Category Archives: Resources

Learning for Sustainability and STEM

With Scotland hosting the COP26 Climate conference, held in Glasgow this year there is a renewed momentum behind Learning for Sustainability (LfS) as part of our CfE curriculum.

With this in mind we have been working hard to support our practitioners with this.  Below is a summary of the offers we have for practitioners to engage in.

For all updates on LfS in Falkirk please see the LfS blog.

  • We have a LfS resources page on our blog here which also contains a self directed learning CLPL on climate change for those practitioners who would like to brush up on the terminology and concepts.
  • We have new STEM through Stories planners for LfS. These are for Early, First and Second Level.
  • We have been lucky in Falkirk to secure the training and resources to be able to run 12 Pondering Pondlife microorganisms workshops with schools. The training and equipment for this has been provided by EBSOC.  For more detail on this please see our June newsletter here.  To sign up please email gw14hanningbarbara@glow.sch.uk
  • We have put together several videos on our blog to outline possible projects or resources you could engage with to cover LfS and STEM.  These are linked to the 5 Falkirk LfS bundles. Exploring Sustainable Practices, Global Citizenship, Culture and Heritage, Exploring Values and Attitudes and Exercising Postive Activism.  We are hosting live Q and A sessions for these over the coming weeks.  Sign up on CPD manager using the links below.

Exploring Sustainable Practices: Session 1, 7th September, 4-5pm via teams, sign up here.

Featuring: Jacobs Engineering, Easter Bush Science Outreach Centre, Royal Society of Chemistry, Zero Waste Scotland and RHET

Global Citizenship: Session 2, 9th September, 4-5pm via teams, sign up here.

Featuring: Little Lighthouse-Laura Robinson Larbert Village Primary School, Lego League- Sarah Myles St Margarets Primary School, John Muir Award-Liam Mason and William Quirke Falkirk High School, RSPB Wild Challenge.

Connecting with Culture and Heritage: Session 3, 14th September, 4-5pm via teams, sign up here.

Featuring: The Engine Shed, Seagull Trust, Great Place Falkirk.

Exploring Values and Attitudes Session 4, 15th September, 4-5pm via teams, sign up here.

Featuring: Fiona Shaw Ed Scot IGBE, Jayne Quoiani Easter Bush Science Outreach Centre.

Exercising Positive Activism Session 5, 21st September, 4-5pm via teams, sign up here.

Featuring: Eco Schools-Bantaskin Primary, Enterprise Scotland, Young STEM Leader

If you would like any further information on any of these opportunities please just get in touch.  gw14hanningbarbara@glow.sch.uk

Computational Thinking CLPL

Here is our Computational Thinking CLPL.  This came back in our practitioner surveys as an area  which required support and training.  We can understand why as it sounds like a really complex and difficult concept.  In the creation of this CLPL we have found some great examples of practice and some excellent support resources.  Hopefully you will agree.  If you click on the links below you should be taken to each of the presentations for this CLPL.  This will work better on a laptop than a phone or tablet.

Computational Thinking Early Level

Computational Thinking First Level

Computational Thinking Second Level

#ArtyMathsFalkirk for Maths Week 2020

Hi All

Its maths week 28th Sept-4th October

We have come up with some maths week challenges for our P1-S2 Falkirk pupils please see them below.  We would love to see your responses on twitter. Tweet your work using #ArtyMathsFalkirk and #MathsWeekScot and tag us @RAiSE_Falkirk and @numhubchampfalk

 

 

 

Context planners for our ‘new normal’

Hi All 

We hope you have managed to enjoy a break in some form over the summer.  As we are all returning to a new normal and finding our feet, we are taking a break from providing CLPL for a short while.  We are working in the background to develop more CLPL sessions and other exciting STEM opportunities which we hope to bring to you later in the term.  For now, we would like to reassure you we are still here for any advice/support you may need, please feel free to contact us. 

We would like to share with you some resources you may find useful in this new normal.  Prior to the summer we worked as a team with all the RAiSE officers across Scotland to produce a resource for use by teachers on return to school.  The reasoning behind the creation of these resources was that pre-summer, there was the possibility teachers could return to a blended learning model.   We set to work trying to provide support for this model.  As it turns out we are not in a blended learning model, however, the resources created are still valuable in the teaching context we now find ourselves with some limitations on group work, resource sharing and potentially lengthy pupil absences.  As a result, we are publishing these resources now for use as you wish. 

These context planners are for Early, First and Second level to include Es and Os from across the curriculum (not just STEM).  The planners provide opportunities and complete resources for: home based learning, classroom working and IDL (Inter Disciplinary Learning) experiences.  Consideration has been given to pupils having to work relatively self-supported, potentially without access to technology and individually rather than in groups for practical work.  These resources could prove useful in completing practical work outside of group work.  They could be used to support pupils in periods of extended absence or fully in a classroom context and simply provide resources for learning. 

Each planner has an overview which outlines the whole context for learning and all the experiences which could be taught.  It shows the Es and Os which would be covered, highlights where tasks could be complete at home and which tasks are IDL.  The links to the resources for these tasks, worksheets, powerpoints, videos are all in the overview. 

Please use an up to date browser to access this resource ie Firefox, Chrome or Edge (not Microsoft Explorer) 

If you are in an up to date browser then you can access the resources by clicking on the images below.  If you are internet explorer then please copy the link to this post into one of the other browsers and then you can click on the images for the resources. 

Early Level

First Level

Second Level

The full resource can be found here. Context planners

Any feedback or questions you have on these please feel free to contact us: Barbara Hanning gw14hanningbarbara@glow.sch.uk or Laura McCafferty gw11mccaffertylaura@glow.sch.uk

Vibrations and Waves CLPL

Hi everyone!
The focus of CLPL for the Falkirk RAiSE team this week is vibrations and waves with a particular focus on sound.
As always, there are resources saved on our Teams page which you are more than welcome to use/adapt/add to as you wish.  If you are already a member of the team click  here for resources.

To join our STEM – RAiSE Falkirk Team type the code is188td

 

 

 

 

 

We would really appreciate your feedback.  Thank you!

 

 

Electricity CLPL

This weeks CLPL is on electricity.

I teach this as part of the engineering science curriculum using a mixture of software and breadboards.

It is a topic which I enjoy but always with an element of trepidation, will the kit work (blown bulbs, loose wires etc.), are the multimeters on the correct setting, will there be lost components?  Pupils amaze me every time finding a creative way for things to go wrong.  Last week however I started using the playdough circuits and I have never had so much fun!

There is so little to go wrong and the components are so cheap that if it breaks I could just use a different one.  The circuits are very flexible having their own glue so mounting circuits onto a project is easy.  There are no long wires to move about or cram into a small space.  This low tech option could be good for returning to school and providing small amounts of kit for experiments.  Have a look at the first level video and see what you think.

To highlight the good practice already going on in Falkirk W/C 11th May Mrs Jones from Carmuirs Primary School produced an excellent week long task on electricity for her P6 pupils using Wakelet.  This could be a useful approach for STEM during blended learning.  Check it out here.

The resources for all three levels for this topic are in the teams files as usual in the CLPL folder.  If you are a member of the team click here for resources. This week we’ve included possible novel studies which the topic of electricity could be covered as part of.

To join our STEM – RAiSE Falkirk Team type the code is188td

We also really appreciate your feedback, if you could complete the microsoft form below we would be very grateful.