Over 90 percent of parents want kids to learn more about women’s achievements
| 13th March 2023
A staggering 94 percent of UK parents want their children to learn more about the achievements of women and 85 percent believe schools should do more to teach their youngsters about the world.
Questa Kids, an online children’s educational site, commissioned a poll of a thousand parents of primary school children as part of Women’s History Month and found that one in eight (81 percent) buy educational content outside of the school curriculum.
A similar percentage, (83 percent) felt the culture and traditions of other countries should be taught as well as British traditions (86 percent).
Now Questa Kids, a glorious romp around the world aimed at curious youngsters, has been launched to take those views from parents on board.
It’s aimed at children’s learning as they educate themselves about alternative cultures through interactive tasks and journey through learning to different countries. It also sets the record straight on the role of women globally and through history.
The brainchild of founder Laura Curtis, a digital learning designer who specialises in creating compelling teaching tools, advising both universities and big business.
She is joined by Dr Ruth Talbot an expert in child psychology and education specialist, Professor Elaine Ferneley.
“Our ambition is to help parents and guardians in curating curious minds of children through exploring different cultures, using pioneering learning techniques that marry the best in educational methods and child psychology,” said 34-year-old Laura.
“It was born from my own experience of engaging children who had been turned off from learning through harnessing their natural inquisitiveness and creating tasks that feed their imagination and appetite for knowledge.
“It is also unashamedly designed from a female perspective to give a true reflection of the impact of women on the world stage, so we can empower girls as we have seen the majority of parents want. They can see what it is possible to achieve and Questa Kids will also educate everyone about forgotten women and the hidden female impact on our world which is crucial for boys too.”
It is based on two characters, Questa and Zeke, the latter a grumpy alien iguana. They travel and collect tokens learning the cultures and values of different countries from an often-overlooked female perspective.
Questa Kids is primarily aimed at seven to 12-year-olds and at launch will cover three countries, Iceland, Spain and Japan as more countries and chapters will be added each month, with a total of 195 countries on completion.
The content has been curated to reflect the views of parents and what they want their children to learn and also how they want them to absorb education.
Parents ranked history (90 percent), food (88 percent), animals (87 percent), music (73 percent) and the natural world (78 percent) as very important topics that youngsters should be taught.
They also wanted children’s play to be used as part of the learning experience, with two-thirds wanting fun facts included, as well as quizzes (42 percent), arts and crafts (40 percent).
Taking that insight on board, Questa Kids content covers gender roles as well as research, mapping, cultural and historical activities, and does not shy away from covering contentious issues with sensitive subject matter (SSM) warnings to allow children to learn more about contentious or complex issue. This enables them to guide and manage children’s involvement and so they can make sense of the complex world around them, such as war.
Said Laura: “Children can start their Questa Kids journey as seven-year-olds and continue their adventure for as long as they want, as we add more chapters and characters. It’s the perfect tool to inspire learning and give them a whole world view. They will be immersed, giving guilt-free screen time and we know from our trials it also has tremendous appeal for some children with learning difficulties as well helping to teach English.”
Questa Kids is Ofsted compliant and curriculum focused using a pedagogical method that combines a mixture of approaches, including the 7Cs, which emphasise both effective learning and soft skills development, while ensuring that the child’s experience remains at its heart.
Added Laura: “We also take into account best practices for digital learning, including aspects such as gamification, effective UX design and incorporating diverse learning styles. Our approach outlines a perspective rather than a fully laid out curriculum, and by combining several different theories Questa Kids becomes stronger while still flexible. Our philosophy is that if children aren’t interested in learning, it is always rendered less effective. It’s fun, brave, open-minded and tolerant, all values we want in the next generation.”
Easy to navigate, Questa Kids can be used totally online, with a 30-day free trial and is then priced at £9.99 per month on subscription or a one-off payment of £99.99, giving 12 months for the price of 10.
For further information visit www.questakids.com or follow questakids.com on Instagram.