The Use of Business Software as a Content Free Teaching Tool: Emulation or Assimilation?

ABSTRACT This paper seeks to examine the potential of full function business application software within the classroom and daws on work with children involving a variety of programs, hardware and pupil age ranges. This work suggests that full business software can be used successfully and usefully with children of all school ages with the implication that educational developers need channel less effort into emulating such programs with “diluted” educational versions. Using a WIMP environment has enabled children as young as six and seven to operate full function business programs. In using many such programs across the curriculum a consistent user interface of this kind was found to be essential. Focussing generally on the broad potential of business software also offers opportunities for bridging the wide variety of machines and operating systems in use in education around the world facilitating greater interchange of teaching materials and techniques.