Richard Hammond taught me all I need to know...

What has Richard Hammond taught my son?

Okay, we admit it. We are Top Gear geeks in this household too! And our 4 year old son idolises Richard Hammond. The man who can host television shows in his sleep....

It started with Top Gear:

My 4 year old can spot a Ford, Holden and even a Peugeot at 50 paces. He has also devastated his father, by informing him that the 17 inch alloys on our Subaru (the very reason my husband paid an extra whatever to get that model) are really not that hot. He now appreciates the mechanical and how a car works. But that interest has lead to...

Total Wipeout:

He's learnt the importance of perseverance! The less typically sporty rock on this show, and you don't have to be an iron man to be a champion! It's like It's a Knockout without the team work. Then there's....

Blast Lab!

He's seriously into Science now too! When consuming water from his drink bottle the other day, our son informed us all about water tension. Actually, our son is now extremely keen on science.

Then we have Hammond's Invisible Worlds....

About all those things that happen when you are not looking....

And lastly, we've tuned into old Brainiac on YouTube for some more of that science stuff. Then there's Engineering Connections.....

Is there anything this man can not host? But his appeal has really resonated with our son, and a good Richard Hammond series never goes astray.

P.S: Just noticed, via Wikipedia, that it is the Hamster's birthday today! My son will be impressed!

iPhone Apps & Learning according to The Simpsons!

The Simpsons send up on technology based learning in the classroom!

Mobile Media (& most digital new media) and learning is actually not as crazy as it may seem here. Given this piece of Simpsons satire, mobile and new media in learning is quite a talking point in education circles. Kids learning via iPhone and similar smart phone apps is actually quite good idea and lots of fun. It's actually not a new idea either, but simply an old idea in a new and accessible context. Having been an advocate of Montessori early childhood education, as well as play based learning in our household, many educational apps on the iPhone use the same sort of principles. Learning through self correcting tasks and activities and through play. Of course it does also throw up several new questions as well, in regard to learning and teaching today...

I have several 'apps' for the kids to play on my iPhone. They have been great boredom busters, particularly when sitting in the car with my youngest at school pick up time.

Fun iPhone apps/games in our house include Maths Magic, where my 4 year old son has extended upon his learning of addition and subtraction at his Montessori Kindy. He's getting into multiplication and division now. My 6 year old loves it for the maths and reading apps and they both love Angry Birds and Cut the Rope, which are both great games of strategy. And well, Richard Hammond's Car Spotter app is a bit of a laugh, but my son is a huge fan of that man! Half the cars we don't recognise, but we will, whenever we visit the UK...There is still some strategy in it.

More on this later, as the iPhone has become a central tool in our household...

Update the 29th December: For some further reading, I came across this article. It discusses several more educational apps of interest. Montessorium (a brand name, but a company that uses the Montessori philosophy in technology and was developed by Montessori educators) also has produced two apps of great interest!

Educating your kids about Star Wars...

I caught this via Twitter and thought it was hilarious!

Although humorous, there is a tad too much truth in here! That's why I am starting my kids with a New Hope.... ;-) I went to buy, what I thought was the trilogy the other day, but had to put it back when I discovered that it was the prequels. I admit that I agree with Sheldon from the Big Bang Theory "I'd rather George Lucas disappoint me in the order he intended". I'm just not wrapped in the newer Star Wars. Lucas pioneered so much with those models, and seemed to create such magic, but went over to the dark side when he jumped on the cgi bandwagon and then got too carried away. There was something more "solid" with the earlier epics.

On that geeky Sci-Fi theme, I have introduced my son to Doctor Who, but only in small steps. We often joke that we are "inDoctrinating" him. So what if he has some posters, has as sonic screwdriver, can list all eleven (he's actually not keen on the youngest & newest Doctor mind you and that's got nothing to do with us) and owns a couple of T-Shirts (which I love! Brilliant!).

I'll probably blog more about this at some stage later too.

Okay, geek TV & movie admission over.... I got that out into the open rather early I think.

Kids and YouTube

Two posts in one day! They may be short and sweet, but I am indeed jumping in!

I caught this on Mashable today and I would say that kids, YouTube and toys go hand in hand.

My now 4 year old son was 2 and a half years old when he discovered YouTube. I blame his Uncle (who has now stopped his kids using it of course) and that was it! He became such a case with it, that I ended up using his YouTube observations for a small case study last semester. A case study that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Not only can kids watch recreations of Thomas the Tank engine, Lego and marble games. It also has many indirect educational benefits! Here, at just 4 years of age at the time, he learnt about other countries such Japan, basic film editing and production and how to upload to YouTube. And that is just scratching the surface. Such a connection he had with some videos on YouTube, that he was devastated to find out Flippy Cat had passed away.

I do often meet a lot of cynicism about YouTube in my parenting circles. Parents are very wary of it in the household, particularly where their children are concerned. Of course we want to protect our children from age inappropriate material on the internet. But with supervision, active participation and interest from parents, kids and YouTube can be a very educational mix. I get quite passionate about this, so no doubt I will post more about this later!

Media Education @ Home

Okay, I have decided to bite the bullet and get blogging!

At this stage I feel very green...

I studied Film and Television Production at QUT back the the early to mid 1990s. I was involved in that side of things for a little while, before embarking on the media education pathway. An area that I have thoroughly enjoyed!

Having had a break from the classroom to raise young children, I am keen as a bean to get into it all again ( I have recently visited some media classrooms with a small research project and felt completely and utterly ready to jump back in!). But, having observed my children and their media use at home, they have provided umpteen case studies for me to watch children in action with their media use. They are the inspiration for this blog. My children have provided me with a classroom at home. From my experience, now updated study and research pathway, I intend to write a blog about this journey from the context of the home front media hub. I thought it could also be of interest for parents, as they navigate the media landscape that children encounter every day.

I also write this to the sounds of Club Penguin. The online game that my 4 year old son is totally obsessed by.