“It is easy to see how these skills could be valuable to a new high school graduate and to employers, as well as how these skills can easily interact with one another,” according to the Hanover Research report. Lancaster, PA 17602 Students will likely have to word-process papers and projects in high school, so knowing how to manipulate text and print it out is important. For example, a file ending in .docx will open in Microsoft Word, and .xls will open in Microsoft Excel. Given the ubiquity of computers in high school and especially in higher education, basic computer skills help students succeed. Still, the Internet experience on a computer is fundamentally different from the Internet experience on a smartphone, tablet, or television. Gregory Hamel has been a writer since September 2008 and has also authored three novels. Are you ready to teach computer literacy? If you feel your student is not ready for a particular subject or is too advanced for something that is offered, please refer to our Grade Level Chart to explore all the courses available on SchoolhouseTeachers.com and the grade level designated for each. Welcome to the Middle School Computer Labs . While that allows more freedom on the part of the user (your students), it’s also more dangerous. Given the ubiquity of computers in high school and especially in higher education, basic computer skills help students succeed. Middle school is great a time for students to build practical computer skills for high school and college. Last, you can introduce students to PowerPoint. Our curriculum is available at no cost for anyone, anywhere to teach. It’s becoming more and more common for whole families to rely on touch-screen smartphones for digital interactions instead of conventional computers. Once they have a working knowledge of a computer keyboard, students can start practicing with programs – namely, Microsoft Office. To teach spreadsheets, have kids enter data into cells from a sheet or website, and then pull up graphs of the data. Putting in grades will help students and parents see student progress on assignments as well as show how completing/not completing an assignment will affect their grades. Aug 7, 2014 - Middle school is great a time for students to build practical computer skills for high school and college. Keyboarding (sometimes called typing) is crucial to a middle school student’s computer literacy. Internet familiarity — sometimes called digital responsibility — helps to fix that. Another important computing skill is knowledge of basic utility programs like word processors, spreadsheets and presentation software. You can create your course in minutes (literally) with Business&ITCenter21! It also lets them practice and perform tasks in different ways to grow their familiarity with computers. The days of textbook only research and handwritten submissions are over. The odds are strong that your students know about the Internet already (and how to use it). If your students are going to use the Internet safely, they need to know about these threats and how to avoid them. For laptops, they’re all combined into one convenient package. If you assign homework, consider allowing students with the Internet at home to send it in via email. Regardless, students should be able to recognize each part of basic computer hardware and what it does. Avoid repetitious drilling programs; instead, let the students use their typing toward more meaningful and engaging ends. Understanding what it looks like and how to create and edit a document are typically the best starting points. Students in Computer Lit. Given the ubiquity of computers in high school and especially in higher education, basic computer skills help students succeed. Putting in grades will help students and parents see student progress on assignments as well as show how completing/not completing an assignment will affect their grades. Students in Computer Lit. Devote a few class periods to teaching different Microsoft Office applications, such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, or similar software. Once they know the basics of computer hardware, you can jump into more fundamentals of computer use. can work at their own pace to a certain degree, I will put “0”s in the grade book on past due units, but those grades will change when the unit is completed. This quiz is designed for test the knowledge of middle school students, in the area of basic computer history and hardware. Similar to digital literacy, computer literacy is built on five fundamental areas of education. Excel isn’t used as often in schools, but it’s all over the professional world. Let’s take a … To teach kids not to look at their keyboards, turn off the lights or cover keyboards with thin pieces of cloth for ten or fifteen minutes each class period. Teach students to avoid chatting online with strangers and never to meet in person anyone that they met online. 800-220-2175800-220-2175. For students just learning about computers, you only have to show a high-level overview of Microsoft Word. Students need to know that each folder leads to a new set of folders that could have subfolders themselves. Malware, ransomware, worms, viruses, and scams are all over the place online. Hamel maintains a blog focused on massive open online courses and computer programming. If you don’t want to teach your students Microsoft, you can always teach Google Applications, which are free. twitter facebook pinterest linked in vimeo instagram youtube flickr. It’s especially important to cover how different files open. Copyright © 2020 Applied Educational Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved. But that’s only part of a computer’s hardware. There’s no limit to the number of folders and subfolders to create or explore. It includes categorizing files into different folders or criteria (depending on the user.) Microsoft Word is the most famous part of the Office suite. Safety is an important part of Internet use, so spend some time teaching students about computer viruses, trojans, and the importance of firewalls and antivirus programs. A lot of teachers and students get nervous when they hear the phrase “computer hardware.” They think it means talking about a computer’s internal workings and circuit boards. Consider having kids give a PowerPoint slide show as a group project. This encourages students to learn typing, because they will want to be able to talk to their friends. The most basic parts of computer hardware are: For desktop computers, these are usually all different pieces that have to be wired together. Keyboarding empowers students to create, transmit, and store information on their own. It is becoming more and more common that school districts require students to pass a computer literacy course as part of their requirements to graduate from high school, and with good reason! Chances are a lot of middle school students already use the Internet, but it is still important to teach Internet skills for those kids with little experience. Code a web page, publish a newsletter, launch a business venture, and more! Middle school computer applications teachers have a tough job on their hands. Engage students! Files represent the organizational structure of a computer’s data storage. In fact, students should embrace those facts to really become comfortable with computer use. You can do this too by teaching your students how to use Microsoft Word. This is an especially useful program since it can help students with presentations both in school and their future workplaces.