Objects familiar to all children - comics, cans, chips - become the means of enjoyable instruction in literacy and numeracy in a CD-Rom from the Open University. Wicked Waste is for upper key stage 2. Trialled in schools as far apart as Skye and Milton Keynes, it serves up a cheerful cocktail of sound, graphics and video. Fifteen 20-minute modules take users through interactive games and exercises that lso test their understanding of how raw materials reach our homes in the form of products, and what we do with them afterwards.

The Wicked Waste pack, including teacher’s guide and CD-Rom, costs pound;19.99 from Learning Materials Sales, The Open University, PO Box 188, Milton Keynes MK7 6DH.Tel: 01908 858797. Fax: 01908 858787. Websites: www.wickedwaste.com and www.wickedwaste.co.uk