Paddington bear popped home yesterday, not to Peru but keen2learn.  Bet you thought he was born in Peru and resides in Paddington.  Well he does, but the bedrooms at Home Farm in Burghwallis, now the base for keen to learn, echo to bedtime stories read many years ago by Shirley and Eddie Clarkson. The kitchen table witnessed Shirley make the very first Paddington bear as a Christmas present for her children, Joanna and Jeremy, and brought the stories to life.  Friends upon meeting the character in the flesh wanted one, and the rest is history.

Shirley has just launched her book “Bearely Believable” coinciding with the 50^th anniversary of the Paddington stories by Michael bond.  It’s the amusing story of the fun they had living in Home Farm and the trials and tribulations surrounding the development of Paddington bear. The kitchen table was quickly outgrown, and production moved to the spare bedroom, then across the yard to a converted cowshed and finally to a local factory.  Shirley revisited Home Farm recently – with the original Paddington – after a 21 year absence to record these events for the BBC.

Bedtime stories turned Paddington into a firm favourite in the Clarkson family.  The imagination that bedtime stories trigger in a child’s mind develops their learning process.  Parents reading stories and playing other educational games with their children throughout the schooling process helps stimulate learning.  And the interaction between child and parent becomes mutually rewarding with obvious benefits back at school.

Our modern lifestyle leads to many parents being time poor.  Coupled with a frequent reluctance to read aloud the essential bedtime story has taken a back seat with 54% of Dad’s. But modern technology has come to the aid of the busy parent.  Subscriptions to on-line stories narrated by actors and including animation and highlighted script turn a PC or laptop into a world of imagination.  An educational game, the service enhances reading and literacy skills in children, is easy for tired Dads to join in and learn how to read a story aloud.

In a world of TV, Internet, Wii, Nintendo and computers it is all too easy to assume children can amuse themselves.  Encouraging developments in the Electronic Media to include educational games is a positive move.  However, parents and grandparents still have a vital role to play. Help, encouragement, mutual involvement and interactive feedback can all inspire a child to learn more.  They love to share their experience and show how they are doing.

Electronic Media has the advantage that it never tires of repetition, something the tired parent can be grateful of when the same story or game is played yet again! Predicting what happens next is an essential part of the learning curve, children love to be able to foretell and repetitive feedback is part of this process.

So how is Paddington doing after all these years? The stories are still popular and the Paddington bear figures are still in shops.  Production has moved from the bedroom at Home Farm to China. Marmalade sandwiches are probably deep fried.  If you want the full story read Shirley’s great book.  And did those bedtime stories read by Shirley and Eddie Clarkson help the children? One of them is Jeremy Clarkson; author, journalist and broadcaster with an innate ability to tell a great story.

The Ice Journey book is an interesting blend of fact and fiction, which could be used effectively in several different ways. One of the stated aims for the author is to encourage and enable grandparents to participate in their grandchildren’s education. Many grandparents have an active part in caring for grandchildren today and this book provides a story they can read to their grandchildren. The fact that the book is written as a grandmother reading the story to her grandchildren positively reinforces the idea of the grandparent having both interesting and even educational information. I feel one of the great advantages of this book are the activities listed at the back. These could be done in a classroom situation but equally could be done in the house with Grandma after reading the story. The idea of making a DNA sweet model struck me in particular as an activity which grandmas would be happy to organise. Grandmas love to give their grandchildren sweets but may be accused of spoiling the children. This they can show is an education activity in which sweets are essential!

I feel the bilingual edition will be of benefit to both learners and native speakers. As a Welsh learner I found the audio Welsh version easy to understand but it did not sound like ‘learner’ material which gave me a greater sense of achievement because I was able to understand it. There is a lack of Welsh language material for learners and native speakers. This bilingual work has the added advantage of providing an opportunity for non-Welsh speakers (parents and grandparents) to become involved in their children’s Welsh medium educational experiences. Non-Welsh speaking grandparents could play the audio version but use the English language text and activities to allow them to discuss the material with their Welsh-speaking grandchildren.

The illustrations blend well with the text, which must have required a great deal of work in the bilingual edition. Single pictures cover a double page with the text in both languages fitting round it. Other pages contain different yet appropriate images on the Welsh and English pages.

In an age where the ‘Google generation’ may shun the printed word, this book may provide a bridge between ‘grandma’s world’ of books as a source of information and the Internet where so many children would ‘google’ to find the information and its links to relevant websites.

Ellen Harris
Learning Resources Adviser
Learning Resources Centre, Trinity College Carmarthen

My daughter is 9 and has been home educated from the age of 4. Throughout this time, I have tried to make learning fun. I not only think that this is best way to learn but also makes learning memorable. We all remember the things we enjoyed doing. Consequently I have always looked out for educational material, which follows this philosophy, but never found anything outstanding enough to move me to write a review about.

I met Valerie Wood-Gaiger MBE at the Global Women Inventor & Innovators Network (GWIIN), where we both received ‘Special Recognition’ awards. Valerie writes amazing educational books. It speaks volumes that her very first book. ‘The Ice Journey’ should have received an international award.

The book (with audio CD) offers a new educational experience. ‘The Ice Journey’ describes the incredible journeys made during the end of the last great Ice Age and asks if la, Taith and their friends really did cross the Atlantic Ocean from Europe to America. Archaeology and DNA evidence suggests that they did and at the end of the book children are encouraged to become detectives and find out more for themselves. As a scientist I was impressed that she had incorporated two simple scientific experiments in her comprehensive Learn with Grandma educational activities programme.

‘The Ice Journey’ is the first in a planned series of books that will move through time from the Ice Age to the Roman Empire. The stories are set in places where history happened, have been thoroughly researched and vetted by experts. I found the way this book deals with the subject of our ancestors very interesting and informative. The books are written for a wide age range, 7 to 70. My daughter thoroughly enjoyed it and so did I.

Fractions, Decimals and Percentages Are Just Coded Maths Games

I always found math to be a difficult subject to learn at school.  I put most of my failing down to the fact I sat too close to an old fashioned pot-bellied stove.  This provided a great source of warmth but also destroyed my concentration. At least I learnt to spell soporific in a written defence during a subsequent detention, but the absence of maths sense slowed the learning curve for some years. Maths was always a struggle; the pot bellied stove inflicted collateral damage but I believe the real culprit was the boring way maths was taught.

Mathematics can be described as a series of fantastic codes. Once they are broken the maths games that can be played are endless and enjoyable. The modern technique of using educational games as the base makes life far more interesting and pays dividends in the attention paid by the average child. It also allows parents to repeat say a maths game at home

Like many things in life once a code is understood the task becomes far easier. This is the case when we come across a new computer program. Initially it is hard work and intuition fights with or against the operating manual. Once mastered a host of shortcuts and shortcomings are revealed and in no time our learning curve overtakes the computer and we start to identify areas where the program could be improved.

A recent example of breaking a mathematics code appeared in the form of the crop circle in the south of England.  The intricate pattern that was pressed into a wheat field at first sight appeared as just another artistic pattern in a crop circle.  In reality it was a complex diagram that an astrophysicist decoded to reveal its meaning as a fantastic way to represent the value of pi to the first 10 significant places. Guaranteed 99% of us who looked at the crop circle failed to understand that it was a mathematics code rather than a decorative pattern.  Obviously the perpetrator knew what he was doing and set this elaborate game to challenge mathematicians.  Once the code was broken the answer was obvious.

Leonardo Da Vinci was artist and a great mathematician who used codes to set out his theories. Used by subsequent generations of scholars even today they provide educational games that require ingenuity to crack the code.  Some areas of maths have a number of different ways of expressing the same information. Fractions and percentages express similar information in slightly different form. This feature allows us to mask the details by expressing facts in a form of code.

Recently Ed balls, the schools Secretary in the UK, announced that two fifths of all secondary schools are underperforming.  He could of course have said that 40 per cent of all schools are failing which conjures up a much bigger image.  Expressing the number of schools as a fraction is code to mask the actual hard fact. He could have just also revealed the actual number, but to say that 638 schools are failing would come as quite a shock to parents of the children involved. More startling perhaps would be an announcement that there are around 1,215,000 children at these 638 schools many of whom are potentially failing at maths. That’s a much bigger number than we might associate with two fifths! Codes are designed to initially hide or abbreviate the facts. Mr Balls could be said to be masking the facts, but he has only been in the job for a few months. Let’s hope he can quickly crack the code to improve the educational performance of future generations of children in the UK. Google Bookmark

They say education is a lifelong journey. Difficult to comprehend when you are at school slogging through lessons and exams but learning can be greater fun when turned into an educational game. Take a practical application and apply as many subjects that have been learned in the classroom.

This morning I took a shower, a frequent occurrence I hasten to add, but today I had one of those eureka moments – a tribute perhaps to that other rather more famous bather. Have you ever thought how much science is involved in the process of taking a shower?

To highlight the point I have used the following abbreviations as each topic appeared during my ablutions:

• Biology (B)
• Physics (P)
• Chemistry (C)
• Maths (M)
• Citizenship (City)
• Psychology (Psy)
• Geography (G)
• Geology (Geo)
• English Language (Eng)

The first question to loom up is why we take a shower? The experience is functional in removing body odours created by bacteria, (B) but also physiological as it induces endorphins that help wake you up and make you feel good (Psy) Removal of body odours also makes you a little less undesirable to others nearby ( City).

The water is fed from a header tank under gravity- thanks to Newton (P) – and as I’m a devout wuss, heated. Energy is consumed to heat the water by the conversion of electrical energy into heat P). This is measured in watts, the result of multiplying volts by amperes (M +P).

Responding to marketing persuasion I have been attracted to the delights of a power shower. The increased force (P) boosts the endorphins (B) but unfortunately uses 12 times the amount of water (Geo) than the gravity shower all of which has to be heated (P) This is draining the natural resources, literally, of water and power causing environmental concerns (forgot to add the code for the environment – that’s an (E). The availability of water depends on geography (G) and the natural storage which locally are aquifers (Geo).

Being male I have a predilection to B.o.g.o.f offers (buy one get one free) in supermarkets and anything in blue packaging (Psy) The resultant over purchase of needless stock (M) led to a ban by my wife (City)that means all shower products used have her stamp of approval and sensible supply level.

Today’s showering experience was a cornucopia of non blue ingredients. The shampoo promised a “Fruitful Infusion” to produce a “Dazzling Shine” (Eng) from the passion flower, patchouli and vetiver ingredients(B). The conditioner provided “Tangle free hair with uplifted volume” enhancing the dazzle effect by way of a “Citrus lift”(Eng) from tangerine, lemongrass and aloe vera (B) And the rest of the body below the head was in turn subjected to “Serious pampering”(Eng) from fennel (B) and sea mineral (C) based in a silky smooth shower gel (C).

The post shower application of talcum powder, contained talc mineral (C+Geo). The deodorant, promising to maintain a “desert – dry”(Eng) atmosphere under the arms (B +G) from aluminium zirconium trichlorohydrex (C). The aftershave contained alcohol (C).

In the space of 5 minutes I had consumed 150 litres of water, 4 kilowatts of energy (P), half an alpine meadow of additives, and drained the lot away to the water treatment works where they will use bacteria (B) to break the ingredients free from the water, and off we go again.

Taking a simple shower will seem a lot busier from now on. My shower involved 34 applications of science and learning and a lot of fun to see just how many links with education can exist.

Alistair Owens operates an educational games web site and writes on educational matters for a wide range of publications.

The English language being an amalgam of many other languages is possibly the most adaptive in the world. With complex and changing content the tricks you can play with English has made it one of the best games in education. But although  the constantly changing rules refreshes the fun it can trip the unwary and make examination success hazardous.

Many parents, keen to provide active support in their child’s schooling are concerned this may be problematic; citing changes in teaching techniques that may leave them exposed or detract from their child’s progress. Clearly teaching techniques must evolve else we will fail to benefit from progress, but what if the subject matter, English, is evolving at such a rate that can see significant changes occurring during the schooling journey of a child.

English, as any language is the basic structure behind communication. Yet the world of communication is changing fast. The internet has seen exponential growth in speed, usage and range of access to information on a global basis. An historic search for information probably involved a dictionary, thesaurus or encyclopaedia to check spelling, meaning, and synonym or to learn facts. Inevitably during the searching process other words, meanings, interpretations and facts would be revealed across the page which broadened our knowledge base. But has the internet changed the process? Spelling is less critical. even in a search using Google  the system  itself suggests “did you mean” corrections to spelling. The resultant search, being computer driven, can be extraordinary rapid and  far more targeted, but are we missing the opportunity to absorb knowledge from a ramble through additional facts.

The evolution of the English language has developed at a greater pace over the past ten years. The spread of English, fuelled by the internet, cinema, DVD and TV has established a global first language in communications. The arbitrators in education need to be equally dynamic. Spelling games and exams must be a nightmare for teachers and examiners as the content and rules change.  Any learning resource must first decide whether it is a programme or program. There is growing interest in a society formed to remove redundant letters in words. From their viewpoint the correct spelling of colour is color and ghost doesn’t really need the H and could just as well be gost. This could lead to some interesting debates with the purists who claim the origin of the word should identify how the word is spelt

Handwriting has been largely replaced by a keyboard input inextricably linked to predictive text or spellcheck  where the initial comprehension of correct spelling has less impact. The ravages of abbreviation have taken their toll over the years but the English language has largely survived intact from several previous onslaughts. Years ago, communications relying on semaphore, Morse code and teletext, evolved abbreviations and codes to shorten the time to communicate without loosing the context. That’s a 10. 4, O.K. or Roger of course. The current threat from texting abbreviations through the global usage  of a cell phones will an interesting test case on the Queen’s English.

The English language, an amalgam of an incredible number of other languages, is by its nature highly adaptable. You can play some great English games with word structure format and spelling. One such example that is a fun educational game is to analyse where a word came from, and then write a sentence or paragraph with as many words from other languages as possible, and it has to make sense!

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Learning to read; the essential foundation of all learning doesn’t come easy to all of us. But the onset of broadband technology has provided a fantastic new reading support opportunity that helps children to learn to read. MightyBook stories, in the classroom and bedtime stories at home take on a wonderful extra dimension.

When I was a lad a few years ago, I won’t mention the year as I don’t want you to be able to work out that I’m 59 (doh!) I went to one of the first comprehensive schools in the UK. This leviathan, based in the exquisite surroundings of Holland Park in London caused considerable angst. Local residents were aghast at construction in their very nice backyard; parents were in awe that their children could be taught in what was considered to be a learning factory. Children were phased by it’s vast size. Educationalists oscillated between the boundaries of visionary and crazy. London County Council the education authority ( as it was then) stood firm, the Head teacher stood firm, the children quivered.

At 11 years old, fresh from a small and very personal primary school about 5 miles away, I crept through the gates into the bewildering new world that was Holland Park. Home to 3000 souls, four huge multi story teaching blocks, four gymnasiums, a swimming pool and a vast central auditorium that could hold the entire school. Class size ballooned to 48 pupils comprised of five ability steams from A to E with two classes per stream per year and a different teacher for every subject. The concept needed considerable adjustment to both pupils and staff. The battalion of teachers required, many lasting a term, some not, meant teaching continuity was fragmented. Our music teacher shot himself playing Russian Roulette, thankfully off the premises. His death did little to improve the averages.

Welcome to my baptism in secondary schooling and my excuse for being an initial struggling reader and academic pariah. Anyway it’s better then owing up to any possibility that it could just be me.

English was my downfall and so was Judith. Reading skills, which had been nurtured in Bentworth Primary were dashed though a combination of a growing imagination, fragmented teaching and sitting next to a pretty girl called Judith, who was a speed reader. “Lord of the Flies” epitomised the dilemma, reading chapters of the book shared between us soon showed my inadequacies. My reading speed was OK, so I thought until measured against Judith’s exceptional ability. As she reached the bottom of the right hand page there was a pause, a look, a smile, a nod and the page was turned. I was generally three quarters down the left hand page. Initially I thought I should own up but a mixture of the alpha male and admission of failure caused growing trauma. I tried subterfuge by reversing the sequence. Hoping to instil some assertiveness I gave her the “let’s turn the page nod” when I thought she was half way down page 2. This backfired; I hit a nerve and her underlying competitiveness caused her to speed up further. Damn. Besides which the loss of the endearing smile and the look, that melting look, was not worth the risk. I dropped back to reading the left hand page only, pausing slightly as the melting smile emerged before agreeing – as if I had that last sentence to read just so I could get a repeat smile and the page was turned.

I have no idea what “Lord of the Flies” was about. I invented potential sub plots to fill in the missing right pages that would have William Golding aghast.

This inventiveness was both my salvation and downfall. It amused and bemused teachers. School reports reflecting the truth showed increasing alarm by teachers; “his attention seemed focused enough but not necessary on the subject in hand”. Jack and Jill had indeed gone up the hill, but were carrying a pail with a false bottom and actually with the CIA. See it’s even got you frowning.

My world may have been a different place if modern technology had kicked in earlier. The thrill from reading a book at my pace, complete with sound track, effects and animation would have been a fantastic boon. And now it exists. MightyBook from Keen2learn has a growing library of books, game and puzzles on line that makes reading fun for 2- 10 year olds. Building the speed in those early years can help children bridge the chasm that can occur when they move up to secondary school, and meet Judith.

Alistair Owens operates the educational web  site www.keen2learn.co.uk and writes extensively on the new role open to parents to support their children at school.