Mouse skills
5 (free) Mouse Skills Posters to Mainstream Tech Ed
Every month, we’ll share five themed posters that you can share on your website (with attribution), post on your walls, or simply be inspired.
This month: Mouse Skills
–for the entire collection of 65 posters, click here
169 Tech Tip #13: The Powerful Right Mouse Button
In these 169 tech-centric situations, you get an overview of pedagogy—the tech topics most important to your teaching—as well as practical strategies to address most classroom tech situations, how to scaffold these to learning, and where they provide the subtext to daily tech-infused education.
Today’s tip: #13–The Powerful Right Mouse Button
Category:Â Hardware
Q: What’s a fast way to access menus?
A: Yes, and you’ll love it. If your mouse has both a left and a right button, the left one is for normal stuff, but the right one is for the most common activities performed from wherever you are–on the desktop, in a program, whatever.
If your PC two-button mouse won’t work (for whatever reason), there may be a right mouse click key on the keyboard (on the right side, by the Ctrl key) or you can push Shift+F10.
169 Tech Tip #46: Easiest Way to Explain Right and Left
In these 169 tech-centric situations, you get an overview of pedagogy—the tech topics most important to your teaching—as well as practical strategies to address most classroom tech situations, how to scaffold these to learning, and where they provide the subtext to daily tech-infused education.
Today’s tip: #46: Easiest Way to Explain Right and Left
Category:Â Hardware
Sub-category: Classroom Management, Teaching
Q: Kindergartners don’t always understand the difference between left/right.
169 Tech Tip #26: My Mouse Doesn’t Work
In these 169 tech-centric situations, you get an overview of pedagogy—the tech topics most important to your teaching—as well as practical strategies to address most classroom tech situations, how to scaffold these to learning, and where they provide the subtext to daily tech-infused education.
Today’s tip: #26: My Mouse Doesn’t Work
Category:Â Hardware
Q: My mouse stopped working. Do I need a new one?
A:Â Â Maybe, but try a few things first:
How to Teach Mouse Skills to Pre-Keyboarders
Many students enter kindergarten with a basic knowledge of digital devices like iPads and smartphones, but this rarely includes the use of a mouse. This little piece of hardware is strictly for desktop devices and maybe add-ons for laptops. In today’s tech world, you may even consider it a niche item.
But you’d be wrong.
Rarely is there a child that can get through school without using a mouse. If s/he doesn’t know the basic skills — click, double-click, right-click, drag-drop, hover — they will be confused, even frustrated, by so much of what makes technology work. These are not intuitive, starting with how to hold the mouse.
Little hands with undeveloped fine motor skills struggle to keep their pointer and middle finger spread apart while simultaneously pushing with one finger rather than the whole hand. The moment before students grab ahold of that round little device, teach them how to use it. Don’t expect them — or force them — to figure it out on their own. It’s not intuitive and — like keyboarding — will only create bad habits that must be broken later.
Here are nine websites that teach mouse basics to kindergarten and first graders in clever ways:
16 Websites to Teach Mouse Skills
I repost this article every September because I get so many requests for mouse resources for those youngest keyboarders. Enjoy!
One of the most important pre-keyboarding skills is how to use the mouse. The mouse hold is not intuitive and if learned wrong, becomes a habit that’s difficult to break. Here are some images to assist you in setting up your newest computer aficionados:
[gallery type="square" ids="50137,28323,28324,50140,50139,54260"]Here are 16 websites students will enjoy, including 3 for adults new to computers: