Project description:

What is Precision Teaching?
Precision teaching can be a significant aid to student learning. It is an approach that has a number of core features: breaking down complex tasks into small components to be taught individually, training for fluency as well as accuracy, the use of timed practice sessions, the visual presentation of progress to give feedback to both the learner and the teacher, and the tailoring of practice materials to the progress of individual children.

Precision teaching (PT) is a systematic method of monitoring and evaluating learning used to achieve mastery, maintenance and generalisation of basic skills such as reading, mathematics and language (Binder, 1988). PT adopts ‘fluency’ as the benchmark for mastery. Fluency is ‘the fluid combination of accuracy plus speed that characterises competent performance’ (Binder, 1996, p. 164).

We wish to design an app to implement the precision teaching approach.

Who is it for?
This app would be helpful for with children with literacy difficulties. It may particularly appeal to teachers and parents of children with autism, Down Syndrome and intellectual disability.

Functional Requirements of a Precision Teaching App

The app should have four modules:
1. User input
2. Teach
3. Test
4. Feedback

1. User input module
• Allow the user to choose between a default list of words and images or to input a customised list of words and images to be learned by the child.
• Allow photographs relating to the words to be taken by the user on the device or imported from the camera roll.

2. Teach
• Present the words and pictures in the See and Learn format:
o Present each of the target words with corresponding pictures and the target words in isolation. They should say the target word aloud as each word and corresponding picture is presented (Child matches word:picture and word)
o Present duplicates of the target words in a randomised manner. The app should say the target words aloud as they are presented (child matches word to word)
o Present the target words and ask the child to select a named word from a group of words.
o Name each of the target word presented in written form only.
o Provide feedback to the child throughout.

• Allow the child to trace the word on the screen. The design of this aspect of the app would require discussion with the programming team.

3. Test
• Instructions screen: describe activity to teacher and child – (choice to proceed to main test or run a practice trial)
• Present the target words in isolation in a randomised order for the duration of one minute.
• Allow the child/teacher/parent to tap the screen to present a new word.
• Record any errors or omissions while the child reads.
• Stop when one minute has lapsed.

4. Feedback
• Display a chart with the child’s accuracy (correct and incorrect responses) and speed scores.
• Collate and graph the child’s scores each day to enable evaluation of progress.
• Provide accuracy scores per word to guide the teaching plan.
• Suggest words to review.

User controllable features
• The user should be able to pause the reading program if interrupted.
• The user should be able to cancel the current test without saving the data.
• Scalability requirements – how many words can be included in the list.
• Data output of latencies / accuracy as csv file.