At what grade level should formal keyboarding begin?
A. Studies confirm that formal keyboard instruction should not begin before the third grade. While many kindergarten, first and second grade students can learn to keyboard, there are good reasons to wait until third or fourth grade. Many primary children do not yet have the dexterity to gain keyboarding skills quickly. Often, teaching these very young children requires a great deal more time and patience than if instruction began later. In most cases students are not asked to write lengthy papers and reports until third and fourth grades, at which time there is a natural application of keyboarding skills to written assignments.
