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)

Discusses benefits of keyboarding instruction for elementary school students, emphasizing the integration of keyboarding with language arts instruction. Traditional typing and computer-assisted instruction are discussed, six software packages for adapting keyboarding instruction to the classroom are reviewed, and suggestions for software selection…

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)

Discusses need for development of keyboarding skills at the elementary school level; issues to be addressed when developing keyboarding curricula (criterion for competence, how much is necessary, time needed, who should teach and how); and program considerations (hardware, curriculum, principles of instruction, instructional periods, classroom or…

Describes the use of keyboarding instruction, without the use of computers, to improve the spelling skills of first grade students. Improvement in various ability groups is discussed, changes in student attitudes are described, and recommendations are given for teachers using the "Keyboard Success" text. (LRW)

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…

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)

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)

Elementary school students are often exposed to computer usage before they have been taught correct typing techniques. Sample exercises to teach touch-typing to young children are provided on a reproducible page. (JL)