Alistair Owens www.keen2learn.co.uk
There must be something in the air. Almost daily there is some form of change to the educational content of the National Curriculum. Maybe it’s the time of year, the closed season in the midst of exams. Or the lets do this before the holidays kick in so everyone will forget by the […]

By Alistair Owens http://www.keen2learn.co.uk
After years of Ofsted inspections, SAT’s and league tables are we going to see a breakthrough by having teachers licensed? Could this be a better way to judge schools’ potential based on the capability of its teaching resources rather than the performance of its pupils.
Many teachers find Ofsted inspections intimidating. A feeling […]

Alistair Owens www.keen2learn.co.uk
The thinking man’s guru Edward De Bono believes most of the problems in the world have been caused by an inadequacy in our current methods of thinking. Perhaps this concept alone should become the focus of all educational curriculum for the future.
“Most major conflicts in the world today exist as a direct result […]

Alistair Owens www.keen2learn.co.uk
Just when we thought we understood how to save the planet a bombshell emerges which turns the ethos on its head. Digital radio has me greatly concerned. It is difficult to mount a science based renewable energy educational programme to children and adults on the need to reduce power consumption when the science […]

We often refer to the National Training Laboratory who conducted research into our learning retention. There is a further saying that summarises  the research:-
I hear and I forget,
I see and I remember,
I do and I understand
Seventy five per cent of learning retention is achieved in “practice in doing.” Despite the continually changing approach in educational […]

The plans laid down by Tony Blair and the labour party that heralded the start of a new education policy in 1987 is about to be abandoned.
Is this the start of new found freedom for teachers who have been shackled for the past 15 years? Will we be able to shake free or have we […]

Research in the last three decades has established a clear link between parental involvement and children’s educational attainment. While most of what we know is based on mother-child interactions, increased attention has been paid to the specific influences fathers and other male caregivers have on their children’s development.
This paper briefly summarises the findings from the […]

Alistair Owens www.keen2learn.co.uk
Ed Balls, Minister of State for Children Schools and Families plans to merge selected good schools with failing schools. The idea is to allow the strength of the good school to infiltrate the bad school and also reduce costs. This educational game is fraught with issues and could result in the good school […]

Alistair Owens www.keen2learn.co.uk
My mouse died recently. A valued friend who gave loyal support through good and bad days. We had grown much attached. But as with us all it had grown old and lost it’s ability to left click. It needed replacing, and my knowledge and technical education took a massive step forward as a […]

By Alistair Owens www.keen2learn.co.uk
The mother of Laura Robson blamed the timing of the GCSE’s for her daughter’s failure at Wimbledon. The educational needs of a couple of hundred thousand children were at fault. Trying to cope with the pressure of these important exams that Laura has been working towards for the past 10 years were […]

By Alistair Owens www.keen2learn.co.ukl
The UK Conservative party has proposed key stage 2 SAT tests, normally held in the final year of primary school, should be transferred to the secondary school. The proposal met with mixed response from teachers. Half see it as a great idea, the other half see it as ludicrous. My money is […]

Alistair Owens www.keen2learn.co.uk
The vital educational role of dads in bedtime reading is under threat. Research by the National Literacy Trust in the UK revealed less than 50 per cent  of Dads  say they regularly read bedtime stories to their children compared to 76 per cent of Mums. Despite bedtime reading resources being one of the […]

By Alistair Owens http://www.keen2learn.co.uk
California is in a spot of bother. The golden state has run out of cash and needs to find billions of dollars to stay afloat. One of the savings to be enforced is the dramatic reduction in school educational textbooks and teaching time. Playing games with education is fraught with risks, has […]

By Alistair Owens www.keen2learn.co.uk
The number of children missing effective education is  a growing concern. Schemes to punish parents of truanting children failed and the cost of rounding them up a costly game. A new approach is, however, proving to work. But is it just treating the symptoms and not finding the cure?

Some children rebel against […]

Now we learn the UK government is playing games with our educational schools rebuild programme. This vital project has seen 20 per cent of the total budget of £55m paid out in consultant’s fees to oversee the project.
Last year the government paid an individual solicitor £30m to oversee a compensation scheme to pay injured […]

By Alistair Owens www.keen2learn.co.uk
The DCSF have decided to introduce a checking procedure to home learning. Ofsted, the lambasted schools inspection body is to also handle home learning inspections to asses educational standards against the national curriculum.
Many parents with the requisite skill and dedication have opted to teach their children at home. The educational values achieved […]

By Alistair Owens www.keen2learn.co.uk
Educational maths games take on an added dimension. Crude oil is priced in US Dollars, and the UK pays for the oil in pounds sterling. Thus if crude goes up in cost; petrol, gasoline and diesel fuel will cost more at the pumps. Similarly, if Sterling falls in value against the Dollar, […]

Boffin Boy and the Deadly Swarm from Ransom has been selected for the 2009 Booked Up programme. Run by The Booktrust, this major annual initiative is funded by the DCSF. Every 11 year old is able to chose a free book from a carefully selected list. Last year Booked Up was launched by the Children’s […]

For those of you who have not encountered the Combostill, it is a piece of apparatus designed for doing organic chemistry experiments quickly in the classroom on a small scale.
It can be used for distillation and refluxing and the number of experiments you can do with it depend on the imagination of the teacher. You […]

The effects of global warming have been seen for some years, and it is getting worse. Despite an argument to the contrary most evidence points to the problem being man made. The cure is long term. This means we have to introduce educational programmes on renewable energy to ensure our children fully understand the science […]

Isn’t education a wonderful thing! Literacy teaches a combination of listening and speaking. It develops the skill at being able to take turns in talking, develops reasoning and the ability to win a debate. Here is a powerful example.
I was party to a private phone call. I had no intention of eavesdropping, but the speaker […]

Some of the latest products from the Market leader in primary educational games have just entered the keen2learn range.
This award winning company have some brilliant products that tie with the national curriculum. Take a look at the Elephant jigsaw puzzles and Glow Numeracy to help early learning maths games with numbers that also glow in […]

By Alistair Owens www.keen2learn.co.uk
Our education is to be extended to today. The history books will recall the effect of a government and parliament  that  subjected itself to immense self harm through a complete disregard of restraint.
What model are we setting children in the classroom? Discipline is set by example and we teach that a team […]

The current shenanigans of our members of parliament present an unfortunate educational dichotomy against our teaching progress. The games being played in Westminster set an unfortunate example for children learning the ethics of adulthood.
One of the greatest drains on our teaching resources is the need to manage disruptive children. Many teachers cite the absence of […]

By Alistair Owens www.keen2learn.co.uk
The United Nations gathers in December in Copenhagen. The hot topic, if you pardon the pun, is global warming. Nobel prize-winning scientists have spoken – we must agree to halve greenhouse gases by 2050 to stop temperatures rising by more than 2 degrees Celsius. In the forty years left on the clock […]

By Alistair Owens www.keen2learn.co.uk
Food labels are now awash with details of the ingredients, what’s good and bad, high in this, low in that and percentages of daily allowances. Could this extend to video games to show the percentage of educational content contained in the games.
The skills of the games developer have grown immeasurably over the […]

By Alistair Owens http://www.keen2learn.co.uk
There is an essential need to get children on side to influence the future use of energy. The effects of climate change are gaining pace and our legacy to the next generation looks alarming. We need our children will need to hit the ground running to have measurable and immediate effect on […]

By Alistair Owens keen2learn
Great news! We have been able get Ed Tech products on board. Educational Technology Ltd who are behind the Ed Tech brand were insistent we underwent all manner of reviews to show we could handle their products and we passed all with flying colours.
Already in wide use in schools as teaching resources […]

Can we really blame the kids who turn off education? This survey is a real eye-opener, and if it isn’t what the heck are we doing? Take a look at this article by Barbara Pytel

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