I work at a compuer lab that focuses on teaching people computer skills in low-income areas. Kids and Seniors are our main audience and the approach for both of them is the same. Keep it simple. While the kids may have more fun with playing games and drawing, most need basic skills like typing, word processing, and the like. As mentioned above I would recommend explaining the basic structure of PC's and how they work without getting too detailed ( you will loose them ). Then move on to skills that they will need to implement daily in the classroom.
If you do get lucky and have one or two that want more, start them off on basic networking, subnetting, and web building ( good for all of them really...let's them be creative and use some basic scripting skills. That will teach them some basic math skills, critical path thinking, and some basic concepts like proper flow, commenting, nesting and the like. Again, from experience I say, keep it simple. They are in elementary. None of them is going to want to re-compile a kernel or start coding in C++. Good Luck and Have fun!
Slashdot Mirror
I work at a compuer lab that focuses on teaching people computer skills in low-income areas. Kids and Seniors are our main audience and the approach for both of them is the same. Keep it simple. While the kids may have more fun with playing games and drawing, most need basic skills like typing, word processing, and the like. As mentioned above I would recommend explaining the basic structure of PC's and how they work without getting too detailed ( you will loose them ). Then move on to skills that they will need to implement daily in the classroom. If you do get lucky and have one or two that want more, start them off on basic networking, subnetting, and web building ( good for all of them really...let's them be creative and use some basic scripting skills. That will teach them some basic math skills, critical path thinking, and some basic concepts like proper flow, commenting, nesting and the like. Again, from experience I say, keep it simple. They are in elementary. None of them is going to want to re-compile a kernel or start coding in C++. Good Luck and Have fun!