FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 23, 2001
Lyceum Communications and Sunburst Technology announce that they have reached an agreement to co-publish two CD-ROMs developed for the school market: Jr. Mastery Edition (gr. 5-8) and Mastery Edition (gr. 9-12+) of the Get A Clue® Vocabulary Development Series.
Both Get A Clue CD-ROM vocabulary titles have received Eddie Awards, and the newly released Web-based version was a finalist in the Codie Awards 2001 Best School Based Secondary Education Software category, sponsored by the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA).
The Get a Clue series' unique approach to building vocabulary emphasizes inductive reasoning and other critical-thinking skills over rote memorization. Karl Small, President of Lyceum Communications, states, "Research has shown that students learn best when they approach problems through higher-order reasoning skills such as analysis and synthesis. We've also discovered that students have more fun learning when they put on their critical thinking caps and delve into the meaning of a word."
About the co-publishing effort, Conall Ryan, Executive VP, Houghton Mifflin Company, and President of Sunburst Technology said: "Sunburst has long championed the inquiry approach to learning. The two Get A Clue CD-ROM titles fit perfectly with our philosophy. For those of us who find words fascinating-their origins, evolution, and current meanings-these programs are unusually enjoyable. They also offer a good prep for the SAT."
Sunburst Technology Corporation, a Houghton Mifflin Company, publishes award-winning instructional software and videos for the K-12 school market, as well as original multi-media products and digital adaptations of Houghton Mifflin books for schools and families. Sunburst Technology's Web site is www.sunburst.com.
Houghton Mifflin is a leading publisher of textbooks, instructional technology,
assessments and other educational materials for elementary and secondary
schools and colleges. The Company also publishes an extensive line of
reference works and fiction and non-fiction for adults and young readers.
The Company's Web site can be found at www.hmco.com.
Lyceum Communications develops and markets proprietary CD-ROM and Web-based
vocabulary and reading comprehension programs for schools and homes in
the U.S. and abroad. All Lyceum products are marketed under the Get A
Clue brand and utilize the company's patented WATS™ (Words And Their
Stories) System, an inductive learning process based on etymology and
critical thinking skills. Lyceum's Web site is www.getaclue.com.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 7, 2001
Lyceum Communications LLC, the educational software publisher of titles such as the Get A Clue Vocabulary Development Series (www.getaclue.com), and bigchalk.com, the trusted K-12 online education network (www.bigchalk.com), announced an exclusive distribution agreement for Lyceum's flagship Web-based product, the Get A Clue Online Vocabulary Development Series. Praised by educators for its engaging and effective method of teaching vocabulary to students in grades 5-12, Get A Clue revolutionizes vocabulary study with the WATS™ System, a patented vocabulary-acquisition process based on inductive reasoning.
"We are pleased to announce our exclusive representation for Get A Clue," said Sue Collins, Senior Vice President and general Manager, bigchalk.com. "Get A Clue extends bigchalk's line of supplementary curriculum products that meet the specific needs educators and students."
"bigchalk's commitment to educators makes it the natural partner for Get A Clue," said Karl Small, Chief Executive Officer, Lyceum Communications. "The Get A Clue program can improve reading comprehension and help students prepare for high stakes tests in bigchalk's 43,000 schools and beyond."
More about Get A Clue/WATS
The patented WATS (Words And Their Stories) System is a fully comprehensive, curriculum-based vocabulary program designed specifically for students in grades 5 and up. The Internet-delivered program contains more than 1,000 continuously updated target words divided into skill levels and thematic categories. The program also includes a full range of management and assessment features, such as customized quizzing and student performance reports.
The WATS System follows a multi-step process based on inductive reasoning skills. WATS begins by displaying a target word. Students then receive essential information about the word, including its pronunciation, part(s) of speech, and derivation-but, importantly, not its definition. Once they have read the derivation, the "story" behind the word, students are then presented with a series of five questions, or "Clues," designed to lead them inductively toward a working definition.
More information about Get A Clue and the WATS System can be found at www.getaclue.com.
About bigchalk.com
bigchalk.com is an education destination with both subscription-based and free learning tools for educators, parents, and students. bigchalk.com's vast family of content, curriculum, and community-based resources provides access to unparalleled instructional materials. Among the bigchalk suite of tools are the acclaimed ProQuest™ products, each of which provides uncompromising coverage for every research need. ELibrary™ is the easiest-to-use web reference tool for students of all ages. bigchalk Retriever™ delivers integrated searching across all resources.
ExplorAsource™, a free online service, helps educators and parents quickly find resources that address learning needs and educational standards. HomeworkCentral™ is a learning destination linking the world of the web together for students in a safe and grade-appropriate environment. At the core of this education network is bigchalk Community, linking parents, students and educators together, facilitating learning, promoting knowledge and fostering home/school connections.
bigchalk.com, eLibrary Classic, ExplorAsource, Homework Central and bigchalk Retriever are trademarks of bigchalk.com. ProQuest is a registered trademark of Bell & Howell Information and Learning.
> More information on bigchalk.com can be found at www.bigchalk.com.
About Lyceum Communications
Lyceum Communications, based in Portland, Maine, is an educational software company specializing in the development and marketing of proprietary CD-ROM and Web-based vocabulary, language, and reading comprehension programs for schools and homes, both in the U.S. and abroad. All Lyceum products are marketed under the Get A Clue brand and utilize the company's patented WATS System, an inductive learning process based on etymology and critical thinking skills. Get A Clue and WATS are trademarks of Lyceum Communications.
More information on Lyceum Communications can be found
at www.getaclue.com.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 1, 1999
Lyceum Communications LLC announces Vocabulary Development Series
Utilizing the power of technology in the classroom, Lyceum Communications announced today that it is releasing The Get A Clue® Vocabulary Development Series, a new line of fully interactive, multimedia software programs that are the first to utilize critical thinking, not memorization, to improve students’ acquisition of vocabulary.
Get A Clue provides self-paced, multi-level instruction designed to improve the general vocabulary skills of students in grades 5 and up, and to prepare them for the verbal portion of state and national standardized exams, such as the SAT and ACT.
At the heart of every Get A Clue program is the WATS™ System, Lyceum’s patent-pending academic process for the acquisition of vocabulary. Unlike conventional methods of learning vocabulary, which rely on memory and recall, WATS (an acronym for "Words And Their Stories") helps students to increase their working vocabulary through the use of inductive reasoning and other critical-thinking skills. The result is higher retention levels and a broader understanding of language as a whole.
By combining this superior academic content with leading-edge software technology, Get A Clue’s two inaugural titles, Jr. Basics Edition™ v1.0 for grades 5 and up and Basics Edition™ for grades 9 and up, are designed to enhance the learning process for students, empower teachers with more effective instructional tools and take full advantage of the major investment that schools and school districts are making in computer hardware.
Jr. Basics Edition v1.0 provides comprehensive vocabulary instruction that can be used for a variety of purposes in a middle-school curriculum. Students can explore and learn 200 target words, spanning two skill levels and five categories: Roots & Prefixes, Mythical & Historical Allusions, Foreign Words used in English, Strange & Unusual Words, and Words Commonly Confused.
The Basics Edition v2.0 is an upgrade to Get A Clue’s popular vocabulary software program for students in grades 9 and up. With 300 target words divided into three skill levels and the same five word categories as Jr. Basics, Basics is designed to replace existing workbooks, and to help students with both general vocabulary and test preparation.
In addition to the WATS System, Jr. Basics and Basics both contain the following features designed to enhance student performance:
· A performance-based rating system that awards two credits for a correct answer on the first attempt and one credit for a second attempt.
· A Review Words option, which allows students to review all work completed, including "problem words."
· A status report , which provides an on-going summary of student performance .
Jr. Basics Edition v1.0 and Basics Edition v2.0 are available separately on CD-ROM for non-networked Macs and PC’s and can be purchased in single or multi-user lab packs. Schools, school districts, libraries and home schools can purchase Get A Clue by calling Lyceum directly at 866-787-CLUE (2583).
Lyceum Communications, based in Portland, Maine, is an educational software and services company specializing in the development and marketing of proprietary CD-ROM and Web-based vocabulary, language and reading comprehension software programs for schools and homes, both in the U.S. and abroad.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 1, 1999
Lyceum Communications LLC announces Mastery Edition of its Vocabulary Development Series
Lyceum Communications announced today that innovative new vocabulary-building software that integrates the technology of the Internet is now available for individual schools and school districts. The Mastery Edition™ of The Get A Clue® Vocabulary Development Series combines innovative academic content with all of the benefits of the World Wide Web.
The Get A Clue Vocabulary Development Series is a line of award-winning educational software programs developed by Lyceum for students in grades 5 and up to build general vocabulary skills and aid in preparation for state and national standardized exams, such as the SAT. All Get A Clue titles are based on the WATS™ System, Lyceum’s patent-pending academic and software process for vocabulary acquisition that requires students to use inductive reasoning and other critical-thinking skills — not memorization — to learn new words.
The Mastery Edition is a fully comprehensive, curriculum-based vocabulary program for students in grades 9 and up developed specifically for schools running networked computers. An expanded version of Get A Clue’s non-networked Basics Edition, Mastery contains more than 750 target words divided into five categories and three skill levels. Mastery also includes a full range of management and assessment features that allow teachers to easily track their students’ progress and test their knowledge. Using Mastery’s special Teacher’s Edition, instructors can access all relevant information from their networked computer, by individual student or entire class. Then, with only the click of a mouse, for each student in a class teachers can print a quiz that has been customized to that student’s performance on Mastery, thereby enabling individualized instruction and self-paced learning within a heterogeneous classroom.
The design of Get A Clue’s Mastery Edition represents one of the most advanced uses of technology currently available in many schools. Using a school’s network, the program is distributed to each terminal. However, all data generated by the program for each student and teacher is stored on a special Web site maintained by Lyceum. That information is transferred to and from each terminal via the Web. This set-up results in more streamlined operation and fewer on-site technical problems.
The Mastery Edition is available on an annual subscription basis for schools running local-area networks and requires Internet access. Schools, school districts, libraries and home schools can purchase Get A Clue by calling Lyceum directly at 866-787-CLUE (2583).
Lyceum Communications, based in Portland, Maine, is an educational software and services company specializing in the development and marketing of proprietary CD-ROM and Web-based vocabulary, language and reading comprehension software programs for schools and homes, both in the U.S. and abroad.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 26, 2000
Lyceum Communications LLC, an innovative designer and developer of language arts software and online solutions, today announced that the United States Patent & Trademark Office approved all of the company's patent claims for its WATS System of vocabulary acquisition. WATS, an acronym for "Words And Their Stories," is a vocabulary acquisition system unlike traditional methods of vocabulary study that rely on rote memorization and recall. Based on etymology - the study of word origins - and inductive reasoning, WATS requires students to analyze, synthesize, extrapolate, and reason by analogy. Combining critical-thinking skills with knowledge of word origins, WATS helps students to remember a word's meaning and to use it properly in everyday language, thus building an effective working vocabulary. This system of vocabulary acquisition is the foundation of Lyceum's collection of award winning Get A Clue® Language Arts software titles.
"We are extremely pleased with the patent approval. The WATS system can be adapted to the study of virtually any word in virtually any language or context and, with patent protection assured, Lyceum is now positioned to broaden its product lines in a time- and cost-efficient manner that few educational software developers can match. Because every academic subject area requires vocabulary study, Lyceum can target Get A Clue titles not only toward other areas of Language Arts, but also toward entirely distinct segments of the school market including English as a Second Language (ESL), Foreign Language, History, Science, and Math. The effectiveness, adaptability and patent protection that WATS affords will also allow Lyceum to command an important position in retail and test preparation markets" said Karl Small, Lyceum's CEO.
More about WATS
Current research strongly suggests that, in virtually any subject, students learn best when they approach problems inductively. The inductive process requires the use of critical thinking and higher-order reasoning skills, especially those of analysis, synthesis, and application. The WATS system follows a multi-step process based on these skills. WATS begins by displaying a target word. Students then receive essential information about the word, including its pronunciation, part(s) of speech, and derivation - but, importantly, not its definition. Once they have read the derivation, the "story" behind the word, students are then presented with a series of five questions, or "Clues," designed to lead them inductively toward a working definition:
- Clue 1 - Requires students to apply information given in the derivation
- Clue 2 - Requires students to draw on information from their own prior experience
- Clue 3 - Requires inference of meaning from context of a sentence
- Clue 4 - Requires students to complete an analogy containing the target word
- Clue 5 - Requires the analysis of context and the use of logic to complete a sentence
(Note that the last three Clues follow the same format as items on the Verbal portion of standardized exams, such as the PSAT and SAT.)
After a student makes a selection from a list of multiple-choice answers, the correct answer and an explanation that prepares the way for the next question are provided. By the time a student has answered the fifth question, he or she will have arrived inductively at a working definition of the target word. To confirm the accuracy of this conclusion, the student is then presented with a formal definition. Finally, the student is asked to apply his or her knowledge to one or more bonus words that are in some way related to the target word.
H. Ogden Morse Jr., Lyceum's Chief Academic Officer, and H. Ogden Morse III, its Founder, invented the WATS system. The father-son team built WATS on the elder Morse's 38 years of experience as an English Department Chair and teacher at the secondary-school level, as well as his nationally recognized expertise in critical and creative thinking. Both father and son are graduates of Dartmouth College, with the elder holding a Masters Degree from Yale University. Morse, Jr. is a consultant to both the College Board and Educational Testing Service (ETS), where he was part of the team that was responsible for revising the SAT format.
WATS is used in the following Get A Clue Vocabulary Development Series products developed by Lyceum Communications:
- Jr. Mastery Edition™, designed for grades 5 and up
- Mastery Edition™, designed for grades 9 and up
- Test Prep Edition™, Lyceum's first offering for the retail market, responding to the demand by students and parents for a more effective method of preparing for standardized exams such as the SAT, PSAT, and ACT. In addition to improving retention on common test vocabulary, the format gives users practice with exam-type questions. This product can be downloaded from www.getaclue.com.
The Get A Clue Literature Series combines the WATS system for vocabulary development with activities designed to improve reading comprehension skills. Current titles include Romeo & Juliet, A Midsummer's Night Dream, Great Expectations, and The Scarlet Letter. Each title contains WATS System vocabulary exercises, reading comprehension questions focusing on characterization, conflict, and figurative language, written essay questions, and dramatic audio readings of each passage that students can listen to as they read along. Literature Series titles are designed to be used as pre-reading exercises or as concurrent supplements to class activities and discussions. The Literature Series and all Get A Clue products correlate to both state and national Language Arts standards. Correlations can be found at www.getaclue.com.
All Get A Clue products are delivered in an engaging multimedia software format that allows for self-paced, customized learning. Product features include progress tracking and word review for students, as well as comprehensive management and assessment features that allow teachers to gauge both class and student progress. In addition, a unique customized quiz function allows teachers to target specific problem areas of individual students.
About Lyceum Communications LLC
Lyceum Communications, based in Portland, Maine, is an educational software and services company specializing in the development and marketing of proprietary CD-ROM and Web-based vocabulary, language and reading comprehension software programs for schools and homes. The company markets its products under the brand name Get A Clue. For more information, write to Lyceum Communications, 5 Moulton Street, Portland, Maine 04101; call toll free 866-787-CLUE; visit www.getaclue.com; or e-mail info@getaclue.com.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sept. 11, 2000
Lyceum Communications LLC announces the Web-Based Edition of its Vocabulary Development Series
PORTLAND, ME, September 11, 2000 - Lyceum Communications (www.getaclue.com) announced today that its innovative vocabulary programs are now available on the Web. Integrating the company's critically acclaimed Get A Clue® Vocabulary Development Series with all of the technological benefits of the World Wide Web, the Web-Based Edition is now available for individual schools and school districts, as well as home schools and other individual users.
"The design of Get A Clue's Web-Based Edition represents one of the most advanced uses of technology currently available in many schools. Not only does it provide teachers with sophisticated, yet easy to use, assessment and tracking tools, but it also reduces many of the technology burdens in schools caused by local applications. With Get A Clue on the Web, teachers, administrators, and students alike will be able to access our program anytime, anywhere," said Karl Small, Chief Executive Officer of Lyceum.
The Web-Based Edition comprises the company's patented WATS™ System in a fully comprehensive, curriculum-based vocabulary program designed specifically for students in grades 5 and up. An expanded and technologically more advanced version of Get A Clue's CD-ROM software, the Web-Based Edition contains more than 1,000 continuously updated target words divided into five categories and three skill levels. The program also includes a full range of management and assessment features, such as customized quizzing and printable status reports, which allow teachers to easily track their students' progress. Using the Web-Based Edition's administrative functions, both instructors and school administrators can access student and class information securely from any Internet-connected computer. And, with only the click of a mouse, teachers can print a quiz that has been customized to an individual student's performance, thereby enabling individualized instruction and promoting self-paced learning within today's heterogeneous classrooms.
More about Get A Clue/WATS
The Get A Clue Vocabulary Development Series is a line of award-winning educational software and Web-based programs developed by Lyceum for students in grades 5-12 to build general vocabulary skills and aid in preparation for state and national standardized exams, such as the SAT. All Get A Clue titles are based on the WATS (Words And Their Stories) System, Lyceum's patented academic process for vocabulary acquisition that requires students to use etymology and critical thinking-not memorization-to learn new words.
Current research strongly suggests that, in virtually any subject, students learn best when they approach problems inductively. The inductive process requires the use of higher-order reasoning skills, especially those of analysis, synthesis, and application. The WATS System follows a multi-step process based on these skills. WATS begins by displaying a target word. Students then receive essential information about the word, including its pronunciation, part(s) of speech, and derivation-but, importantly, not its definition. Once they have read the derivation, the "story" behind the word, students are then presented with a series of five questions, or "Clues," designed to lead them inductively toward a working definition:
- Clue 1 - Requires students to apply information given in the Derivation
- Clue 2 - Requires students to draw on information from their own prior experience
- Clue 3 - Requires inference of meaning from context of a sentence
- Clue 4 - Requires students to complete an analogy containing the target word
- Clue 5 - Requires the analysis of context and the use of logic to complete a sentence
After students make a selection from a list of multiple-choice answers, they receive the correct answer and an explanation that prepares them for the next Clue. By the time students have answered the fifth Clue, they will have arrived at their own working definition of the target word. To confirm the accuracy of this conclusion, students are then presented with a formal definition. Finally, students are asked to apply their knowledge to one or more bonus words that are in some way related to the target word.
The Web-Based Edition is available on an annual subscription basis for schools, school districts, libraries, community colleges, home schools, and more. Order on-line at www.getaclue.com or by calling Lyceum directly at 866-787-CLUE (2583).
About Lyceum Communications
Lyceum Communications, based in Portland, Maine, is an educational software and Web-Based services company specializing in the development and marketing of proprietary CD-ROM and Web-based vocabulary, language, and reading comprehension programs for schools and homes, both in the U.S. and abroad. To learn more about Lyceum and its products, visit www.getaclue.com.
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