Good morning friends. Learning is very important. And it’s hard to learn everything but there will always be a simpler key. Let me tell you now after reading the article in reference to The Times of India.
Computers have come to occupy a central place in our lives and the importance of teaching young children how to use them cannot be understated. But, surprisingly, when it comes to training young kids in computers, computer technology treats a three-year-old at par with a grown-up. And elaborate and complex keyboards are a case in point.
Today, there is an increasing demand to devise simpler keyboards that do not bulldoze or challenge the kids with 108 different keys. The idea is to but encourage them to learn from it, effectively use it and therefore, make computers more meaningful.
So, we could say that ‘IT’ comes with a bias — the child-bias. Imagine the helplessness of a child who has just learned his first alphabets and is struggling with the complexity of a typical keyboard. Perhaps that is why most children start tapping all the keys with both hands at one time. As a result, even though a child may be immensely drawn to the computer, the child-unfriendly input gadgets would fail to convert his curiosity into something productive.
However, there is still hope with some encouraging innovations being made to make keyboards more child-friendly. One such child-friendly keyboard available in the market has its keys colour coded and both, the keys and the alphabets imprinted are larger. Besides, it has only half the keys (63 essential keys) found on a typical keyboard.
Imagine how such a simple innovation can make computers as a whole far more accessible and engaging for young children. Such a keyboard, for example, enables even a play-school going child to learn and operate the computer on his own. Even my son, who about 2 years old, often chooses the mouse over the regular keyboard. But, he was much more open to the simpler keyboard. Now, he loves identifying the alphabets and typing. As a result, not only is he learning the alphabets on the keyboard, he is also learning to use the computer.
We all try and make things simpler and more and attractive for our children. So, why not do the same for them when it comes to learning how to use computers? This age is all about accelerated learning and now, we have an opportunity and the means to achieve this.
Dhirendra Talks 