A study to determine the necessity of re-teaching keyboarding at the 6th grade level

Abstract

Keyboarding has traditionally been taught at either the middle school or high school level. It was a class that was taught to individuals who would enter clerical fields. However, due to technological advances, keyboarding is no longer an elective course. With the popularity of personal computers, the question is no longer whether to teach keyboarding, but at what grade level should it be taught. In the Eau Claire Area School District keyboarding is formally taught for six weeks at the fourth grade level and then repeated in a nine week keyboarding class at the sixth grade level. Even though the entire nine weeks at the sixth grade level is not dedicated to re-teaching the keyboard, it does take up a significant amount of time. There are students, parents, and teachers that feel that this time should not be spent to re-teach a skill that the student has already learned. This research will assist in determining the need to re-teach keyboarding to students at the sixth grade level.