive help information. FLASHCARD also records a history of every student's progress in a text file called PROGRESS. You may review, print or delete the PROGRESS file at any time. -1- FLASHCARD ARITHMETIC USERS' GUIDE SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: FLASHCARD requires MS-DOS 2.0 version 3.3 or greater; IBM PC/AT or compatible; at least 256K of available RAM; EGA or better video adapter and monitor. A hard drive makes it faster, but is not essential. FLASHCARD is written in Turbo Pascal and uses standard Turbo I/O drivers. INSTALLATION AND USE: You should have received seven files in the FLASHCARD bundle. FLASHCRD.EXE program file for student interaction FLASHCFG.EXE program file for teacher/parent use FLASH.CFG data file used by programs FLASH.HLP data file used by programs FLASH.DOC this document FLASH.REG registration form from page 10 FLASH.SIT site license agreement from page 11 If FLASH.HLP is missing, you will not have help information available when you are using the programs. If FLASH.CFG is missing, you will have to start from scratch in setting up student profile information. When you run FLASHCRD.EXE the first time it produces another file called PROGRESS. FLASHCFG.EXE produces a file called FLASH.CFG. To install FLASHCARD on a diskette or hard disk simply copy all four files to the disk. When you execute the command FLASHCRD the student arithmetic practice program will start. The command FLASHCFG starts the program you use to set up student profiles. -2- FLASHCARD ARITHMETIC USERS' GUIDE USING FLASHCRD: Once you enter the command FLASHCRD, you will see a screen which asks you to type your name. A student named JACOB would then type Jacob (capitalization does not matter) and press Enter. FLASHCRD takes the signon name and searches the FLASH.CFG file to see if the student is defined. If so, it loads his profile information. If not, it uses a default profile. The default profile is suitable if a student already knows the facts and just needs practice. All this happens in the blink of an eye and the student next sees a menu which offers nine choices. 1 Addition 2 Subtraction 3 Multiplication 4 Division 5 Add / Subtract Mixed 6 Multiply / Divide Mixed 7 All Mixed Up 8 Change Colors 9 Sign On Again The student may now: - press Esc to exit the program. No more action taken. - press 1, 2, 3, or 4. She will attack up to 100 problems of the variety chosen, according to the rules set within FLASHCFG. - press 6, 7, 8. She faces up to 100 problems of mixed persuasion as requested, still following the rules. - press 8. The color selection menu appears to let the student experiment with different color combinations. Colors selected here are not saved permanently. When the student finds the perfect combination, the teacher/parent makes that selection permanent with the FLASHCFG program. - press 9. The signon screen appears again and the student can type in a name. -3- FLASHCARD ARITHMETIC USERS' GUIDE USING FLASHCFG: STUDENT LIST: When you enter the command FLASHCFG you are going to see a list of students already defined in the FLASH.CFG file. The original file includes several sample student definitions, although the names aren't very imaginative. You use the arrow keys, Home, End, and PgUp and PgDown to move the highlighter to different names on the list. As you look at the list, you have several choices noted on the function bar at the bottom of the screen. When you have the right student name highlighted, you may - Press F1: it will always provide help information. - Press D: it will delete the highlighted student from the list. Don't worry, it gives you one chance to change your mind. - Press A: you will be asked for a new student name to add. The profile information of the highlighted student will be used as a starting point for the new student. You will then be shown the screen where you can edit this profile information. - Press E: you will see the screen where you edit the profile information for the highlighted student. There you can change profile values or pop up the color selection menu to change the colors the student will see in FLASHCRD. - Press S: the program will write the changed list of students back to the FLASH.CFG file. The old FLASH.CFG file is renamed to FLASH.CFX. If you decided to undo your changes you could delete FLASH.CFG and rename FLASH.CFX back to FLASH.CFG. If you do not use S to save your changes, they will be lost when you exit the FLASHCFG program. - Press Esc. The program ends. If you did not save your changes to the FLASH.CFG file by pressing S the changes will be forgotten. -4- FLASHCARD ARITHMETIC USERS' GUIDE EDIT STUDENT PROFILE: The student profile screen in FLASHCFG shows the student's name at the top. There are 32 fields which can be modified--eight each for addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. You can also press C to pop up the color editor to change the colors for that student. Press F1 to see general help info. Use the arrow keys to move the highlighter around the profile screen. When you want to change the highlighted value, press Enter. A window will pop up with all the legal choices for that value. Use the arrows again to select a new value. If you press F1 while this window of choices is up, you will get specific help information about what that value means. The function bar at the bottom of the screen shows your available choices of action. Press Esc to back out one level and discard any changes you have made. Press Enter to pop up the choices or to select a choice. Press F10 to back out to the student list and keep the changes you made. Remember, if you do not use the S option to save your changes to the FLASH.CFG file, they will be lost when you exit the program. -5- FLASHCARD ARITHMETIC USERS' GUIDE TEACHING HINTS: I have learned some things from using FLASHCRD with my children. 1. They like to be in control of their practice sessions. Knowing that they have to do it each day is enough guidance. They pick when and how fast (within limits). All I add is praise. 2. Once the facts are known, and FLASHCRD is used for practice drills, they like competition and challenge. Beating their last time and error count are events we hear about. My fifth grader learned to touch type on the numeric keypad just so he could beat me. His best time so far on 100 multiplication problems (0-9 by 0-9, random order) is 1:41. He looks at the matrix of small problems and types ahead. 3. They like to play around with color combinations to personalize the program. Humor them in this and make their favorite color scheme permanent, no matter how it looks to you. My second grader's color choices are really obnoxious, but they're all his. 4. They need monitoring. Check the progress file frequently and give them feed back. For my second grader, one session per day of 100 problems (add, subtract, or mixed) kept him on top of his addition and subtraction, and cost him less than five minutes. 5. FLASHCRD can be used to introduce new things. My second grader is learning his multiplication tables without any other input. I will discuss my different approaches to this later. 6. They like to be watched (and praised) while they speed through their work. This is time well spent. Like a new video game, they will invest extra time to get better if they think you will come back later and be impressed. 7. Watch out for low expectations. Your child will surprise you in what he wants to attempt and in what he can actually do. "That's too hard for you." is a handicap we put on our kids unfairly. I think I have very high expectations of my kids, but they constantly amaze me. Yours will too. If your second grader wants to try division, what's the harm? Just be understanding if it bewilders her, and encourage her to do other things first. 8. Don't give her so much time per problem that she can count on her fingers. That is not what we are learning here. Cut the time short enough so she has to remember the memorized fact. It is better to guess wrong and then see the reinforcing clue than to get in the habit of counting to the answer. -6- FLASHCARD ARITHMETIC USERS' GUIDE I used FLASHCRD as an introductory tool to teach multiplication to my second grader. I tried a couple of approaches to arrive at the following, which I recommend. 1. Set up two student profiles for the student. You can use a nickname (mine were JAKE and JACOB) or a number (JAKE 1 and JAKE 2). The student will do 100 problems with each profile each day, all at one sitting. This seems like a bunch, but usually takes less than 15 minutes per day. The student always does the same profile first. 2. For starters, the profiles are as follows: Name Range 1 Range 2 Total Order Time JAKE: 0 - 9 0 - 2 100 sorted 10 JACOB: 0 - 9 0 - 2 100 random 10 This lets him practice "in order" to cement the rules and give confidence, then try his wings in random order. Do this until his time for 100 random problems is under 6 minutes with 5 or fewer errors. It may only take a few days, if that. 3. When times are down, change ranges as follows. JAKE: 0 - 9 3 - 3 100 sorted 10 JACOB: 0 - 9 3 - 3 100 random 10 Look for times to drop below 6 minutes with less than 5 errors. 4. Then switch the ranges again: JAKE: 0 - 9 3 - 3 100 random 10 JACOB: 0 - 9 0 - 3 100 random 10 Look for times to drop below 6 minutes with less than 5 errors. 5. When times are down, change ranges as follows. JAKE: 0 - 9 4 - 4 100 sorted 10 JACOB: 0 - 9 4 - 4 100 random 10 Stick to this until times are down under 6 minutes. 6. Then switch the ranges again: JAKE: 0 - 9 4 - 4 100 random 10 JACOB: 0 - 9 0 - 4 100 random 10 Stick to this until times are down under 6 minutes. Notice that steps 5 and 6 are just repeats of steps 3 and 4. You simply repeat them again for each new number. The hardest numbers are 3 ,4 and 5. After that, it gets easy. When you introduce the 6's, for example, there are really just four new problems--he has seen the sixes up through 5x already. Let the student know your timing and error goals and set up some kind of recognition for achieving the goal. For example, when Jake achieves his time and error goal for step 6, I give him a couple of days of only having to do the JACOB profile. "Reward is sometimes the absence of punishment..." -7- FLASHCARD ARITHMETIC USERS' GUIDE PROBLEMS AND QUESTIONS: Please refer any problems, questions or suggestions to the author Ed Oliver 1203 Kingston Green Dr Prattville, AL 36067 (205) 361-8707 This address and phone number should be good until late June, 1992, when I expect to move. All registered users will be apprised of any change in address when it occurs. I will also periodically inform registered users of new and improved versions of FLASHCARD as well as other educational software as it becomes available. NEW PRODUCTS: Other products in the works right now include: MULTI-PLACE: walks student through multiple digit arithmetic--up to 6 digit numbers. SPELLING: shows, teaches and quizzes student on spelling and vocabulary words. Teacher/parent maintains files of words, definitions and sample sentences. Student sees definition and sample sentence--must type word. Good practice. WORD-PROBLEMS: arithmetic word problems with randomly generated names, objects and circumstances test the student's ability to pick out key words which indicate arithmetic required. MELVIN-SAYS: specific directions in randomly generated combinations test student's ability to follow simple directions. Also directly tests and reinforces reading comprehension. SING-ALONG: the computer plays the melody of popular kids' songs while the words appear on the screen with a bouncing ball in "Sing Along with Mitch" fashion. Should be a musical and fun way to help early reading skills. Subsequent versions may include music on-screen to help in sight reading. CLOCK-WATCHER: Display clock faces graphically and require matching or typing correct time. Some of these are on firmer ground than others. For example, SPELLING is alive and well at our house, while we are not sure SING-ALONG is even worth doing. Your feedback is welcome. -8- FLASHCARD ARITHMETIC USERS' GUIDE WHAT IS SHAREWARE? The user supported software concept (also referred to as shareware) is an attempt to provide software at low cost. The cost of offering a new product by conventional means is staggering, and hence dissuades many independent authors and small companies from developing and promoting their ideas. User supported software is an attempt to develop a new marketing channel, where products can be introduced at low cost. If user supported software works, then everyone will benefit. The user will benefit by receiving quality products at low cost, and by being able to "test drive" software thoroughly before purchasing it. The author benefits by being able to enter the commercial software arena without first needing large sources of venture capital. But it can only work with your support. We're not just talking about FLASHCARD here, but about all user supported software. If you find that you are still using a program after a month, then pretty obviously it is worth something to you, and you should register the program. REGISTRATION RULES: * Registration Fee for the FLASHCARD programs is $10. * No one but the author may sell the FLASHCARD programs. * You may copy and distribute the FLASHCARD programs only if: - All program files remain unaltered and are kept together. - No attempt is made to sell FLASHCARD, or to profit from it. - The program is not bundled with any other transactions. * Anyone interested in distributing the FLASHCARD programs under other arrangements should contact the author. * If you use the FLASHCARD programs for more than one month, you must register with the author. * Schools and child care facilities may register multiple copies at volume discounts: 2 to 9 copies $8 each 10 to 19 copies $6 each 20 to 49 copies $4 each 50 to 99 copies $3 each over 99 copies $300 one time fee * When you send in the registration form, you may specify a personalized note to be included in the software. Where the evaluation copy says "ShareWare....Evaluation Only....Pay for it" your registered version will say instead "Registered with love by ______ for ________" or whatever message you request at the bottom of your registration form. -9- FLASHCARD ARITHMETIC USERS' GUIDE REGISTRATION FORM I wish to purchase: (_) Single license for private use of FLASHCARD ( $10 -- includes 1 360K diskette) (_) Site License for use of FLASHCARD on ___ computers 2 to 9 - $8 each 10 to 19 - $6 each 20 to 49 - $4 each 50 to 99 - $3 each over 99 - $300 one time fee (_) ___ Additional program diskettes of latest FLASHCARD ( $1 per 360K diskette) (_) Payment $ ______ enclosed (check or money order). _______________________________________________ Name _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ Address ______________________ ________ ____________ City State Zip Personal Note: ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ Send this completed form to: Ed Oliver 1203 Kingston Green Dr Prattville, AL 36067 For program disk orders outside the U.S., please add an additional $5, and enclose an international money order payable in U.S. currency. For commercial site license orders, please enclose a signed copy of the site license agreement. -10- FLASHCARD ARITHMETIC USERS' GUIDE SITE LICENSE AGREEMENT The use of FLASHCARD in a school or child care environment is encouraged within the following limits: - License fee is paid to Ed Oliver. The fee is computed based on the number of computers which will run the FLASHCARD software. - You may use FLASHCARD on the number of computers paid for by the license fee. If you paid $300, you may use FLASHCARD on as many computers as you have within a single school district, or governed by a single school board. - You can copy and distribute the program to anyone as long as you observe the guidelines listed under REGISTRATION. - You may copy the documentation as you like. - You may upgrade your entire site to the latest version of FLASHCARD at any time for $5. - Your site registration will get you one 360K 5 1/4" diskette for each ten licenses up to 100. You may make any additional copies you wish or you may buy extra diskettes at $1 each. I agree to abide by the terms and conditions of this license. _____________________________ __________________________ Signature Date _____________________________ Name (please print or type) _____________________________ Title _____________________________ Company DISCLAIMER: The author disclaims all warranties expressed or implied as to the quality or performance of this program. The author will not be held liable for any lost profits, lost savings or any other direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages resulting from the use of this program. Your use of this program constitutes your agreement to this disclaimer and your release of the author from any form of liability or litigation. -11-