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1. The purposes to develop the program of “RomaHiraKata-Rocket”

This program was developed to help  infants, children, or foreigners who interested in Japanese language learn the Romaji, Hiragana, Katakana in joyful ways. So, the program was made as a kind of a shooting game.

2. We know that true learning is occurred in the moment a child gives a sincere attention to the stimulus he wants to learn. In order to get consecutive hits on playing RomaHiraKata-Rocket  has to give his attention to both a character/voice and falling icons simultaneously. The child’s attention is genuine. When he succeeded in the game, please give praise fulley. He will motivate more. 

3. The program has "Learning mode" and "Game mode". 
In both modes, a falling speed of the Icons is chosen from 0 to 12 by dragging “Speed Bar”. Playing in high speed makes possibility of getting high score. Moreover, the information about a character on Emission Base and contingent voice can be switched in three modes ("Voice", "Character", and "Voice + Character"). Please choose a mode by dragging a small handle on the “Speed Bar” with the mouse. 
　## It is recommended to select a suitable mode, in accordance with the progress of the learning of the child.

4. Learning mode (Parents/Teachers can control the child's learning)  
In the learning mode, following conditions and values can change.
　　

1)  Please choose several (Hiragana or Romaji) on “key matrix”, according to the learning plan on the day (The number of characters can be changed from 1 to 15). 

2) Number of Emissions
    It means the total number of emitting Rocket (1 to 9999).  

  3) Number of Icons in a Scene
       It means the icons that appear in a Scene (1 to 10). 

  4) Number of Repeats
       The Number of Repeats indicates that the same character appears consecutively on the “Emission Base”.  In the beginning of the learning session, 2 or 3 may be suitable for the learner. 

5. Game mode (A child can use this mode as a game)
In the game mode, the computer chooses 20 characters at random, and presents several of them in a scene.

6. A Total Score can be compared with the previous ones. To avoid higher score during a small number of emissions, the number of emission has a weight(X / 50) until 50 emissions. X = number of emissions. 

7. The learning results are summarized in a table, and can print out by a printer. Pull down "Print" in left uppermost corner, and click it. The progress of learning can be understood by these data. 

8. How to use this program. 
The Emission Base moves to the right side when “ → ” key is pushed, and moves to the left side when “ ← ” key is pushed. 
Adjusting to a falling target icon, push a “Space Bar”. Then the rocket will launch. According to the rocket movement, 3 kinds of point are added. They are “Hit”, “Miss”, and “Off”.

9. If you want to stop the program, pull down "File" in left uppermost corner, and click “finish”. 

10. How to make children learn the Japanese characters & sounds.

　In order to make infants learn the ,Japanese characters & sounds,following points are important.
<Advices to Teachers and Parents>
1) Select "learning mode". And put into 5 . Set the number of emission to 100, Number of Icons to 2, Number of Repeats to 3, and select Voice+Character mode. 
2) Above parameters should be changed with growth of the child.
3) In order to confirm the child’s learning of characters, see the Number of Misses in results table. The character with many Misses may be chosen as a next learning character. If you set the Number of Icons more than 3, the probability of accidental hit is reduced. So, you can know substantial learning of the child.
4) In some learning situation, the praising words of the teachers and parents will motivate the learner. For example, these are words, “you got high point”, and “next time you are more expected”. 

2012.4.1

   Dr.Ken