Boys will be boys

I was in Chorley last Friday at the Woodlands Centre talking to literacy co-ordinators about embedding ICT in their plans. While I was there I got to talking to a number of teachers who were there at a conference on Early Years education. During the lunch break I happened to pick up a copy of The Telegraph and there it was ... an article that really said the ... 'boys will be boys' and for heavens sake let them.

The gist of the article was that boys were 'lagging behind' ... well there's new news for you !! But further down there was some real sense:

Sue Palmer, a writer and former headteacher, warned that the gap was evidence many young boys were being failed.

It wasn't that boys were failing it was that they were being failed!

She goes on to say:

This gap is the product of nature, nurture and culture," she said. "The boys are developmentally slightly behind from the beginning. If they don't get the opportunities they need for active engagement in the early years they are going to fall further back. This is precisely what is happening."

She added: "Boys are a little behind from the moment they are born. They need much more play and outdoor activities to develop their physical control and naturally learn by themselves how to sit still. If you have a system, like ours, which starts imposing formal work at such an early age they are going to find it hard.

"Children have to meet these goals, such as learning to write, by the time they are five, which means people will try to get them to hold a pencil and start writing at the age of three or four, which is far too young.

I know that this is not new stuff but it is heartening that it is being aired again. If the 'powers-that-be' were just to take a look at the systems adopted in Scandinavia and think for a minute then children's lives and their education could be so much better.

Venezuela '1to1' ... getting there

Announced at the end of September:

The Venezuelan government has signed an agreement with Portugal that will bring 1million low-cost notebooks, which are based on the Intel Classmate PC design, to the South American country. In July, Portugal signed an agreement with Intel to bring 500,000 Classmate PCs to that country, and now the Portuguese OEM manufacturing those laptops will supply these Intel Atom-based laptops to Venezuela.

So the Venezuelan Government has seen a way to get/keep its young people somewhere near the front as the world goes even flatter. I wonder, with all money being spent on BSF and the Primary Capital Programme whether some such initiative should have been included for all of our children/students.

Perhaps it has been considered and I missed it.

Things to like and dislike ...

First the 'like' ...

Some 15 odd years ago, when holidaying in the Lake District, we bought a book called 'Rocky Rambler'. The idea of the book was to put navigation in the hands of the young walker and it showed the terrain and the key points from a child's perspective. Using the book children would lead adults around adventurous walks. (A new website is about to be launched based on the book ... exciting!)

Reported in the Times yesterday a continuation of the highly successful idea 'We are what we do' ... this time its 'Teach your Granny to text'.


This idea has a similar theme ... what happens if you ask children and then follow up what they say. Could children really have a guiding part in making the world they are going to live in better?


The whole idea is just wonderful and is the result of a project that could be fabulously extended particularly as the book to go with the idea will be published on October 2nd and will be given to every school in England by the Dcsf(sorry rest of the UK ... you miss out again ... but it will be on sale ... the first print run of 100,000 has already been pre-sold ... possibly to the Dcsf?)

There are some wonderful ideas in the book as well as 'teaching granny to text': 'Walk you dad' is an awesome concept and there is an excellent message to be found in 'Stand up and be counted'.

What with this following in the wake of the 'Real Meals' initiative for Y7 it looks like someone somewhere is giving something some thought ! Hope its joined up!

...and now the dislike ...

News from Manchester (with little detail yet) tells me that Mr Brown will: continue the fightback with the promise of free nursery places for every two-year-old. But I understand that it will take 10 years to implement this and that, at current rates, it will cost £1 billion/year. I have no information as to whether this is a UK or an 'English' thing ... I suspect the latter. I am just concerned that the institutionalisation seems to get younger and younger. And, if it is going to take 10 years to put in place isn't that at least two elections? This, of course come on the back of the information that many child minders are giving up because of the increased interference and bureaucracy conjured up by the implementation of the EYFS agenda. It all might be a difficult circle to square.

Million Futures

Futurelab's Beyond Current Horizons site is a challenging place to spend time ...

It looks at the future of education, beyond 2025. The aim is to help our education system prepare for and respond to the challenges it faces as society and technology rapidly evolve. What skills will children need for work? How might parenting and the family change? What impact will new technologies have on learning?

Many of the features are stimulating and developmental ... currently ...if you were looking for a real context for writing that fits into a citizenship agenda, or if you just wanted to see if your speculations matched any others, then you would need to look no further than Million Futures. Go on ... fly a plane!

Lookybook

My trawls today directed me towards Angela Maier's Blog and her report of a web site Lookybook. This site appears to have been around for a while now and I missed it first time round!!

This is what the site says about itself:

Picture books are for looking at. Lookybook allows you to look at picture books in their entirety—from cover to cover, at your own pace. We know that nothing will replace the magic of reading a book with your child at bedtime, but we aim to replace the overwhelming and frustrating process of finding the right books for parents and their kids.

Our mission is to create a comfortable place where a curious and devoted audience can search, view, talk about, and buy from a diverse and rapidly expanding collection of picture books. We intend to create the greatest opportunity for authors, illustrators and publishers to reach interested consumers and dramatically extend the life of their books.

Lookybook currently features over 300 titles and is growing daily.

On the site you can look at the book, embed it in a blog or web page or go to a shop and buy it.

I think this is a brilliant idea.

A Sat too far ...

I have always had a high regard for Ken Boston, the head of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, but it appears that someone has fed him the wrong information. How can he say categorically that ... the current position is that in Key Stage 2the marking is now 100% complete ... when it so obviously isn't? Newspapers and media agencies up and down England are find this out and today the BBC report yet again on the failure to get the thing sorted.

This all indicates a mess but what worries me even more is the reaction of head teachers up and down the country who have used it as a rallying cry for something I don't understand.

The children have put their heart and soul into this. That's what hurts. I've had to speak to the children this morning to tell them nothing has come back. said one headteacher in the BBC report.

Sats are not fit for purpose and educationalists have been saying this for long enough now for someone, surely, to listen. This latest problem is just that - a problem. It has nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that we should have stopped testing children in this way some time ago and simply haven't.

The fact that heads, teachers, parents and the media have used it as a rallying cry for something or other is strange. None of this is going to materially damage children, teachers, schools or education as we know it ( pity in some ways really, it could have initiated a period of great change). The educational effect will be an absolute minimum and systems that have been developed just to satisfy the beast of Sats have, at best, had there time and effort misplaces and at worst could be accused of missing the point of education itself.

As I have said before, several times, time to stop this. Let's not get sidetracked by a company that has failed to deliver on its contract ( to collect, mark and return) let's concentrate on the real issue. Sats must go !

JKR speaks at Harvard

I have to confess to not being a Harry Potter fan. It isn't that I don't think that the stories would be good it is just that, on the whole, I don't actually read much fiction, and, if I were to start I am not sure I would begin there.

However, I picked up from my one of my feeds (Open Education) that J K Rowling had delivered the Commencement Address, “The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination,” at the Annual Meeting of the Harvard Alumni Association.

The video of her speech can be found here.

The writer of Open Education clearly makes a plea for people in such a powerful position to remember that it is the students' day and that they are there to enhance it and make sure that it is totally memorable for them and for their assembled family members. This is what was said:

Delivering a memorable graduation speech is one of education’s most difficult challenges. Somehow the orator must deliver some words of inspiration that add to the festiveness of the occasion all the while recognizing that the ceremony is about the graduates and not the speaker.

All too often, the presenter instead interferes with the ceremony, serving as a distraction to all present. Under the worst of conditions, the graduation speaker manages to actually subtract from a day devoted to the achievements of those who have completed their college studies. In fact, the tales of such negative moments are legendary.

On the other hand, a properly created and delivered speech serves as the perfect supplement for the special day. Similar to a burst of bright sunshine, a well crafted speech adds a scintillating glow to the events taking place.

Delivering such a memorable talk at Harvard University just might be the most challenging of all. Like the World Series, the speaker is on an especially distinctive stage with a multitude of observers examining every word.

For me the speech was a masterpiece beginning with disarming the audience and then opening a discussion on how failure has the potential to set people free from constraints. She argued that rock bottom could be seen as a firm foundation and that it could be built upon. She went on to talk of empathy and commented that ... well, no ... please read for yourself ... here it is far better in her words.

I was reminded, towards the end of her speech, as she said:

... written by the Greek author Plutarch: What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality.

That is an astonishing statement and yet proven a thousand times every day of our lives. It expresses, in part, our inescapable connection with the outside world, the fact that we touch other people’s lives simply by existing.

... of the Heisenberg uncertainty principle that suggests, if you want to extrapolate the idea, that every time we look at something, or think of something, or do something we affect it. We change it.

So let's look closely at how young people learn ... so we can better understand it and help to change it ... for their futures.

iTunes U

Wonderful to pick up from a number of blogs (John Connell, Martin Weller) on the move by the Open University, UCL and Trinity College, Dublin into iTunes U as reported by the BBC yesterday. The iTunes U has been available in USA for some time now so it is really good to see that it is beginning to be rolled out here. This is a sure sign that education is beginning to start from where the learners are and not always from where the institutions might wish to be. Long may it progress.

"Our students will be able to revisit materials presented to them in lectures, so they can learn anywhere and anytime," says Professor Peter Mobbs at University College London (UCL).

Neural pathways or grey matter ?

Sitting at breakfast, as you do, Kay and I got to talking about someone we knew who had written a book but neither of us could 'get to' the name. Our usual ploy at this point is to start at the beginning of the alphabet and work through saying the letters out loud and hoping for interventions that would reveal what we are thinking about. Several times through proved unsuccessful but then, out of the blue sky came to answer... just like that ... as if doors had been opened by the power of the brain to open them. This was interesting in itself but the next bit got me really thinking. The person we were searching for had a co-author and before I could ask Kay had said the name. It was as if her brain had its own personal tag cloud that finding one of the tags led to all the associated tags.

Now I appreciate that if I was a brain specialist or even a psychologist or had studied psychology or something I would have been aware of this and would not have been surprised ... but I was ... and I got to thinking and banging on about how we revere 'knowing' above understanding.

Trawling, mentally, through the TV programmes to substantiate my point I found that there were a large number of them, at a variety of levels that venerate 'knowing' ... Mastermind, The Weakest link, University Challenge, Question of Sport etc .

We then got to arguing about the change in focus in schools from 'knowing' to 'applying' ... and I was reminded of the discussion on a forum recently about a content .V. skill based curriculum and the idea of what the 'skills' would be proved to be a stopping point.

Heavy for breakfast ... a bit like an intellectual fry-up ... but the continuation was along the lines of - in society are the people at the top there because at some moment or other in their lives they spent doing the 'knowing' bit before they got to the 'applying' bit or were they just fortunate in not having to put any effort into knowing ... they just 'know'.

My son's girlfriend is sitting her university exams at the moment ... she says it is all about knowing.

So should there be lots more effort put into knowing just so that we know in case we need to?

Now, is this progressive or retrogressive thinking - am I ahead of the next wave of developments or so far behind that it isn't worth the thought?

Rant over ... hope you get the idea !

Tanya Byron goes world wide

I have been watching my Google Alerts over the last week since the Byron Review surfaced and have noticed that the ripples have spread wider and wider. Blogs obviously have their uses in disseminating information quickly and easily.

Today I picked up on a comment from Canada on 'globeadmail' with the heading... A British lesson that Canadians would do well to study

It highlights a quote from the Review that people are taking to heart ... 'Kids don't need protection, we need guidance.' The Government today bring out new proposals to attempt to ban sex offenders from using social networking sites by releasing their email addresses to the sites concerned. There must be something in the data protection act that prevents email addresses from being passed around from pillar to post ! And, anyway, what is to prevent anyone from just getting another and another and another email?

The issue here is another instance of social networking and the internet and websites in general all being 'mucked' in together under a 'fear' banner.

OpenEducation .net also picked up on the Review...
... this is a site dedicated to tracking the changes occurring in education today. In an era where it is possible to photoshop images, facebook people, and access an endless stream of knowledge by googling, the Internet Age offers both great promise and enormous challenges for educators. At OpenEducation.net, readers will be exposed to both an objective and subjective look at the many issues facing the profession today.

There is obviously an urgent need to educate now in a positive way. If we wait for projects and proposals and systems to be put into place it will take too long. A common-sense approach at a localised level would make sense here. The juggernaut of institutionalisation is not the only means to create change.

Cold, wet, snow ...

If you have nothing to do and its cold and snowing outside take a look at this site.

I know it has adverts etc and to use the full range of the games you pay. But ... you can play for free online and the 'Typer Shark' game will do wonders for your little wonders as they get fractious over Easter.

And there are more games to try all of which have that edge that makes them exciting and, dare I say it, educational.

Go on try ... you know you want to ...

And while you are doing these things take a look at the new games on the BBC Bitesize website. The Questionaut game is very reminiscent of Samorost. With regard to the Questionaut game ... in the past children did an activity and then were 'rewarded'... in this game the reward seems to come first. I found myself wanting to have some control over the questions ... but I am not sure why I did !


PS ... (Remember that you do try these things at your own risk !)

PPS ... Have 'played' Questionaut all the way through once now and am impressed with the quality of the decision making and the logicality of it all ... it is too good to be wasted on KS2 revision questions ... they almost(!!)spoil the whole thing.

Web 2.0 Technologies for Learning at Key Stages 3 & 4

Yesterday I spent my time in a policy workshop at the Learning Science Research Centre of Nottingham University discussing eSafety issues as part of a project on Web 2.0 Technologies for Learning at Key Stages 3 and 4.

The workshop was called not to establish a consensus about eSafety in the use of Web 2.0 technology but was to investigate differences of opinion on the subject through a process of structured debate:

The aim of the Delphi workshop is to get behind the rhetoric and assess how the benefits of learning through Web2.0 can be achieved while protecting children from the dangers of communicating online.

The Policy Delphi method is a structured group process to survey and
collect the opinions of experts on a complex problem. Rather than
striving for an early consensus, the emphasis is on identifying
differing opinions through a process of structured debate.

What was really interesting was the shared opinion that there was a fundemental education process which needed to be developed to support the work. It was heartening to listen to colleagues treading similar pathways towards similar goals, which, though difficult, they felt were worth making the journey for.

This was the first stage of the process.It ...

...will be followed by a second round, at a later date, using the same or different experts, to rate and extend the findings, define the positions, and explore whether
or not a consensus can be reached.

More details will certainly be published about this at a later date.

Brain Box

My wife has always been a 'puzzles person', from word searches (and I suspect earlier join-the-dots) through crozzles and crosswords followed by sudoku and even every IQ test thing that she sees in newspapers, magazines and on the back of packages ... she is a puzzle player, a 'Countdown' viewer and switches, when the time is ripe, to the quiz channels on television. Her mind is honed so sharply to these things that it cuts the air with the speed of response... and I've forgotten to mention University Challenge (me too).

She sits later in the evening with her Nintendo DS open and trains her brain ... finishing with the question ' So how old do you think I am today?' For a women who did her teacher training in the early 70s, the answer '26' leaves me a happy man!
Tessa Watson (of GLOW fame and a strange car) has started doing dsome work with children using the DS and a summary of this can be found on her blog.

Just now, in the evening, the warm up might easily be general knowledge with ( hold your breath) the black clad witch of the quiz, this followed by pitting wits against the best brains in Britain on 'Egg Heads' and now ... the BBC has launched us into Brain Box Challenge.

This, in my opinion, slick programme hosted by Clive Anderson is well worth talking to children about. It is a:

...challenging brain boggling quiz in which contestants battle it out to win money from the ‘Brain Bank’ by proving themselves in a sequence of brain games which test their memory, language, visual, numerical and spatial skills.

... and the accompanying web site (not just because it is free) is the sort of site that you could strongly want to identify with if you were a teacher committed to developing home/school links.

There are three interesting sections on the site: The science behind learning when you play the games, a link to the BBC2 area where you can catch up with programmes you have missed on BBCi, but most importantly ... the games themselves.

The games come in six categories: visual, spacial, language, dual task, coding and memory ... together with a warm up area to get you ready. The warm up is at three levels and the games come in at ten different levels of difficulty building one on one. At the end of it all you get a 'Brainbox quotient', and an explanation of what it all means.


Can't wait to get started (and pass it on to your class/friend/family). Just click here.

The 2008 Education Show

It was a bright Thursday at the Education Show in Birmingham and the place was full of bright , excited people all urgent to find out what is new. I could not get over the variety ( pun !!) of wheeeled (the extra 'e' was for emphasis) vehicles that were being towed around the stands by rushing teachers endeavouring to catch the 'freebies' and the 'less than costies' from a vast variety of stands. It always amazes me at this show the variety of people and companies and products and services and ... and ... and that go together to support our institutionalised education system. And it never ceases to surprise me that it is the 'hands-on' stands that get the most attention. If you want photocopiable anything then you can find it. If you want badges and stickers and boxes and crayons and pens and ... and... and ... you will find it, all being sold to you with the enthusiasm that goes with passion.

It is gratifying to know that the vast cross-section of people attending were all doing this out of an urge to find the best for this and the coming generations of our young people.



I did a 'gig'(in a very futuristic open 'tabernacle') about the '21C idea of teaching and learning' which can be found here. Just work your way from the bottom to the top of the blog and all will be made clear.

Safeguarding children in a digital world

The Becta Conference held earlier this week in Birmingham brought to the fore some of the key concerns and the subsequent calls for action to protect young people growing up in a digital world. There was concern about digital awareness in a population driven by technology aired by a number of speakers. Jenny Simpson, Safeguarding Development Officer, Leicestershire CYPS, gave valuable tips on developing a Local Safeguarding Children Boards (LSCB) strategy taken from her own experience and she made clear points saying that:

'... in developing a co-ordinated response, it was important to recognise:
e-safety comes within the context of Every Child Matters
e-safety is part of the wider work of the LSCB
e-safety is not a technological issue
the importance of education, training and information

For me the key point here is the fact that this is not a technological issue. The safety of people in a digital world should not and must not depend on the producers of the technology. We do not hold television manufacturers responsible for the programmes we and our children watch. And you can't hold the BBC responsible for programmes watched by minors after the watershed.

It is down to education ... in our schools it is a PSHE issue and in our homes it is about knowledge and responsibility. Penny Patterson, ICT Inspector, London Grid for Learning (LGfL), London Borough of Havering made a very valuable point when she commented: children and young people should be encouraged to take responsibility for their own e-safety and those of their peers, and be given the skills so that they are better able to make the process ‘self policing’...

I totally agree here that it is up to everyone to invest time and effort into teaching and learning the necessary skills and techniques that living in a digital age necessitates. After all, we are all familiar with 'road safety' issues and this education has formed a part of the curriculum in schools for decades. Time to move forward. Road saftey is still important as is drug awareness, sex education and 'not going with strangers'. The e-safety agenda is another in the line of responsibilities we have towards our young people. To help them we may need some help ourselves.

Stephen Carrick-Davies, Chief Executive of Childnet International, spoke of the pressures on parents and their plight in trying to keep their children safe on the internet, when many are intimidated by their own lack of knowledge. He commented: Some parents feel intimidated by the internet and unable to help their children because of their own lack of internet knowledge. We need to continue to inform and develop adult confidence and competence so that our young people can feel supported not only at school but at home as well.
This is not an issue which will go away and so all of us must engage in it - collective responsibility must be the theme.

The Transparent Canoe

I have just had a virtual discussion with Tricia about the use of the phrase 'The technology should be transparent' and she pointed me in this direction.

The transparent canoe is a wonderful vehicle, it can't be seen yet it is a reliable form of transport.

The technology we use in our lives and in our opportunities to teach should be just like this ... available but not intrusive ... it should allow us to work/play/function efficiently.

Oh for a transparent education system!

(Thanks to Pete Yeomans for the original viewpoint)

A breath of fresh air ...

I have had the most wonderful two days working with my PGCE students at Leicester University School of Education. They are wild, sceptical, enthusiastic, scathing, interested, bemused, excited and imaginative (amongst their many other characteristics). Being with them reminds me about why I care about these things. A group of young(ish) people not afraid to take risks and not afraid to fail. I just feel so optimistic about their steps forward and am excited that they will go into schools armed with the 'necessary' but not constrained by it.

We spent time talking about creativity and ' Excellence and Enjoyment'. They listened/watched Sir Ken Robinson's presentation at the TED conference in Monterey and, what is wonderful ... they 'got' it.

They experimented with software and websites and could see that creativity didn't sit separate from the curriculum but was an essential part of it. And they saw the connection between home and school and that learning was everywhere.

Wonderful !

How to get it so, so wrong !!

I was alerted this morning by my friend Steve Taylor to a BBC report from England's Children's Minister Kevin Brennan where he says '...electronic toys, music players and phones often appear in schools as the new term begins. Children often bring the fascinating gadgets they were bought as Christmas presents into class, but these can cause disruption and hamper learning. Teachers can and will confiscate such items if they see them being used in lessons.'

The idea that some of the powerful tools that children now have access to at home are essentially disruptive and hamper learning almost says it all. It is no wonder that our young people feel that they 'dumb down' to go to school and that many of them feel that the tools that they have at their disposal do not actually meet their needs.

As part of the report the General secretary of teaching union the NASUWT Chris Keates said: "Every year some youngsters arrive back at school with MP3 players, mobile phones and electronic games. This can be a real headache for teachers when they are trying to get everyone settled down to start learning. Teachers would be grateful if pupils just brought a pen."

So as we move further and further into a technological age one of the 'influences' on educational policy sees the major tool for learning as a pen.

The report goes on '... Some schools have a "no gadget" policy where all non-educational equipment is banned ' . So who says what and what isn't educational then ? And who defines 'gadget'?

You can read Ewan's take on the report here.

I feel so cross about the whole thing. We need a 21st Century education for our young people !!

PS ( just as an aside)
I have been alerted to the fact that the Minister for English Education who wants the gadgets kept out of English schools is in fact the MP for Cardiff ... isn't that in Wales?

PPS

A Presentation at the BETT Conference and Exhibition, January 9th by Mike Sharples continues the debate.

Confident, capable and creative: supporting boys' achievements

I listened with alarm this morning to the BBC's report: Toy weapons 'help boys to learn' and so immediately went to read the report: Confident, capable and creative: supporting boys' achievements the comments came from.

Searching for the term 'weapons' in the 26 page document came up with one hit on page 16.The BBC seem to have managed to put their own spin on the report ( only they will be able to tell us why). The report itself is, in its way, sensible though does, probably because of its title and focus, appear to be making a large issue of something I feel sure that most early years practitioners are very well aware.

In reading it though, other worries spring forward. Why 'Confident, capable and creative: supporting boys' achievements ? What about the parallel document ( yet to be written ?) Confident, capable and creative: supporting girls' achievements ? And where is the world evidence for the ideas in the text? Not that I am in any way an expert but many of the references appear to be very 'home grown' - with the notable Massachusetts Department of Education exception - and a interesting inclusion of Paley's work of twenty years ago as 'further reading' rather than her more modern (2004) 'A Child's Work: The Importance of Fantasy Play'

My biggest fear from all of this is that there will be some people who will read the headline and not the report.

God Save The Queen

It is superb to hear/watch/read today from the BBC that the Queen has opened her own channel on YouTube. At last an institution that isn't afraid to embrace the medium.
I wonder how LAs,BroadBand Consortia and schools will deal with the fact that some fabulous historical footage will now be available to all except those in our educational institutions on account of the fact that YouTube is resolutely blocked.

I am not arguing here for wholesale access as that will undoubtedly cause immense problems ... but it does pose a number of interesting problems for network managers and the people who make the rules about what our young learners are or are not able to access in our educational establishments.

Teachers will not forever want to spend their time extracting the videos from their primary source so what will they do? I can hear the classroom conversation now, ' There is some terrific stuff available for you on YouTube ... just go home and watch it!'

ED BALLS LAUNCHES PLAN FOR CHILDREN

The continuation of yesterday's post ...this taken from the press release today:

• a root and branch review of the primary level curriculum to help smooth the transition from early years, free up space in the school day for more time on the three Rs and time for a foreign language. The review will consider how best to ensure a smooth transition from play-based learning in the early years into school, particularly for summer born children. Sir Jim Rose will lead the review;

• building on the £144m already allocated to fund the Every Child A Reader and Every Child Counts programmes, £25m will be allocated to fund the Every Child A Writer scheme to offer intensive one-to-one coaching in areas of writing that children find hard to master;

• that children should be taught according to their “stage not age”, including expanding the “testing when ready” assessment method nationally. Whilst national testing will remain, this could lead to an end to the key stage tests in 2009 but only if the pilot sites have proven to work and the system has been rigorously evaluated;

It is this bit that worries me most of all : free up space in the school day for more time on the three Rs

... and in Scotland:

Teachers defend Standard Grades

It looks as if major changes are also afoot ... I thought Curriculum for Excellence had only just come of age.

Clusty ... a cluster search engine

Thanks to Ian Lynch for this one...

Clusty is a whole new way to search the web.

Clusty queries several top search engines, combines the results, and generates an ordered list based on comparative ranking. This "metasearch" approach helps raise the best results to the top and push search engine spam to the bottom.

But what really makes Clusty unique is what happens after you search. Instead of delivering millions of search results in one long list, our search engine groups similar results together into clusters. Clusters help you see your search results by topic so you can zero in on exactly what you’re looking for or discover unexpected relationships between items. When was the last time you went to the third or fourth page of the search results? Rather than scrolling through page after page, the clusters help you find results you may have missed or that were buried deep in the ranked list.

I tried it out on 'Ancient Egypt' and this is what I got:



The 'clusters' down the left of the page certainly focussed things quickly.

Well worth a try, I think, particularly if your school or your LA are worried about or blocking Google.

Podcasting Y3 ... French

I've had a terrific day !! This afternoon I worked with a couple of absolutely incredibly, stupendous teachers and 26 Y3 children. We podcasted (with Podium)

The children had never heard their voices before and were so excited to listen to each other and to get me to listen to what they had said. There was no false modesty here. They came straight in with 'the news', 'Radio school', 'Why I like football'. These were seven and eight year olds ... no fears ... taking risks.

The key to it all was what had happened long before I came on the scene and had my ego trip. They all knew how to log on, open software, save in different formats to their space etc ... and the kit worked ... all of it ... all of the time.

We ended up singing a first episode for the class French podcast ... the numbers.Just paste this url into iTunes or listen straight away to the first of many (I hope) podcasts ...

So exciting. so good, so real and 'in your face' ..... children having fun doing what comes natural with teachers prepared to let it happen and reap later rewards.

Wonderful !

Social Networking Conference

So I got lost in the one-way system of Tamworth and pulled into the kerb to ask the way to the Palace Venue ... 'You're there love.' was the response as the lady pointed to a low building. And so I was !

I have now stood and performed on the same stage as 'The Bay City Rollers' ... but not at the same time!

As for the Conference itself, I came away with a personal task to revisit my views on the security/e-safety agenda. For me it seemed to fill the Conference for, apart from the thirty minutes of 'lightning talks' where six of us gave a brief overview of software/products etc, the thrust of the morning was based on 'opportunities and risks' with the stress on risks and responsibilities.

Now, if the people at the Conference represent a cross section of those who need to think about these things then it is clear to me that there are things I should think about too.

But it worries me that I heard cyber-bullying over and over. I know it is important that we are all aware of what goes on and I know that I have a responsibility to educate about it, BUT I also have a responsibility to be optimistic and excited about what I (and young people) can do now that I couldn't do before.

Those who know me will be aware that in life I am a risk taker. I weigh things up and work out if the risk is worth it and will it affect others before I 'jump' ... but, the chances are, I will jump.

I want our young people to be exciting and confident risk takers and, to a great extent, I think they are. Is it us who are holding them back for our safety and security. In preparation for the Conference I spoke to some young people about what they did and what they felt and was challenged by one lad who simply said 'We're not stupid you know.' .... I wonder ... are we?

We are all aware that our youngest children now do not play out any more. They get ferried from pillar to post because of the dangers that lurk in our minds ( and, I will concede out THERE). They wear goggles to play conkers, they don't climb trees, they are 'watched' by adults everywhere they go. Our young people need adult free space in their lives so that they can lead them. We just need to get the education right.

I have posted this video before but make no excuse for posting it again. Just listen please.



But I will go back and revisit what I think.

'I'm comin out'

I've got to confess ... I'm a 'feeds' junky. Just can't help it ...every time I click on that little yellow star and my 'feeds' open I get this adrenalin rush of excitement that just knocks me out. Each and every time there is a note, a link, an idea that transports me to worlds I dream about. Sometimes I get reinforcement of ideas postulated, sometimes it is something that moves my thinking on, sometimes it is an information source which takes me to an information source which ... you get the idea.

Today ... as any other day... I worked my way through the feeds ... in descending order ... Alan November, Allanah Appleby, Booruch, Clusterblog, DfES (sad isn't it), DJD on Ning, etc onwards and downwards until I cane to edu.blogs.com and there I paused as my eye was caught by this, it was the creative writing reference that caught me:

KimP’s Blog » Samorost
Kim thinks about what she'll do with the game for creative writing.
KimP’s Blog » Samorost - Day 1
Kim shows how her initial walkthrough went.
KimP’s Blog » Writing with Samorost
Some great examples of creative writing having used Samorost as the stimulus
KimP’s Blog » Thinking about Samorost
Using Edward De Bono's six thinking hats to understand how we could exploit games in writing and speaking
KimP’s Blog » Wondering Why????
Why are there so many gains from creative writing when games are used as the stimulus?

And I wondered why Ewan would have all these links there and what was 'Samorost' anyway? So I typed 'Samorost'into Google and was lost to the world for the next hour or so as I explored.I can't tell you how taken I am with this and I am so excited that a new discovery like this can excite me... just proves that it is possible to teach and old dog etc etc .



I then went back to the posts on KimP's blog to see what had taken Ewan and read about what had taken Kim. The interest she had created with her young students in her school, Belmore South Primary, in Sydney, was exemplary. It just needs reading and running with. Just can't help wondering what else I have missed as this work was done last June.

I am going to delve into Samorost 2 now, not that I have finished with V1 yet. It is just that, like a child approaching the swimming pool, I want to get in there before everyone else uses up all of the water.

The rest of my feeds can wait ... or can they ?... who knows what new excitements lurk in the depths of 'ICT Inspirations' or 'The International Schools Island'...

Teacher TV ... Mobile Phones - Mobile Minds

Technology has a way of nudging forward whether you want it to or not. Teachers TV (thanks for the link Tricia) takes 'a look at the world of young people with mobile phones, and the impact on schools and education.Owning a mobile is becoming an indispensable element of young people's lives, for both teenagers and increasingly primary age children, all around the world. Are mobile phones a force for good, or an example of technology gone awry? Is it sensible to ban their use in schools or should this device be given a place in lessons and learning?'
Watch the video here.

Just what can you uncover in one week?

Just one week ago today I was at the Naace All Members' Autumn Conference and there, in discussion with colleagues, picked up on the vast amount of things that people are consumed with.

This week my inbox has been dominated ... and I do mean dominated ... by the inappropriate use of an email forum by a group of urgent people discussing the nature of e-portfolios. I do wish that they had got themselves sorted out early enough to talk in a private forum about the topic or at least managed to digest it. As a subscriber to two of the groups I kept getting a double dose of the information ... interesting though it was I do feel that they could have carried on privately. But ... if they had done this would I have missed out on some important details ? A real cleft stick !

I spent two days this week in Cornwall working with some delightful young people podcasting using the Podium Software in French and Spanish. The software proved no barrier to these intelligent youngsters but the impressive thing was the way that the various groups cooperated together and produced the podcasts without 'batting any eyelids'. The school, Helston Community College should be heartily proud of their young people. Their podcast can be found by pasting http://www.podiumpodcasting.com/~182812/
ManyGroups051007130013/rss.xml into your favourite listening tool. This was a first shot for these teenagers and the software wasn't the barrier ... in fact there were no barriers ... they now need to repeat and progress.

Arriving home and checking my feeds I discovered , yet again, that Ewan and Kent were ahead of me.

The Kent ClusterBlog is always a source of new and exciting information and this time has come up with a very interesting web 2.0 app called Jing Project well worth having a look at for image capture and computer screen capture.

I have not had chance to try another suggestion found there but feel that Poly might well excite some mathematicians.

I did notice that my globe trotting friend Ewan was on the other side of the world enjoying himself in New Zealand at the ULearn07 Conference
where I feel sure, judging by his blog, he opened eyes and ears and had his opened too. I noticed that he chose to highlight the excellent work done by Stephen Heppell in terms of emphasising the correlation between creativity and ingenuity. On the 'Be Very Afraid' blog there is reference to a superb piece of 'creative ingenuity' that far outstrips anything a closed school curriculum could possibly imagine. Just watch the Ravensbourne College initiative... and this is now two years old ... where will the thinking be at this end of 2007? It is well worth listening and looking at this year's ideas.

After Shanghai, New Zealand was certainly a place to be!

Come back Ivan ... all is forgiven !

I have had an interesting weekend of educational banter that has caused me to go back, in the end, to my educational roots. I have never, and I believe, will never be an institutionalist and so have never believed that schools were good places for education. Their strength used to be that they were populated by dedicated, inspirational people who were urgent to make a difference to and for the young people who crossed their paths on a year by year basis. If only I felt that was the case today. It is not to say that I don't believe in the dedication of the people it is just that the pathway has changed and somehow the route has got lost amongst the trees.

So I went back and reread, just to revitalise, the works of my mentor Ivan Illich and I am pleased to say that my ideals are still alive and well.

Many students, especially those who are poor, intuitively know what the schools do for them. They school them to confuse process and substance. Once these become blurred, a new logic is assumed: the more treatment there is, the better are the results; or, escalation leads to success. The pupil is thereby "schooled" to confuse teaching with learning, grade advancement with education, a diploma with competence, and fluency with the ability to say something new. His imagination is "schooled" to accept service in place of value. Medical treatment is mistaken for health care, social work for the improvement of community life, police protection for safety, military poise for national security, the rat race for productive work. Health, learning, dignity, independence, and creative endeavour are defined as little more than the performance of the institutions which claim to serve these ends, and their improvement is made to depend on allocating more resources to the management of hospitals, schools, and other agencies in question. Ivan Illich Deschooling Society (1973: 9)

In the coming age of Web 2.0 technology this escalated to nature of the ownership of education and the vexed question of 'push' or 'pull' with regard to real learning.

I think that teaching is potentially overrated and it stupefies creativity in sport, work and life ........... the truly greats are and were individuals defining their own truths in their own way and our education systems appear to do nothing at all but institutionalise and take of all of the exciting peaks and troughs in peoples' learning pathways and make them into plateaus. It is not just about being good ........ it is about developing the 'goodness' ............ teaching can play a part but education is different. We should not be taking so much of the lead as educators we should be opening doors and drawing maps ..... the ownership and control needs to shift to the learners and it is up to us to ensure that as it does they, each and everyone, is in a state to take on the power that this ownership endows. I see this approach as one towards personalisation. Not the institutional idea of personalisation : Personalisation in education, though, means pupils get what they need; not what they want. It is not the pupil’s decision, but someone else’s. You can read about the institutional inconsistencies here but ..... mine (and I hope Ivan would have agreed with me!)

To see where all this might be going in the modern idiom read Ewan McIntosh's blog post about the MET Schools.

Google Sky

There is a relatively new version of Google Earth about and it has an exciting new feature or two. Google Sky allows you to view the sky over any location in the world and discover the fascinations of astronomy. There are some really cool educational aspects to this particularly in the understanding of the passage of the moon across the sky. Google Sky is an add on to the original. You need to download the latest version and then you get an extra button on the button bar which is amazing. Just go and see.

Hidden away in the new version of Google Earth there is also a flight simulator.á Once you've started it all up, then all you have to do is hit Ctrl+Alt+A (if you're running OS X it's Command+Option+A; some people have reported that Ctrl+A or Ctrl+Windows+A work when the standard Ctrl+Alt+A does not). You must be in Earth mode (i.e. not Sky mode) for this to work .

Aintree or Sefton Beach

Teachers local to Aintree gathered for an informative teacher day and in the bright sunlight glinting on the main Grandstand at the famous Aintree Racecourse they learned many things.

I took the opportunity having travelled north to go to the beach to see the Anthony Gormley sculptures 'Another Place' ... see the presentation below. The sun shone and the beach had just been cleaned and people were enjoying the early September sun. As the tide came in the sculptures slowly submerged .... cause for thought ...

Should we worry about WIFI ?

An interesting article that was reported in the TES Magazine on 31st August that could give SMTs the information that they need should they be challenged by parents et al re the wireless networks in their schools. But, even after reading the research it seems that the jury is still out and that if a definitive answer is needed then the scientific community don't seem to be the people to turn to. So what to do ?(following the awful Panorama programme) ... I suspect some will keep their heads down and some will look up !

The article is worth a read though ... just to keep up to date.

ictopus is here !

The tentacles of ictopus are now extending freely into the world after its launch at midnight on August 31st.


Ictopus (ICT online primary user support) is a free support service for primary education which was launched on 1st September 2007. Each week registered members of the service will have access to a six page printable magazine (Sharing Good Practice) and a set of activity suggestions (lessons2go). There will also be a regular newsletter and a variety of other resources and projects. All the resources will be available from the web archive and members can also opt to receive alerts offering a one-click download service for each item.

Ictopus builds on the highly successful Becta Direct2U service and also the legacy of MAPE (Micros and Primary Education).

Register now to be a part of this exciting new venture. Registration is free.

Please join us now – be part of ictopus.

The Might of Rome

If you are looking for a really dramatic start to your project on Ancient Rome then look no further. You can now 'virtually' visit Rome in AD320, at the height of its power, and take a good look around some of the most famous places thanks to a new site from the University of Virginia.

Teachers doing science

A really exciting two teacher days with groups in Leicester.

The first session being held at Leicester University for a whole cluster development group of teachers and TAs all coming together away from their schools to gain inspiration and to focus on developing ideas for innovative science - ICT was only part of it - there was a lovely session of sherbert making and how you get it to fizz and if you could use that to make fizzy chocolate !!

The second session in a local primary school, again with teachers and TAs, to look at the use of their new interactive whiteboards with a focus on how the technology can support and enhance science teaching ( and all the spin offs for the many, many other things)



For each of the sessions a specific blog was created to support access to web sites to make things easy during the sessions but with the addition that these could also be used by the schools at any later date.The first being a general set of science sites and the second being tailored to a specific context of term one. The implication here was that schools could easily build their own blogs to support specific projects or subjects and could use these to share with other teachers or could be used by the children to continue work out of school.The blogs were not public and comments were moderated before publication.


This was an entirely new idea to all on both days and leads me to believe that sessions just to develop it will be needed.... all said how useful it was to have quick and simple access to sites which had been preliminarily reviewed. Of course, the usual saftey messages were given out and this gave some food for thought. The message was, however, that the positives should win and the negatives should be a part of an online education process for all users, teahcer, TAs, pupils and parents alike.

One Laptop Per Child Project

Well not quite $100, in fact closer to $200, but still a breakthrough in a technology to make connectivity more universally available worldwide.



"From BBC New at bbc.co.uk/click_online"

'The engineers who designed the energy efficient laptop have thrown out a whole host of conventional ideas in order to produce a computer that will be useful in nations where electricity is in short supply.'

But is technological advance such as this the real answer to education in a world debilitated by drought and famine and ravaged by war and violence? Will it help or could the energy being pored into such projects harvest better fruit being channeled into solving more basic needs? Do projects such as this make us feel better because we are giving what we already have?

Mars 27th August

An email today alerts me to the fact that on 27th August Mars will be as large as the moon (above at about 12.30 am), next time this occurs will be in 60,000 years time, although it will be nearly as close many times before that.

That means that no-one alive today will ever have such a good chance of seeing the 'Red Planet' again in their lifetimes.

Now my check on this ( and my memory) reminds me of a similar message in 2003 and 2005.

So this is a good example of the 'authenticity' of information arriving in your mailbox or found on the Net ... we should be showing these things to our children/students and pointing out that they should check and double check for authentic information before they believe what they read.

What is the most important question education leaders should be asking?

Alan November's blog, post the 2007 Building Learning Communities Conference, asks a key question, 'What is the most important question education leaders should be asking?'
and it is well worth having a close look at some of the answers/comments.

It is heartening to read about 'empowerment' and 'student voice'... there is little about content here rather it is, as Sue puts it, about '... the transfer of ownership of the learning to the students' I do hope the BSF project gets this right.

Literacy Builder

On the NGfL CYMRU is a rather interesting new resource called 'Literacy Builder' . Very well worth taking a look at to see if it 'rows your boat as well as floats it'.

Map of Future Forces Affecting Education

I am again indepted to Ewan McIntosh for this cartography from KnowledgeWorks ( don't know where he finds these nuggets from or how he has the time ?)
It would be interesting to translate it from the 'americanisms' to a the various UK education set ups and see how it supports ( or not) the economic developments in such projects as 'GLOW' or 'BSF'.

Watch what you do with your hands

Picked up from my feeds today, and reproduced here, from Simon Mills is this interesting article from the USA about hand gestures in teaching contexts.
Well worth the read.

RM's Educational podcasts

I confess that I have only just noticed these.

'The RM Education Lectures are 45 minute presentations delivered by individuals who directly or indirectly, influence education or who challenge current thinking and methodologies. Ostensibly, the RM Education Lectures form part of a CPD programme for RM management but they have wider appeal than we can accommodate in the Conference Room at RM HQ. For that reason, we'd like to extend the programme to anyone interested via a podcast. For each new lecture delivered, we will record and add to the RM Education Lecture podcast (where the speaker has granted us permission to do so).'

To date you can listen to Stephen Heppell, John Davitt and Tim Brighouse.

Just you back it up now !!!

A brilliant one from Chris Smith of Shambles.

Just watch:

Bill Gates gives his vision of the future

BBC's Click Online programme has as interview where Bill Gates gives his ideas of what schools of the future might be like and how ICT can support and enhance teaching and learning in a technological savy society.In the interview he mentions 'training the teachers' four times and obviously sees this as a real fundamental part of the advancement process.

Back in the NOF training days the then Government felt that they had made a start and so they had. The problem has arisen that technological progress world wide has continued but the levels of training have not. It was never intended to be a 'one trick pony'. The basic bits were only basic bits for the time and, rather like in University Challenge were simply starters to get people into the meat of things.

'Hands on Support' in some places has moved teachers forward incrementally but has been fighting a retrenchment battle, providing teachers with skills and concepts to get up to date but often, not to move ahead. Not the fault of the system nor the trainers, just a battle too hard with too few resources.

I read now of enlightened courses being run by students for their teachers (where students mentor teachers). These spontaneous sessions are designed to get the teachers on-board with the technology being used by their students so that advantage can be taken of this knowledge to support learning.

So what is it we need for teachers to support them, not just to keep up, but to be ahead?

Institutionalisation ?

Back in the late 60's Local authorities began to experiment with 'play schemes' during the summer holidays to keep children 'out of trouble'. Short of money at the time, I ran one for two summers on a park in Derby where every afternoon upwards of 200 young people of various ages would turn up to be organised into games and activities. It actually worked quite well and there was a minimum of trouble ... those were the days! But even then I was sceptical about the continuous institutionalisation of childhood and worried that they were getting a diet of the sort of things that schools were offering during term time ( painting, sport, trips etc) The children seemed perfectly happy to be organised and that is what worried me. Since then things have extended and developed. It seems that unless children are 'entertained' they become bored. My thought is that a little constructive boredom might well lead to personal creativity. It doesn't always have to lead to vandalism.

And now today I read that Mr Balls has announced that there is to be a £billion so that:

'Every child will be able to access breakfast clubs, out-of-hours tuition and after-school clubs in sport, music and drama as Ed Balls today announced a massive investment of more than £1billion in the extended schools programme over the next three years.'

And I read that already 5000 schools are offering this 'extended service' ... and I am worried.

If we are redefining the role of schools in this way where is the rationale, where are the best practice models in other countries? Is it a political need or a social function? It certainly isn't an educational invective.

And what of the children who could spend the greatest part of their early childhood in the same building? Who will make the rules that cover its use? Just think of any 'open-plan' primary school you know. These children will be in the care of a transient population of carers with varying authorities and remits.

Or have I got this all wrong?

Creativity

There has been a lengthy and very interesting debate on creativity going on very recently that was begun by Geoff Dellow, a 'Flash' exponent and guru. Only yesterday in reply to a post eminating from BLC in Boston following up the excellent presentation by Mitch Resnick Stephen Heppell commented 'I'm not sure that creativity IS big business - although the Creative Industries ARE huge here, but I'm sure as heck that INGENUITY is the value part! There is something about being ingenious that embraces purpose too.' .

So 'ingenuity' might lead creativity ... discuss !

And it is thanks to Geoff that I can leave you for a while with this ... its this sort of thing we need ... is this ingenuity or creativity; both or just clever fun.

ictopus - primary resources

New online service to support primary educators

Subscribers to the Becta ICT Advice Direct2U service were informed this week of a new scheme to provide primary teachers with up-to-the minute ICT information.

Ictopus (ICT online primary user support) is a support service for primary education. Anyone can sign up for the service (free of charge) to receive a weekly six page printable magazine and a set of activity suggestions. There will also be a regular newsletter or e-bulletin. These resources (and more) will be archived on the ictopus website where there will also be access to classroom activities, software and a variety of other resources and projects. Ictopus builds on the Becta Direct2U service and also, for those of you who may remember it, the legacy of MAPE (Micros and Primary Education).

Each edition of the weekly magazine, ‘Sharing Good Practice’, will have 6 pages and will comprise case-study articles, top tips for using ICT effectively in primary education, website recommendations and a variety of teaching plans and other resources. It will be available as a download in a printable format that could be displayed on a staff notice board or coffee table, slotted into individual staff pigeonholes and stored in a ring binder for future reference. It is proposed to have a coherent theme for each edition and the overall focus is to be on disseminating good practice.

The weekly activity ideas, ‘Lessons2go’, are a development of the Direct2U activities. These lessons aim to provide ideas for the use of ICT across the primary key stages and curriculum. The pick of the original lessons will be updated, including the checking of web links and inclusion of any new developments. A regularly updated index will be available so that lessons can be found for different key stages, subjects or year groups. This should assist key stage coordinators, ICT coordinators and class teachers. Although aimed primarily at the school user it is hoped that the resources will also benefit advisers, teacher training tutors/mentors and parents.

In addition there will be an e-bulletin which will keep colleagues up-to-date with all things ICT on a very regular basis, including links to a ‘website of the moment’ as new and exciting things come to light.

Users will be able to sign up for each service individually. Resources will be despatched to you as they are issued and will also be archived on the website.

Ictopus is run by a group of primary teachers, university lecturers and consultants who wish to support colleagues working in the field of primary education. It aims to be flexible and adaptive to your needs and to provide a forum for dissemination of the excellent practice currently found in many schools.

The service launches in September 2007 but you can sign up for it right now by visiting the website www.ictopus.org.uk.

Avatars, alias and being what or who you aren't

I have been considering for some time now the long term implications behind the idea that we explain to children that they should not, online, in any way reveal who they are or where they are from. It occurs to me that this is an extension of role play into a real/virtual world situation. As I think of it, the idea seems okay for early years explorations but I am getting increasingly insecure about it as children get older. Should we be encouraging them to pretend to be someone they are not and not accept (by default) the implications of their real and virtual actions? It is a good argument to say that they are modeling in a true sense in situations that they can manipulate to see outcomes and can, for the most part, retract and come out unscathed. But is it socially viable, in the long term, as the blend between the physical world and the virtual one becomes blurred? ( Have you visited Second Life recently?)It seems to me that as we build the various levels of sub-worlds which people (children) inhabit then we are in danger of them becoming more of a reality than reality. Although I am not a 'film' person, can't sit long enough to get the whole thing, the film 'Matrix' had a profound effect on me when I first saw it. And the concept of 'worlds within worlds' has always fascinated. 'But doesn't everyone do this?' I hear you all shout ... so why am I bothered?

Sometimes something comes along ...

Will Richardson has been blogging since July 2002 ... five years ago ... he saw the potential, saw the power and has kept on using it to motivate, inform and excite.

Currently he is at Alan November's summer extravaganza in Boston where, I feel sure, he will inspire another audience.

Read here and contribute.

... and then watch 'change the world with these technologies' and be prepared to be overwhelmed.

Women in Art

My friend Linda has alerted me to this video that is one of those things that you watch and then want to save for the future ... in case you need it ... it is the sort of thing that creative ideas come from ...

Try focusing on the eyes ...

Programme of Study for KS3 ICT

The new programme of study for ICT at KS3 and KS4 was released on 12 July. Teachers working with year 6 children should find it useful in their attempt to avoid the 'glass ceiling' nature of the KS2/KS3 interchange.

Not for the first time ...

Again , and not for the first time, I am indebted to my friend Ewan for posting a truly inspirational link on his blog ... this time to Kathy Sierra's post on Death by risk aversion.

For me the whole post emphasises in my mind what is wrong with the way we are going about the process of compulsory education. It is all a leveling process ... take the tops of the mountains and fill up the valleys so that we have a nice plateau !!

Have a read about the Roomba process then hold the light sabre in your hand close your eyes and the force will be with you ... and you will feel in control and be happier. All teachers should know about this and take onboard the ideas!

Innovation needs risk ... no risk no gain. There has never been anything truly great founded by being in the middle ... look at the fringes, listen to the whispers, read this blog !!

New Secondary Curriculum

12/07/07 So the secondary curriculum is going to be freed up to create time to focus on basics ... have we worked out what they might be in a preparation for 21st Century living yet? It looks as if QCA have cracked this one:

Children, Schools and Families Secretary Ed Balls announced that the new curriculum will cut clutter and reduce duplication and enable schools to do much more with the traditional school day to prepare pupils for the demands of today’s world. As well as an even sharper focus on literacy and numeracy and retaining established subject knowledge, the new curriculum places greater emphasis on equipping young people with the personal, learning and thinking skills they need to succeed in employment and adult life.

And I read today that primary children are going to have at least 5 hours/week of physical activity.

Primary Resources (websites need not apply)

My attention is drawn to an award winning letter in 'Primary Teacher' about primary resources and the ubiquitousness ( is that a word?) of ICT and web sites as being the be-all-and-end-all of educational resource provision.

A lovely note of reality to be found in the May edition and something for us all to bear in mind as we move towards our status as digital natives.

Wi-Fi ... no official worries

Following up on the Panorama programme about Wi-Fi and radiation worries I note that tucked away on page 7 of the 'Primary Teachers' magazine (that well known organ of the Dfcsf)there is a quote Wi-Fi: "No known risk"

You might like to read what the Health Protection Agency says about it ... just for the record.

To block or not to block that is the ...

My wife was planning a lesson for her Y3/4 class on plane shapes and as an interesting sideline she found a video on YouTube that was about origami (!) ... so she set off to school the next day, wound up her whiteboard, went to Youtube and ... nothing ... her kind service provider had blocked it ... lesson over !

So, asking around my friends I (we) came up with this solution ...

Firstly use Firefox as your browser
Search for 'Unplug' and download it
It will install a neat little button on your Firefox toolbar that when you go to YouTube and find a video you want, clicking on this button will allow you to 'unplug' it from YouTube so that it can be played on its own ... well not quite because it comes in a format that needs a player ... it is in 'flv' format.
So next you search for an 'flv' format player and there are numerous of these (I do not say sanction the one linked it was just the first one I came across and it worked for me)
This installed and the file downloaded into Firefox ( when I had associated it in the 'open with' thingy) ran like a dream.

I even found a utility to convert the 'flv' to 'avi' etc ... but that is another techy story and I am not one for reading those.

So to complete this ramble my wife went off to school with a USB stick on which was the exe file of the 'flv' player and a number of downloaded 'flv' files she had extracted from YouTube ... Result ! Teaching can now resume.

Narrative - Comic strip

Always on the look out for ways of getting children to extend their writing, on my trawl today I came across this 'comic strip maker' on the Kent Ngfl web site ( always a good source of information and ideas).

So I started to look for others and found some:

ReadWriteThink
Witty comic
RealWorldWonders
Dr Who

I can't vouch for having used any of these in a classroom setting but feel sure that they could merit some investigation as stimulation for writing. As some of them ask for names etc the usual safety rules should be stressed before they are used.

My quick search of the New Framework for Literacy and Mathematics showed 131 references to 'comic strips' ... and 500 references to 'story board'. These little applications could get some children going and would allow those who have the technology to continue at home.

Got to be worth a try.

It is time ....

... for a technological revolution in education! And so say all of us.

New from Becta today:

Technology can bring about the same rapid improvements in education as it has done in industry, according to Becta chairman, Andrew Pinder, CBE.
Speaking at the launch of Becta's 2007 annual review he said: "Throughout history technology has been the catalyst for change in industry. If it can do that for industry, why can't it do the same for education? The answer is, of course, that it can. It just takes the same leadership, drive and enthusiasm for change, and the will to harness the opportunities that technology presents.”

You can read the full report here.

Isn't this what we have been doing or trying to do for the last decade?

Narrative

The New Framework for Literacy and Mathematics has an activity for Y5 children which involves writing a narrative from a film stimulus.

Year 5 Narrative - Unit 5 - Film narrative(3 weeks)
This is a narrative unit of work based on film which can be taught at any appropriate point during the year. The unit has three phases with oral and written outcomes and assessment opportunities for teachers and children at intervals throughout each phase.

It uses a video 'The Piano' as its exemplar but other videos that contain perceptions would be equally useful here. Try 'Kiwi'.

As an extension of such activities it would be interesting to follow up with a purely visual context

The activity here is to tell a story in 5 frames :

'Tell a Story in 5 Frames has two important parts. The first part is creating and telling a story through visual means with only a title to help guide the interpretation. The second part is the response of the group to the visual story. The group response can take many forms such as, a poetic or prose rendering of the visualization, a critique on the structure of the story, comments on the photograph, or other constructive forms of response. Telling and enjoying stories should create entertainment for the group as well as offer insight into the universal elements that help create a story for an international audience. The more people who respond , as either story tellers or respondents, the greater the reward for all.'

The aim here is twofold as you can see. For me the power is in the responses to the stories and the genre that they support.

A continuation could easily be the 'Six word story'

'Ernest Hemingway was once prodded to compose a complete story in six words. His answer, personally felt to be his best prose ever, was "For sale: baby shoes, never used." Some people say it was to settle a bar bet. Others say it was a personal challenge directed at other famous authors.'

Have a look at what people have written and then ...adopt, adapt and innovate ... they are only ideas ( prompted by a conversation with Ewan McIntosh)!

It makes your heart sing...

From a dedicated teacher colleague...with many thanks ...

I have a pupil in my class who is selective mute. We’ve been doing voice recordings/podcasting since November, and so far she’s never taken part. We did a podcast for the Head to take to a conference .The children recorded a section at a time on audacity and then we converted to an MP3 then imported into Podium. *’s group asked if I would leave the room as she wanted to record her voice. * has been selective mute all 7 years in school with adults although she will talk to other children. She spoke clearly, and in one take. Further to this, last week she has since recorded her voice with me in the room!

We have been trialling a VLE for 12 months and * has been prolific in her postings. I have given her her own ‘space’ that only she and I can see and I’ve had loads of messages from her. She attended a residential and we used it to allay her fears and start a dialogue. It has been absolutely inspirational to read funny, thoughtful, sensitive and intelligent conversations with her, and I actually feel I know *. I have learnt what a fantastic sense of humour she has. This makes her disability even more remarkable that she can maintain this silence when she obviously has so much going on. This technology has definitely changed *’s school life and my relationship with her. I can ask her a question and she’ll reply on the VLE and vice versa. She has many other special needs. The VLE in itself was revolutionary but the added part of her wanting to take part in podcasting has really moved me and made me realise how powerful these web 2.0 technologies can be. We’ve also set up a log in for * on the VLE at the Secondary School she going to move to in September.

Ewan McIntosh visits Ashbourne

A brilliant morning with Ewan talking about the world and everything ... new insights and new ideas as well as confirmation of views about access to real tools and creativity leading the way. Inspiring it was ... some of the ideas here:

How long until the skill set of users matches the power of the tools?
Listen to the whispers ... they are important!
Are you allowed to fail?
What would a podcast catcher look like?

... and then some links ...

Partners in Excellence

Check out Emily Fox ... and ... if you don't know why this is so superb think of the amount of time, energy, patience, dedication etc that goes into these activities and then wonder if we could harness just a bit of it !!

... and a whole lot more ...

Derby City Podcasting Project

I met with a number of leading teachers tonight in Derby to discuss the setting up of a podcasting project in the new academic year that would have scope and range and would essentially feed on the idea of serialisation.

I demonstrated the Podium software and explained the simplicity of it so that attendees could appreciate the 'getting going' level was quick, simple and straight forward and could be managed in a class space.

I talked about the fact that Softease would host the podcasts so that this 'techy' bit did not need to be a concern.

The group went away with 30 day versions of the software and an invitation to attend a meeting in September if they wanted to get started on podcasting with their children.

Watch this space for details of the group's project in the Autumn term.

Kent 4.0

Well !! What a fantastic four weeks in Kent working in 20 schools across the county on a vast variety of Textease curriculum contexts.

Firstly some thanks .... to Mandy Barrow for keeping me in line and coordinating the whole thing with James Watson of Softease; secondly to all of the schools who hosted events during the four weeks and who were so attentive and considerate to my needs; thirdly to the ranks of the Kent Advisory service who came along and supported the sessions and helped out with ideas and contexts; and lastly to the teachers for their enthusiasm and good nature as well as their over-riding professionalism which came through to me time and time again.

The sessions were meant to be fast-paced and exciting ( I do hope that they were) and to provide insights that 'got people going' and wanting for more. Now it is up to the excellent Kent 'Hands-On Support' team to help and nurture atendees over the next months.

The idea was that schools attending could opt to receive a full version of the Textease Studio CT free for the next six months so that, within each school context, teachers would be able to explore it within their own environment. Altogether I count that about sixty schools have taken up this offer and should soon receive the full software ( if they haven't already). If by some chance you were missed or you attended a session and would like to take part in this offer, please let me know.

Don't forget the vast amount of resources support you on the Kent Ngfl web site and those also available on the Softease site.

Finally, and again, my thanks to everyone who made my trips down into Kent so interesting and enjoyable ...

A rose by any other name ....

As the DfES was disbanded on Thursday 28th June at 2.00pm, 3 new departments were announced:

DCSF - Dept for Children, Schools and Families

DIUS - Dept for Innovation, Universities and Skills

DBERR - Dept for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform

'New hats for old .... new hats for old!'

Web 2.0 goes 'Periodic'

I am alerted by Chris Smith to an excellent poster that really made me smile and then think.

Have a look at the poster at the bottom right of the page or go here
to see the real thing.

Trafford 26th June 2007

Teachers, ICT co-ordinators and LA staff gathered to have a hands-on session focused on the New Framework for Literacy and Mathematics. Y5 Unit 5 'Narrative' started the session with attendees getting to grips with how to transfer slides from a video into a presentation package to make a multi modal presentation. We used Textease Presenter for that. Then onto multimodality where animation became the focus to make talking, moving books starting from controlled vocabulary and writing for a specific audience. The key here was that the ICT should not get in the way of the quality of the literacy!
The mathematics framework was dipped into using the Textease Draw tools to measure the angles of plain shapes and then on to using Textease Spreadsheet for graphical representation ... showing its dynamic updating.

Colleagues were finally shown where all of the resources sit to support all of this work.

You can read what they said about the session in the blog comments here.

Google Maps .V. Microsoft Virtual Earth

As an orienteer I have always been facinated by maps and when alerted by the BBC's Click Online program to Microsoft's new proposals and worries about invasion of privacy I thought I would do a comparison of the two maps.

So I went to each in turn and had a good look at my house ... we reckon one set of aerial photos is about 4 years out of date and the other is probably 5 years out ... but it will get better won't it ?

Having said this the power of the search and zoom on both is fantastic ... what learning tools our children have available for visualising thrie physical world

Podium Podcasting

I am alerted to the 'ICT Inspirations', the blog of Simon Mills, and a neat description of the use of Podium in a class based project on advertising fitting in with the Framework's unit on persuasive text that is certainly worth the read.

There is also a useful guide to how to use Podium written from the point of view of someone who worked through it so knows what first time users will want to know.

6th formers want to be primary teachers !!

You heard it first here!!

Friday 22nd June saw 42 6th Form students from Wyggeston and Queen Elizabeth I 6th form College visit the School of Education at Leicester University to engage in a day of 'ICT and Primary Practice'.

These students had opted to come along and work with myself and Tricia Neal for the day to engege in the sort of ICT activities that go on in primary classrooms ... they brought three of their tutors with them as well !!

The day was split into two parts... Tricia did lots of work with robots and explained the ideas behind control and how that fitted into the primary curriculum: I did a session using Textease CT and we worked on 'kinetic calligrams', completing a painting, what spreadsheets can do and even made the earth rotate with a 'turtle' program.

All of the students seemed to enjoy themselves greatly and they were a real credit to their College both in their knowledge and their manner. With people lkie this wanting to enter teaching then I think the future is fairly secure.I felt that it was an innovative idea on the part of the College to set up this day and to begin to focus their students on potential pathhways for their future.

You can read what they have to say about their day here.

Kent 3.2

What a fantastic session ... teachers really getting to grips with the ideas of excitement and enjoyment that can be derived from Textease Paint and seeing how it interfaces with Movies to make 'stop-frame animation'. People can really get carried away !!

Another group worked on data handling and experienced the whole gambit from sorting with Venn diagrams, through branching databases and spreadsheets to 'multi-user' flat file data handling and interrogation .... certainly a packed program.

It never ceases to amaze me the enthusiasm teachers can conjure up for materials which are going to excite their children. A privilege to work with them.

Kent 3.1

Aren't teachers excitable? The group I was with in East Peckham last evening certainly were and the 'hands on' session looking - in the afternoon - at how Textease Turtle and Draw can support work in mathematics and - later - how Presenter can support work in literacy, certainly opened eyes to potential.

It is always the case in sessions like this when they are 'mixed ability' in terms of software knowledge that there is a variable rate of learning. On the Kent Teachers' Blog pretty well everyone said that they had had a great time but they were aware that they now needed to capitalise on this input and explore for themselves. Some felt they needed supported exploration and that is where Mandy Barrow, a 'hands on support' consultant for Kent comes in. It is her remit to follow up intorductory sessions like this with 'in school', personal sessions delving more deaply into curriculum contexts.

There is an amazing amount of support on the Kent NGFL web site and Mandy can be contacted at mandy.barrow@kent.gov.uk

futurelab

Just a quick read through the latest of futurelab's mag 'vision' gets me to feel that there are a good number of people on the same planet as I am. The articles expound similiar thoughts and ideas and provoke as well as support.

The current edition has a look forward yet again in an article ' The future is bright the future is ...' and best is that it focuses clearly on learning potential. It is a generalist article but no poorer for that. Well worth a read.

The electronic version of the magazine is available here.

Second Life

The other day I was teleported by my friend Leon into his new Second Life space to talk about and think about the potential of this medium for education, in its widest sense.

Still a 'flying' novice I was able to see that there were a good number of educational institutions that have already set themselves up in the virtual world.

A quick look through the Universities involved made me really think ... it is difficult to find one that isn't thinking about this or hasn't dabbled an intellectual toe in the water ... research grants abound ... thousands of Phds will be written ... 'real' but different teaching will take place.

My thought are we can't just sit here and wait and see ... lets get in there and develop... a chance to lead not follow ... who will have the first primary school in Second Life where children from all over the world can meet together and leearn ... or is it there already and I just haven't found it yet? The potential is enormous but will we be able to grasp it ... YES ... Man did go to the moon.

Then I noticed an article in the Times ... read it here.

Somerset ICT Conference 2007

A good day at the Conference in the splendid surroundings of Dillington House on Monday 18th June talking with teachers about podcasting. I did two sessions, the first followed a session by two of Somerset's ASTs who were talking most ably about the use of sound in a great variety of ways to enhance teaching and learning across the whole of the primary curriculum. This gave me a great lead in and we spoke of podcasting as being almost a 'genre' which you choose if you want your sound recording to be serialised and syndicated. Of course, there was more to it than that but the two things did follow on really well.

It was interesting to see the small number who regularly use sound recording in their classrooms (in any format) but heartening to appreciate that they had come to find out how to do it and what its purpose would be.

Kent 2.3 - Thursday 14th June

Another in the Kent series ... this time in Faversham with the whole of the host school taking the opportunity to discover how Textease Studio CT could be used to support the work of the New Framework for Literacy and Mathematics.

Read what they thought of the session here.

Playing to Learn

The debate goes electronic ... it was always heading that way anyway but has not got far yet. Lots of research, lots of pontification but what impact in classrooms in general .. when will the ideas become main-stream? Or do our young people really want their cultural icons taken over by institutionalisation?

My friend Mark Ingram directs me to these two additions to the continuing and escalating debate.

Have a look at Playing to Learn by David Hutchison and then, if you haven't already read it, the ELSPA report 'Unlimited learning: Computer and video games in the learning landscape' with a forward by Lord Puttnam and an intro bt Stephen Heppell.

Life processes and living things

Ran the last course in a set of three at the Science Learning centre at Leicester University on Friday 15th June. A select group of us met to consider the tools, resources and peripherals that could effectively support and enhance this particular strand of the Science National Curriculum.

Time was spent examining the number of ways that data handling is used ... from venn diagrams through spreadsheets and branching database to flat file databases. These, and curriculum contexts, were examined from a pedagogic point of view with an eye to the future and a passing mention of heutogogy and androgogy.

Teachers attending the sesion went away with the resources already loaded onto a 'USB stick' for quick and easy reference.

Adopt, adapt ... innovate !!

Talking to teachers this week and passing on to them resources I have made for specific purposes I have said over and over; ' What I want you to do is to take these resources and adopt them and use them ... when you become comfortable with them adapt them to your local purpose, make changes, alter the words and images ... and when that becomes familiar territory ... innovate ... use the ideas that are there and ones that you have fallen over on the way and begin to 'purpose build' to support individual children or whole groups. Be bold.'

This is not new stuff but I got to thinking that what is 'old hat' for one person is 'innovative technology' to another and so thinking about this I trawled the web to find if anyone else had used 'a-a-i' in an educational context.

Here are some (of the few) that I found ... I expect, and hope, that you know more !

From the Geographical Association

The Primary National Strategy had it clearly listed in a presentation called 'Leading ICT in learning and teaching within the curriculum' ... and this back in 2005

Even the Audit Commission had their say.

Kent 2.2

A wonderful day with some really exciting and excitable teachers exploring the use of Textease and Textease Presenter to support work within the new Framework and later fun with Textease Paint and Movies.

Super to work with teachers who can see the potential and place it in their experience and their classroom setting.

Creative people too !!!

If you want to find out what they said about the session, read it on the Kent Teachers' Blog

What are we doing to our young people?

Noticed a new report from yet another 'think tank' who feels it is necessary to say something about the state of education ... this time it is CIVITAS who are in there talking about the 'Corruption of the Curriculum' ... it is little wonder that teachers get fed up!

Farewell, Fish Friends

If you have not kept up with the Marin Country Day School's Trout Blog then you have missed an unfolding treat of really powerful education. I have only just remembered it and having checked out my feeds discover that the 'troutlings' were released into the lake on April 16th !!

The story told in blog, video, poetry and song is a testament to the work of a dedicated teacher and a group of children who excitedly 'wanted to know'. An example of good practice education at its very best.

Subscribe to the podcast here and listen, watch and be enchanted... or simply go the blog ... enjoy !!

Podcasting Reviewed

Trawling through my various feeds ( having been 'away' all last week ) I came across this interesting guide to podcasting from the world of education outside schooling but often referring to schools. More food for though. The podcast on the 'kineo' site by Donald Clark of Ufi is well worth the effort.

I like the idea that podcasts are pure content which help rather than distract.

We over-test our children !

This will come as no surprise to any teacher but a report out today from the GTC calls for a conclusion to the perpetual testing of our under 16 year olds in the quest to raise standards. The implication is that it does little or no good and has a demoralising effect on a very significant number of our young people.

At last !!

How much damage has been done over the last decade or more by this constant wish to 'test, test, test' we will never know. What is certain is that the balance of the primary curriculum has been shifted from its broad base to a narrowed down, testable set of components and that this has had knock on effects on self esteem and motivation further up the age range.

Don't expect that the Government will take the comments to heart too quickly. Remember that education is not about teaching and learning but is a political weapon in the search for control ( and this from me ... essentially a non-political animal!).

You can read the BBC's version of the report here or pick it up from The Observer's reporter Anushka Asthana here.

You could even tell me your views on this ... add a comment !!

Kent ... week 1

I spent this week down in the south east of England working with teachers in Kent primary schools. It was really encouraging to work with people who were open-minded and could see immediately the difference that ICT could make to the teaching of key areas of the curriculum.

The teachers I worked with were not ICT specialist, rather they were teachers who just simply wanted to know ! They wanted the best for the children that they worked with and were prepared to work hard to understand and then implement.

You can read of what they said about the sessions here.

I worked with Mandy Barrow, one of Kent's 'Hands on Support Consultant Key Stage 2 / 3' who manages an awesome website.

She pointed out to me the vast resources for Textease that sit on the Kent NGFL website.

I am doing three more weeks in Kent in June ! Details can be found here.

Early Years technology in the world today

A really down-to earth view of the use of technology with young children in a primary classroom. No whistles and bells just sensible use and pedagogic under-pinning.



Kathy Cassidy has a blog that is really worth a read as it keeps up-to-date with what her class and children are doing. A good example of day-to-day blogging in a primary classroom.

Tim Rylands uses ICT invisibly

Think about writing, think about inspiration, think in spirals and circle and let the thoughts have colours and shapes and see what really powerful tools and really powerful teachers can do to enthuse children.



Not new ... not revolutionary but certainly evolutionary.Its not social software as we are beginning to experience it just a teacher sensibly using the power of the technology for teaching and learning.

Where would the session have been without him or without his transparent knowledge of the technology?

I found a new blog today ...

Well my friend Leon told me about one blog and you know what its like ... one blog led to another and I got to reading a blog by an American lady called Barbara Ganley . I have linked here to a talk she gave called 'Change and the Twenty-First Century College Teacher'. It is subtitled ' Deep Learning, Slow Blogging and the tensions of Web 2.0'

I recommend it to you.

The Flickr slide show can be found here.

Trent University Lunchtime CPD

On May 2nd I was invited to Trent University, Nottingham to talk to a group of educators about podcasting. It was to be part of a series of session that the University has to keep people in teacher education in touch with ideas to support teaching and learning, both of their students and in education as a whole.

The university have two ways of disceminating the information in these sessions. The first is to be there and listen and take part in the debate and the second is to pick it up from the video on the web site.

For those of you with a strong stomach here is the video !

It is awful to watch your own mannerisms - I must remember NOT to clasp my hands like that.

Sorry !

Foundation/Infant blogging

Chris Smith of Shambles fame asks if anyone knows of any early years hands on experience in usinf Web 2.0 tools.

I provided these blog/podcasts from USA. One is told from the point of view of a duck nesting in a school playground and one an observation, over time, of some young trout growing in a classroom aquarium.Both demonstrate some interesting ideas.

Ewan points out the work being done at Hartington Infants School in East Lothian.

Has anyone got any other examples please?

Schome Park

Peter Twining from the OU emailed:

' I thought you might be interested in the story of Schome Park (the schome community island in the Teen Grid) which is told in cartoon form here :

http://schome.open.ac.uk/wikiworks/index.php/The_Schome_Park_cartoon_poster

The schome community website (http://www.schome.ac.uk/) includes a substantial amount of info about Second Life and the members of the community (which includes students from Schome Park) are very knowledgeable about it and keen to share their expertise. If you are interested in exploring the potential of Second Life with your students then do get in touch -

The schome community also has an island in the Main Grid which we would be happy for folk to use with their students (we would need to coordinate this use!) - and we are currently extending the population and activities on Schome Park (which is depicted in the cartoon) and if you are interested in exploring ways in which you and/or your students might get involved then get in touch.'

So, if you are interested in Second Life applications to education then Peter could be your man !

Blogging in school

My daily trawl of my 'feeds' brings up a useful blog, from John at the now famed Sandaig Primary School, related to blogging in the classroom.

Well worth the read if you feel that blogging has an important place to play in an educational/school context.

Wi-Fi in schools - health risk question

On the early morning news today the BBC chose to highlight a report, which will be shown on Panorama tonight, about concerns over radiation levels from Wi-Fi networks in schools etc.

The question is, is this scaremongering at an institutional level?

Watch Panorama and/or read the article here ... and then make up your own mind.

There is a short video about this here.

And .... by the 5.00 PM ( the time I looked again) the Guardian Online had an article refuting the scientific methodology of the report !

Read it here

Did you watch the programme? What did you think? Was there bias in the reporting?

What about all of the flashing red lights? What message was being sent out by the questioning?

Did they interview a similar amount of people from both sides of the debate?

So what would you say to a headteacher today? ... and what answer would you give to a parent who refused to send a child to school until the Wi-FI was switched off or removed?

To read what the literature says (thanks Ewan!) here.

Becta made the following statement . Read it here.

Net censorship

Around the world States and Countries are taking a controlling hand in what people can and cannot see/find/add to/comment on on the Internet.

'The survey found evidence of filtering in the following countries:
Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Burma/Myanmar, China, Ethiopia, India, Iran, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, UAE, Uzbekistan, Vietnam and Yemen.'

It is worth, at this time, considering the effect such filtering could have/would have if it was extended on the developing process of e-education.

For the full report read here.

On his blog Ewan McIntosh makes a links with the 'low level' controlling that happens within educational institutions. He argues;

"I'd like to see a continued evolution of thinking regarding blocking and filtering in schools, not with safety but rather with democracy and civil liberties in mind. The safety angle is, for me, on a technocratic tactical level. Where the digital literacy programmes of an organisation are weak the amount of command and control exercised is inversely related. And you know what they say about control; it has an inverse realtionship to trust."

Science Learning Centre - Physical Processes

Around the country there are Science Learning Centres which provide the highest quality Continuing Professional Development for everyone involved in science education, at all levels. With a network of ten Centres across the country access to innovative and inspiring courses is within easy reach of anyone.

On Friday I ran an interesting session entitles 'Using ICT to support and enhance science teaching in KS1 and KS2 - Investigating Physical Processes' for a small group of primary teachers.

It was pleassing to note that participants who had been intoroduced to 'del.icio.us' on the previous session automatically save their 'sites' there for future reference.

Podium Scottish Launch, Stirling, 16th May

Colleagues from many parts of Scotland assembed at the Stirling Management Centre on 16th May to listen to Ewan McIntosh expound his view on the use of Web 2.0 technologies in education. Inspiring stuff it certainly was !

Then I followed it with a demonstration of the Podium software for podcasting.

The session was well received and people went away excited to get started. I met up with one participant the day after who said that she had 'podcasted the night away' !

You can read a full report of the session on the Podium Blog.

Mr Brown's shot at numeracy !

From today's Times Online:

'Plans to give struggling children intensive one-on-one numeracy training in the hope of making British standards comparable to the best in the world will be outlined today by Gordon Brown.'

'Mr Brown will say: “I believe the time is now right fundamentally to review how we teach numeracy and to set out a plan for ensuring that every child is numerate by the time they leave primary school.”'

Read it here.

I think we now need a definition of what numerate is so that we all know what is being talked about.

I wonder where the people to implement this are coming from ?

Scratch - a free online animation and programming tool from MIT

From the BBC News today :

'A free programming tool that allows anyone to create their own animated stories, video games and interactive artworks has been developed.'

Read about it here

Moves to mix subjects

The TES of 11th May has an interesting article on page 14 where Mike Waters, director of curriculum at QCA, says things related to the primary curriculum that look very much like those that have been said and implemented in Northern Ireland and Scotland.

I quote ' The change could involve the creation of 'umbrella' subjects, combining subjects and more flexible cross-curricular work.'

All begins to sound like the excellent Primary Years Programme of the International Baccalaureate to me.

The real hooray bit is - 'It (the review) will consider ...whether the split between the three core subjects ... and other foundation subjects should continue.'

The wheel turns yet again!

The Encyclopedia of Life

A Leap for All Life: World’s Leading Scientists Announce Creation of “Encyclopedia of Life”

This could develop into being one of the foremost natural history resources of our time - Doug Dickinson May 9th 2007

Biodiversity, Science Communities Unite Behind Epic Effort To Promote Biodiversity, Document All 1.8 Million Named Species on Planet

WASHINGTON (May 9, 2007) – Many of the world’s leading scientific institutions today announced the launch of the Encyclopedia of Life, an unprecedented global effort to document all 1.8 million named species of animals, plants, and other forms of life on Earth. For the first time in the history of the planet, scientists, students, and citizens will have multi-media access to all known living species, even those that have just been discovered.

The Field Museum of Natural History, Harvard University, Marine Biological Laboratory, Smithsonian Institution, and Biodiversity Heritage Library joined together to initiate the project, bringing together species and software experts from across the world. The Missouri Botanical Garden has become a full partner, and discussions are taking place this week with leaders of the new Atlas of Living Australia. The Encyclopedia today also announced the initial membership of its Institutional Council, which spans the globe, and whose members will play key roles in realizing this immense project. An international advisory board of distinguished individuals will also help guide the Encyclopedia.

The effort is spurred by a $10 million grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and $2.5 million from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and will ultimately serve as a global beacon for biodiversity and conservation.

“The Encyclopedia of Life will provide valuable biodiversity and conservation information to anyone, anywhere, at any time,” said Dr. James Edwards, currently Executive Secretary of the Global Biodiversity Information Facility who today was officially named Executive Director of the Encyclopedia of Life. “Through collaboration, we all can increase our appreciation of the immense variety of life, the challenges to it, and ways to conserve biodiversity. The Encyclopedia of Life will ultimately make high-quality, well-organized information available on an unprecedented level. Even five years ago, we could not create such a resource, but advances in technology for searching, annotating, and visualizing information now permit us, indeed mandate us to build the Encyclopedia of Life.”

Over the next 10 years, the Encyclopedia of Life will create Internet pages for all 1.8 million species currently named. It will expedite the classification of the millions of species yet to be discovered and catalogued as well. The pages, housed at http://www.eol.org, will provide written information and, when available, photographs, video, sound, location maps, and other multimedia information on each species. Built on the scientific integrity of thousands of experts around the globe, the Encyclopedia will be a moderated wiki-style environment, freely available to all users everywhere.

“The Encyclopedia of Life will be a vital tool for scientists, researchers, and educators across the globe, providing easy access to the latest and best information on all known species,” said Jonathan F. Fanton, President of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. “Technology is allowing science to grasp the immense complexity of life on this planet. Sharing what we know, we can protect Earth's biodiversity and better conserve our natural heritage.”

“For more than 250 years, scientists have catalogued life, and our traditional catalogues have become unwieldy,” said Ralph E. Gomory, President of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. “The Encyclopedia of Life will provide the citizens of the world a ‘macroscope’ of almost unimaginable power to find and create understanding of biodiversity across the globe. It will enable us to map and discover things so numerous or vast they overwhelm our normal vision.”

Scientists began creating individual web pages for species in the 1990s. However, Internet technology needed to mature to allow fast and efficient creation of a comprehensive Encyclopedia. While specific Encyclopedia of Life efforts, including the scanning of key research publications and data, have been underway since January 2006, work has accelerated due to the support provided by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the recent discussion of the Encyclopedia of Life by renowned biologist Edward O. Wilson at the March 2007 Technology, Entertainment, Design (TED) Conference.

One of the world’s foremost scientists and environmentalists, Wilson, professor emeritus at Harvard University, “wished” for the establishment of the Encyclopedia of Life during his TED Conference address. Noting that “our knowledge of biodiversity is so incomplete that we are at risk of losing a great deal of it before it is ever discovered,” Wilson called for a contemporary, dynamic portrait of the living Earth.

“I wish that we will work together to help create the key tool that we need to inspire preservation of Earth’s biodiversity: the Encyclopedia of Life,” Wilson said at TED. “What excites me is that since I first put forward this idea, science has advanced, technology has moved forward. Today, the practicalities of making this encyclopedia real are within reach as never before.”

Ultimately, the Encyclopedia of Life will provide users the opportunity to personalize the learning experience through its “my eol” feature. The site can be made available in all major languages and will connect scientific communities concerned with ants to apples to zebras. As part of its work, the Encyclopedia of Life will collaborate and partner with a wide range of organizations, individuals, and experts to help strengthen the Encyclopedia and its impact on communities throughout the world.

“The solidarity of the U.S. and global communities for the Encyclopedia of Life is tremendously exciting and lifts my confidence that this vast, romantic global effort will succeed,” Edwards said. “We are also encouraged by the declaration in March 2007 by the environment ministers of the G8 nations to foster a global species information system.”

While initial work will emphasize species of animals, plants, and fungi, the design can be extended to encompass microbial life.

To provide depth behind the portal page for each species, the Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL), a consortium that holds most of the relevant scientific literature, will scan and digitize tens of millions of pages of the scientific literature that will offer open access to detailed knowledge. In fact, the BHL now has scanning centers operating in London, Boston, and Washington DC, and has scanned the first 1.25 million pages for the Encyclopedia.

“I dream that in a few years wherever a reference to a species occurs on the Internet, there will be a hyperlink to its page in the Encyclopedia of Life,” concluded Edwards.

Dumfries and Galloway visit 14th & 17th May 2007

Wow !! Fame at last ...

Doug Dickinson Roadshows
May 2007
Softease Studio CT Launch News

ICTSU are pleased to confirm that Doug Dickinson, leading educational ICT consultant, will once again come to the region to speak to primary school staff.

Doug’s roadshows have proved hugely successful and popular in D&G over the past two years, with over 200 staff attending. Teachers and classroom assistants have found his practical sessions filled with real classroom ideas to be positively inspiring.

Doug has agreed to run two roadshows to facilitate staff attendance.

These new roadshows will be coupled with the early intimation of the launch of Softease CT, the latest upgrade to our core primary school software. Staff will be able to view some of the new features available.

ROADSHOW 1 PENNINGHAME PRIMARY
NEWTON STEWART

MONDAY MAY 14th 4.30 – 6.00pm


ROADSHOW 2 ST NINIAN’S PRIMARY
DUMFRIES

THURSDAY MAY 17th 4.30 – 6.00pm


Each day catering arrangements will be in place from 4.00pm onwards and so it would be useful to know an approximate number of attendees at each roadshow. Could each school please email Will Clark willc@dumgal.gov.uk with an approximate number, and which roadshow will be attended.
Replies please by Wednesday, 9th May.

We look forward to seeing you at one of our roadshows.

'Shambles' Newsletter

My RSS tells me that the 15th termly "Shambles" Newsletter from The
Education Project Asia is now available online it is designed for International School Communities across S.E.Asia. (but now with a worldwide readership)

If you don't already subscribe then you are really missing something !