Child's play is winning way

Watching the way his stepdaughter learnt as a child helped lecturer Paul Elmer develop the teaching style that this week won him a prestigious National Teaching Fellowship.

Mr Elmer, a senior lecturer in public relations at the University of Central Lancashire, is one of 50 academics and support staff in England and Northern Ireland awarded a fellowship and £50,000 from the Higher Education Academy this year.

He said the greatest influence on his lecturing style was his observations of childhood learning. "I spent a lot of time watching how my stepdaughter learnt and shared her enthusiasm when she could do something," he said.

"When I look at 18 to 21-year-olds, I don't see a big distinction between the joy they might get from doing something and the joy a four-year-old gets from riding a bike."

Teaching practically was much more effective than teaching theoretically, he said. He said his stepdaughter did not engage with tasks as a child if they lacked a sense of being real.

By the same token, mock problems for students to solve did not work, he said. His final-year students have for the past two years been tackling real-life problems brought to them by business and public bodies, such as the National Health Service, which pay £2,000 a time.

Mr Elmer said: "What they've learnt in this very practical way, they don't forget."

Mike Savage, professor of thin liquid films and coatings at Leeds University, received the award for a kit he devised to bring the subject of mechanics to life.

He wants to use his award to tackle "the mechanics problem" whereby up to one-fifth of schools do not offer the subject.

He is to produce 20-minute video seminars for the internet.

Sir David Watson, chairman of the National Teaching Fellowships Advisory Panel, said: "This is the second year in which the scheme will support 50 fellows. They come from an impressive pool of applicants and represent the best of learning and teaching in universities and colleges."