Feb 22

We’re making 15,000 free books available to schools in the UK’s most deprived areas

By The Curved House Editor | 6-8 years, 8+ years, News

Lucy Hawking and Curved House Kids today launch Mars Diary, an ambitious new primary science programme, in partnership with the UK Space Agency, that aims to get 60,000 British schoolchildren involved in the UK’s ExoMars mission and other human and robotic space endeavours. At the core of the Mars Diary programme is an illustrated activity book that students personalise as they complete a range of creative, empowering STEM activities. Teachers are supported with lesson plans, teaching notes, differentiation ideas, multimedia and detailed curriculum links for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

With the support of the UK Space Agency, 15,000 free Mars Diary books will be made available to primary schools across the UK with priority given to those in areas of high levels of deprivation and education under-achievement. Five thousand of these will be distributed to teachers via ESERO-UK and STEM Learning. To ensure full access to these high-quality materials, all UK primary schools will also have free online access to the entire programme including over 60 hours of lessons for Key Stage 2 (P4-7 / Y3-6).

Mars Diary is a sequel to the hugely popular Principia Space Diary, one of ESA Astronaut Tim Peake’s education outreach projects that has inspired over 95,000 British schoolchildren since its launch in 2015. Watch Tim Peake’s welcome message to the “brave space explorers” who will embark on the Mars Diary programme. View and download Tim Peake’s video message, photos and other programme information in the media kit:

Mars Diary Media Kit

Sue Horne, Head of Space Exploration at the UK Space Agency says:

“I am really pleased that we have been able to build on the success of the Principia Space Diary and we can share the excitement and challenges of Mars exploration with young people. I can’t wait to see the amazing ideas and work that students generate.”

The Mars Diary has been written and developed by Lucy Hawking and Curved House Kids with a strong emphasis on creativity and visual learning. Students will be inspired by real space, STEM and education experts including Sue Horne and Libby Jackson from the UK Space Agency Exploration team, volcanologist Professor Tamsin Mather, Mars weather expert Professor Stephen Lewis, Pamela Burnard, Professor of Arts, Creativities and Education at the University of Cambridge and robotics expert Professor Peter McOwan at Queen Mary University of London.

From today (Thursday 22nd February) primary schools in the UK are invited to register at marsdiary.org for a chance to receive a free box of 30 Mars Diaries plus stickers and a Mission Log poster for their class. Books will be allocated to schools on a first come, first served basis with priority given to those who have a high percentage of free school meals.

Other schools, home educating families and community groups can also register to access the free online programme, or purchase copies of the printed diaries via the online bookshop at marsdiary.org. Books will be delivered late-March. If the popularity of the Principia Space Diary is any indication, schools are encouraged to register fast to avoid missing out on printed books.

The programme is fully supported, flexible and can be completed at any time during the school year. Particular emphasis has been placed on making the complex topic of space science easy for any teacher to confidently deliver, giving them the tools to inspire children to read, write, draw, research, experiment and problem solve while strengthening STEM, literacy and visual literacy learning. The multi-modal approach to learning means students use a wide range of analogue and digital media to complete their tasks: from videos, tablets and phones to images and audio.

Publisher Kristen Harrison says:

“Space and science can be daunting topics for teachers and their students, but what we know from our past projects is that leaving plenty of room for individual creativity and ownership gets students engaged in a really meaningful way, and has a lasting impact. We are thrilled to have the chance to create another project like this with the UK Space Agency.”

The Mars Diary programme is funded by the UK Space Agency, as part of a scheme to support education outreach associated with the ExoMars mission, which is sending a rover to Mars in 2020 to look for evidence of life on The Red Planet.

Notes to Editors

Download Mission Mars Media Kit
Website: marsdiary.org
Registrations open Thursday 22nd February and successful schools will receive books at the end of March 2018.

About Lucy Hawking (www.lucyhawking.com)

Lucy Hawking is a British author who writes adventure stories based on science for a primary school age audience. Featuring a boy called George and his best friend Annie who have exciting space adventures together, the George series combines storytelling with science, and gives young readers an entertaining introduction to the world of space exploration. The series is published in over 40 languages. An Oxford graduate, Lucy started her writing career in journalism and worked for British newspapers, radio and magazines before becoming a published author. Lucy has been recognised for her work in science and education with several awards – she won the Sappio Prize for Popularizing Science in Rome 2008 and the UNSW medal 2015 for Science Communication and was awarded a doctorate in science by Queen Mary University of London in July 2015. Lucy is a trustee of the Autism Research Foundation, supporting scientific research into the condition of autism.

About Curved House Kids (www.curvedhousekids.com)

Curved House Kids has a simple mission: to improve education by creating books and learning materials that engage children the way children are engaging with the world. This means visually, interactively and with tools that empower. In 2015, we published the Principia Space Diary, a STEM-literacy programme that followed ESA Astronaut Tim Peake’s mission to the International Space Station. Our goal was to distribute 15,000 free books to children in the UK and with the support of the UK Space Agency we ended up distributing over 40,000 free books and having over 95,000 students register to participate online at principiaspacediary.org.

We are proud to produce work that makes children part of the creative process and encourages them to form a positive relationship with books and science that will bolster them for a successful education. Curved House Kids was founded in 2013 by Kristen Harrison, a former Penguin editor and co-founder of Visual Verse online anthology. Kristen sits on the board of the International Visual Literacy Association.

About ExoMars

In 2020, the European Space Agency’s ExoMars mission will deliver a rover to Mars. The rover will travel across the surface of Mars, looking for signs of life. Using its specialised instruments, it will collect and analyse rock samples from below the Martian surface and send its findings back to Earth. ExoMars will be the first mission to combine the ability to move across the Martian surface with the ability to collect and analyse rock samples. For more information on the ExoMars mission, visit: http://exploration.esa.int/mars/48088-mission-overview/

About ESERO-UK

The European Space Education Resources Office, in the UK, aims to open doors for young people by supporting world-class teaching in STEM subjects, through the context of space. This is primarily achieved through bursary supported CPD, an online resource collection, and through our wider networks. ESERO-UK is part of STEM Learning Ltd. and funded by the European Space Agency and UK Space Agency.

For Further Information and Enquiries

Curved House Kids
Kristen Harrison (Publisher)
Mob +49 176 876 02770
kristen@thecurvedhouse.com
@curvedhousekids

Lucy Hawking
C/- Rebecca Carter, Literary Agent
Janklow & Nesbit (UK) Ltd
RCarter@janklow.co.uk
Tel (020) 7243 2975

UK Space Agency
Gareth Bethell
Press Officer
Polaris House, North Star Avenue, Swindon SN2 1SZ
Tel 01793 41 8069
Mob 07925 891 949

May 19

Inspired by Space: Engaging Girls in STEM

By The Curved House Editor | Blog, Principe Space Diary, Teaching Resources

Curved House Kids launch a free guide to engaging girls in STEM to mark the 26th anniversary of British astronaut Helen Sharman’s historic space mission

Twenty-six years ago, on 18 May 1991, astronaut Helen Sharman became the first Brit in space, and the first woman to visit the Mir space station. Dr Sharman beat 13,000 hopefuls to the post after responding to a radio advertisement requesting “Astronaut Applications. No experience necessary”. Sharman’s mission was, and still is, a remarkable moment for both British history and for women in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM). It is also a timely reminder of the urgent need to promote and encourage girls into STEM careers. Two and a half decades on and achievements like Dr Sharman’s are still all too rare.

In the UK, women make up just 21% of the entire STEM workforce (WISE Campaign, 2016, www.wisecampaign.org.uk). Meanwhile, there is a serious skills crisis across every part of the STEM sector with an estimated shortfall of 69,000 recruits every year. This is costing billions and putting the UK at a significant disadvantage, especially post-Brexit. However, we have a solution right in front of us: the tens of thousands of female students each year who are choosing not to pursue STEM careers. These girls are more than capable of contributing to the STEM sector – and the UK economy – but they are not choosing STEM careers. An education pipeline published by the WISE Campaign last year highlights the diminishing rates: 50% of girls do GCSE science, 34% continue into A-Level and just 7% go into higher education. That is in stark contrast to the 24% of boys at the same education level.

Inspired by Space: Engaging Girls in STEM, published by Curved House Kids on the anniversary of Sharman’s launch, is a guide for teachers and educators that aims to not only engage primary-aged girls but also to embed a genuine and lasting interest in science. It provides easy-to-implement ideas for both the classroom and home learning. Written and compiled by primary educator and science specialist Claire Loizos with Curved House Kids publisher Kristen Harrison, it details five strategies to help girls succeed in STEM learning, including harnessing skills like communication, collaboration and creativity. Each strategy is accompanied by a number of adaptable activities for teachers to use in the classroom and beyond.

The guide draws heavily on the learning and feedback from the Principia Space Diary, a primary science programme that now has over 90,000 British students registered to complete their own diary as they follow ESA astronaut Tim Peake’s Principia mission. Developed by Curved House Kids with author and science communicator Lucy Hawking, the Space Diary highlights the roles of many influential women in the space and science sectors. These include Dr Helen Sharman, astronomer Sheila Kanani and Tim Peake’s Mission Director Berti Meisinger, who are featured in the guide.

Our goal is to help primary-aged girls to see themselves in STEM careers – whether it’s as astronauts, scientists, mathematicians, coders or any other role. We also aim to ensure girls in STEM are visible and celebrated by peers, family and the wider community. Publisher Kristen Harrison stresses that this guide is not just for girls and promotes the use of these ideas with all students.

‘True equality is not just about giving girls opportunities,’ Harrison says. ‘It’s about developing empathy in all students to ensure we are all open to female voices and appreciate the benefits of diversity.’

We hope this guide will help teachers to implement new ideas without adding hours of workloads. Teacher Claire Loizos says:

‘I have found that open tasks that require children to “learn on their feet” and choose their own methods of application have worked wonders at encouraging girls to take ownership of their own learning, with huge increases in enjoyment and progress. The ideas and activities in this guide bear this in mind, providing minimal teacher input and maximum pupil effort, encouraging independence whilst allowing girls to be creative.’

Download Inspired by Space: Engaging Girls in STEM for free here.

News outlets are welcome to make the guide available on their own websites. Please contact us at info@curvedhousekids.com for the Press Kit.

Follow the conversation using #spacediary on Twitter.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

About Claire Loizos (@primary_sci)
Claire Loizos trained as a Secondary Science teacher, and has taught in a range of secondary schools, including South-London (Deptford) and North-London (Wood Green). Having specialised in Primary-Secondary transfer she found herself working closely with feeder schools and primary school science teachers. As a consequence she decided to take a leap down to primary, becoming Head of Science at a Hertfordshire Prep. She is now leading science in a large state primary school on the Isle of Wight. Claire is a mum and a full-time teacher but she spends her free time running STEM clubs and promoting primary science and STEM learning opportunities, especially amongst young girls.

About Kristen Harrison/Curved House Kids (@curvedhousekids)
Kristen Harrison is a former Penguin editor who founded the children’s education publisher Curved House Kids in 2011. She has a Masters in Communications and her primary interest is looking at how visual learning methodologies can help to raise literacy levels. She sits on the board of the International Visual Literacy Association and is the co-founder and curator of Visual Verse, an online anthology of art and words that invites writers to respond to a visual prompt. The anthology has featured new work by Ali Smith, Bernadine Evaristo, Andrew Motion, Adam Foulds, Nikesh Shukla and hundreds of other established and emerging writers.

Sep 18

curved house kids visual literacy books kristen harrison

Up, Up into Space in Deutsch!

By The Curved House Editor | Kids Gallery

We are SO impressed with this book by a 7-year-old in Frankfurt, Germany. This young writer has written the whole of Up, Up, into Space in her native German, complete with the speech bubbles and everything. Amazing work and super neat handwriting. Well done!

curved house kids visual literacy books kristen harrison

Sep 17

Berlin’s First Fun Palace: Free Festival of Art and Science

By The Curved House Editor | Blog, News

Calling all creative kids! On the 4th and 5th of October, for one weekend only, Curved House Kids will set up a Fun Palace at Shakespeare and Sons bookshop.

What’s a Fun Palace? A Fun Palace is a free and creative space, where kids and adults alike can explore activities around art and science. We’ll be filling the weekend with all kinds of engaging and inspiring activities that bring science to life. With sessions looking at space, geology, chemistry, paleontology (dinosaurs!) and the animal kingdom, visitors to the Berlin Fun Palace will be able to explore their favourite subjects through storytelling, songs and games. Join authors, illustrators and artists including Megan Archer, Chester Travis, Kristen Harrison, Alice Connew and Jenna Stout for a fun-packed weekend creating Berlin’s first Fun Palace.

Activities include:

Meet the Illustrator: Learn about space, the solar system and gravity with illustrator Megan Archer, whose book Up, Up in to Space! is published by Curved House Kids.
Meet the Author: Chester Travis, author of My Summer Snowman, shares his poetry-writing skills while teaching us about the animal kingdom.
Rock n’ Roll: A rockin’ game where music meets geology!
Dinosaur Doodles: How would you draw a Sordes Pilosus? Or a T-Rex? This drawing game is the ultimate challenge for dinosaur fans!
Add your drawing to our “Imagine a Future” mural inspired by author extraordinaire, Lucy Hawking! In one of her videos, Lucy asks: “Can you imagine a future noone else has thought of?”.
Splashing Sounds: Learn how to make music with water and sound waves.
Planets on Parade: Make your own planet mask and join our planet parade!

This Berlin Fun Palace is one of many Fun Palaces happening in the UK and around the world on 3rd and 4th October, 2014. Over 100 Fun Palaces have been devised to celebrate theatre director Joan Littlewood’s centenary and her vision of creating fun and engaging spaces for anyone to access. Fun Palaces is a campaign for culture that everyone can join – combining arts and sciences, welcoming and free, at the heart of local communities across the world.

When and Where?

11am – 4pm on Saturday 4th and Sunday 5th October
Shakespeare and Sons Bookshop and Bagel Cafe, Warschauerstrasse 74, 10243 Berlin
Cost: Free

A full programme of events will be published on the Curved House Kids website w/c 22nd September.

About Curved House Kids

Founded by Kristen Harrison in 2013, Curved House Kids is a Berlin-based publishing house that develops books and learning materials that integrate visual literacy into the teaching of core reading and writing skills. Our work tackles the reasons kids may not be reading, whether it be learning difficulties, additional needs, lack of confidence, or the ubiquitous distractions of digital technologies. By allowing kids to make their own books we empower them to be part of the creative process and encourage them to form a life-long bond with books and storytelling.

About Fun Palaces

In 1961, UK theatre director Joan Littlewood and architect Cedric Price conceived the Fun Palace as a ‘laboratory of fun’, ‘a university of the streets’. It was to be a temporary and movable home to the arts and sciences that would welcome children and adults alike. This wasn’t possible in 1961; it’s very possible now.

Co-directed by author Stella Duffy and Sarah Jane Rawlings, Fun Palace takes the best of that never-built 1960s vision and bring it into the 21st century in a weekend of events, locally curated and attended – linked nationally and internationally, virtually and actually. On 4 & 5 October 2014 there will be hundreds of local, pop-up Fun Palaces across the globe, each one based on the needs and wants of that community, all part of the national network of Fun Palaces.

For more information, please visit:

http://funpalaces.co.uk/

https://curvedhousekids.com/

For further enquiries, please contact:

Kristen Harrison

kristen@thecurvedhouse.com

+49 176 876 02770

kristen harrison