How do children develop a sense of their own sexuality? Kirsty Wark examines the issue of gender identity in the third programme of a series on child development, Tuning into Children.
Do we pass on subliminal messages about gender stereotypes by encouraging boys to play football or girls to play with dolls, or do they enjoy doing this anyway? In this programme it is not left to the adults to pontificate - children discuss the ways in which they believe they differ from one another.
The series has been designed to help parents, grandparents and carers gain a better understanding of what happens to young children between birth and the age of five. It is supported by an 80-page book, which is available for pound;4.99 from BBC Education, PO Box 20, Tonbridge TN12 6WU.
Next week, the programme focuses on communications skills and the development of language. Further programmes cover those contentious letters, the 3Rs, and managing separations between child and parent.
Tuning into Children. Radio 4. Mondays, 11.02-11.30am.
SCHOOL SPOTLIGHT
You don’t often hear people claim that watching television is good for homework, but in the case of the BBC’s revision package, GCSE Bitesize, which utilises TV, the Internet and printed materials, they’ve got some hard evidence to back it up.
Durham University’s curriculum evaluation and management centre discovered that pupils using the service performed significantly better than they had been expected to in their exams, compared with counterparts who relied on existing materials. For geography and French this worked out at as much as one grade higher.
GCSE Bitesize is broadcast during the early hours of Friday morning on BBC2. For programme details, telephone BBC Education on 0181 746 1111 or visit the web site at: www.bbc.co.ukeducationrevision best of the rest BEST OF THE REST
They can expect a rain of ruin from the air, the like of which has never been seen on this Earth.” With chilling accuracy the horrors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were foretold before the Enola Gay slipped loose her cargo in 1945.
The History Channel looks at the two bombing missions that changed the course of history. Some 100,000 people were involved in the project, to design, build then unleash the “rain of ruin”. More than 135,000 died at Hiroshima alone.
Rain of Ruin: the Atomic Bombing of Japan. The History Channel. Sunday, March 7, 4-5.30pm.
