Teaching Resources Come Home To Ruth

The lifestyle of any busy mum can impact on the schooling of children. Ruth Kelly, Minister for Transport, and ex Educational Secretary packs in parliament to give more support to her children.

Every mother suffers from guilt! It’s natural, goes with the job, is very difficult to overcome and causes considerable angst. Fathers as a rule, preoccupied with their latest bout of man flu do not suffer from this syndrome quite so much. Ironically a father’s contribution to support a child’s schooling can have a dramatic effect. This is in addition to any conventional help with their child’s homework. It is all about spending regular quality time with children and having educational fun. At least it should be the essential bedtime story, and ideally extended to give support through maths games, literacy, ICT games and science games to cover the curriculum where any problem exists or where their child just wants to have some support or fun with Mum and Dad. These educational games - used in school are designed to improve understanding through fun games that can turn the classroom lessons into practice at home.

The advent of computer games and online services add a significant new dimension to the range of educational games now available. Even the bedtime story can be accessed online where animated reading resources add entertainment in developing reading skills.

Why then has Ruth Kelly, the ex Secretary for Education and high flying cabinet minister, quit her post to devote herself to her children and their schooling. A courageous move, yet the undertone raises concern. Is the modern pace of life, ideals and social environment at odds with raising children? Are parents becoming distant from the bosom of their family? Long hours, pressure of work and stress take their toll on the relationships at home and children often miss out.

If the hugely resourceful ex Minister of Education sees such a flaw in the system that can only be resolved by leaving a focal role in government, is this a condemnation of our schooling system? Is there a disconnect between the state educational provision, the needs of industry and commerce coupled to a modern lifestyle.

Clearly the state education system is not firing on all cylinders. Billions spent in the UK, and likewise in the USA and Australia (the problem has international dimensions) have failed to improve standards in literacy or numeracy. Yet this is 2008 and these are first world countries who excel in many areas, banking accepted, so why are we falling short of our standards in school? In this age of extraordinary technical achievement, rapid communications where we can text or email virtually anyone in the world in seconds, do we fall behind in basics of effective schooling?

Perhaps Ruth Kelly has the answer. It lies at home. Instead of abandoning our children when they go to school maybe parents, both mum and dad, should be coerced into providing a minimum period of schooling time with their children. This could be measured and even incentivised through some payment or tax relief. The substantial effect of parental support in the schooling process could be supported through the educational budget. But would this work ? Research in the UK and USA show the 80% of a child’s academic success of relies in what parents do with their children at home.

I imagine that Ruth Kelly also spotted this fact. As an ex minister for education and parliamentary high flyer perhaps she should be given a new role as minister for home educational support - working from home of course.

Alistair Owens Keen2learn

Educational Games Introduce Fun To Facts

Educational games, toys and puzzles are being used to overcome one of the biggest drawbacks of teaching; how to quickly grab the attention of the class at the start of the lesson. Boys tend to take much longer to settle down and some children are notoriously late. Ten minutes of the class can be lost before teaching really gets going. But now there are options.

A daily dose of maths computer games can boost maths attainment according to a study carried out in Scottish schools.

Learning and Teaching Scotland (LTS) - the main organisation for the development of the curriculum - analysed the effect of a "brain training" game. It also found improvements in pupils' concentration and behaviour.

Less able children were found to be more likely to improve than the highest attainers and almost all pupils had an increased perception of their own ability.

LTS worked with Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education and the University of Dundee to see if the pilot results were replicated on a wider scale. Researchers found that while all groups had improved their scores, the group using the maths game had improved by a further 50%. The time taken to complete the tests dropped by five minutes, from 18.5 minutes to 13.5 minutes. The improvement in the games group was double that of the control group.

The study also found reduced absence and lateness in some classes. Derek Robertson, LTS's national adviser for emerging technologies and learning, said the results offered the first independent, academic evidence that this type of computer game could improve attainment when used in an educational context.

He said: "Computer games help flatten out the hierarchy that exists in schools - they are in the domain of the learner as opposed to the domain of the school. This intervention encouraged all children to engage and get success in a different contextual framework; one in which they don't know their place."

The educational games used in the trial were one of the growing numbers of computer games developed with education at the core. Modern technology harnessed to present a platform that is interesting and appealing to the young mind sets the challenge. A form of learning in disguise acceptable to a wide range of ability, age and both girls and boys is paying dividends in accelerating learning.

The games can be played in class and at home. They are having a marked effect in settling the class at the start of the lesson, and the number of late arrivals has noticeable reduced.

Technology in the form of a chemistry game or physics games generates the practice activity essential to learning retention. Compared to conventional text and exercise book activity that can be one dimensional, computer games have the major advantage of capturing peer support. Children also learn from other children. How else do they pick up the detailed operation of a mobile phone? Certainly not from their parents or the school national curriculum. So the next time you see a child buried in a computer game on a PC, laptop or Nintendo take comfort this is a great way to help them learn.

Settling the class down can be eased with lesson starters; computer games that set a quiz based on the subject, or a combination of questions and clues to open the next level of the game. Some games even let the player design the next portion of the game.

The help of parents is fundamental in supporting the teacher to enhance the schooling of their children. Educational games are the easiest entry point. Playing the same game or puzzle at home as in school is the most effective way to help. You do not to need to be proficient in the subject background and you never know how much you will enjoy the challenge.

Alistair Owens keen2learn