Spotted on Yammer

Did you spot the following on Yammer?

Updates from: The Big Bang; Explorify; RSPB Scotland; RHET; Tomorrow’s Engineers; STEM Learning; UK Safer Internet Centre; SSERC; Dumfries House; Education Scotland; Primary Science Teaching Trust; SQA Academy; Keep Scotland Beautiful; Digital Schools; Thinkuknow;

Opportunities from:  The Wood Foundation (Global Learning Partnership programme); Natural History Museum (Dippy the Dinosaur); Safer Internet Day; Primary Science Education Conference; BREATH (Lung health); Education Scotland (Makerspaces); Mindset Education (Mathematical Mindsets CPD); STEM Learning (Teaching Primary Science – Getting Started online CPD); OECD (Effective Science Teaching Strategies webinar)

Challenges and competitions from: Young Engineers and Science Clubs (pH of Scotland [P5-S6 and Terrarium Project [Early Years]); National Schools Partnership (Egg/Farming Free-Range Art Competition [7-11 years]); The Institute of Engineering & Technology (The Genetic Engineering Challenge [7-18 years]); Cyber First Girls competition; STAT WARS (film challenge); Computer Science Education Week (RAiSE Team Hour of Code challenge); Cyber Schools Programme [14-18 years]

FREE Resources from: Parent Zone (Self Esteem, Digital Safety & Resilience); BBC Own It; Topical Science Update; Royal Society of Chemistry (The science of mountain clothing); Digital Parenting; Digimaps; Go Forth (Bridges); Lantra (Land Based Careers Advice); Fife PSDO (STEAM-a-Story for Early Years); Royal Microscopical Society (free microscope loans); GSK (general STEM)

Funding available from:  British Science Association Grants for British Science Week;

Missed it?!  You can still catch up, just search the group to find old posts quickly

Computer Science Education Week (incorporating Hour of Code)

This year Computer Science Education Week runs from 3rd to 9th December.  To celebrate the RAiSE Team are running an Hour of Code virtual Expo where your pupils can show off their coding talents.

To take part your pupils will need to:

• Visit https://hourofcode.com/uk and click on Activities in the top menu.  You don’t need to set up any accounts.
• Select one of the following activities:
  • Dance Party
  • Minecraft (any option)
  • The Grinch
  • Star Wars
  • Make a Flappy Game
  • Code with Anna and Elsa
• The tutorials will teach the pupils all the skills they’ll need to create their own project or game in the final task.  It should take approximately one hour but experience shows most pupils need longer.  Keep in mind you can’t save these projects so they need to be completed in a single session.
• Once they have completed their project and clicked Finish, they will be given a unique URL (it will look something like this – https://studio.code.org/c/123456789).  Have them copy it (carefully!) and give it to you.
• Then visit our D&G Computing Science Education Week 2018 Yammer group and create a post to share the URL.  It can be anonymous but, if your pupils have media permission, then please share first name and class, and maybe some pictures too.

While you’re in the group tell everyone a little about your class and what you have been doing to deliver computing science.  Don’t worry if taking part in this Expo is your first experience of coding – everyone has to start somewhere!

Don’t forget to take a look at some of the other games that get shared.  Just copy their URL and type it into the address bar of your browser.

The great thing is all these activities are live now, so what are you waiting for – sign your school up now at Hour of Code and get coding!

Lung Health Input from Professor John Lockhart (UWS)

Stranraer Academy and associated Cluster Primaries were involved recently in engagement with Professor John Lockhart from UWS and the BREATH Project. He visited the schools and delivered input on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and lung health to the learners. It was a fantastic opportunity for the learners to not only learn vital information but also to make connections to citizen science opportunities and increase their STEM capital.

Please take 5 mins to read the press report from UWS https://www.uws.ac.uk/news/uws-academics-go-back-to-school-for-lung-health/

We hope to move forward with this project by offering further engagement opportunities within other Clusters across the Authority. To express interest in the meantime please drop me an email (gw08creightonkaren@ea.dumgal.sch.uk).

Maths Week Scotland

We saw some fantastic maths being done by schools across the Authority to celebrate this year’s Maths Week Scotland.  Take a look at what they got up to in Showcase Your Talents below.  Many pupils tried the RAiSE Team challenge to use Scratch to create their initials.  Working with teachers, we also created resources which linked maths and numeracy to the work of local businesses.  Of course, these activities can be done at any time of the year and can be found on our Yammer Group, just search for ‘Maths Week Scotland’.

FIRST in Scotland!

Fifty-one pupils from 8 schools from across the region were the first in Scotland to attend a FIRST Lego League Junior (FLL Jnr) Challenge Expo on 11th October at Dumfries & Galloway College thanks to support from The Wood Foundation, Energy Skills Partnership (ESP) and The Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET).

Throughout last term, the teams had been finding out more about how water is used, and creating a model demonstrating an aspect of water use built entirely with Lego and incorporating a working pump using a Lego WeDo 2.0. As well as developing their research and design skills, the challenge also encouraged team working, resilience and fun!

The challenge culminated with a fantastic day at the College, where pupils showcased their models. The College were fantastic hosts and also provide pupils and staff with a tour of their engineering facilities and lunch. The focus of the day was very much on celebrating achievement and having fun. While non-competitive, expert reviewers chatted to all the teams and awarded certificates and medals to every team in recognition of an exceptional aspect of their model and display.

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The feedback from the schools has been overwhelmingly positive, with everyone saying they would do it again and would recommend it to others. So why not try it yourself? Plans are already in progress to run another Expo in June.

The current challenge is ‘Mission Moon’. For each team (up to 6 pupils aged 9-10), you will need access to a Lego WeDo 2.0 kit and the challenge Inspire Kit. The Inspire Kit contains all the key Lego blocks you will need to build the moon rocket model (and then some!) plus Engineering Notebooks for the pupils and a detailed Meeting Guide for the project leader. It is available from the IET and costs £35 which is great value for the Lego alone.  To register you need to identify the Expo you plan to attend.  At the moment the Scottish colleges, include Dumfries & Galloway, aren’t listed but they should be up in January.  Make sure you are subscribed to our Yammer group to be the first to know when it goes live.

If you would like more information about any aspect of the FLL Jnr or Expo, contact Carol on gw08moyescarol@ea.dumgal.sch.uk or 07990 888929.

Introduce a Friend

We hope this session you have introduced, or have planned to introduce, some new aspect of STEM to your teaching or classroom.  If you’ve subscribed to this blog, or are a member of our Yammer group, then you already know that they are a great source of support, inspiration and opportunities.  But we know there are still many colleagues who may not be aware of their existence.  You can help change that.  Find one colleague who is not subscribed to the blog, or is yet to become a member of the D&G Full STEM Ahead Yammer group, and encourage them to sign up.  [And by ‘encourage’ we mean take them to a computer and stand over them while they do it ;-)]  You can find a helpful how-to sheet on our Yammer group or click here to download it: Yammer – How to Sheet – D&G Full STEM Ahead

Upskill Yourself

We know it isn’t always easy to get along to our twilight CPDs.  If you can’t make it there are many excellent online training programmes that you can do at a time that suits you, often at your own pace, and that are FREE!

If you don’t know your algorithms from your conditionals then try Teaching Computing Science Fundamentals from code.org

Get more out of Office 365 and take how you teach with technology to a whole new level by trying some of the Microsoft for Education courses.  You could even sign-up to become a certified  Microsoft Innovative Educator.

Feeling a bit unsure as to how to tackle practical science investigations with your whole class (especially if you don’t have a learning assistant to support)?  Been asked to take the lead on science in your school?  Then take a look at the Teaching Primary Science: Getting Started course from the National STEM Learning Centre.   The current course is already underway, and it’s not too late to join it, but you can also join the courses starting on the 25th February 2019 or 13th May 2019.  It’s hosted by Future Learn, who also offer a number of different STEM courses.

And if you just want to refresh your knowledge on a specific aspect of science, then we highly recommend Reach Out CPD.  Created by TigTag and Imperial College London, it gives practical teaching ideas for science across the levels, as well as developing your own knowledge and understanding.

If you do give any of these a try, or you’ve discovered a great resource we haven’t mentioned, then please share on the Full STEM Ahead Yammer group.

Showcase Your Talents!

Penninghame Primary

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Mrs McQuat has a great Tinkering Space set up in her P1 Classroom at Penninghame.  The pupils are currently looking at Electricity and have had a great time taking an old heater and a Dyson to pieces; exploring all the parts that are inside and discussing how it works.

“We looked at the Dyson hoover to find out how it worked. It sooks up the rubbish and puts it in the clear bit. We can take it off to empty it and it goes to the bin lorry. Sometimes the hoover doesn’t sook up stuff. It might be broken or the pipes get blocked . we unblocked it so Mrs McQuat could hoover again!” P1 Pupil.

“We have a tinker area in our class. We take things apart with screwdrivers to find out how they work. The heater has a fuse in the plug to help it work. The curly wire heats up when you plug it in and the little blows the hot air out and makes you feel warm and sweat!!” P1 Pupil.

Kelloholm Primary

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Primary 6 at Kelloholm also took part in the RAiSE Maths Week Scotland Challenge using Beebots and Scratch to write code programmes to “draw” their initials/names.  Again, thank you to Mrs White for sharing this learning with us all.  P6 and P7 also attended Sanquhar Academy to complete one of the Maths Week Scotland with Business Links Challenges. They worked in groups along with the S3 class to complete the Brown Brothers challenge. In the afternoon the learners found out about the careers in the Brown Brothers factory and where the employees used maths in their daily work.

Sandhead and Drummore Primaries

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South Rhins Primaries; Sandhead and Drummore celebrated Maths Week Scotland by participating in a variety of maths based activities to help promote a positive attitude towards numeracy and maths. The week started off with a fun afternoon where parents and family members were invited into school to play board games. This proved to be a great success! Throughout the week; children also participated in an online maths competition on Sumdog; where they competed against other pupils and schools. The week was rounded off as both partnership schools spent the day together. Throughout the day a variety of maths activities were rotated; Sumdog games on the computers; maths challenges that proved to be a right brain teaser (even for some of the staff!) and a fantastic selection of board games. The highlight of the day had to be the Xplorer workshop held in the hall. The younger children thoroughly enjoyed playing with and controlling Beebot and the older children got to build and program a Lego model that moved. The whole week was a fantastic, fun experience; thoroughly enjoyed by all and signified that maths is not at all boring!!

Hardgate, Lochrutton and Springholm Primaries

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Mathematicians at Work!  Hardgate, Lochrutton and Springholm Partnership came together for Scottish Maths Week recently. The children worked together across the partnership on a range of Math challenges, applying the skills and knowledge they have been learning in their classes. The children used shape, measure and numeracy skills to solve problems from the real world including engineering and art based challenges (the Primary 1 children even used music to help them learn numbers). It was a really enjoyable day with the children showing real enthusiasm for the challenges. We look forward to seeing them becoming the mathematicians of the future.

Lincluden Primary

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Lincluden P3 class had great fun exploring shape, position and movement with their Beebots during Maths Week Scotland.

Leswalt, Portpatrick and Kirkcolm Primaries

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The North Rhins Partnership schools have been busy celebrating Maths Week Scotland which ran from 10th – 16th September. The aim of the week was to raise the profile of maths and awareness of how maths is everywhere. Each day was given a different theme for pupils to explore.  The week kicked off with pupils getting creative and exploring ‘Maths in Art.’ The younger classes studied artist Paul Klee’s work which uses various 2D shapes and then designed their own ‘Castle and Sun.’ The older pupils created some parabolic curve line designs, creating curved shapes from the intersection of straight lines. Some beautiful artwork was produced by pupils!  Pupils then explored ‘Maths in ICT’ and participated in the D&G RAiSE team’s Beebot and Scratch challenges. The younger pupils programmed a Beebot and the older pupils used the coding website Scratch to draw specific letters and spell out a given word.  In the middle of the week, parents and family members were invited into school to bake some tasty treats alongside pupils. The younger pupils practised counting out ingredients to make Rugby Slice, and the older pupils were practising weighing and reading scales to make Rocky Road.  Later in the week, pupils participated in various active games exploring how Maths is in PE, exercising both our bodies and our minds!  Maths Week came to an end with pupils exploring ‘Maths Outside.’ The younger classes used natural materials to aid them with counting and the older pupils participated in a maths scavenger hunt, finding different examples of various mathematical concepts outdoors, including 2D and 3D shapes, angles, and lines of symmetry.  Over the course of the week, some families were busy taking part in our ‘Maths is Everywhere’ homework challenge, finding examples of Maths in and around the home. Pupils brought in some fantastic and very creative collages.  Pupils had a great week of fun exploring Maths and we can truly say that Maths is everywhere!

Kirkinner Primary

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Kirkinner Primary School P1s had fun with counting, ordering, recognising and writing numbers during Maths Week Scotland. They got dirty digging up the potatoes that had been grown in the school garden. They counted them with the help of P3/4 and there were an amazing 85 potatoes altogether! The learners then had a go at forming some of the numbers they have been working on. Back in class they also worked in pairs to order and sequence numbers 0-10. It was great to see them all enjoying the activities.

Noblehill Primary

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Noblehill were very busy during Maths Week Scotland.  P3/2 spent time making different shapes with lollipop sticks. The learners had to work out what they needed to make sides equal/ different and make shapes bigger or smaller than others. They now know about hexagons, pentagons, octagons and even quadrilaterals.  P4 made pieces of artwork using numbers for the shapes – very creative!  P7A worked in small groups to solve numeracy problems. They then had to record, show and explain how they solved ( or didn’t solve the problem) to the rest of the class. There were lots of great ideas and even some friendly disagreements!! The trickiest part was deciding on what strategies to use.  As a starter to their Shape and Angle, Symmetry and Transformation work, the class revised different types of angles and triangles.

Running an afterschool club, entered a competition or just have some excellent STEM curricular work?  Then have it showcased in the Full STEM Ahead Round-Up.

We know that celebrating success across the region is key in raising attainment and showcasing good STEM practice.  If you have a piece of work or activity you would like us to share with fellow learners and practitioners across Dumfries and Galloway, then send a photograph and short description (no more than 150 words) to gw08moyescarol@ea.dumgal.sch.uk and look out for yourself in our next issue!

If you do just one thing this month …  

CPD Twilights

Book now through CPD solutions.

• 22 Nov 18 – Addressing Gender Imbalance – Troqueer PS
• 26 Nov 18 – The Subsea Channel – Rephad PS
• 27 Nov 18 – The Subsea Channel – Closeburn PS
• 28 Nov 18 – Addressing Gender Imbalance – Castle Douglas PS
• 29 Nov 18 – Addressing Gender Imbalance – Hecklegirth PS
• 3 Dec 18 – Introduction to Scratch Coding – Gretna PS
• 4 Dec 18 – Introduction to Scratch Coding – Kirkcudbright PS
• 5 Dec 18 – Introduction to Scratch Coding – Rephad PS
• 6 Dec 18 – Introduction to Scratch Coding – Closeburn PS
• 8 Jan 19 – Lego WeDo – Rephad PS
• 14 Jan 19 – Textiles Technology – Gretna PS
• 15 Jan 19 – Textiles Technology – Kirkcudbright PS
• 21 Jan 19 – Textiles Technology – Rephad PS
• 22 Jan 19 – Textiles Technology – Closeburn PS
• 4 Feb 19 – Science Skills – Closeburn PS
• 5 Feb 19 – Science Skills – Rephad PS
• 11 Feb 19 – Science Skills – Kirkcudbright PS
• 12 Feb 19 – Science Skills – Gretna PS
• 30 Apr 19 – Technology to Enhance Literacy – Gretna PS
• 1 May 19 – Technology to Enhance Literacy – Kirkcudbright PS
• 7 May 19 – Technology to Enhance Literacy – Rephad PS
• 8 May 19 – Technology to Enhance Literacy – Closeburn PS

Coming Soon

• 24 Nov – 2 Dec 18 – National Tree Week
• 3-9 Dec 18 – Computer Science Education Week (incorporating Hour of Code)
• 1 Jan – 21 Feb 19 – Big Schools Birdwatch
• 21-27 Jan 19 – Big Energy Saving Week
• 26-27 Jan 19 – Big Garden Birdwatch
• 5 Feb 19 – Safer Internet Day
• Mar 19 – Waste Week
• 8-17 Mar 19 – British Science Week
• 14 Mar 19 – Pi Day
• 18 Jun 19 – Great Science Share Day

Showcase Your Talents!

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The infant class at Brownhall Primary School enjoyed their success at a coding workshop with Mrs. Moyes this term. Pupils worked collaboratively, and had great fun solving problems at code.org.

“Hello Ruby – Adventures in Coding” and “Hello Ruby – Journey inside the Computer” (texts written by Linda Liukas) are being used to enhance computational thinking in Primary 1/2 at Brownhall Primary School. We are recreating Ruby’s journey and meeting all her friends from the story along the way. The pupils have been making their own computers and writing helpful algorithms for Ruby. The highlight of this week has been a classroom visit from the real Ruby!!

We love this fantastic video created by a P7 pupil at Calside Primary.  The teacher set a homework challenge to “create a Chinese landmark” linked to their topic on China.  Callum decided to make his model using Tinkercad, a Computer Aided Design application for children, and recorded a screen-cast of the process.

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Love this idea from Carolyn Scott and the P4/5s at Heathhall Primary, as a way to cover a number of benchmarks, including ‘selects and use applications and software to capture, create and modify text, images, sound and video (TCH2-01a)’

Carolyn says: ‘The children researched the battle and we looked at a famous painting done after the battle using Jacobite prisoners for authenticity! They then drew straws to find out if they were going to be a Jacobite or a Redcoat soldier. They had already found out what sort of things each side used and the weapons they would have used.
They posed in their battle positions for a photograph. Next they had to use the “Paint” programme to draw over their photograph to transform themselves into a character from the battle. After two sessions they were ready to save into the shared folder so they could be printed out in colour ready for our display!’

Running an afterschool club, entered a competition or just have some excellent STEM curricular work? Have it showcased in the monthly Full STEM Ahead Round Up.

We know that celebrating success across the region is key in raising attainment and showcasing good STEM practice.  If you have a piece of work or activity you would like us to share with fellow learners and practitioners across Dumfries and Galloway, then send a photograph and short description (no more than 150 words) to gw08moyescarol@ea.dumgal.sch.uk and look out for yourself in next month’s issue!

• Farm Visits – all visits to farms MUST be organised via RHET who will put together a fantastic and educational day for you and your class.  These are really popular, so book at least a term in advance;
• if you can’t get to a farm, bring the farm to you with a visiting speaker;
• their posters are useful for supporting a range of topics;
• and, they’ve got some great videos on the You Tube channel; too late for this year, but next January check out their series about Haggis, Neeps and Tatties.

There’s a lot more to explore, including CPD opportunities for teachers, so visit the site today.

Coming Soon

16-21 April – Dumfries & Galloway Science Festival Week

20 April – Big Bang Festival at Easterbrook Hall, Dumfries

21 April – Science Festival at Easterbrook Hall, Dumfries

14-18 May – National Digital Learning Week

17 May – Outdoor Learning Day

Twilights – book through CPD Directory

17 Apr – Getting started with the BBC Micro:bit @ Annadale & Eskdale venue tbc

18 Apr – Getting started with the BBC Micro:bit @ Stewartry venue tbc

23 Apr – Getting started with the BBC Micro:bit @ Wigtownshire venue tbc

30 Apr – Getting started with the BBC Micro:bit @ Nithsdale venue tbc

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That’s well cool!

Carrutherstown Primary P4-7 Pupil

on using Lego WeDo for the first time 

Showcase Your Talents!

Running an afterschool club, entered a competition or just have some excellent STEM curricular work? Have it showcased in the monthly Full STEM Ahead Round Up.

We know that celebrating success across the region is key in raising attainment and showcasing good STEM practice.  If you have a piece of work or activity you would like us to share with fellow learners and practitioners across Dumfries and Galloway, then send a photograph and short description (no more than 150 words) to gw08moyescarol@ea.dumgal.sch.uk and look out for yourself in next month’s issue!

• Resources aligned to CfE – they have identified the Ex&Os that are relevant to Chemistry at Early to Second level, and linked them to the most appropriate resources from Learn Chemistry for you to use with your class.
• Top Trumps: Elements – a fun way to learn about the elements with eye-catching images and fun facts.  Packs cost £6 each but they provide a free Top Trumps Primary Support Pack and Top Trumps Secondary Support Pack.
• Science Ideas Web Resources – ideas for teaching science (not just chemistry) through popular IDL topics, such as The Vikings, World War II, Ancient Egypt, The Victorians, Space, and more.   Each topic has a different web for Early, First and Second level.
• Mission Starlight – Sanquhar Academy have joined 500 schools across the world to take part in this year’s RSC global experiment – and you could too.  Suitable for primary and secondary pupils, there are 4 investigations to find out what are the best materials to protect astronauts from damaging UV light.  Once complete, you can upload the results of your investigations.  Great if you are doing a space topic, or, with summer approaching, to make pupils more aware of the risks of UV light.

There’s a lot more to explore, including CPD opportunities for you, so visit the site today.

Book of the Month

Hello Ruby – Adventures in Coding by Linda Liukas, published by Feiwel & Friends, ISBN: 978-1250065001

“The world’s most whimsical way to learn about computers, programming and technology”

Ruby is a mischievous 6 year old with a ‘huge imagination’.  In this book we meet Ruby and her father who is often away from home working and travelling.  In his absence he leaves her a challenge – to find 5 gems – and through the story we discover how Ruby uses her imagination to locate the hidden gems.  But it is much more than an engaging story book for young children (and possibly older ones!).  It also contains an Activity Book full of exercises linked to the story that introduce children to the key concepts and skills of computing science and computational thinking.

Written for parents to work on together with their child, it’s also ideal for use in the classroom at early and first level.  Indeed it has been recommended by some countries as part of their computing science curriculum, and their lessons plans are free to download on the associated website, www.helloruby.com.  The website also contains a range of additional activities to support Adventures in Coding and the second book in the series, Journey Inside the Computer; as well as printables to support the activities in the book.

Author, Linda Liukas, is an inspiration.  Digital Champion of Finland, she left her job with Codeacademy to work on Hello Ruby – which she funded using Kickstarter.  She is the founder of Rails Girls which teaches programming to young women everywhere.  She also believes that code will be the 21st century literacy, and that we all need to learn the ABCs of programming.  Find out more about her and why she was inspired to write Hello Ruby in this TEDTalk.

I’d say this book is definitely worth getting if you are teaching infants and are looking for ways to deliver the Computing Science Es&Os at Early and First level.  The illustrations are bright and fun, and while it encourages children to think like a computer you don’t actually need to use a computer – so you don’t spend half of your precious computer slot trying to get logged in.  At just under £10 on Amazon for a hardback book, it’s great value.

Coming Soon

16-21 April – Dumfries & Galloway Science Festival Week

20 April – Big Bang Festival at Easterbrook Hall, Dumfries

21 April – Science Festival at Easterbrook Hall, Dumfries

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Too often we give children answers to remember, rather than problems to solve.

Roger Lewin, Anthropologist

The Polar Explorer Programme will encourage and support schools to enrich their teaching of STEM subjects, placing relevant CoE curriculum topics within the context of the construction and launch of the ship, and of polar exploration in general.

Each year primary schools can apply to access additional support to develop the teaching and learning of STEM subjects in their school.  Selected schools will be assigned a Polar Ambassador who will provide intensive support to improve progression in STEM subjects from primary to secondary school.

The support of a Polar Ambassador will help selected schools to increase pupils:

• enjoyment and engagement in STEM subject lessons and extra-curricular activities
• confidence in learning science and in scientific enquiry skills
• awareness of the importance and relevance of science to society, and the role this plays in relation to helping people live with and adapt to climate change
• knowledge of career opportunities available to those pupils who study STEM subjects

The Polar Ambassador will work with selected schools and provide:

• in-school professional development for teachers
• access to free resources and activities which have been curated and developed to link in with the commissioning and operation of the ship
• ideas and suggestions to support schools’ outreach activities

In addition to the support of their Polar Ambassador, schools will also receive a Polar Explorer resource pack and have the opportunity to apply for additional grant funding of up to £2,500 to support in-school activities and transition in STEM subjects from primary to secondary school.

There are 50 free spaces in the Polar Explorer Programme’s third year being introduced this spring.  Many schools are currently taking place in this programme, but none so far from within Dumfries and Galloway.  Let’s change that!  Applications for year three will open in the Spring term of 2018. To express interest please click here or email direct to polar@stem.org.uk

Good luck!

How safe are your passwords?

We saw a great poster recently about how to keep your passwords safe.  It suggested treating them like you would your pants:  change them regularly; don’t share them with others; and don’t leave them lying on your desk!  When it comes to children it still holds true, but they need some adult guidance to change them regularly (passwords and pants) and, there is every likelihood they will share them with others and leave them lying around (again we’re talking about passwords and pants, as any P1 teacher will tell you!).

It’s never too early to teach your pupils about safe and secure passwords.  Okay, it is easier for every P1’s password to be ‘red’, and every child in the class knows it; but if that’s still the case come P3  then not so good.  And of course it’s easier to pin a list of passwords up on the wall so children can go and find their own without having to come to you every time they need to log on; but that’s not modelling good practice.

Passwords are mentioned in the benchmarks from Early level onwards:

• Early – ‘Demonstrates an understanding of the importance of passwords and passcodes’
• First – ‘Demonstrates an understanding for the need for strong passwords’
• Second – ‘Uses strong passwords’

At Third and Fourth level onwards they are not mentioned specifically; by this time they should know to change them regularly, not to share them, and not to leave them on their desks (hopefully, at this stage, we’re no longer talking about pants!).

If you want some more advice about how to set strong, but easily remembered, passwords check out these resources:  Connect Safely; Wikihow; or How To Geek.  And How Secure Is My Password is a really useful site to check how quickly your password could be hacked by a computer.

Safety Snakes from Barefoot

World Book Day

We’re sure you will be aware that World Book Day is on 1st March this year.  It may seem strange for us to be promoting a literacy initiative in our STEM update, however, STEM can be used in so many ways to support literacy.  There are some fantastic resources at Roald Dahl – Teach the Stories to support IDL actitivities, including STEM, linked to Roald Dahl’s stories.  Alternatively, why not have pupils present a book review or recreate a scene from their favourite book using Animation; video or Green Screen; in comic book format; or even by using block coding (there’s a Create a Story tutorial in Scratch!).   Alternatively, perhaps use modelling skills to recreate a location or object from the book.   If you’re not feeling 100% confident about doing it yourself then get in touch with a member of the RAiSE Team – we’d love to help!

Quote of the Month

‘Intelligence is the habit of persistently trying to understand things and make them function better. Intelligence is working to figure things out, varying strategies until a workable solution is found… One’s intelligence is the sum of one’s habits of mind.’

Resnick, L. (1999) Making America Smarter – Education Week Century Series

Sourced from:  Thinking Like and Engineer – Implications for the Education System

 

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