Flutterby™! : Kindergarten Keyboarding 2013-10-15 15:51:48.243075+00

Kindergarten Keyboarding

2013-10-15 15:51:48.243075+00 by Dan Lyke 5 comments

That new "Common Core" standards set that's essentially a mandate to make more school districts buy Pearson company standardized tests and other curriculum products? Yeah, one of the side effects is that elementary students learn keyboard typing ahead of new Common Core tests. The picture is great: Kids staring at screens, mouse in hand, with headphones on. The writing tests happen in third grade, but the basic computer skills stuff apparently is happening as early as kindergarten.

“Writing is a critical skill, and young students should have the opportunity to write frequently about meaningful topics,” Slover said. And when the writing tests are administered online, that means the students will be using a keyboard.

So this period where students should be interacting and exploring the world and we set 'em down in front of boxes and walk away. Dismal.

Related: Penn State University: Too much homework can be counterproductive. Yep! Kids should have time to do self-directed exploration.

#Comment Re: made: 2013-10-15 16:54:15.627021+00 by: meuon [edit history]

I think a little bit of that early keyboard/writing/language skills is awesome. While my early math skills were missing, I was reading and writing at a very young age. But it should be a small part of the days time, not a major part of it. Kindegarten should also be a time for important things like group play, being silly, and running with (blunt) scissors.

In high school (197x), with Counselor: "I want to take typing" (that's where all the cute girls were..). Counselor: "Study math, chemistry and physics, you'll have people to do your typing for you."

Based on some recent research and real-world attempts at applying it, sitting a kid in front of a computer and going away might be the best thing you can do!

BTW: My high-school required typing in the 1970's. I sucked at it then b/c I didn't care. But apparently I absorbed enough that when I had to type all the time for a job I started out by touch-typing slowly and got faster. Never had to do hunt and peck.

"Counselor: "Study math, chemistry and physics, you'll have people to do your typing for you."

#Comment Re: made: 2013-10-15 18:35:56.584066+00 by: Dan Lyke [edit history]

And, yeah, the world hasn't changed nearly enough. My parents had an old mechanical typewriter in the attic in the house we moved out of at the end of 7th grade, so somewhere before that I snuck up there and learned how to type. But I think that's very different from drill and practice at sub third-grade.

My granddaughter is 21 months old. She gets her hands on my iPhone and navigates to my pictures from a locked screen and looks at them on her own. I gave her an old PS2 keyboard I had at the house to play with. She places her fingers on the keyboard and uses multiple fingers to mash the buttons, not just hunting and pecking. She also plays with an old broken Blackberry and uses both thumbs to press on the keys.