Gene genie

Judging by the number of headlines about designer babies, cloning and GM crops, genetics is an area of science where our appetite for more information is undimmed. The BBC is tapping into this with a cross-platform collection of offerings to bring you up to speed on everything you’ve ever wanted to know about genetics.

Gene Stories is a mix of hard science and futurology, with programmes on TV, radio and the Web which could provide hard facts and discussion points for science, citizenship and PSHE lessons.

The gene journey began in November with Blood of the Vikings. That was followed in December with Robert Winston presenting one of his effects-heavy showcases - Inside the Genome. Now the Gene Stories season is about to go into overdrive with a raft of programmes, so make sure your video recorder is primed for action. Of the three TVshows being aired over the next few weeks, How to Build a Human, which considers the effects of genes and hormones on individuals, looks the most interesting. The documentary is due to be broadcast on BBC2 in the third week of January.

The other programmes in the series include the Horizon episode, Fighting Fat, to be broadcast on Thursday, January 10 at 9pm on BBC2, and Bitter Inheritance, which follows at 9.50pm with an overview of the issues surrounding genetic testing. Radio 4 is also running Beyond the Genome on Wednesdays (at 9pm) between January 2 and January 23.

While all this is happening on-screen and on air, you can tap into www.bbc.co.ukgenes and track down information and activities to engage students bedazzled by the science. While the scientists argue the practicalities of cloning, your students can discover if they have Viking blood, go on a gene safari, work out how they got their eye colour and have a go at breeding experiments.

The site has two strands: science, including features on the human genome and gene inheritance; and history, with information on eugenics and the use of DNA testing to solve archeological mysteries.

The write stuff

Book Box, the 4Learning series on authors, writers and poets for key stage 2 and 3, returns to Channel 4 for the spring term. It combines commissioned adaptations of favourites from children’s literature together with the What’s So Good AboutI strand.

An adaptation of Double Act by children’s author Jacqueline Wilson on January 11 is followed by interviews with her in What’s So Good About Jacqueline Wilson on January 18.

Like all the authors featured in the series, Wilson gets her own section on the Book Box website at www.4learning.co.ukbookbox. As well as biographies and video and audio clips of more than 30 authors, the site offers games with a literary bent and the Author’s Toolkit - a 12-step guide to fiction writing.

If you’ve read the books, seen the film and can still bear to absorb more information on Harry Potter and related subjects, there are a couple of Book Box episodes on J K Rowling. The two programmes, on January 25 and February 1, trace the history of the boy wizard from the first manuscript to the blockbuster film.

All of the Book Box programmes will be broadcast on Channel 4 at 11.40am.

Digital dilemma

The BBC’s plans for the digital curriculum raise as many expectations as suspicions. Commercial rivals fear the corporation will become a monolithic educational content provider - with the licence fee giving it an unfair advantage. Other interest groups, such as the Voice of the Listener and Viewer (VLV), feel it could lead to the downgrading of educational programming on television.

If you want to play a part in this ongoing debate on the future of educational television, you can attend the meetings organised by VLV. The organisation, which is a pressure group for consumer interests in broadcasting, launched the Forum for Educational Broadcasting late last year. Part of its remit is to look at the issues raised by the digital curriculum. Regular events are planned. Speakers at the next meeting on Tuesday, February 5 include Frank Flynn, the BBC’s controller of children’s education, and John Richmond the commissioning editor for schools at Channel Four Learning. Anyone who has an interest in educational broadcasting is invited to the meeting which takes place at the Institute of Education in London. Tickets cost pound;7.50 for teachers. For full details contact Voice of the Listener on 01474 352 835 or send an email to vlv@btinternet.com or visit www.vlv.org.uk.