Hugo - Sense & Control

Over the holiday, we sat and watched Hugo. I'd forgotten that this film was based on the book by Brian Selznick, The Invention of Hugo Cabret. It is a stunning book being an amalgamation of text and images, not a graphic novel but not an illustrated book either. The film was an excellent re-telling of the story and I was especially taken with the automaton.

Scholastic (2007)  ISBN 978-1-407103-48-8

Later on, I started going over conversations that I've had with teachers who seem to be interested in teaching Control but ignore the importance of Sensing. This is where the automaton comes in, it was a beautiful example of control but this was a very limited machine. Add in the flexibility of it being able to respond to external stimuli and you've really got something - a robot. 

Automaton from the film - Hugo

I'd love to see a thoughtful, integrated scheme for Sense & Control across the curriculum.

I also got round to looking up Kodu from Microsoft. This visual programming language has come up increasingly when I've tried to engage teachers with Scratch. However, no-one has been able to tell me anything about it apart from it's a programming language suitable for children. I haven't had a go yet but will let you know how I get on and maybe make a comparison with Scratch.
I also need to sort out 2Simple NXT and Lego, and We-Do from Lego but need to get a fair bit more work to make these purchases viable.
Still, the future is always interesting and who knows what's around the corner.

Professor Munakata's British Museum Adventure

British Museum Press (2011) ISBN 978-0-7141-2465-0

Another great Christmas present. A graphic novel by the famous Japanese manga artist, Hoshino Yukinobu, about the treasures held by the British Museum. Using the issue of the repatriation of artefacts taken from other countries, the author weaves a thrilling tale of a 200 hundred year old promise incorporating Stonehenge, the Lewis Chessmen and the Rosetta Stone among others. An added bonus for me was the incorporation of the science of stealth airships and manipulation of large masses.
Well worth a read and, if you're wanting to raise an issue for discussion, why not that of our acquisition and continued retention of great works of art from other countries and civilizations?
Guess where I'm going on my next visit to London?

The Snowman's Overcoat and Concept Cartoons.

I subscribe to emails from the National STEM Centre in York which I'd recommend to you. (A visit is also worthwhile on one of their Saturday morning open days). In the latest email it mentioned the Snowman's  Overcoat. I've used a version of this with children in the past, based on Concept Cartoons* which, if you haven't come across, are well worth exploring. I also used to do Huddling Penguins as an alternative but, although I did the Penguins with data-loggers, I never got round to properly doing the Snowman investigation in that way. So I've now got two temperature sensors in water in the freezer. I'll then wrap one in bubble wrap (always around at Christmas) and put the other in a plastic bag. I'll use a third probe to measure ambient temperature.

Additional activity based on concept cartoons (ref below**)

I wish I was doing this with children and not pottering at home. 
I don't make New Year's resolutions but I promise to try get data-loggers used more in schools in 2013.

* Concept Cartoons in Science Education by S. Naylor and B. Keogh (2000) Millgate House Publishers ISBN 0 9527506 2 7
** The Snowman's Overcoat and other Science questions by S. Naylor and B. Keogh. Illustrated by Ged Mitchell.(More detail to follow) One of  series of four (?) books.

Alan Garner and his illustrators

I've just finished Boneland by Alan Garner (2012, Fourth Estate ISBN 978-0-00-746524-4). I enjoyed reading it but, maybe, it is too adult and literate for me. Boneland is the third part of a series  and appears 40 years after the first two volumes (The Weirdstone of Brisingamen (1960), The Moon of Gomrath (1963). The previous books were for children and I recall really enjoying them. Garner also wrote The Owl Service which was made into a rather unsettling 8-part television series way back in 1969. I remember reading my favourite book of his, Elidor. as it made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck. It is one of the few books I've read several times.

Book cover 

Elidor was illustrated by Charles Keeping. Charles Keeping grew to be my favourite illustrator, though his position has been threatened as my collection of illustrated books has blossomed. I will get round to a more detailed look at Keeping in a future blog but if your interest is piqued try and find David Martin's book on him "Charles Keeping : An Illustrator's Life".

Being obsessive, I then had to go through all the books I have by Alan Garner.  He has not been the most prolific of writers over the past 50 years and I only have paperbacks of some and then and not a complete collection. The other illustrators of his books that leap out are Michael Foreman and P. J. Lynch.
Foreman, like Keeping, is prolific with a distinctive style and has also written tales to his own illustrations.

Series of four books re-telling traditional tales

P.J. Lynch has a very different style from the lines of Keeping and watercolours of Foreman. His detailed paintings, obviously, take a long time to produce and the originals cost thousands of pounds.. 

More re-tellings from the tradition.

Akhenaten or Akhnaten - my favourite Egyptian

I discovered Akhnaten when I moved from teaching in London to teaching in the North East. I'd recorded the Philip Glass opera off the radio onto a cassette and played it on the long drive North. I fell in love with it even though opera is not really my thing. A year or two later, my wife bought tickets for a staging of the opera at ENO (English National Opera) in London for my birthday. It was magnificent. The set was of sand with troughs in it through which flowed water (the Nile). The sand was moulded into various outlines during the performance. The singing, especially that of the false soprano male lead, all decked out in false breasts, was unforgettable. One of the best presents ever.
I bought a programme, obviously, but also indulged in the libretto from a near-by music shop. I then read a lot about Akhnaten, the librettisist and the composer (Philip Glass). 

CBS Masterworks 

Akhnaten doesn't seem to appear much in books for children about Egypt but what a fascinating character and what an ego, to try to overturn thousands of years of a multitheistic religion into a monotheistic one.
My interest has diminished over the years but peaks every now and again, for example when I discovered the poem "Akhenaten" by Dorothy Porter (Serpent's Tail Books 1999 ISBN 1-85242-619-5). It is wonderful and I always wanted to read this passage out to a group of students :-

"I was little Horseface

with wheezing lungs

and the wet bed.

Amun threw me down

in drooling, pissing fits.

I was only a second son

and they thought I'd die.

Amun would climb

on my face

and spread his black bum

over my eyes and mouth

I thought he'd choke me"

Akhenaten is featured in Shuter's children's book "People who made history in Ancient Egypt", mentioned in a previous blog, but I'm not sure what else is available for this age group.

Cleopatra

I'm going in to talk to some staff about the Ancient Egyptians this afternoon. Besides all the usual stuff, I'll mention a book on Cleopatra that the children love because of the kissing (UGH!) and blood (YEAH!). It is the one below written and ilustrated by Polly Dunbar

Children's books for teaching about Cleopatra include:-
Cleopatra by P. Dunbar. Scholastic Books
Cleopatra by H. Middleton. Oxford (1997) ISBN 0-19-910193-0
Cleopatra by A. Geras. Kingfisher (2007) ISBN 978 0 7534 1359 3

She is also given a spread in "People who made history in Ancient Egypt" by J. Shuter (2000) Hodder Wayland ISBN 07502 2604 8

Space - in school

Normally, I do Space at the Civic & Learning Centre Eston with their fantastic resources. Today I took one of those resources, the Magic Planet, into school. I was a bit apprehensive because of timing and computer issues that might have arisen.
The children (and staff) were fantastic. They joined in, asked and answered questions. They managed to sit on the hard wooden floor for an age while I talked. Well done, children.

Example of Comic Life page on Space

The IT suffered a minor hiccup when the children had to suffer logos printed across their Comic Life work. However, they almost universally said how much they loved using Comic Life. Similarly, they really enjoyed seeing the Magic Planet.
Their evaluations made me smile and one was especially pleasing - 
"I think todays lesson was great and fun. I especially liked the magic planet and the fact that there was no work! Thank you"