Last week as I was helping a child in my class with some data entry using the excellent Create-a-Graph, I watched as a child sitting next to them learned something new. I was simply using the TAB keyboard short-cut to move between fields when adding some data. I could see that the boy next to me had looked up from the work on his own laptop. I continued supporting this child and I again noticed their neighbour peering around my arm trying to spot which key I was using to move between fields. He then looked back at his own keyboard and found the TAB key, he navigated to his own data on his own graph and began trying his newly found keyboard short-cut.
As I finished up with the child I was originally helping and moved away, I could not help but notice a big grin had spread across the boy’s face as he put into action what he just discovered for himself. I have to say it also made me smile. It is pretty amazing witnessing someone discover something for themselves and benefit from using it.