Nimble Fingers Net Second Spot

THE students of 4C at Warrigal Road State School have typed their way to success by claiming second place in the Most Words Typed in Queensland category of the Typing Tournament: Quarter 1 Typing Challenge.

Deputy principal Karen Coombes praised the students and classroom teacher Sam Heron. She said more than 750 schools in Australia took part in the competition. “As part of our ICT (Information Communication Technology) program, we are developing keyboarding skills for our students,” Ms Coombes said. “We have just begun using the Typing Tournament program and have been running competition to see which class has the fastest typists.”

A competition spokesman said the tournament’s aim was to teach children to type properly and accurately, “setting their minds free to think about what they are typing rather than trying to find the keys to press”. “Many children learn bad keyboarding habits through their early exposure to technology, causing them to develop poor keyboarding skills that stay with them,” the spokesman said. “These ingrained bad ha bits limit their ability to express themselves as keyboards are designed to be used typing with all lO fingers correctly without looking at the keys. “These days, with so much of our working lives spent using a keyboard , it is more important than ever that children learn to type properly. Adults who are unable to type efficiently lose thousands of hours from their lives as they hunt and poke at the keyboard.”

Southern Star Quarterly Typing Challenge