 "By 2nd grade kids should know how to use a computer" By Sarah Tindall - December 27, 2009 Wouldn’t it be awesome if your 7-year-old could research a topic on the Internet and then create a multimedia presentation on the computer to tell you what he learned? The presentation would have correct capitalization, punctuation and spelling that he typed.
According to the Texas Education Association, a second grader is supposed to know how to do that. And if yours doesn’t, he’s behind. Incorporating technology into school curriculum is a difficult and costly process, but local tech guru Liza Wisner has been working on a solution to help schools in our area get up to par with state standards. “Technology education is an important and exciting tool for community success,” said Wisner, the owner of Texas Techies, a technology education advocacy organization here. If our kids are learning how to use computers and software, they will graduate from school ready to step into the modern workforce, she said. Compared to other children in the state and around the country, if your child is not using the computer in school, he is behind. “The first and most important benefit of having enrolled your child in a computer class is introducing him to technology so that he is comfortable with it,” she said. “Computer skills and proficiency at using the mouse and keyboard are known to enhance the hand-eye coordination of children. Having sound knowledge of basic computer software is nowadays a pre-requisite for any education and providing this knowledge to your child is like preparing him for the future.” And this does not mean just going to computer class and learning to type, like previous generations. Kids need to learn how to use software to make a Power Point presentation, an Excel worksheet or adding animation and graphics. This not only prepares them for jobs later on, but also enhances the learning experience. Think about the difference in comprehension between a child who learns about the life cycle of plants by reading a chapter in a science book and a child who creates a Power Point presentation with animated graphics showing each stage of the plant’s life. This is the benefit of the computer class — a new way for our children to interact with their curriculum.
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