Pre-K Technology TEKS

Summary:
Pre-K students should be able to :
-open and explore software programs utilized to enhance instruction.
-use and name various input devices (mouse, keyboard, CD-ROM etc.).
-operate sound recorders and touch screens.
-use software apps to create/express individual ideas.
-recognize that information can be found through technology uses.

Pre-K TEKS enable students to be prepared for building upon them in grades to come. They allow teachers to focus on the foundational skills that will be added to as the student works their way up through their education.Without the cultivation of these skills it would be difficult or impossible for teachers in successive grades to impart the knowledge necessary to complete the skills required at each level.

A spiraling curriculum allows teachers to challenge their students based on previous knowledge. What this means is that students are exposed to the same subject many times, but the more they are exposed to it the more complicated it becomes. This allows the student to feel some level of comfort in their previous knowledge, but also be challenged on an appropriate level. An example of this in science would be the TEKS that relate to photosynthesis. The student start out at a Pre-K level by simply identifying that animals rely on plants (what eats what). On up to second grade, this gets a little more complex by introducing the idea that plants and animals have external characteristics that allow their needs to be met, as well as requiring the idea that students compare and give examples of how living organisms depend on each other and their environment. At the sixth grade level, students are introduced to food chains and food webs as well as energy transformations. The actual process isn't explored until seventh grade, where the TEKS spell out that the students have to learn about the process of photosynthesis itself by identifying that radiant energy is transferred to chemical energy through this process. At the high school leve (grade 9-12) the students are expected to learn the entire process of photosynthesis, complete with all the molecular shifting and energetic reactions.