Keyboard for Young Learners
By Jack Anderson 

	One of the most difficult obstacles that must be overcome before young children can effectively use the PCjr as a learning tool is the keyboard. No, we are not addressing the alledged poor quaility of the original nor the merits of it’s replacement. The difficulty is that the keys are laid out to be used by a touch typist! Children, on the other hand, are taught the ABC’s by us adults in straight alphabetical order. "B comes right after A, that’s what Mom told me and that is how the song goes." So, no wonder my young son Keith, who can recite the ABC’s, was so confused the first time I tried to help him play an early learning game on the family PCjr. 
	That was before Sunburst Communications joined forces with Koala Technologies and Jim Henson, the Muppet guy. They have produced a keyboard for young learners. Want to make the computer do something? Press the big green "GO" key. Had enough of that action? Press the stop sign shaped "stop" key. Cursor control, up, down, left and right is achieved by pressing one of the four points on the large compass. On Miss Piggy’s "HELP" key, she is tied to a railroad track and is yelling "HELP!". This key brings up Uncle Kermit, who demonstrates the use of this keyboard with out saying a word! 
	A ruler, oversize naturally, lays across the top of the letter key area and displays the numbers from zero to nine. This ruler also shows the traditional one-eighth inch increments that most of us learned about on our first, wooden, grade school ruler. 
	I have always liked my PCjr’s ability to display sixteen colors. So, I was happy to see that color selections could be changed by pressing one of the keys disguised as a color cup in a child’s water color paint set. Selections are; black, white, red, orange, yellow, green, blue or violet. 
	There are some keys that older children would use too. The punctuation marks of "!", "?", "," and "." are included with the math symbols for addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and equals. The "OOPS!" key will move you back one step if you change your mind. And then, there is my youngest son’s personal favorite the "ERASER" key. By pressing it Eric can clear the screen and start from scratch. The "ZAP" key causes the program to restart. 
	The Muppet Learning Keys comes with a very interesting three part program for learning the letters that make up our alphabet. Each program is a "stage" on which to perform a different learning activity. First is the DISCOVERY STAGE. Any key the young learner presses in this program will cause something with a name that begins with that letter to appear on stage with motion and sound. Pressing the "A" causes a alligator in straw hat to dance a jig; press the number "4" and three others join him. An easel board at the side of the stage shows the letter (upper or lower case) or number that has been pressed. The associations established during this first stage are maintained through out the other programs. This is important because on the LETTERS STAGE the alligator is presented and the player must press the correct key. The NUMBERS STAGE works much the same way as the LETTERS STAGE. You’ll see a screen full of archways. Pictures appear one at a time until a number from one to nine is represented. Your child is challenged to count the pictures and press that number on the ruler. As always, the correct response causes animated action and music. Incorrect actions cause the PCjr to make a little noise, politely requesting another try. 
	Each stage will play just as shipped. You can also customize the activities to fit your own child’s needs by using the Parent Control screen. Some Parent Control options available are: 
	- Upper or lower case letters 
	- Sequential or random order of presentation 
	- Letter selection grouping 
	- Number selection grouping 
	The Muppet Learning Keys keyboard is not compatible with any IBM computer except the IBM PCjr. It connects to the number one joystick port. One item not covered in the documentation is that this keyboard wants to be the only peripheral connected to a joystick port. Your regular keyboard can stay plugged in and is still usable, but you must disconnect any other item from the joystick ports. Software installation is a fairly straight forward matter. There is a "driver" that must be used so that Junior will recognize input from the keyboard. It is placed into your CONFIG.SYS file either automatically by the INSTALL program or manually. 
	Fortunately, Sunburst worked in a conversion file that will allow the Muppet Keyboard to be used with just about any program. You simply select this option from the main menu, or invoke the file from your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. My children have successfully played "Mixed up Mother Goose" and many other early learning programs with this great keyboard. 
	I became interested in buying a Muppet Learning Keys keyboard after seeing one at my son’s school. The only source I know about at the present time is Sunburst Technology in Pleasantville, NY. An order can be placed at 1-800-431-1934. This is the one purchase that will make Junior a real learning machine for the young children your family.