Make an electric quiz board - free creative teaching resource

We love quizzes, especially if they come with bells and whistles.

Click here to download a worksheet showing how to make an electric circuit quiz board with a light that comes on when the right answer is chosen. The question lists are interchangeable so everyone can set tests on their favourite subjects for others to enjoy solving.

This activity is drawn from How to be Brilliant at Electricity, Light and Sound, a book of practical activities that will help children to acquire knowledge and understanding of electrical circuits, the everyday effects of light and how we see, and how sounds are made.

Calculators can help children become better at problem solving

According to a recent report on the BBC, the Education Endowment Foundation has found that calculators can help students become better at problem solving. Rather than hindering children, calculators can actually help to develop children's arithmetic skills, when taught properly.

This is very pleasing news to me as, since ministers banned the use of calculators in national maths tests for 11-year-olds in England from 2014, sales of our book How to be Brilliant at Using a Calculator have been sluggish, to say the least. Since then I have considered many times making the book go out of print. However, every time I've looked at the book I've been impressed again at the excellent activities in it – so the book has stayed in print. Maybe sales will now pick up!