[school-discuss] Using [GNU]Linux with Kids from 3 to 7 -- an introduction

["Frederick Noronha (FN)" <fred@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

The Community-Linux Training Centre: Practice Briefing 2

Using Linux with Kids from 3 to 7 â an introduction

By the Free Range Comunity-Linux Training Centre Project, CLTC-P02,
version 1.1, December 2004.
email: fraw@xxxxxxxxxx     web: http://www.fraw.org.uk/cltc/


Using computers with kids can be problematic. On Windows machines
problems arise when they start fooling around with system files or donÃ
âât respond appropriately to warning messages. By contrast, the greater
security provided by Linux means kids can play, largely unsupervised,
with little risk to the system. This briefing looks at various aspects
of using Linux with kids â both in terms of software and playing with
hardware.



Gnu/Linux is a really good computer operating system â especially if you
like playing with networks or programming languages. But there is one
area where both the resources available with Linux distributions, and
the efforts of the Linux support community to provide assistance, are a
little thin â using Linux with young children. This briefing has been
developed to address this shortfall in support.

The development of this briefing has not been a formal study. It has
emerged as a result of the experience gained in studying how two young
children (right) have been able to learn how to use the computer, and
the functions of the graphical desktop. What follows is therefore a
documentation of the knowledge gained from observation rather than an
in-depth study. It is also the reason why this briefing is limited to
the ages three to seven. However, it is hoped that the idea presented
here will spawn other projects to provide support for the use of
Gnu/Linux with young children....

http://www.fraw.org.uk/pubs/cltcpb/cltc_pb-02.html