QUESTION OF THE MONTH : How Do You Inspire a Child's Interest in STEM?

I was a keen radio amateur with a small bedroom to operate from. Not long after that our two children arrived, and a few years later the eldest started school. Not long after that he became intrigued by my BBC Microcomputer, which had arrived a few weeks before. Then he asked if he could have a go at Space Invaders, having seen me get to Level 4 a couple of times. I didn't have to teach him what to do, he'd picked all that up just by watching me. So we swapped seats and off he went. He soon achieved Level 1 and then had to add his name to the Hi-Score list. I assumed that he didn't know how to do that, but between watching me and learning to read both the alphabet and some simple words at school, he'd typed his name in before I could stand up to show him. Weeks later me and the boss went to a school open evening.The English teacher wanted to know how our child had become so good at writing so soon, we told her about Space Invaders. Then she told us that the children at that age were supposed to learn writing in lower-case letters first, not capitals! Oh how we laughed! I think we were lucky she didn't give us each 100 lines.

Sveral years later the kids both had their own computers, one was a 2nd-hand Beeb, the other an Acorn Atom. They would sometimes ask each other for help with Lemmings, or with plotting in advance how to win the next battle in the two-player version of Chocks Away! Then one of the three of us would notice the time, so we'd run down the stairs at 100dB each, just in time for Star Trek, where concepts like the Matter - Anti-Matter converter and the Transporter and people who didn't look like us were easily understood.

So my advice would be to show your own enthusiasm for doing the things you do, and when the kids ask about whatever it is just give simple answers. Often they only need 'Yes' or 'No', they'll come back for more when they need to. Sometimes if I was quick enough I'd have the Speech Synthesiser running on the Beeb before they came into my room, they liked that...

I was a keen radio amateur with a small bedroom to operate from. Not long after that our two children arrived, and a few years later the eldest started school. Not long after that he became intrigued by my BBC Microcomputer, which had arrived a few weeks before. Then he asked if he could have a go at Space Invaders, having seen me get to Level 4 a couple of times. I didn't have to teach him what to do, he'd picked all that up just by watching me. So we swapped seats and off he went. He soon achieved Level 1 and then had to add his name to the Hi-Score list. I assumed that he didn't know how to do that, but between watching me and learning to read both the alphabet and some simple words at school, he'd typed his name in before I could stand up to show him. Weeks later me and the boss went to a school open evening.The English teacher wanted to know how our child had become so good at writing so soon, we told her about Space Invaders. Then she told us that the children at that age were supposed to learn writing in lower-case letters first, not capitals! Oh how we laughed! I think we were lucky she didn't give us each 100 lines.

Sveral years later the kids both had their own computers, one was a 2nd-hand Beeb, the other an Acorn Atom. They would sometimes ask each other for help with Lemmings, or with plotting in advance how to win the next battle in the two-player version of Chocks Away! Then one of the three of us would notice the time, so we'd run down the stairs at 100dB each, just in time for Star Trek, where concepts like the Matter - Anti-Matter converter and the Transporter and people who didn't look like us were easily understood.

So my advice would be to show your own enthusiasm for doing the things you do, and when the kids ask about whatever it is just give simple answers. Often they only need 'Yes' or 'No', they'll come back for more when they need to. Sometimes if I was quick enough I'd have the Speech Synthesiser running on the Beeb before they came into my room, they liked that...

How many days did it take before your name was erased from every Hi-Score list though?