With the advancement and implementation of technology within school districts across the state, students are being required to learn basic technological skills at an earlier age in order to take advantage of what is available to them. Keyboarding is one of the basic skills that must be mastered for many technology projects to be completed successfully and accurately.

Many school districts at this time do not have keyboarding curriculum in place within their elementary schools or if they do, it is within the upper elementary grades. For those districts that are looking to add the curriculum, the question arises as to how young a student can be introduced to keyboarding successfully as well as to how much time a student needs to spend keyboarding in order to master the skill proficiently.

The goal of keyboarding instruction is to enable students to be more efficient in computer use and to avoid lengthy re-teaching of computer skills. (Anonymous, 1999) Much of the research that has been compiled so far on keyboarding instruction has been done on upper elementary or middle school students. In a recent study (Mikkelsen, 1988) students in various grade levels made similar progress in the development of their keyboarding skills regardless of their grade level, gender or prior experience with typing. In a study done in Indiana (1991) it was found with a group of fourth graders that when their scores were compared to the following year, showed an increase in speed of 9 words per minute. This study was base on instruction time. Although, Mikkelson and the Indiana study targeted middle to upper level elementary students, there have been studies done on PK to lower elementary students. Cowles (1983) found that children ages 5 to 8 could learn keyboarding skills. Seven and eight year olds could keyboard sentences successfully, while the 5 and 6 year olds could keyboard words competently. Based on the studies that have been complete so far, the indication seems to be that lower elementary students can learn to keyboard proficiently when given sufficient time to learn the skill.

Statement of Hypothesis:

There will be a positive relationship between the amount of time spent keyboarding and accuracy of the skill.

Design: Correlational Study

In a correlation study using the spreadsheet program Excel and its data analysis feature, a Pearson coefficient value of r = .77 was calculated. This indicates a high positive relationship between the two variables, time and accuracy.

The results of the data that was gathered and researched shows a high positive correlation between time spent keyboarding and accuracy in keyboarding. Even though this study indicates a high positive relationship between time and accuracy there still needs to be much research done as the study does not take into account outside variables that might have influenced the results.

Anonymous. (1999) Keyboarding instruction: Research, synopsis, and trends; January 1999 Update. http://www.iceberg.org/~bdahlster/keyboarding.html. (June 8,2000)