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has revealed it is expanding its range of free online STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) activities to keep children educate and entertained over the holidays.

The tech company’s selection of activities includes a new game called Cyber Robotics Challenge.

This three-hour long event tasks a youngster with using maths to ensure a friend’s birthday present gets delivered by an Amazon fulfilment centre robot.   

Amazon has also expanded its popular educational platform Maths4All to include secondary school-level activities as well as those geared towards younger pupils.

Maths4All offers hundreds of worksheets on Kindle and Fire Tablets and maths challenges via Alexa. 

Amazon said its free activities ‘can help maintain and accelerate learning and development’ at a time when children have had to adapt to life in a pandemic.  

Shot of the interactive Cyber Robotics Challenge, letting children learn how Amazon manages to deliver so many packages with same-day delivery

Shot of the interactive Cyber Robotics Challenge, letting children learn how Amazon manages to deliver so many packages with same-day delivery 

Ofsted  that UK children of all ages and backgrounds have lost some basic skills and PTS Terbaik ASEAN learning as a result of school closures and restrictions. 

‘At Amazon, we are passionate about education and learning,’ said John Boumphrey, UK country manager at Amazon.

‘After a disruptive year of Covid-19-related school closures and distanced learning, we wanted to support families by providing free and easily-accessible educational resources to help young people keep learning while having fun over the school holidays.’ 

Here’s a look at the free activities available to children as part of Amazon’s push for children to make up for lost learning in STEM subjects. 

Cyber Robotics Challenge 

Cyber Robotics Challenge is a three-hour virtual learning experience where students learn the basics of computer science

Cyber Robotics Challenge is a three-hour virtual learning experience where students learn the basics of computer science 

Cyber Robotics Challenge is one activity on Amazon Future Engineer, the tech giant’s programme for lower-income backgrounds to try computer science and coding. 

Challengers have to take control of Hercules, Amazon’s small, round fulfilment centre robot, to deliver their friend a birthday present on time. 

The challenge is hosted virtually by Fernanda and Jacques, two real-life Amazon Future Engineer apprentices, who guide each student through the challenge and teach them about their own careers in computer science. 

Students need to sign up with an account on the Cyber Robotics Challenge homepage and complete to earn a spot on a virtual leaderboard. 

As well as hosting students, teachers can sign up an entire class on the platform within a ‘virtual classroom’ for a group play mode.  

Other free resources available as part of Amazon Future Engineer include Hour of Code: Dance Party, an interactive dance-themed online coding tutorial. 

The programme includes opportunities for students from lower income backgrounds aged 18 and over to apply for apprenticeships and university bursaries. 

Maths4All 

Amazon highlighted how some school children had lost basic skills and learning as a result of school closures caused by the pandemic

Amazon highlighted how some school children had lost basic skills and learning as a result of school closures caused by the pandemic

In July, Amazon teamed up with education bodies to , an online ‘storefront’ providing free primary maths resources.  

Maths4All provides a selection of free, curriculum-linked maths worksheets, apps and games to complement work done at school. 

Now, Maths4All is being expanded this week to also offer free maths learning resources for secondary school students.

New offerings include GCSE and A-level prep books, maths books and workbooks from the Open University and the University of Cambridge and computing books from University College London. 

Amazon has also teamed up with The Open University and maths sites including Conquer Maths and Cazoom Maths for the new secondary content.

According to the Amazon, it’s added hundreds of new resources like books and worksheets for Kindle and Fire Tablets and free games and apps.

Jamie Frost, who runs the online learning platform Dr Frost Maths, has also contributed a number of original secondary resources to Maths4All. 

‘I want to engage students in a way that is relevant to their interests and their lives, as this is the best way to encourage students to consider further study in these subjects,’ he said.

‘Our passion and enthusiasm as teachers plays a key role in developing world-class learning resources.’

Alexa – the Maths Coach 

Young owners of an Amazon Echo smart speaker (pictured, the new spherical model released this year) can engage with Alexa in a round of maths tests

Young owners of an Amazon Echo smart speaker (pictured, the new spherical model released this year) can engage with Alexa in a round of maths tests

Any bored children during the Christmas holidays can also test their maths skills with Alexa, Amazon’s digital assistant. 

Just like Amazon offers apps for smartphones, it offers ‘skills’ for its Amazon Echo range of voice-activated smart speakers, which are powered by Alexa. 

Amazon users can enable and disable Alexa Skills on their Amazon account with a simple click of a button.  

For the Christmas holidays, ‘Maths Coach’ is a skill that aims to keep children’s ‘mathematical brain active’ with five levels of difficulty.

Once Maths Coach is enabled, kids can say ‘Alexa, ask the Maths Coach to start a test’ or ‘Alexa, ask the Maths Coach for a hard addition test’. 

For some more ‘light-hearted learning’, they can also say ‘Alexa, tell me a fact about maths?’, ‘Alexa, tell me a joke about maths’ or ‘Alexa, rap about pi’.   

There are also games that can be enabled through Alexa Skills, including Math Mountain, where players have to answer seven maths questions correctly to reach the summit. 

Amazon account holders can enable Maths Coach online, turning digital assistant Alexa into a maths expert

Amazon account holders can enable Maths Coach online, turning digital assistant Alexa into a maths expert

Amazon Longitude Explorer Prize 

In November, Amazon launched the Amazon Longitude Explorer Prize, a UK-wide challenge for 11- to 16-year-olds to submit their ideas on how they would use technology for social good. 

Teams are invited to ‘put their passion for STEM subjects to the test’ by creating solutions to some of the world’s biggest issues from climate change to ageing populations. 

The programme hopes to provide young people from all backgrounds with an introduction to the possibilities of entrepreneurship in STEM.

Children can form team and enter the virtual competition until February 12, making the Christmas holidays a perfect time to enter, according to Amazon. 

The firm said it’s also working with education charity Teach First to support the recruitment and training of 50 secondary school computer science teachers and more than 200 careers strategy personnel.  

<div class="art-ins mol-factbox sciencetech" data-version="2" id="mol-7fed60c0-34aa-11eb-8b65-4b08ea74f04a" website launches free STEM resources for kids for the Christmas break

Strictly's Neil Jones supplements earnings with £15 dance tutorials

‘s Neil Jones is offering £15 dance tutorials to supplement his earnings on the show.

The professional dancer, 38, was dropped from this year’s main line-up on Strictly and does not have a celebrity partner, featuring in group dances instead.

And in a bid to boost his pay packet, the star is offering 45 minute online dance classes through his website UrbanBallroom.

Extra cash: Strictly Come Dancing's Neil Jones is offering £15 dance tutorials to supplement his earnings on the BBC show

Extra cash: Strictly Come Dancing’s Neil Jones is offering £15 dance tutorials to supplement his earnings on the BBC show

As a choreographer and holder of 45 championship dance titles, it’s little wonder that Neil should use his spare time to impart his dance knowledge on willing members of the public.

His £15 fee includes an online tutorial, plus a recording so customers can continue practising in their own time. 

The website states that ‘UrbanBallroom is not just for young dancers it’s for all ages and all levels even complete beginners.’

Side hustle: In a bid to boost his pay packet, the star is offering 45 minute online dance classes through his website UrbanBallroom (pictured with 2019 celebrity partner Alex Scott)

Side hustle: In a bid to boost his pay packet, the star is offering 45 minute online dance classes through his website UrbanBallroom (pictured with 2019 celebrity partner Alex Scott)

Last year, Neil announced his separation from wife Katya Jones, 31, months after she was spotted kissing her Strictly partner Seann Walsh in the 2018 series. 

Neil has since found love with Columbian dancer Luisa Eusse, though this romance has also been plague with cheating rumours.

It’s been said that tattooed beauty Luisa, 24, cheated with student Daniela Becerra.

Luisa is believed to have met Daniela, 20, on a night out at Cirque Le Soir club. After partying at the venue, she said to have invited Daniela back to Neil’s flat where they ‘had sex’, before later telling her lover she was ‘married’. 

Dropped: The professional dancer, 38, was dropped from this year's main line-up on Strictly and does not have a celebrity partner, featuring in group dances instead (pictured right)

Dropped: The professional dancer, 38, was dropped from this year’s main line-up on Strictly and does not have a celebrity partner, featuring in group dances instead (pictured right)

Teacher: His £15 fee includes an online tutorial, plus a recording so customers can continue practising in their own time

Teacher: His £15 fee includes an online tutorial, plus a recording so customers can continue practising in their own time

A pal of Daniela’s told : ‘She [Luisa] asked me if I wanted to go to her bedroom.She cheated on Neil with me. We had sex. We were in the bedroom for an hour – a long time. It wasn’t a quick ten minutes.’

The friend also claimed Luisa revealed her relationship with Neil after the deed was done, with the dancer saying she was ‘married’.   

MailOnline contacted Neil and Luisa’s representatives for a comment at the time. 

Split: Last year, Neil announced his separation from wife Katya Jones, 31, months after she was spotted kissing her Strictly partner Seann Walsh in the 2018 series

Split: Last year, Neil announced his separation from wife Katya Jones, 31, months after she was spotted kissing her Strictly partner Seann Walsh in the 2018 series

Romance: Neil has since found love with Columbian dancer Luisa Eusse, though this romance has also been plague with cheating rumours

Romance: Neil has since found love with Columbian dancer Luisa Eusse, though this romance has also been plague with cheating rumours

After finding out Luisa wasn’t single, terbaik sumatera performance art student Daniela is thought to have been shocked and wanted to leave, leaving the property at around 6am.

After the wild night of partying, Daniela allegedly told pals: ‘I had no idea who Neil Jones was.I follow the Spanish version of Strictly Come Dancing, not the one here.’ 

Luisa is Neil’s first public relationship since his marriage to Strictly Come Dancing professional Katya ended in 2019. 

Oh dear: It's been said that tattooed beauty Luisa, 24, cheated with student Daniela Becerra

Oh dear: It’s been said that tattooed beauty Luisa, 24, cheated with student Daniela Becerra