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School Educational Homework Needs A New Image

Friday, February 8th, 2013

Talk to any teacher, parent, or student in primary or secondary school and the mention of homework generates a largely negative reaction. Most consider it is drudgery that clouds the free time after school for children. It can also mar the harmony of home life whilst parents battle to get offspring to complete the task. And it creates a mass of work for teachers who have to set and mark homework. Yet as Plato said 2000 years ago “Do not, my friend, keep children to their studies by compulsion, but by play”: Plato.  There are a mass of educational games which can be used as home teaching resources to transform homework into a fun exercise for students to boost performance. Importantly they can also engage parents and reduce the workload for teachers.

(Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net)

Exam performance:

Homework is a critical means of getting children to practice the lesson content. This essential exercise helps improve the retention of the lesson for students, reinforces their understanding and develops lateral thinking. It also has a hidden objective; homework gets children to practice working on their own, a crucial ability to improve their performance in tests and exams.

Teaching Content:

The amount of core teaching time available in any lesson is surprisingly low. Schools are contracted to provide a minimum of 196 days of schooling a year, which doesn’t sound much when related to the 365 days available in a year. Homework is a way of boosting the level of teaching through the resources available at home. There is some debate over the efficacy of setting homework for children at primary school but an hour a day can make a heck of a difference in learning the alphabet or improve numbers skill through playing fun games for maths played at home. The ideal amount of homework increases to two hours a day for secondary school students and could be considered as a means increasing the teaching time to compensate for the limited amount of teaching that can be completed in class. An average lesson of 40 minutes in school is denuded through the essentials of class registration, settling the class down, giving out necessary teaching resources and ironically back marked homework setting and handling the next assignment.

The resultant core teaching time can be reduced to just 20 minutes of the 40 minute lesson. The total actual teaching time over a full year therefore amounts to just 98 days. This ignores any further losses due to teacher absence (allowing that supply teachers can only really perform at 50 per cent performance due to the temporary nature of the post), school closures through inclement weather, or a child’s illness. Homework therefore becomes an essential element of learning.

Homework Can Be Fun:

As parents we have generally suffered an inevitable reluctance by children to complete their homework. There are many ways we try to enforce its completion such as threatening a child with the withdrawal of privileges but we also can inadvertently interrupt their concentration by playing music or having the TV on. Sibling disruptions and even pets will also create a negative atmosphere during homework and limit the concentration.  We have all pushed, cajoled and threatened at some point but hovering over a child’s work can be equally unsettling. But these are negative points, there are  huge benefits that can be captured though homework and by turning the exercise into a fun activity turns the table on its head.

Children like reassurance. Repetition plays an important role in both the familiarity of knowing what to do and the retention of learning from practice. Young children delight in completing a game they know and like playing it over and over again. This also explains why the often want the same bedtime story, or watch their favourite DVD endlessly is part of learning. It is seen by children to be an enjoyable fun activity. They are reassured by reinforcing elements they already know. The reactionary teenager also, secretly, enjoys the process and loathes activities where they fail to understand. If homework is to be effective students need to repeat the lesson content and practice. “Practice makes perfect” didn’t come from nowhere.

Boring homework exercises can crucify the enjoyment factor and any subsequent enthusiasm. Using educational games based on the subject being taught are a fun way to enlist the students’ enthusiasm to learn and thereby improve their performance back in class. Many of the games track with key stages 1 – 4 of the National Curriculum. Nearly all are used in school, and importantly, allow parents to join in without hovering, or feeling they lack the ability. The games can also give instant feedback on performance – long before any end of year report from the school.

Technology Can Be The Future Champion.

We have seen how incredibly adept children are operating a mobile phone. Technology, which befuddles many adults, is second nature to the young. Yet very few of us have ever seen a child reading a handbook on how to operate or utilise the features of a mobile phone. The matrix of computers, phones, tablets and computer play station games seem second nature to children stems for peer support. Their intuitive operation that garners greater user involvement and dexterity is now being supported by a growing number of educational software developers and websites that teach children how to code. This is resulting in the phenomenal growth of the range of educational applications becoming available. To keep pace we either have to understand the logic which drives their production, which may not be a totally altruistic move by the developers, or stand back and accept the outcome as an outsider.

A New Name:

The big boys are watching the opportunity for mobile technology applications like hawks. There is a vast commercial market to be captured where suppliers could take the lead in the schooling process of the future. To capture these benefits parents can support their children by indulging in that vital ingredient of learning after school that can be found in educational games. Maybe we need a new name for the process that rids the association with text and exercise book homework slog. Learning reheat or after-burner could give it homework a bit more pizazz. Ideally it should allow parental involvement which holds huge rewards for all concerned.

Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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Parents Are A Vital Teaching Resource In Primary and Secondary School

Monday, February 4th, 2013

The law of averages is endemic at most state schools. Being target driven, as most teachers are, it is only natural they will support children with the greatest potential to achieve exam grades that translate into the ideal points score for the school. If a child is outside the mean they can expect to be partially abandoned by the system. But help is at hand. Eighty per cent of children respond favourably to parents helping the schooling process at home. Children who are keen to learn can use educational games matched to the curriculum that turn the exercise with parents “learning in disguise”.

Survival of the fittest is the calling of nature perhaps, but it has an equal relevance in the classroom. Children who are very bright can all too often be left to their own devices; lacking stimulation from the teacher can lead to stagnation in their learning ability. Ironically they then slip down the ability league table to fall into the average zone where they would be picked up by the teaching resources. But this is a staggering waste of talent that could otherwise have flourished.

At the opposite end of the scale children struggling with lessons discover their teacher will frequently not be able to support the extra teaching needed to boost their understanding. Such children could have their entire schooling undermined because nobody could give them a hand to realise their potential.  Accepting an arbitrary measure of ten per cent of children in education is affected by these no-go areas would mean an astounding two million children in primary and secondary school are under supported.  A real problem lies hidden in the statistics of an educational world driven by targets.

The situation which starts in the primary school is compounded in secondary school where ill prepared children find it hard to cope with the step change. Worse perhaps are those gifted children who fail to thrive in secondary school due to lack of encouragement. The frustration with this impasse is widespread. Teachers who feel powerless to change the system can only watch as hopes and dreams fade. Parents, desperate to help, often feel isolated by the educational system or mistakenly believe they should not be seen to interfere. Children struggle, become bored or worse still fail to achieve their true potential.

The schooling journey through primary and secondary school lasts 15 years. It passes in a flash to many students yet the central educational policy, fundamental in providing school leavers with the foundations for adult life, remain in time warp. We live in a world that has been accelerating with regards to technology and reducing global boundaries. One of the greatest changes to modern life began after the Second World War. Families, once geographically tight knit suddenly had their boundaries extended. Many armed forces posted overseas remained in that country after demobilisation, emigration blossomed to Australia, South Africa and Canada by families seeking a better life away from the post war constraints of the UK.

During the 1970’s technology diminished communication barriers. Distances shrank as air travel improved and the ability to interconnect easily with other time zones became a reality. Medical science has developed immeasurably and the pace of life and trade accelerated beyond our wildest dream. Yet in the background our educational programme stalled. The manner in which the curriculum was delivered remained static. The system became hell bent on measuring all manner of data and setting targets. Countless educational initiatives and their subsequent corrections were devised. Nothing seemed to work. Teachers became frustrated, moral dipped, the UK slipped inexorably down the world educational league table and students entered work or higher education with substandard schooling.

Our world of education is decidedly broken yet we seem unable to fix it. Despite governmental declarations that school budgets will remain intact there is a nervousness that this may yet prove to be unsustainable. The Minister of State for Education appears to be remote from the battle front. Policies, such as the trend towards academies and their independent reporting structure hide the facts that will dilute the impact of our schooling performance. The education budget is massive; the responsibilities colossal and we cannot realistically expect a solution to be easy. But judging by the reaction to any change such as the conversion to the English Baccalaureate the government needs to coordinate a multi-disciplinary approach to the schooling process of the future. Rather than relying on a single minister the skill and judgement of the whole cabinet should be assembled as a war cabinet. Maybe the schooling credentials of the existing cabinet; predominately that of the private schooling could be used as the business model as it seems to work splendidly. It just needs to be scaled up and rolled out to all children rather than those of wealthy parents. It can work as the mighty Eton and Harrow schools were originally established for children from poor backgrounds!

The number of good schools is a testament to the state of our education. Even those who live in the catchment areas of a good school do not have automatic entry. Despite paying a premium in local house prices admittance can still be highly selective. Entrance exams narrow the selection but even these now need additional support from parents striving to open the door for their children. The use of private tutors to drill prospective children in entrance exam techniques is now commonplace. The process is placing a further dilemma on the school selection panel that are now faced with the social quandary of bypassing children whose parents could not afford the tutors. A secondary consideration are the number of good teachers who have left their school enticed by an income of £80 per hour as a tutor compared to a teacher’s salary equating to £30 per hour.

These changes will take decades to effect. In the meantime our existing teaching resources and students need help. Parents in the role of teaching support will become ever more essential to provide mutual benefit to teachers, children and themselves. Providing fun based educational support through games played at home can be hugely rewarding and open to many more parents than the use of tutors.

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Parents Annual School Selection Educational Games Start

Tuesday, January 15th, 2013

The back to school trauma suffered by many students will largely depend on the teaching resources and ambience of their school. Many children, and parents, welcome the return to the school regime as a release as the Christmas holidays started to wear thin. Some will be beset by the thought of exams that loom in the summer. But this pales into insignificance for those parents engaged in the biggest test of the educational system; which primary school to select, as they suffer the annual stress and distress of the entire selection procedure.

Ignoring the scrambling, manipulation, false claims, legal implications and general gnashing of teeth, all parents have a common aim; to give their children the best option for their education. An indictment of the educational performance in England is the selection process highlights the dearth of good schools. Today’s deadline for parents to submit their application for their choice of primary school belies the trauma behind the scenes. The process to select the best school and maximise the relevance of their application compounds the process. The Times newspaper revealed more parents are resorting to legal advice earlier in the process indicating a potential social divide open to those who can afford the best legal support to gain entry to the best schools for their children.

The Times also reported parents who submitted their application utilising the full permissible selection of six schools stood a better chance of entry to a school of their choice. This technique becomes ever more critical with the increase of 50,000 children entering primary school this year compared to 2011. This eight per cent boost in primary school population has to be absorbed into existing and a growing number of unknown new schools.

The transferrable vote element of the application process has to be fully used to maximise the chances. It appears application forms, which allow for six preferences of school to be included, are deemed by local educational authorities to be incomplete if only two or three schools are named. Something many parents could learn to their cost. Bureaucracy casts these applications into the spoilt paper pile to be dealt with later. Understandably parents may have been tempted to fill only the first or second choice in case further choices weakened their preference. This educational game to gain entrance to the ideal school also fuels house prices premiums in catchment areas of good schools inducing further social inequality.

The ideal world would provide an abundance of good schools where the selection process would be geographically linked to the nearest school. Sadly this utopian option doesn’t exist in the UK and, based on past performance of the last 30 years, is not a realistic option. The annual debacle of school selection will continue to create angst among parents wishing the best for their children. It takes a strong will to accede to the fortunes of fate contained in the selection criteria of the educational authorities. If any child fails to thrive at a non-preferred school the thought of what might have been will weigh heavily on the shoulders of many parents. And alas no one at the Department of Education will be held responsible for the abject failure of our system to provide the schooling our children need and deserve.

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Elemensus Educational Game Turns Periodic Table Into Fun.

Thursday, November 1st, 2012

A new educational game helps children learn the periodic table. This essential area of knowledge, critical in understanding  chemistry in science has always been a chore to learn. ElemensusTM is a new science game teaching resource available from keen2learn that turns the learning process into fun in the classroom and at home with the family.

The elements are the building blocks of everything in the Universe which makes them rather useful to know! Playing the game is not only great fun it helps  children, and parents, to learn and remember the Periodic Table of Elements. The science game uses a letter and word format in a tile board game. The game features 162 double-sided tiles, an “Orion nebula game board” with word-star starting points, element tile racks, rules, dice, and a complete Periodic Table. The completed game using all 162 tiles shows a complete Periodic Table plus some extra elements such as Oxygen (O), Thorium (Th), Einsteinium (Es).  Each of the game tiles shows the element’s group in colour, name, atomic number and abbreviation. If the element can’t be used in a word the flip-side of the tile shows a full A-Z of Dark Matter – all that stuff that scientists are still looking for but haven’t quite found yet.

The fun content provides a huge benefit in the learning process. The often dull slog of learning the periodic table is transposed into a fun activity which is both enjoyable, competitive and provides greater retention in learning. Learning in Disguise as keen2learn describes it. Elemensus was designed by Tony Davis with astrophysical help from Dr. Edward Gomez.

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Using Educational Games to Help Kids Learn

Saturday, October 20th, 2012

Kids today are growing up in a radically different environment than their parents and teachers did. Even those in their late 20s grew up when computers were not commonplace. In the era of smart phones and tablets, kids often become bored with the educational activities that would capture the attention of those who grew up in different eras. Fortunately, there are a number of ways to help kids learn through games. Here are a few ways to use educational games to help kids learn.

1) Maths Games
When kids are young, much of math revolves around memorising basic facts. Unfortunately, this is a method of learning that can try a child’s attention span. However, games on smart phones, tablets and computers can help. By presenting these math questions in an interactive format, it is possible to capture attention while teaching some basic facts. Young kids can benefit tremendously from memorising basic addition, and older kids might enjoy games that help them learn multiplication tables. Fortunately, there are many great games to choose from.

2) Spelling Games
Like math, spelling deals primarily with basic memorisation, and English has notoriously convoluted spelling rules. There are a number of simple programmes that can help teach kids how to spell. Along the way, children will add to their vocabulary, which will help them express more in their writing. Some programmes even offer tips about grammar.

3) Translation software
Research is consistently revealing how enriching learning a foreign language is. Kids can spend some time learning basic vocabulary and grammar with simple programmes. In addition, free translation apps, such as Google Translate, can help kids learn the nuances about their chosen foreign language. For some languages, these translation apps will even pronounce words and sentences, which is a critical component to learning well. Older children can even use communication software to find a contact from a different country to share tips with. English is the most popular second language around the world, so it will not be hard to find someone to work with.

4) Typing tutorials
While some lament the demise of handwriting, most documents are typed these days. By being able to type quickly and accurately, kids can give themselves an advantage both in school and when looking for a job. Again, there are a number of great options available, and many of these programmes are fun enough that kids will willingly spend time using them. Teachers should give their students a few options and see which ones capture their attention.

Many parents and teachers complain that children have shorter attention spans these days. In most cases, however, this is more myth than fact. By giving children fun, interactive programmes, parents and teachers can arm their children and students to do well in school.
Author Bio
Nancy Parker was a professional nanny and she loves to write about wide range of subjects like health, Parenting, Child Care, Babysitting, nanny,  etc. You can reach her @ nancy.parker015 @ gmail.com

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Three Fun Ways Parents Can Combine Playtime and Education

Wednesday, September 26th, 2012

“Do not, my friend, keep children to their studies by compulsion, but by play.” Plato

Educational games and other teaching resources are great ways for parents to integrate learning into their children’s lives. When children are at play, they engage in a type of cognitive development that promotes learning through creative and analytical play. The sheer joy of playtime is healthy in itself as it allows children to develop self-confidence and to release stress. Finally, playtime helps children develop social skills through cooperation, sharing and conflict resolution. The benefits of playtime only increase when the games are educational in nature.

1. Reading Board Games

Like reading, board games take children on journeys. There are many board games on the market that teach children phonics and reading comprehension. For young children, an alphabet game is a great option. For older children, there are board games that promote listening and critical thinking as well as reading comprehension. While snakes and ladders is a fun game of chance, these educational board games will encourage children of all ages to grow as readers. This is a great option for a child who prefers interactive playtime opposed to the quiet, concentrated task of story time. Unlike microscopes and toy cash registers, reading board games will need to be updated to match a child’s reading level. However, many educational board games can be purchased in groups and are largely inexpensive.

2. A Microscope

It’s not a toy; it’s something better. Microscopes are instruments of discovery that can spark a child’s curiosity of and interaction with the natural world. Children as young as four have been reported to use microscopes successfully. Using a microscope can help children become acquainted with complicated scientific concepts at an early age, and the process of handling slides and focusing a lens can help improve motor skills and teach children patience. Most microscopes come with prepared slides so children and parents can immediately begin viewing!

3. A Toy Cash Register

A toy cash register allows children to participate in creative imaginary play while also exposing them to basic math skills such as counting, adding and subtracting. Many toy cash registers have surprisingly real-life features such as scanning barcodes and credit cards, but in their simplest forms, toy cash registers are calculators.

Currency is the most natural tool for teaching children basic math skills because it reflects real-world behavior and value. Children watch adults use math to calculate budgets and conduct transactions and are already primed to mimic the behavior. Toy cash registers are also much more interactive than simply solving equations, which can make them a staple in playtime, both guided by adults and with other children.

Toy cash registers teach children to understand numbers as quantifying measurements of real objects, specifically money. Understanding the value of money can be more than a maths lesson. Even at an early age, children can begin absorbing information regarding financial literacy and the concept of money, making cash registers a valuable social training tool as well.

Most parents who wish to use cash registers to teach children financial literacy will hide the fake credit cards, at least until interest rates can be explained. Although it may not be realistic to expect your child to still be using a toy cash register in his teens, the cash register is a toy with great longevity and the currency can be used to introduce the basic concepts of multiplication and division. Children with an interest in maths have been known to play with toy cash registers from 4-9 years of age.

Guest post by Patricia Garza; a mother and educator who is both an adamant proponent of accredited online learning and a staunch opponent of diploma mills. She uses the oedb accreditation guide as her main resource. Patricia welcomes your comments below!

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Fun Educational Games For Maths Follow Confucius Proverb

Wednesday, July 18th, 2012

Keen2learn educational games

We have all had the experience; sitting the middle of a classroom listening to a teacher that has been there, done that, got the tee shirt and expects everyone to understand the subject to the same level the teacher does. Most of do not grasp the detail immediately and panic, disinterest or day dreaming sets in. Educational games for maths for example can help turn this key element of learning around by following a centuries old Chinese proverb from Confucius; “Tell me and I will forget, show me and I may remember, involve me and I will understand.”

Educational games put the fun into learning whist injecting the critical element of practice that enhances a child’s understanding of the subject. This crucial element can achieve up to 75 per cent in the retention of learning and compares favourably with the meager 50 per cent achieved with classroom instruction alone.

Designed and developed by teachers and educational specialists educational games are available for virtually every subject area of the national curriculum. Although games have an essential classroom application as a teaching resource they can be hugely constructive if also played at home. Not only do children get to play their favourite games but parents get a dynamic insight into what is being learnt and their child’s progress.

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Crystal Rain Forest Educational Games Boosts Learning Retention.

Monday, May 21st, 2012

Crystal Rain Forest, the ICT games for maths still is a firm favourite with www.keen2learn.co.uk customers as both a teaching resource in the classroom and a fun educational game to play at home.

Developed by Sherston the game requires children to imagine they are on the planet Oglo and need to defend the planet from a timber logging gang determined to cut their way through the Rain Forest. Students have to use Logo software code and maths skills to save the forest. Developing maths numeracy and ICT skills as they play the game children also learn about ecology and the importance of the world’s rain forests.

Being an educational game the children get to enjoy exploring the rules and developing his or her expertise. The key to learning retention, as revealed in studies by the National Training Laboratory, is greatly enhanced through practice. Children retain around 50 per cent of what is taught in class but can boost this to 75 per cent of learning that is retained through practice. Small wonder musicians and actors spend so much time practicing to perfect their ability. Yet in the busy classroom it is an exercise often missed or becomes impractical with many school children of differing ability and needs. Teachers inevitably have to aim for the mean and those children whom they believe can get the best results or improvement. Teaching is not as ethical as we like to believe. There are targets to be met!

The busy classroom with the teacher aligned to the varying needs of 35 or so children often find it difficult to spend adequate time practising the lesson content. When they can, Crystal Rain Forest is a huge hit. But it gets better; children can also spend time playing the educational games at home. Repeating the lesson helps a child’s achievement back in class and having fun whilst doing “homework” with or without parents’ assistance is a huge benefit. Like all educational games on the keen2learn website fun is at the core of learning. Plato spotted this essential element some 2000 years ago- “Do not, my friend, keep children to their studies by compulsion, but by play.” Plato.

The draw on a child’s attention in their free time is immense. Wii, MP3, iPhone, iPads all lead demand attention that leaves little time to complete homework. Crystal Rain Forest and other educational games are a way of enticing children to learn and have fun. And the results prove it to be highly successful.

Take a look at the great savings you can make in our Mega Deal 3. Crystal Rainforest and 9 other titles for £49.99

For schools Crystal Rain Forest is available as a single user license Crystal Rain Forest School Single User


Fun Based Educational Games Help Learning Retention.

Crystal Rain Forest, the ICT games for maths still is a firm favourite with www.keen2learn customers as both a teaching resource in the classroom and a fun educational game to play at home.

Developed by Sherston the game requires children to imagine they are on the planet Oglo and need to defend the planet from a timber logging gang determined to cut their way through the Rain Forest. Students have to use Logo software code and maths skills to save the forest. Developing maths numeracy and ICT skills as they play the game children also learn about ecology and the importance of the world’s rain forests.

Being an educational game the children get to enjoy exploring the rules and developing his or her expertise. The key to learning retention, as revealed in studies by the National Training Laboratory, is greatly enhanced through practice. Children retain around 50 per cent of what is taught in class but can boost this to 75 per cent of learning that is retained through practice. Small wonder musicians and actors spend so much time practicing to perfect their ability. Yet in the busy classroom it is an exercise often missed or becomes impractical with many school children of differing ability and needs. Teachers inevitably have to aim for the mean and those children whom they believe can get the best results or improvement. Teaching is not as ethical as we like to believe. There are targets to be met!

The busy classroom with the teacher aligned to the varying needs of 35 or so children often find it difficult to spend adequate time practising the lesson content. When they can, Crystal Rain Forest is a huge hit. But it gets better; children can also spend time playing the educational games at home. Repeating the lesson helps a child’s achievement back in class and having fun whilst doing “homework” with or without parents’ assistance is a huge benefit. Like all educational games on the keen2learn website fun is at the core of learning. Plato spotted this essential element some 2000 years ago- “Do not, my friend, keep children to their studies by compulsion, but by play.” Plato.

The draw on a child’s attention in their free time is immense. Wii, MP3, iPhone, iPads all lead demand attention that leaves little time to complete homework. Crystal Rain Forest and other educational games are a way of enticing children to learn and have fun. And the results prove it to be highly successful.


Educational games software. The last remaining Crystal rain forest on the planet Oglo is rapidly disappearing as the Cut and Run Saw Mill gang hack their way through it for profit and greed. Can your children focus their Logo and Maths skills to find a way to stop the destruction and save the forest..? The Crystal Rain Forest V2 is a newly updated and enhanced version of the best selling and award winning educational adventure into Logo.

Take a look at the great savings you can make in our Mega Deal 3. Crystal Rainforest and 9 other titles for £49.99

For schools Crystal Rain Forest is available as a single user license Crystal Rain Forest School Single User

Product Code: SS-CRF

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New Stock Of Thinking Dice Educational Games Arrive

Monday, May 7th, 2012

Thinking Dice Educational Games from Keen2learn

After a multitude of delays due to the relocation of manufacture Thinking Dice are due in stock from 16th May 2012. These much sought after educational games get children to think laterally and develop a higher order evaluation and creative thinking through their use as an English game teaching resource.

The Thinking Dice are available in a single pack of five dice, and budget saving class-pack comprising of five packs of five dice and a class-pack of 30 packs of five dice. The larger packs giving a considerable saving on the single pack.

The dice are 5cm foam cubes with a different question on each face. The set comprises of six dice in three colours to break the question into areas of higher thinking to  let children develop ideas on the following topics:



  • Remembering and recalling information,
  • Understanding ideas and concepts,
  • Applying information in order to explore and understand relationships
  • Evaluating situations and creativity.

The dice can be used in a huge  range of subject areas and age ranges. They can be used in the classroom as a teaching resource or at home at any point in a lesson to get students to use their thinking skills:

  • Introduction of lessons.
  • Throughout an entire lesson.
  • Plenary and reflection of learning.
  • Managing differentiation of thinking skills.
  • Circle Time and Hot seating
  • Assessment of thinking skills (Informal teacher assessment)

The popularity of the games has been huge with many teachers seeing the benefits of the fun approach to learning paying dividends in a short space of time. The students look forward to “playing the game” which is helping them delve into greater depths in understanding a subject area. Educational games are after all “Learning in Disguise” – the  adopted  theme of www.keen2learn.co.uk which follows the advice of Plato 2000 year ago ”

“Do not, my friend, keep children to their studies by compulsion, but by play.”


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Fink Educational Games Get Families Talking

Saturday, May 5th, 2012

Get teenagers talking with Fink cards educational game

One of the greatest assets we can teach our children is the art of conversation. The educational value of expressing a viewpoint or concern that can be achieved  through an educational game called Fink Cards is immeasurable in school, higher education and at work. At the moment it would also help to rationally express an opinion once you get to the front of the border agency check-in at Heathrow. And the process can start at home around the meal table or mid point in a Wii game.

Teenagers are notorious for an indifferent approach to talking to or mosty at  parents. We all tend to take the easy route and avoid conflict by saying nothing. And so the vicious circle continues. But help is at hand through  a simple  and ingenious approach to get children talking  and speaking  through  a PSHE  game. A random card is drawn from the deck of Fink Cards and the player has to discuss their thoughts on the topic. An example is the question

“If you were to win the lottery, how would it change your life?”

You may be amazed by the answer. And the whole family can join in answering the same question or pulling a new card


				


				
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Home School Education Is A Real Option To Concerned Parents.

				Wednesday, April 11th, 2012

				

					
Many parents aware of the struggles of the educational system; academies, free schools, classroom disruption, strikes and demoralised teachers, may wonder how effectively their children are to be educated. Add the increasing possibility that more children are not going to get into schools of their choice and the gloom increases. But there is an alternative that many initially feel is beyond them. Home school education of children is not new or for the faint hearted but is a real and present option. Modern teaching resources and educational games add a fun dimension to learning at home. Take a look at an article written by Dr. Bethany Gardiner who decided to home school her children and enjoyed very minute.  More…

				


				
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Ideal School Places Still An Educational Scramble

				Tuesday, April 10th, 2012

				

					
A schooling nightmare stills haunts the lives of most parents. The failure to secure a place in the preferred school allocation means that the second choice school generates a feeling of disappointment but parents concerned over the quality of a school can materially help in the education process. A key element of schooling is practice. Often schools with lesson time-constraints find allocating the period for lesson content practice extremely difficult. Yet parents can easily adopt this process at home and find the experience both rewarding and productive. Repeating the classroom exercises using the same teaching resources and educational games used in school will pay dividends in their child’s performance.


The process surrounding the choice of school for both parents and children involves an unnecessary element of stress. Having focused on their ideal  school, possibly paying a housing premium to live within its catchment area, may still have resulted in being one of the 74,000 children who did not get into the school of their choice for September 2012. In response, the Department of Education proudly announced  the situation was better than  2011 with 5,000 fewer children being displaced. But as there are 8,500 fewer children wishing to enter secondary school this September it’s a claim that was perhaps best left unsaid.


It is not just secondary schools that pose the log jam. An estimated 800,000 additional places will be required in primary school over the next five years to meet the future population expansion. There is a real possibility primary schools, already overloaded and failing to provide the essential level of education to meet the entrance level at secondary schools, will get worse before any improvement. Getting children into the ideal choice of primary school will also become fraught.


Rather than parents backing off the schooling support given at home that occurs when a child goes to school or moves up to secondary school, there is a huge augment that parental support should continue. Not only will it allow parents to dynamically monitor their child’s performance, the time spent in practise will pay dividends.


Keen2learn offer the same range of educational games and teaching resources to parents as sold to teachers in school.  Fun games for maths, English, science and ICT games allow children to enjoy the essential practice that supports 75 per cent of learning retention. “Learning in Disguise” as keen2learn call it.

				


				
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Latest Educational Technology In Schools Could Be A Trojan Horse

				Tuesday, April 3rd, 2012

				

					
Technology is on the increase as a valuable teaching resource in schools. Over the past 20 years a significant portion of educational budgets have been invested in electronic teaching support from educational games to interactive whiteboards.


But this technological approach has risks. Advances in design and performance can make equipment outmoded within a year and it does not come cheap. Compared to the lifetime of say a textbook or educational board game that can be up to 10 years, limited primarily by its physical structure, technology has become an almost disposable option. Yet therein lies a conundrum.




The ultimate role of teaching resources in school is foremost to prepare children for adult life.  The  national curriculum may set the agenda but the school has the responsibility to turn this into a practical scenario. If the information and communications technology (ICT ) equipment is to educate children in the efficiencies of technology the latest model becomes a necessity. Good news for the equipment supplier who has designed an element of planned obsolescence. It is in their interest to inject a step change in the design to encourage purchase and replacement. Inevitably if they don’t a competitor will. All this is bad news for educational budgets.


The BBC computer of 20 years ago was a marvel in its day but has long since occupied a place as a museum piece. A relic of bygone days massively superseded by current equipment that operates several quantum leaps ahead. The problem gets worse as the pace of change accelerates. Children are also becoming increasingly aware of the brand image of the equipment. Research Machines (RM) once leader in the field of networks and PC’s in schools are suffering from a cocktail of technology advances, cancelled educational schemes and budgets reviews. But their largest competitor perhaps comes from brand image and performance. Promotional pressure and product placement in television and films have elevated the Mac to be a must have item. Many schools opting for Apple Mac are benefiting from price support from Apple who see a marvellous opportunity to influence their future customers.


The mix of commercial, technological and brand pressure is immense. Schools are caught in a maelstrom of meeting academic and financial targets.  Many ICT teachers are inevitably playing games between equipment that meets the demands of the curriculum versus the state of the art computers needed to maintain interest from the technical savvy classroom.  Hidden in the equation is whether they overtake the capability of their educational games software to operate on the latest PC and operating system.


A hidden factor is the volume of software sales. The advent of the virtual learning environment (VLE), which centralises educational software for a number of schools and academies, has dramatically reduced the unit sales of software. Previously schools bought software direct. Now a universal license replaces the individual sales. A positive move for the schools who integrate the software which also allows the teacher to centrally track the performance of the student. But many educational games software titles are starting to disappear. The reduced volume has meant the creation and production costs are prohibitively expensive compared the sales volume potential. Teachers and commercial operations with that great idea have to find a viable volume to get it off the ground. Therein lies a danger. The only companies to afford the level of investment are the big players. Apple, Microsoft et al. could steal the market totally which could have dire consequences. A Trojan horse no doubt.

				


				
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Educational Secretary Asked Twaddle During Commons Meeting

				Friday, February 10th, 2012

				

					
Educational Secretary Asked Twaddle During Commons Meeting


During a recent meeting of the Commons Educational Committee the educational secretary, Michael Gove, suffered a new fate. He was the first cabinet minister to be quizzed by questions submitted by Twitter. Around 5,000 questions were tweeted some of which were selected by the committee to be presented to Mr Gove. Interestingly some maths games were hidden in the delivery.


A recent review of Twitter revealed that 67 per cent of all Tweets were rubbish. Poorly written, lacking relevance and using substandard grammar they were described by the investigators as Twaddle. Using this as the benchmark somebody had to sift through the 5000 tweets to remove the rubbish. This leaves 1650 questions to be asked of the educational secretary that could be deemed sensible. Further review would have rendered the numbers down to  list to the ten questions to be paraded before the educational secretary.


Call me old fashioned but surely the Commons Educational Committee would have the ability to formulate the questions they wanted to ask. If not why were they there? One of the downsides of web 2.0 is the predilection to social networks. This has opened the doors to mass of information from a mass of people; like me. Statistically therefore some of the information and commentary is useful, some just plain garbage. But there is third category; the malicious comment. Panorama, the investigative TV programme shown on BBC on 6th February 2012 highlighted devastating instances of cyber bullying of children by people using Facebook as the vehicle. The reprehensible actions of a body of people regarded as Trolls seem to overload the capacity or inclination of Facebook to deal with reported cyber bullying. The downside of the internet is the freedom of access to anyone who wishes to express a malicious viewpoint. This open access cyber-bullying needs to be rigidly controlled. Maybe the educational secretary’s exposure to the flood of useless questions during his interview with the commons educational committe might have opened his eyes to the problem.

				


				
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Talking About Current Affairs Make Children Educationally Smarter

				Friday, January 27th, 2012

				

					
An old adage but talking about the news with children at home and in the classroom boosts awareness and ability. Reading and rationalisation is extended leading to an overall improvement in educational standards in other subjects.


Discussion around the meal table can be a little terse with teenagers. Where do you start the conversation? By turning this impasse into an educational game can start the ball rolling to open a topic which the rest of the family or classroom can join in. Breaking the ice is always the difficulty but the PSHE games such as Discussion Cards and Fink cards have been developed by learning specialists to open the flow and stimulate the conversation.


In November 2011 the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) released the statistics from a study of 15 years old children living  in the principle industrial countries. The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) revealed that children whose parents and teachers discuss the news, social and political affairs on a weekly or daily basis scored 28 points higher in reading than those who do not. Spending time together develops social skills as well as reasoning powers which is the bedrock of practically all learning.


There is a further hidden advantage to the art of debate and awareness of a subject. Not only does it give you a sporting chance in quiz shows, by participating in the discussion keys facts are retained and opinions formed.The skill of putting an argument across developed. This can be enhanced by a new educational game called Thinking Dice which presents students with question which develop a higher order of thinking by asking key questions to stimulate a structured answer.


The couch potato or child who spends hours on computer games can be transformed socially and educationally. The skills learnt early on can format the reasoning ability that can change a child’s option s for the rest of their  lives. And it all begins with talking about the news.

				


				
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Better Off Areas See Drop In Educational Funds

				Friday, January 20th, 2012

				

					
Educational Funds Dry Up More In Better Off Areas


The Institute of Fiscal Studies has completed some maths sums into the educational funding of schools. The review, completed in October 2011 revealed educational spending is set to fall at the fastest rate since the 1950’s.


Due to the way the educational budgets are allocated, with a bias to inner city and failing schools, the funds available for better off areas, who tend to have better schools, is commensurately reduced.


Not fair may be the reaction from affected parents, school children and schools but the recession is biting everywhere. The cuts perhaps do not consider the long term objectives. We desperately need to improve the level of our educational achievement across the board. This does not involve exam manipulation; teach to test, or being given the exam answers in advance by an examination board. Instead it requires concerted investment in the right teaching resources, the right schools and the right teachers. This will cost money. If the budget is cut reforms in school will stagnate through the lack of cash.


The quest to improve failing schools will need money. Whilst the absence of funding recognised by Sir Michael Wilshaw, the new head of Ofsted, will hinder improvement he expects school leaders to demonstrate considerable fortitude. Making a silk purse from a sow’s ear is hardly practical, despite the Department of education claiming the overall budget is increasing by £3.6 billion over the next four years.A

				


				
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Ofsted Plays Educational Syntax Games With Failing Schools

				Thursday, January 19th, 2012

				

					
The niceties of syntax have been played in a new educational onslaught in schools. Educational games are being played with schools rather than in them. Instead of being classified as “satisfactory,” schools with a poor record of educational achievement will be regarded by Ofsted as “requiring improvement.” This places around 6,000 extra schools in the sin bin spotlight.


The new broom approach is being applied by the new Ofsted supremo Sir Michael Wilshaw as one of his first reviews at Ofsted.  Schools in the revised category will now be inspected every year to 18 months. As an ex Head teacher Sir Michael will hold truck with the system that he has criticised from the receiving side of Ofsted inspections. ”I make no apology for making even greater demands of an educational system which has to respond with greater urgency to increasingly difficult economic circumstances.”


The new grading system could have a sting in the tail with the schools now requiring improvement. Parents may reject such schools causing additional pressure for them to perform. The question is whether the schools affected have the capacity to respond. After all if they did they may not be in the situation in the first place. Let us hope the head teachers involved gain some help from school leaders rather and Ofsted rather than having the door slammed in their face.

				


				
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Play Educational Games At Home to Boost Performance In Class

				Friday, November 18th, 2011

				

					
Whilst our teaching resources work throughout the school day the real truth is they can only apply their full skills to children for around 50 minutes a day yet whilst at home schoolchildren could see their parents for several hours. The downside is that parents are equally busy and the majority of this precious  time is lost. Anyway how many children really want to slog away at lessons at home -it’s their free time after all.


This easy conclusion is reached by many families. Schooling is for the school to provide, that’s why we pay taxes. The trouble is we are missing a trick here. Learning retention is massively improved through practice but is extremely hard to achieve during the busy school day. More time spent at home at the individual learning pace of the child would allow performance back in class to move ahead significantly. Parents night meetings between teachers and parents could become a tactical  management programme rather than an historic one way summary of a child’s performance.


The breakthrough is to get the home work to become fun based and get parents mutually involved. This generally does not work with conventional homework long seen by children as a slog that interrupts television or Wii activities. Yet there are a massive selection of educational maths, English and science games matched to the curriculum that are entertaining for the whole family. Playing games for maths for example helps to focus families who can look forward to mutual learning instead of conflict. It provides the child with a huge additional resource to their learning scope. Bringing  parents into the learning equation also helps them to witness progress and perhaps some pitfalls that can be overcome on  a dynamic basis.

				


				
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Failing University Entrance Procedure Dumped

				Monday, October 31st, 2011

				

					
The educational world takes a new twist with the news from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) that after 50 years they are to change the existing failing university entrance system. Rather than students applying to preferred universities based on a prediction of their final A level results they will now apply once the final exam results are known.


This seems so blatantly obvious the real question must be  why it has taken so long to effect the change. The prevailing system involves  teachers offering a prediction of the final A level results for each student that is then submitted to the preferred university. These predictions have an accuracy of less than 10 per cent. This means 90 per cent of the application procedure is based on a false premise and huge waste of time for teachers, students and the university. It also involves an  inevitable  tranche of disappointment for  the student, who having  set their sights on a preferred university and course, then becomes engaged in the clearing system.


The change will not suit everyone. Universities will be devoid of the advance scope for  planning  provided by the existing system that provided 12 months notice of possible student attendance. The whole process will be foreshortened leading to some universities discovering an imbalance in course attendance or availability of courses. Rather like the night school courses at the local college when after registration you find the course has been cancelled due to the lack of minimum attendance.


The pre-selection by the student of the preferred university and course will still be necessary  but the final application will be deferred until the results are published. The level of angst could still prevail for the student  perhaps tempered by the previous scheme where the thrill of gaining a provisional place is  then lost after the results failed to match up . The double whammy.


With exams needed to be taken earlier and a promise that the results will be published  more promptly the rat race will take place earlier in the summer. Family holidays may take the form of a whistle stop tour of universities and frantic applications.

				


				
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Are We Learning From Our Mistakes In Education Policy?

				Friday, August 26th, 2011

				

					
We like to think we’re developing as a nation but as our educational prowess has just taken its annual hammering with the GCSE and Advanced level exam results. Despite the supposed improvement in results much is linked to the popularity of easier subjects. The quality of our teaching resources and schooling system languishes in the “could do better” zone. Such criticism would not merit respect except it comes from the very Head teachers responsible for our children’s education.


Despite state and private education being around for 100’s of years it has fundamentally failed to track with economic, social and technical developments.  Countless secretaries of state for education have come and gone.  Many leaving behind turmoil and failed educational initiatives that have cost billions of pounds.  Their policies have been short-lived, created by short-term government ministers who hold the post for a desperately brief tenure leaving behind confusion, frustration and a deep-seated concern for the future of our children. We are slipping down the international educational league tables at an alarming rate and as yet do not have a concerted policy that can address this trend. Exam Results Reveal failure in Educational System 


Accepting the strategic importance of education it seems crass to hand this vital role to a government minister who inevitably is equipped with an Eton and Oxford background. Having therefore benefited from a pinnacle of education being expected to empathise with the overall failings of the education system that serves millions of our children seems remote. Countless schemes and national initiatives have been introduced that are openly criticised and condemned by the very head teachers responsible for their implementation.  Failed or abandoned trials leave hundreds of thousands of children stranded or robbed of the education they deserve.  The policies cause undue stress within our teaching resources and having a negative influence on new teachers 50 per cent of who abandon the role within five years.  This staggering waste of expensive educational resource remains an unresolved indictment of the educational sector.


Key performance indices (KPI) introduced by the bureaucrats to measure performance have been duly manipulated by the more savvy head teachers and clouded the true results and trends. Yet government educational departments busy handling the introduction and measurable the next initiative seems bereft of prior consultation with the unions, colleges and teaching resources.  The fate of well meaning radical reforms and learning schemes could be vastly improved and the doomed schemes aborted before they damage our schooling systems.


Above all politicians zest for glory could be muted.  As the average tenure of an educational Secretary is around 18 short months they hardly have time to get to grips with the status quo let alone develop and in depth strategic plan.


Our children deserve to be among the best educated in the world. Educational traditions of quality extend back hundreds of years for very few institutions.  And over the next 10 years the numbers attending primary school will swell by a further 300,000 children.  We have a UK wide problem that should take precedence in government planning.  We must invest in these children after all they will run the economic recovery of the UK and replace the government of today, hopefully, from a much wider platform.

				


				
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Educational Achievement of Kids Heavily Influenced by Parents

				Wednesday, July 20th, 2011

				

					
The summer school holidays are looming. Time to wind down and enjoy the time with the children, well at least until they get bored. Education takes a back seat, GCSE’s, A level  exams and SAT tests are all in the past and now is the time to forget about school and get and about with the kids. Ignoring the price hikes applied by every sales company who see you as a captive audience in the now peak travel season this is a marvelous opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. You can overcome boredom by paying educational games especially the  travel games that you and the kids will enjoy together. Importantly they will turn the bored free time into highly rewarding and productive learning that is also, crucially, great fun.


Teachers have ploughed through elements of the national curriculum throughout the year. The law of averages will mean some children will have grasped the lessons extremely well, some will have average understanding and some will have struggled. Doesn’t matter which category any child falls into a little extra help will stimulate the learning progress despite their ability. Keeping the educational flow going is the answer and six or eight weeks of school holiday can be a long time for young grey cells to stagnate.


Some surprising news has also recently emerged. Research indicates  Google is creating a backwards step in learning. Apparently being able to easily Google something reduces the intelligence otherwise required to seek and reason. We are tending to believe that Google has the right and only answer to any question. The ability  for children to seek facts and determine their relevance and accuracy is being lost. Learning from  errors and mistakes is becoming eroded as we begin to lack the exposure to options. We now take the information displayed by Google as gospel, and are heavily  influenced by the ranking and advertisements displayed. If it doesn’t show up in the search engine we are being led to believe nothing else exists which could be relevant to our inquiry.


Similarly we tend to believe that school is the sole arbiter of learning. There is nothing else we as parents should or could do otherwise we could be interfering and undermine the teachers. But ironically this is the exact opposite of the facts. As parents we have  a vital role to play in the continuing schooling of of our children. And the fun activities now available cover the whole spectrum of learning  have a double edged benefit. They help children to practice the lesson content at their own pace, building understanding and speed, and  also provide parents with an insight into the contemporary ability of their child.


Conventional homework tends to be one dimensional. Children predominately find it a chore and difficult to get parents actively involved. Educational games on the other hand provide a fun base for the mutual interaction between parent and child. The games provide a great opportunity to practice the lesson content boosting the learning retention by the child. Turning learning into fun holds huge potential and with the school summer holidays  looming playing some travel games has a double the benefit of having fun learning whilst on the move.

				


				
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New ICT Educational Game Gets Children Designing Electronic Circuits

				Monday, July 18th, 2011

				

					
One of the best ways for children to learn is through trial and error, the hands on approach that boosts learning retention. And the best way to entice attention and involvement is through educational games that bring fun into learning. Keen2learn has just launched a great new teaching resource that has application in the classroom but be just as easily be used at home.


Click a Tronic is a great new way for children to learn about electronic circuits. It has easily clip-together printed circuit links that build up into an electronic circuit. Clip in the sensors, motors, fans and repays supplied with the game to turn the circuit into an operational unit. The Click a Tronic is an ideal teaching resource that covers the ICT, science, Design and Technology (D&T) elements of the national curriculum in fun exercises. Described by children as “the best lesson ever” the range of design experiments is enormous limited only by their imagination.


Already in use around the world it is a huge hit with teachers who use it in class. Importantly the Click a Tronic can be un-clipped and stored in the box provided and reused over and again. It comes with lesson plans, worksheets and instructions in a picture book with illustrations. Importantly it covers 200 learning projects in the principles and application of parallel and series circuits, electric motors and sensors. Projects can be a combination of techniques and how a project can be made to react to light, sound and moisture to activate a circuit.


Designed for children of five years old and upward the Click a Tronic is a hit in the class and at home where parents can support the projects and also see how a circuit is designed with application around the home. Probably the best present parents and relative can buy at the moment.

				


				
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Teenagers Develop New Educational Support Game App

				Wednesday, June 22nd, 2011

				

					
One of the greatest forms of retention in learning is through peer support. Turning the classroom lesson into an educational game helps many children to grasp the detail at their own pace. Many find it difficult to understand the first mention of a topic and are reluctant to put their hand up in class. But a new development in ICT games could help a significant of children learn outside the classroom in a way that will intrigue and provide street cred in the process.


A group of teenagers have developed an iPhone app that will help their peers to get to grips with a growing range of topics. The first app helps secondary school students understand the ideal format for essay writing. Named “Success Tips” these young entrepreneurs have developed a format that will provide significant help to structure and write essays for fellow teenagers in secondary school. Importantly the app develops a study scheme that can be easily followed by children, possibly more so than the conventional programmes developed by teachers.


The strength lies in the enjoyment factor. Playing the app on an iPhone provides entertainment at a much higher degree than achieved through the text and exercise  book convention. Importantly it will start a catch- on inducing fellow students to take a look. Speaking the same language as the user will aid its application and we could see a flood of initiatives emerging from school children that will be highly cost effective. Could change the way children learn in the future and capture a significant chunk of the free time children have outside of school.

				


				
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Hyphens That Sting In Educational Context

				Friday, June 10th, 2011

				

					
Most parents face a dilemma. School holidays and half term represent invaluable learning time to spend with their children. But a family holiday comes at an inflated cost as the travel trade see them as a  captive market and the chance to raise charges considerably. Yet the educational benefit of spend some relaxing time playing games with children from early learning to year 11 say  experiencing modern foreign languages in context can be enormous. We give a 20 point guideline to those delightful hyphenated  words  that arise in a child’s schooling journey. Yes we have cheated a bit!:-


1.Early-learning: A magical time when children learn a phenomenal amount in a very short time. Incredibly rewarding for parents who see their efforts turned into magic as their child absorbs information like a sponge.


2.Pre-School: Heartbreak and tribulations as the children attend their first rung in the learning journey involving a third party.


3.Key-Stages: Milestones in primary and secondary education where children learn elements set in the national curriculum. Each stage is tested to asses the performance of the child and the school. Has led to undue focus on how to pass the tests and the regrettable phenomenon of teaching to the test by some schools.


4.National-Curriculum: A serious attempt by the government’s department of education to control the learning programme. Not always deemed successful. Most head teachers could improve on the content.


5.AS-Exams: The means of measuring a child’s ability assessed against the content of the national curriculum. Now includes a psychological minefield where the children are set questions that are impossible to answer, contain mistakes or omit key information. The examinees now have to be schooled in how to remain cool and not to let these errors destroy their concentration and how to spot the errors that may appear in other questions set by the examination board by people who are specialists in the subject area?


6.High-Season: The weeks when you can take a holiday with the family and pay inflated prices. Incredibly, they directly coincide with all school holidays.


7.Peak-season: Similar to 6 above. This is for parents only. Time to dig deeper for the same holiday just enjoyed by the sliver surfer at half the price.


8.Off-peak: The time when parents can’t take holidays with their children and enjoy lower prices.


9.Low-season: Not applicable to parents. Time when the silver surfer finds the incredible deal when families are unable to travel and hotels are anxious for the custom.


10.Up-to: A misnomer when marketing people try to attract custom with non existent or frugal availability of supposedly large discounts. Should be made illegal.


11.From-savings: See up-to above. Another potentially non existent or exaggerated offer.


12.Special-Offer: That great flight offer that involves the need to fly from a distant airport at 05:00am and land at a destination airport 50 miles away from where you expected. Your return flight of course leaves your holiday location at 2:00am in the morning.


13.Half-term: The two week time slots when travel agents rub their hands with glee. The captive market of families has arrived, time to jack up the prices.


14.School-holidays: See half term and High season above, and add extra weeks into the equation.


15.School-parties: Groups of children gaining the hand-on practical side of their educational. Incredibly rewarding to children, stressful to many teachers, and attracts stares and mutterings from crabby adults who have forgotten they had kids, or never had them, and fail to recognise the vital importance these children will have on their pension.


16.School-trips: Similar to to 9 above except parents have to dig deep to find the money for the excursion. Semi enjoyable to teachers who get time away from the school. Delightful for many parents who have time off looking after their kids.


17.Teacher-holidays: The perception that teachers get at least 20 weeks paid holiday a year where they are totally free any form of school work. Most people believe they also only work between 09:00 and 15:30 each school day. Overtime is never worked.


18.School-meals: Epicurean feasts or fried stodge depending on whose viewpoint or budget you need to work to.


19.Jamie-Oliver: School meals crusader, see 18 also, who believes children need nourishment to improve their educational achievement. Has a spare key to number 10 and also markets cookery equipment from egg timers to a complete school kitchens.


20.School-run: The time when the roads are clogged with SUV trying to weave and squeeze closest to the school to drop kids off. Avoids social interaction with peers and undue exercise that would otherwise be beneficial to the children. Similar situation can be seen at kit fit gyms where members squeeze into tight or non existent parking spots closest to the gym door to save walking – then spend an hour doing extreme physical exercise.

				


				
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Parent Power Boosts Pupil Performance

				Wednesday, June 1st, 2011

				

					
The educational support programme for children starts with the learning games played at home with parents.  But this highly productive early learning relationship should last for the whole of their educational journey not just the preschool years.  Taking a practical interest by playing educational learning games at home reinforces what children have learnt at school. Although parents start the process with nursery or preschool many abandon the opportunity when the children reach primary school when ideally the link should last until they leave secondary school.


Educational learning is a two way street.  Kids learn rapidly especially through the repetition involved in educational games that are seen to be fun. This provides both reassurance and allows them to demonstrate what they have learned.  It is amazing what children pick up in nursery and preschool and we’re not talking about bugs! Their active minds respond positively to fun learning which entices them into learning new concepts. Yet whilst parents pro-actively join in while the kids are young we seem to let go as they get older. Ironically the hands-on parental support in primary and secondary education is equally beneficial for both parent and child. Children gain that extra support and parents can see progress being made and any stumbling blocks dynamically. We don’t need the “tiger” approach where parent involvement becomes overbearing but the proven benefits of their routine involvement is well documented and has been urged for many years by the department of education. 


A tremendous level of learning can be achieved in maths, science and ICT through the educational games used in school and repeated at home. The interaction at home is a huge positive and incredibly rewarding.  Studies reveal the positive involvement of parents is beneficial irrespective of economic, social, racial or cultural background.  The longer the parent is involved the more impressive are the child’s results.


There is also a key factor where studies reveal that social, economic, intellectual achievement and family bonds are strengthened by eating meals together at home. Discussions round the family table help children to open up and discuss key issues that can ultimately help them improve not only in peer relationships and class activities but can also help in exams and tests.  To help the conversations to flow around the meal table, often not any easy task with teenagers, there are educational games like Fink Cards and Discussion cards that have been designed to inspire conversation during meals for all ages.  Getting children to express what they have learnt in class can help with their powers of expression, literacy and improve knowledge of the subject.  Their parents can learn to enjoy the experience and contribute to the discussion giving guidance from a mature viewpoint. 


The opportunity for children to learn and parents simultaneously to understand the on-going development of their children is an invaluable asset to both parties.  Around 75 per cent of learning retention is achieved through practice. Although children are taught in school for around 196 days a year the opportunity to practice what they are learning in the busy classroom is quite limited. Just think what could be achieved through using some of the remaining 169 days a year they are away from school. 


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English Higher On Educational Agenda Overseas than In UK.

				Monday, May 9th, 2011

				

					
Overseas teaching resources regard learning English as a critical mission to higher extent than we do in the UK.  Historically the UK has a poor record in learning modern foreign languages yet we are now becoming beaten to the post by many overseas countries with regards our ability to learn English. It seems we in England have a lot to learn.  Our mother tongue is being learnt in a highly effective manner overseas and our continuing failure in schools could make us economically vulnerable in the future.


The International Proficiency Index (EPI) measures countries proficiency in English and to produce an index of a country’s ability in the English language.  The analysis, conducted by the English Educational Institute Education First Programme (EF) considers cultural, social, financial and historical background to formulate the results.


EPI – EF Country Rankings in non-English countries learning English.


Position            Country                           Index                    Rating


1                              Norway                                 69.09                    Very High Proficiency


2                              Netherlands                       67.93                     Very High Proficiency


3                               Denmark                             66.58                     Very High Proficiency


4                              Sweden                                66.26                     Very High Proficiency


5                              Finland                                  61.25                     Very High Proficiency


6                              Austria                                  58.58                     High Proficiency


7                              Belgium                                57.23                     High Proficiency


8                              Germany                              56.64                     High Proficiency


9                              Malaysia                               55.54                     High Proficiency


10                            Poland                                  54.62                     Moderate Proficiency


Although there is a geographic link with Europe, interestingly, proficiency in English is growing notably in the more wealthy Asian countries.  The Far East is catching up in proficiency in English a notable example is with Korea which is now lies in 13th place.  The Korean focus has produced improvements each year since 1988 the year when Seoul hosted the Olympic Games at which Korea adopted English as the official language.  Up to that point Korea reviewed English as an academic subject.  Since 1988 Koreans see the benefits of international communications in English much supported by their major trading relationship with the USA.  Although English taught at school has improved the index position  from the EF shows that English is being increasingly used by adults.


Position            Country                   Index                    Rating


11                           Switzerland                 54.60                     Moderate Proficiency


12                           Hong Kong                   54.44                     Moderate Proficiency


13                           South Korea                54.19                     Moderate Proficiency


14                           Japan                            54.17                     Moderate Proficiency


15                           Portugal                        53.62                     Moderate Proficiency


16                           Argentina                     53.49                     Moderate Proficiency


17                           France                          53.16                     Moderate Proficiency


18                           Mexico                          51.48                     Moderate Proficiency


19                           Czech Republic          51.31                     Moderate Proficiency


20                           Hungary                       50.80                     Moderate Proficiency


There are interesting influences amongst the students of English.  The EF has reviewed the gap between students who do not travel abroad and those that do.  Another consideration is governmental concerns that learning English as a foreign language will reduce their national identity a factor which has emerged in say France’s position, well down on other European countries and 17th in the index.


The economic implications of communicating in English are clear.  Fuelled by trade with the USA, the internet and social network sites, learning English leads to greater commercial opportunities which accumulate wealth.  A case in hand is Sweden who ranks fourth in the index. Their position is partially due to the number of global companies based in Sweden and partly because English was introduced as one of the most important subjects in the Swedish school curriculum. It is vitally important our educational policies in the UK that improve learning English are strengthened if we are to provide our future generations with a sporting chance to excel in the world economy.

				


				
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Educational Games Get Children To Open Up On Tricky Areas

				Friday, February 11th, 2011

				

					
One of the greatest problems to face a parent, teacher or youth worker is being able to form an effective line of communication with a child, teenager or young adult. Often worried about serious issues in their life many young people are unable to find the way to discuss an issue that concern them. A new range of educational games, Choice Discussion Cards, developed by a specialist with 25 years experience in this sensitive area have opened the door for young people to start effective discussions with adults.


Communication is one of the most pressing concerns in the education of young people. The Communications Trust are running the ‘Hello, Talk-Listen-Take part’ campaign to make 2011 a national year of communication. The aim to drive awareness of how important it is for children and young people to develop effective communications skills with their peers, parents, carers and society.


The Choice Discussion Card range is designed to help the development of effective communication on subjects of greatest concern to children and young people. Expressing their thoughts and emotions on social and challenging issues is a huge challenge for many children. Using these new PSHE teaching resources in a place and environment that is good to talk without interruptions from phones or TV’s and having a snack and a drink ready will ease the tensions that are often present at the start of conversations. This is especially relevant if you are tackling bullying, drugs, bereavement, gang culture, relationships, school work or any other issue that could be an ongoing or a new problem.


Let’s Get Talking Choice Discussion card sets are designed to get the exchange going but preparation on the subject area is important to steer the flow of conversation. Covering many subjects including Health, Crime and Personal development they have been developed specifically to handle issues that are tricky and challenging for parents and carers to open a conversation with young people. The cards are both intervention and prevention tools that unpick and drill down through key issues. The flow of conversation will allow adults to understand the underlying problems concerning the child or teenager.


Prepare yourself for any ‘truths’ to emerge; you may be surprised at just what is revealed. Preparation and knowledge of the issue is essential as nothing will hit you as hard as the truth.


Each set of Choice Discussion Cards gives a selection of topic cards for the child to choose.  They are then asked to discuss why they chose that card. Patience is a virtue whilst using the cards. Adults need to be non-judgemental and open minded otherwise the child will close down. Designed as educational games to empower the child, which in turn will allow adults to discuss a satisfied solution together! Do not feel guilty about your parenting or teaching skills. These communication cards are here to help improve a child’s life and well-being.


Social and challenging issues are something all parents, teachers and carers face with children reaching adolescence. Suddenly the sweet young child has turned into a greasy, green spotted monster that just grunts. Now you can reach out for support which can otherwise be a hard and tough time for all.  Award-Winning Let’s Get Talking discussion cards cover: Depression, Alcohol, Drugs, Hygiene, Anger, Friends, Knives, Guns and Gangs, Life, Love, Money and Being Bullied.  And the range is expanding.




Your Life Discussion Cards educational games

				


				
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Michael Gove Play Educational Games With School Reading Resources.

				Saturday, January 1st, 2011

				

					
The educational secretary could learn a lot from Margaret Thatcher. Her infamous quote “You turn if you want to, this lady is not for turning” is an adage he could perhaps review. The recent statistics revealing the growing level of inadequate reading skills in primary school children should surely have flagged the cancellation of Book Start as not making sense. The abrupt U- turn in educational funding for English literacy  reinstated the scheme introduced to encourage reading in children. The donation of free reading books to early years learning school children through Book Start highlights the games being played with the provision of teaching resources in 2011.


Topically it was Caron Ann Duffy the Poet Laureate who called the Educator secretary Scrooge that helped tip the balance. Ian McEwen said he was “Appalled that Book Start is for the chop.” Book Start, set up in 1992, received educational department funding since 2004. Providing books from birth to the age of four, Book trust, who operate the scheme also aim to encourage reading by providing books for children up to the age of 11. The funding for the scheme tops three million pounds a year, and had been included in part of the overall government cutbacks. But the scathing retribution from the literacy world shows that Michael Gove failed to read the market reaction. This shows a fundamental flaw in the government. Failing to gauge the reaction shows a dictatorial approach in preference to a more democratic test and evaluate procedure before publication. Publish and be damned is a poor mantra for a department that is spinning at the moment. The abrupt deletion and subsequent reintroduction of Book Start shows the government education department is becoming out of touch.

				


				
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The Dark Side of Cheap Teaching Resources Using PhD Students

				Friday, December 24th, 2010

				

					
The significant growth in PhD students in countries across the world may tick all the right educational boxes but there are games being played by many universities. Whilst the graduate is seeking their doctorate their research is often used to support a secondary initiative, and their time used as a cheaper form of teaching resource.


There is a significant over supply of doctorates compared to available professorships. The PhD student becomes a willing highly motivated form of cheap labour in order to toe the line. In OECD countries doctorates grew by 40 per cent between 1998 and 2006. At the same time graduate assistants earned 20 per cent of the full rate for teaching under graduates, and only 16 per cent were eventually offered a professorship. The consensus suggests it is just as financially viable to opt for a  Masters degree in employment . Read the full article in the Economist

				


				
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Teacher Resources Must Focus On Science And Technology.

				Thursday, December 23rd, 2010

				

					
Years ago I marvelled at the educational games used to support the teaching prowess of the late Carl Sagan. The dulcet timbre of his mid Atlantic accent presented facts that were dry and boring from any other but absolutely intriguing when uttered by Carl. He induced a lust for learning in science and technology born of his love of cosmology and science. He was the David Attenborough of physics and a sad loss to generations of children who responded so readily to his observations especially at the Royal Society Christmas lectures. Crucially he spotted the collision course being pursued by society due to our poor comprehension and capitalisation in technology.


Summarised in a quote foretelling the recipe for disaster Carl Sagan said “We have arranged a civilisation in which most crucial elements profoundly depend on science and technology. We have also arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology.”


English and maths, the precursors to nearly all learning, presents a problem for many children to master. A significant number still struggle to archive a viable level to steer them through secondary education and a worthwhile career. But the world is changing and with it the role of the UK. A key strength lies in our pedigree of invention. But for this to thrive it needs to be fed with the raw ingredients of knowledge in science and technology. The application is global and could be a significant, even crucial part of our economy replacing our dwindling manufacturing capacity and skills.


Whilst the graduate league table may show the highest salaries are awarded to the finance and banking sector, there is little innovation or benefit to mankind from pure finance to the UK or the world. Whilst there are Nobel prizes recognising achievement in Science covering Physics, Chemistry and Medicine, there are none for banking. Instead of the clamour to become personally wealthy through self fulfilling financial activities we should induce increased national recognition of Scientists and Engineers. Perhaps a new form of Knighthood or Peerage that differentiates it from a political decoration to show it has been awarded for achievement in Science- Sir(S), Lord(S), and Engineering Sir(Eng), Lord(Eng) could be the start.

Alistair Owens Keen2learn.

				


				
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