Presents five articles that consider computer keyboarding instruction at the elementary school level. Highlights include keyboard familiarization techniques that do not require a computer; integrating keyboarding skills into the rest of the curriculum; and Type-Right, an inexpensive laptop computer dedicated to teaching keyboarding. (LRW)

Describes results of a questionnaire concerning such questions as where is the first keyboarding/typing class taught, length of this class, what equipment is utilized, and what students in kindergarten through eighth grade are doing with microcomputers. The author then makes suggestions for improving the curriculum for keyboarding in elementary…

Considers the change in attitude about teaching keyboarding in the elementary school and outlines objectives for an inservice workshop to train elementary school teachers to teach keyboarding for computer literacy. (SK)

Describes keyboarding, i.e., entering information on electronic equipment through use of a typewriter-like keyboard, and briefly discusses when it should be taught, who should teach it, and what level of keyboarding efficiency is needed. (MBR)

Business education teachers have the background and knowledge to teach keyboarding basics to elementary school students, who need these skills for using microcomputers. (SK)

Compared the ease and efficiency of the Qwerty and Dvorak keyboards by analyzing five popular lists on high frequency words to determine differences in fingering for the keyboards. Found that more high frequency words and more characters are typed on the Dvorak keyboard home row, and therefore children should be taught to use the Dvorak rather…

Indiana fourth graders received keyboarding instruction 30 minutes per day for 4 weeks with 30 minutes of daily practice thereafter. Comparison with their scores in the fifth grade revealed an increase in speed of nine words per minute. Accuracy did not change significantly. (SK)

A national survey of 753 elementary teachers found that only 13 percent (95) teach keyboarding, there is insufficient time for mastery of touch typing, access to equipment is limited, teachers do not have thorough knowledge of theory related to psychomotor skill development, and no formal evaluation is used. (SK)

Discusses keyboarding strategies for elementary school students with learning disabilities using microcomputers. Describes a study that evaluated the efficacy of instruction in systematic scanning against a baseline of no instruction and students' current hunt-and-peck strategy. Repeated measures of typing rates showed no advantages of the…

This study compared two software programs for teaching keyboarding to students in grades four, five, and six and compared speed achievement when students were grouped by sex. One program was an educational game. The other used traditional psychological motor skill development theory as applied to typewriting instruction. Results are reported and…

Provides tips to help primary-aged students with computer keyboarding skills (suggesting the use of color codes and listing currently available software). Also describes (and lists) a program which helps test students' understanding of IF-THEN statements and illustrates some hazards of "spaghetti programming" (debugging). (JN)

Presents ideas to help teachers make one-computer classrooms work. Suggestions include making sure the teacher masters the computer, managing computer time, using keyboarding strategies (such as photocopied keyboards for practice), and using time-saving techniques (e.g., previewing programs, pooling resources, and treating computers with care).…

The students in an Arizona elementary school writing lab form learning groups that alternate between paper and pencil activities directed writing techniques, and word processing and keyboarding skills. After students have progressed through brainstorming, rough draft, revision, and editing processes, their work is published by the Polar Press.…

A study concluded that there were no significant differences in posttest speed achievement of students in grades 3 through 6 when pretest typewriting speed score was used as a covariate. Fifteen or fewer hours of instruction allows development of typewriting speed at the lowest level of skill acquisition. (JOW)

A third grade class served as subjects of this study on the use of paired keyboards attached to a single microcomputer as a means to facilitate Internet exploration. A collaborative environment resulted, where students could benefit from the scaffolding provided by computer and Internet resources. (AEF)