(Image: Ben Ballin & Jane Whittle receiving an award from the Geographical Association)
Here at Wildgoose we are constantly developing, creating and updating our product range. This is one of the most interesting parts of our job and proves the point that we never really stop learning. This year we have learnt more than we already knew about the Apollo 11 Mission to the Moon, The Great Fire of London, River, Mountain and Coastal formations, and the destruction and regeneration of the Rainforests!
Most of the final design and artwork is done in-house now and although we do some research ourselves, we also have a number of people who help and guide us along the way from ex and current teachers, local schools and industry experts. Our customers and suppliers are also a great source of inspiration and knowledge when creating new resources.
Over the past decade we have had the pleasure of working with some amazing people to create a wide variety of products covering a whole range of topics, and in coming months we will bring to you a more detailed profile of each one. Until then please find below a list of just some of our collaborators and a little bit of information about them and some of the products we have worked on together:
Debbie Mousley
Debbie, as well as being an ex-teacher, she used to work with us here at Wildgoose until her retirement in 2015. A large majority of the products on our website and in previous catalogues will have been developed by Debbie, who still helps us out (sometimes from her cottage in France!)
Dr Des Bowden & Pamela Copeland - BCE Education
BCE are Dr Des Bowden and Pamela Copeland. Pam is a former primary school teacher and senior university lecturer in Citizenship and Des is a physical geographer and former university head of department with experience of living and researching in various overseas locations. Their vision is to evoke a true sense of place through the artefacts that they have sourced, and learning materials created while on their travels across the globe.
https://www.primary-school-resources.com/
Dan Fedorowicz - Activated Learning
Dan studied digital game design and has worked for Rare and Microsoft developing games and software for the Xbox Kinect! Dan is now a games designer, writer, novelist, teacher and education consultant living in Malaysia. Together we have developed a range innovative history resources, posters and timelines and have some exciting projects lined up for next year already. Watch this space!
https://www.wildgoose.education/products/activated-learning
Ben Ballin
Ben is a freelance primary education consultant specialising in geography. As well as Wildgoose and amongst many others, he has worked, written and trained for the Geographical Association, The RGS and Tide-global learning. As a consultant to the Geographical Association, he leads national CPD, and offers support and advice to schools, especially primary schools. He is the co-author of both of our Back2Front Teachers guides. (North and South America and The Maya).
Alf Wilkinson
Alf is an experienced author, teacher and CPD manager. From 1999 to 2015 he worked for the HA (History Association) as their Education Manager and their CPD Manager. Most recently he has devised and developed a successful series of online CPD modules for primary and secondary teachers. He was also lead person for the HA on implementing the previous New History Curriculum, and lead on support for the 2014 Curriculum, especially primary where the changes have been greatest. Alf worked with Ben Ballin on creating our Back2Front: The Maya Teachers guide.
https://www.wildgoose.education/maya/back-2-frontthe-maya
Dr Diane Davies - The Maya Archaeologist
Dr Diane Davies is a Maya archaeologist and honorary research associate of the Institute of Archaeology, University College London. She completed her PhD in Anthropology, specialising in Central America, in particular, the Maya, and has a Masters in Archaeology and a BA Joint Honours in History and Philosophy. Dr Davies has created award-winning resources, organises trips to the Maya area for all and is also the Chair of Chok Education, a charity supporting the education of Maya children.
https://mayaarchaeologist.co.uk/
Jane Whittle
Jane is an author and a primary school teacher. She was co-author of our Back2Front: The Americas teachers guide which won a Highly Commended Award from the GA (Geographical Association) in 2015. Jane has previously taught at the International School of Bologna and written a range of resources and articles for The GA.
https://www.wildgoose.education/usa/back-2-frontthe-americas
Peter Wallin - Starbeck Education
Peter at Starbeck has many years’ of experience sourcing and selling both original and replica artefacts, offering a huge and diverse range of history, religious, natural and art-based artefacts specifically for use in the classroom. Many of our resources are developed specifically with the exciting and interesting artefacts we (and you) can get from Peter in mind.
http://www.starbeck.com/
Graham Taylor & Sarah Lord - Potted History
We have only recently been sourcing resources from Graham and his daughter Sarah at Potted History. Graham is a Potter, Experimental Archaeologist and Ancient Pottery Technology Specialist, based in Rothbury, Northumberland. He specialises in Prehistoric, Roman, Anglo-Saxon, Medieval and Post Medieval pottery of Britain and Ireland but can also cover Ancient Greek and Egyptian pottery. In addition to this, Graham offers; media presentations, demonstrations, workshops, talks, lectures, replicas, reconstructions and museum displays.
http://www.pottedhistory.co.uk/
We are proud to have collaborated with all of these people and will continue to seek out professional advice and expert authorities to enable us to develop informative, rich, factual and engaging resources to inspire our future generations.
