Hypermedia Pre-Reading Lessons: Learner-Centered Software for Kindergarten

Randall Boone, Kyle Higgins, Angela Notari, and Colleen Shea Stump

Journal of Computing in Childhood Education, Vol 7,
No. 1/2 1996, p. 39-69

An important goal of early childhood special education is facilitating the inclusion of young children with disabilities into nonsegregated kindergarten and elementary settings. One of the most critical academic tasks in the early years of school is the development of literacy. Often in early childhood education a component of literacy development is letter recognition.

The purpose of this three-year study was to investigate two areas at the forefront of current inquiry and practice in the field of special education: (a) maintaining students with disabilities within the general education kindergarten environment, and (b) the impact of technology on the learning of kindergarten students. The research centered on the development and testing of hypermedia software designed to aid students with disabilities and other students considered at-risk in the acquisition of successful pre reading skills in a general education kindergarten setting. Hypermedia computer assisted lessons were designed for each letter of the alphabet.

Results indicate that hypermedia pre-reading materials hold significant promise for early childhood education. The instructional materials used in this study provided successful instructional support for teaching letter identification in a mainstream general education kindergarten classroom. The use of the software by the kindergarten students did not diminish over the course of the school year. Of particular interest were the effects of the software on the students defined as the low ability group, who seemed to benefit most significantly from the intervention.

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Howard J. Bender, Ph.D.
President
The Education Process Improvement Center, Inc.
P.O. Box 186
Riverdale, Maryland 20738
hjbender@epicent.com