Title: Educational Uses of WordNet
Performer(s):
George A Miller
Cognitive Science Lab
Princeton University
Princeton, NJ 08544
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Cluster: EAGIL
Contact Information:
Phone: 609-258-5973
Fax: 609-258-1113
email: geo@clarity.princeton.edu
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1. Instructional Focus:
Content areas/topics: English, language arts, vocabulary acquisition.
Process skills: Individual instruction.
2. Target Population: Students 4-12.
3. Summary Description: READER is a computer supported system using software programs that integrate a text with a lexical database (WordNet). Each substantive word in the text has been associated with its context appropriate meaning in the lexical database. READER displays the text for the student, who can put the cursor on any word and click; a window opens showing the desired information. It is also possible to search the text for particular words or concepts. The system can be used with any text that has been semantically tagged, but at the present time the system can be demonstrated only for Stephen CraneÕs ÒRed Badge of CourageÓ and for two chapters of a textbook on the basics of space flight.
4. Training and Staff Development:
- Teacher prerequisite skills/knowledge needed: Language arts and reading instruction skills.
- Student prerequisite skills needed: Ability to read and familiarity with keyboard and mouse input to a computer.
- Training needed/provided: None.
- Technical support needed/provided: None specified.
5. Technological Resources Needed: At present the system runs only on Sun workstations, but we are presently porting it to a pentium-based PC.
6. Intended Outcomes:
Students: The ease of finding word meanings should improve reading comprehension and contribute to the growth of vocabulary. It is anticipated that READER will be especially useful for learning technical subjects, where a great deal of the initial learning involves learning the technical vocabulary of the field.
Teachers: Teachers will have a useful tool to incorporate into the instruction.
7. Instructional Time Required: Not yet determined.
8. Role of the Pilot Teacher(s): Pilot teachers not required.
9. Example(s) of the Use of this Product (Scenario): Mary brings up READER with a simple command like "rbc-reader" (for reading the Red Badge of Courage). A page of the text of the book appears on the screen of the computer, looking much like a printed page in a book. If this is Mary's first use, the first page will appear; if it is not, the computer will remember where she left off. As she reads, she encounters an unfamiliar word that is important to the meaning of the text. By moving the cursor to that word and clicking on it, she creates a new window that contains a definition of the word; the definition gives only the meaning of the word that is appropriate for the particular context she is reading. If Mary is interested in other senses of the word, she clicks on a button labeled "All Senses" and then scrolls through them in order, from the most common to the rarest sense. When she decides that a particular page will be important for the report she plans to write, Mary "turns down the corner" of that page, intending to return to it later. When she has read a page, she moves the cursor to an arrow at the top of the page and advances to the next page; she suddenly decides to refer back, and so clicks on the opposing arrow to go back one page. When the time for reading expires, Mary quits READER and turns to other work.
