Month: October 2014
-
2014 Prime Minister’s Prize for Excellence in Science Teaching
The recipients of the 2014 Prime Minister’s Prizes for Science were announced at a black-tie awards dinner on Wednesday 29 October in the Great Hall of Parliament House in Canberra. Representing the nation’s finest awards for excellence in science and science teaching, the five prizes awarded in 2014 were: Prime Minister’s Prize for Science Frank…
-
Do you know what a ‘Googery’ is?
In this article, reproduced from our latest issue of Ozwords, Bruce Moore explores an Australian English word from an aboriginal language, ‘googery’. In Lily on the Dustbin: Slang of Australian Women and Families (1982), Nancy Keesing includes a list of words supplied to her by the poet Les Murray. Included in the list is the…
-
Cakes in space!
Phillip Reeve and Sarah McIntyre (author/illustrator of Oliver and the Seawigs) are a wonderfully matched creative pair who have imagined up a delicious space adventure full of robots, aliens and – best of all – cakes in their new book, Cakes in Space. The hero, Astra, is asleep onboard a spaceship that will take 200 years…
-
Thrilling new YA fiction
Two unique, thought-provoking posts by two unique YA authors. The first is Night Runner by Carnegie Medal-winning Tim Bowler and the second is Replica by Australian writer Jack Heath. Writing Night Runner by Tim Bowler Night Runner is a fast-moving story and it came to me at a sprint. It’s about a fifteen-year-old boy called Zinny and the novel begins…
-
Pippi Longstocking – The Naughtiest Girl in the World
Jess Howard, Higher Education Marketing Manager, talks about why the red-haired Pippi Longstocking was so beloved to her as a child, and why she still appeals to children today. I’m not sure where my childhood copy of Pippi Longstocking came from. A second-hand bookshop or library sale is most likely. I remember being interested by the…
-
Are you searching for knowledge?
Then Oxford’s Very Short Introductions series has the answer! The Very Short Introduction (VSI) series reaches a significant milestone this month with the publication of the its aptly named 400th title, Knowledge by Jennifer Nagel. This VSI will address classic questions such as: What is knowledge? How does it differ from mere belief? Do you need to…
-
Taming the roly-poly boys
Julie Baillie, Primary Education and Professional Development Manager, reminisces about her first day of teaching and the lesson she learnt about the power of story time. I remember being a young, fresh-faced teacher (with L-plates still firmly attached) sitting nervously in front of my class of 26 brand new Reception students. It was the very first…
-
The Boxtrolls: a review
The Boxtrolls is a novelisation of the 2014 movie of the same name released in cinemas this September, published by Oxford. Inspired by the illustrated novel Here Be Monsters (also published by Oxford) by Alan Snow, The Boxtrolls is a chance to learn more about the clever little box-wearing trolls who live under the streets of Cheesebridge….