Topologika have teamed up with Anastasis Ltd to bring parents and schools a software pack that develops Cookery, Nutrition, Healthy-eating, Safety, Catering, Hospitality and Manual Skills.

Brand new to the Keen2learn range Captain Cook’s Tuck Box supports KS 1, 2 and 3 Cookery and Design & Technology. It contains nearly 200 pupil-designed – and munched – recipes, (e.g. Hotch-Potch, Worm Pie, Caterpillar Salad and ‘Dog’ Biscuits), plus ideas for national and religious festivals.

The Cookbook section has Beginners, Junior and Senior options with illustrated, timed, printable recipes appropriate for different age groups. The Recipes section provides a search engine (perfect for linked work in ICT) and the opportunity for pupils to design their own recipes. Menus introduces food combinations and has a tool for designing party and special occasion menus. A well-thought-out Library offers food and culinary dictionaries, good-food guides, menu guides, health and hygiene tips and 32 videos. Ideal for interactive whiteboards and cookery clubs this stimulating software saves preparation and planning time, is easy to install, networkable and comes with various configuration options. Pupil progress tracking includes a course of 15 graduated recipes covering most of the basis cookery skills. Pupils’ names are easily added, and detailed KS 1-3 lesson plans provide pre-set activities.

• Combats obesity and associated illnesses by helping children move from fast-food and sweets to fresh fruit, vegetables and fibre
• Enhances the quality of the community’s life
• Helps build relationships by encouraging families to learn and eat together
• Supports cross-curricular work in reading, writing and ICT
• Written specially for children – so easy even an adult can use it!

Packs include CD, licence, comprehensive help, pupil tracking facilities, ready-to-use cookery books, a booklet on starting a cookery club, progress certificates and lesson plans for KS 1 to 3. Other tasty resources include d.i.y. cookery books, a health genie (provides tips on balanced-diets, snacks, and lunch boxes), and an (optional) ‘parrot’ who tells food jokes!

Suitable for: Windows NT, ME, 2000, XP and Vista.

I recently paid a visit to the Australian Reptile Park near Gosport NSW. Not that I have a liking for creepy crawlies or things that slither but the family wanted to learn about the deadly brigade. The park has a very obvious mission; to educate children and adults through a fun approach to learning. Facts and figures can be boring unless you present them in an entertaining way and the Reptile park has a definite way of maintaining the interest of children through a variety of shocks, challenges, practical demonstrations and toilet jokes! Holding children and parents spellbound through a series of biology educational games  the head keeper provided one young lad with a lasting memory by tricking him into shaking hands just after an anaconda had pee’d on his hand. A practical joke or a way of reinforcing the message  that snakes too have bodily functions, and a proportion of whatever they eat is turned intro waste.

But what about the lad who “volunteered” his cap to allow the head keeper to play a game with the snapping jaws of a young crocodile. Demonstrating the difference in attack method between an alligator’s single lunge and the crocodile’s snap and violent twist the cap became the centre of attention and somewhat battle scarred. But what a hero back at school when the lad can explain that the holes in his cap were from  crocodile bites. Now where can you get that from text books.

Alistair Owens www.keen2learn.co.uk/news

It’s that time of year, so here are some suggestions for the Educational Secretary to ponder:

1.    One of the key features of the job is controlling the critical educational journey of future generations. Why not include this in the job title. Minister for Children, Schools and Families seems to dodge a central issue; it omits the word education in the title.

2.    The future of our children is under question with increasing competition and global changes in markets and communications. Their ability will be tested against world players. We need to make sure that we are at the leading edge as educational standards in Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, are at a far higher level of achievement.

3.    An exam or test result indicates progress and areas for review. Read your own report regularly; you have failed last years SAT’s, and without distinct improvement you look to fail them again this year. The 2008 SAT’s results failed to arrive on time for which the examination contractor was sacked and it is expected that in 2009 the results may also fail to be delivered on time.

4.    Spend the budget wisely. It is not a bottomless resource, and item 3 has left an unnecessary hole. The best advice I was ever given when seeking capital, or spending against an agreed budget was – if this was your own money would you still spend it on this proposal.

5.    Stress levels in teachers are rising. Days off work, resistance to promotion and well voiced frustrations need to be resolved. Do not be influenced by the economic crisis that has swelled the recruitment of potential teachers. Do your utmost to retain all teachers less they abandon ship when the economy recovers.

6.    Use new technology to instil fun, enjoyment and educational games to learning. Children learn and retain more when it is fun. Avoid the drilling exercises which have taken the fun out of learning.

7.    Widen the scope of learning. Listen to teachers, educationalists and especially games developers to capture the imagination of children. Turn learning into a quest, not a routine.

8.    Try to get the guys in TV to develop a competition that sets a challenge to children, inspires participation and recognises the results.

9.    Parents are a huge resource that should be mobilised. Technology now provides an ideal platform to include parents in the curriculum. Remember that children spend greater time at home than in school, and are influenced more in learning  through the home environment. Develop a scheme that adjusts for levels of competence and financial status.

10. 2009 is going to be tough, but could also be the point that the educational policy of the UK undergoes a quantum leap that will be remembered far into the future. A politician’s dream; the stuff that history books will recall and generations of children will thank you for. Use the opportunity wisely.

The age old conundrum of the first arrival – the chicken or the egg could be rewritten. Is the world’s economy due to circumstance or the lack of competence that stemmed from education that is not tracking with time?