Hi Class,
When I taught typing to my son's 4th grade class, we used the school's typing programs. I found that the kids enjoyed using the computers and learned rather quickly the basics without much help from me as I was observing and hovering over the students that were having difficulties due to learning disabilities. Each stage of the typing lesson was only available to the student after they had mastered the previous level. The students were so motivated to ascend levels that they learned how to type much more quickly than I learned how to type in 7th grade using typewriters and trying to type 60 words a minuter with few errors!
The program also told the student their error count and speed which spurred them on too! They were so proud of themselves as they learned how to type faster and faster. I even researched the top typing scores at the school and found that this class was doing a fabulous job of learning.
That experience has taught me how valuable a well written children's software program can be to accelerate learning. Every generation to come will learn so much faster than the previous generation as we all ascend to new heights of enlightenment of how to properly write software for learning and using technology.