Once again our teachers are involved in time and cost consuming activities that detract from their primary role. Difficult to say how society can easily correct the tendency towards violence that has precipitated these measures. With some schools’ budgets allowing just £150 to equip a class with its educational resources for a year the financial imposition of security arches and personnel along with the teacher’s time to conduct security checks are a further drain on existing budgets.

Something has to give. The realignment of time energy and costs to this programme will improve our children’s security but we have to accept the resultant time and resources impact on the teaching capacity.

The need for increased security is undeniable, so we need to concentrate on options to support the teaching process. As learning is significantly enhanced through practice perhaps we need to provide increased practical support at home to support the teaching load.

The Prince of Wales to Launch Revolve Eco Car Events during London Sustainability Weeks

As a lead up to the UK’s first ever eco-car rally on World Environment Day, HRH The Prince of Wales will lend his support at a pre-rally launch demonstrating some of the cars involved on Monday 4 June at Hampton Court Palace. This event will give a preview of the vehicles in action at the rally, and allow The Prince to show his personal support for technological solutions that will move us towards zero emissions and sustainable motoring.

The following day Revolve, an organisation which champions sustainable transport, will stage the Brighton-to-London Eco Car Rally on World Environment Day, Tuesday, 5 June 2007. The event will allow many of the major car-manufacturers, a number of innovative small businesses and key UK public bodies to share their vision for sustainable transport.

Revolve founder, Steven Glaser, says, “Revolve’s mission is to promote and encourage the take up of sustainable transport technologies. We aim to demonstrate that solutions for a sustainable future are being sought, and to reclaim the positive aspects of personal mobility.”

Keen2learn is supporting the event by offering the H-Racer at 50% off the normal price – for a limited period only. The H-Racer is a fantastic working model hydrogen fuelled car kit for children and adults. Alistair Owens Managing Director of Keen2learn says “The need to educate children to develop a regard for the environment of future has to start now. Learning how hydrogen fuel cell cars work through playing with a working model is a great way to fire their knowledge. See the H Racer.

The events will showcase a range of vehicles – from scooters to vans to limousines – that use potential future fuels and technologies such as hydrogen fuel cells, hydrogen ICE*, hybrids/batteries and biofuels.

The events will also promote car-sharing, through WhizzGo’s chauffeuring of our celebrities and dignitaries in their hybrid and LPG vehicles.

Quentin Willson, TV personality and motoring journalist, will launch the rally in Brighton. There will be a pit-stop en route in central Croydon where the Minister for Science and Innovation, Malcolm Wicks MP, will lead a public address. The finish line is Trafalgar Square, where the vehicles will be formally welcomed into the city by London’s Deputy Mayor Nicky Gavron.

Nicky Gavron said: “The Brighton to London eco car rally is a great way to showcase the vehicles of the future. As the Chair of the London Hydrogen Partnership I want to demonstrate that new vehicles using alternative fuels and new technologies can offer the potential for lower carbon emissions and help to prevent runaway climate change.

“While these vehicles are being developed, you can still make choices to reduce your carbon emissions – I would urge Londoners when they next change their car, to choose the most fuel efficient car they can.”

“CO2 emissions from road transport would fall by as much as 30 per cent if people simply bought the most fuel-efficient version of the car they want.”

Throughout the day at Trafalgar Square there will be prototype vehicles on display for the public to see, eco-driving demonstrations and video clips of the rally vehicles and other shorts. Many of the vehicles will be on public display at the Science Museum for a week from Sunday, 3 June.

* – internal combustion engine

Do you need to get children practising not just the ‘four rules’ of number, but also topic work and problem-solving?

MathMania 2 (ages 7-11) gets children navigating mazes by answering revision questions on Numbers, Angles, Time, Measurement, Shape & Space and a ‘Lucky Dip’. The aim is to win points and get past maze obstacles.

With enough points to leave a maze, they can enter another, or win bonus points by tackling one of eight Numeracy puzzles: Coins, Towers of Hanoi, Sliding Blocks, Magic Squares, Fill It, Eureka, Years and Navigate.

Across a network, children can navigate mazes at the same time as their friends (stand-alone use is of course available) and what’s more, to make things strategically more interesting, they can drop question ‘bombs’ to stay ahead of them!

Like the other titles in the Mania series, the software can be adapted to offer the features you want; the more ‘game-like’ features can be reserved as rewards and levels of play are completely under your control.

Features include:

• Monitor pupils from within the game
• Includes a Maze Designer and Custom Question Writer
• Prints worksheets to be completed away from the computer
• Fully configurable – define the topics and puzzles pupils will meet
• Puzzles can be played as independent problem-solving ac

Supplied with

• Quick Start Guide
• Handbook
• Questions, Puzzles & Classroom Guide
• Maze Design sheet

Reviews and quotes

“Stunning games and graphics, great sound effects and challenging maths activities.” – TES Teacher

“I’m frequently impressed with Topologika’s software and this is no exception. MathMania provides a fun context in which students practise numeracy skills – without being aware of it. It provides the kind of repetition and overlearning which helps embed maths skills.” – Simon Midgley, Rhyddings School.

“Many thanks for the excellent MathMania which was installed on my 10 year old son’s computer this afternoon and which has been difficult to drag him away from ever since!” – R. Mooney. See more of MathMania 2.

System requirements

• Windows 95, 98, ME, 2000 or XP
• 4Mb video card or higher
• Network card or modem for optional multi-player use
• Mouse and/or keyboard

Pack prices

Home Editions are specifically licensed for home use. All other licenses are for schools.

Complete packs with CD & licence Price incl VAT:
Home Edition £29.99
Single User £69.33

A child’s reliance on a parent changes with age. Aged 0 – 3 years involves total dependence, and an almost vertical learning curve. During this phase the brain is also developing its ability to learn. Aged 3 – 5 sees a huge development in learning such as the alphabet, speech, walking, shape and colour recognition etc, and of course their ability to ask the question “why”.

Parental involvement during these phases is both crucial and highly rewarding. Repetition, an essential and enjoyable part of learning provides immediate feedback on performance allowing parents to treasure those first words and steps and ability to ride a bike etc.

And then you tend to let go. As they go to infant primary and secondary school the tendency is to back off, partly because you are now a little remote, don’t want to interfere, or wish to concentrate on your career. The intimate1:1 involvement at home is traded for a qualified teacher in a class of 30. Your awareness of progress starts to slip becoming anecdotal based on what your child tells you and the end of term or year report.

At school the learning process continues, but a key feature of parental involvement is greatly missed. Studies show that learning retention is process driven. What you hear only results in just 5% retention, what you see and hear involves 20% retention, but the practice in doing activity commands a massive 75% retention. This is the very activity in which parents excelled at home yet incur the greatest difficulties for teachers. Practice requires time, equipment and attention that are often extremely limited in class. The substitution is homework programmed to give children some form of practice to build up retention and speed but this is perhaps an outdated solution.

Modern teaching resources used in school are also ideal for practice at home. The parent’s interactive encouragement, critically at a time and pace to suit the child holds huge benefit for the child, school and parent. This dynamic involvement helps the child and tracks directly with the lessons at school – rather than a recovery after the end of term report or parents night.

Many parents relish the opportunity, resulting in a 25% improvement in performance back at school. Technology has developed immeasurably allowing the teaching content to be applied in a variety of techniques way beyond chalk, talk textbook.

Alistair Owens
keen2learn

Perhaps one often overlooked criticism of the educational process covering the past 10 years is the disenfranchisement of parents in the schooling process.

Whilst the pressures continue to mount on the teaching resource adopting new targets and procedures we seem to have overlooked one management essential; to work smarter rather than harder.

There are around 7.4 million households in the UK with school aged children (5 – 15 years old). The benefits of the 1:1 interaction between parent and child used to reinforce the schooling process can produce a significant boost to our overall teaching capacity. Coupled with concern from teachers that they are now expected to deal with issues such as diet, citizenship and table manners – historically handled by parents, there is huge scope to re-engage parents in a structured role.

Allowing teachers to manage the curriculum performance through the current average class sizes of 30 and enlist dynamic parental teaching support at home on a structured 1:1 basis can only be beneficial. Children spend 15% of their time in school, and 75% of learning retention comes from practising the lesson content effort at home will activate a highly beneficial outcome for child, teacher and parent.

Alistair Owens
keen2learn

We are not alone. Concerns over schooling performance are international. Modern lifestyles, technology and social factors have a similar impact in schools in Australia the USA as in the UK.

Jeremy Roberts wrote in “The Australian” that bad parenting permanently damages the brains of infants, leaving primary schools unable to help them to develop. This stark fact was established by Dr. Fraser Mustard, a Canadian medical doctor specialising in childhood development and founding president of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research.

“Gene structures are susceptible to nurture: touch, speech, movement, smell and so on. But genes for learning problems – and the more serious problems such as depression and anti social behaviour could be turned on by bad early childhood environments.” But good environments could lead to genetic structures that were resilient and could insure against learning difficulties and more serious problems. “If you were brought up in a good environment it largely doesn’t matter what genes are present,” he said.

Dr Mustard said that primary schools were largely unable to help certain children entering key stage 1 to develop. “The schools cannot change the outcomes because the damage was already done in early childhood.”

Schools seem to be faced with an impossible task. Whilst attempting to control and develop those children displaying learning difficulties, teachers are diverted from developing those children more able to learn.

It would seem that the responsibilities of the parent or family circumstances dictate the ultimate performance of a child. Perhaps a grading structure would ensure that the output of the class as a whole is not degraded.

Alistair Owens
keen2learn

During early childhood the interaction with the parent in a caring home environment establishes the framework of their learning development for life. The learning curve tracks progress in ability against time, and follows a normal pattern of steep initial learning, followed inevitably by a reducing curve or plateau as interest or ability stabilises. Unchecked, the learning curve can move into decline, but this can be quickly redressed through the introduction of a new stimulus to re-establish the upward learning path. The whole activity, closely monitored by a parent can achieve remarkable results.

At home the inquisitive four year will continuously ask the question “why” to feed their quest for knowledge. The frequency of the questioning is a measure of the comfort the child feels that the answer will be forthcoming. At school, however, this close 1:1 link with the parent is traded for 1: 30 with a teacher in a busy classroom.

The tendency for parents to back off at this point; transferring the teaching role to the school can stifle the free flow of the “why” routine and as a rule the learning curve gradient flattens. Parents do not want to appear to interfere or believe they lack the requisite teaching skills to continue. Ironically, teachers overwhelmingly want parents to maintain their involvement.

The Education Secretary and DfES recently published a report entitled “Every Parent Matters” This comprehensive policy document considers the significant role parents can play in education throughout the schooling years. Critically they see the huge advantage of parents – especially fathers taking an active role in the learning process.

The dynamic re-engagement of parents leads to more relevant encouragement of the child (rather than “do your homework”) and the re-establishment of the 1:1 mentor role that had been forsaken. Historic school reports and parent’s night are then being replaced by continuous assessment.

The active participation of the parent in the curriculum once again provides the child with a base to be able to ask the question why.

The principle objective is to get parents to reinforce the classroom lesson at home. This sounds daunting but modern teaching aids predominately in game format such as DVDs, CD, ROMs and board games turn the learning process into fun presenting a totally different platform to when the parents were at school. Repeating the lesson at home therefore can be a great game to be enjoyed by both. This practice activity is extremely beneficial in the leaning process where 75% can be retained compared to 5 – 50% retained in the classroom.

Practice in the classroom is compounded by 30 children of differing abilities, limited time, and probably shared equipment. An hour at home practicing in a relaxed and enjoyable environment can provide immense support to the child and teacher. The learning curve trajectory increases and the parent once again is pivotal in the learning programme.

Parents are the one constant in the schooling process. Children on average will have 40 different teachers covering eight subjects in 11 years of schooling.

Alistair Owens
keen2learn