PROJECT ACTIVITY OF COLLEGE STUDENTS IN PRIMARY SCHOOL USING THE KEYBOARD TRAINER «KEYBOARD ALPHABET»

Abstract

In this article, the author describes an experiment conducted by college students in the process of teaching computer science in elementary school. All students in elementary school know how to type. But the problem is that they type it with one hand. Students use tablets and smartphones long before they start studying computer science at school. Because of this, they confidently type text with 1-2 fingers of one hand. Teachers spend a lot of effort teaching younger students how to use the computer keyboard correctly. It was decided to conduct an experiment. This experiment lasted more than one year, in the second and third grades. The author of the article created a keyboard simulator «Keyboard Alphabet» for second-grade students. The purpose of using the simulator is to develop students' ability to type the letters of the Ukrainian alphabet with both hands, using the appropriate fingers. This simulator was created in the Adobe Animate environment using the Action Script 3.0 programming language. The ability to create this tutorial refutes the attitude of programmers to Adobe Animate as a tool for creating only animation. Adobe Animate is a powerful environment for creating electronic educational resources. The «Keyboard Alphabet» trainer consists of electronic pages. Each letter has one electronic page. Students have the opportunity to enter both uppercase and lowercase letters of the Ukrainian alphabet. The simulator is designed in such a way that younger students can independently check the correctness of entering a letter. In the process, students can use a hint. The hint can be called up or hidden by clicking on the corresponding interactive elements. In the 3rd grade, while studying the topic "Word Processor", future teachers checked the results of their work. It turned out that those students who were asked to work with the keyboard simulator almost all try to type with both hands. In addition, they enter letters from the keyboard faster. And children with disabilities have the opportunity to improve their typing skills. The students decided to continue the experiment. In the future, they plan to investigate whether using the same simulator, but with letters of the English alphabet, will help learn English.