Young people across Scotland are to get the chance to learn the skills that propelled the founders of Facebook, Google and Twitter to global success, it was announced on 10 March. CoderDojo Scotland, with support from Skills Development Scotland (SDS), are rolling out coding clubs across the country in a bid to get more young people trained in a skill that remains a mystery to many despite growing global demand. It is just one of a range of activities aimed at encouraging more young people to consider a career in the ICT and digital technologies sector, which is worth more than £3 billion a year to the Scottish economy, employs more than 73,000 people and offers salaries far above the national average.
Category Archives: Curriculum for Excellence
Fife Science Festival 2014
Blue Blocks, Going to the Zoo and an orchestral Work-In-Progress
Blue Block Studio
Blue Block Studio is a space specially designed for babies under 24 months. It is a creative place for babies and their adults to listen, to explore, to build, to watch, to lie down, to look and to touch. See www.starcatchers.org.uk/things-to-do/blue-block-studio to check which community we’ll be visiting near you!
Performances of Yellow Valley, the musical-storytelling performance created for children aged 2-4 years which will accompany Blue Block Studio, are also on sale, and again more will be added over the coming weeks. See www.starcatchers.org.uk/things-to-do/yellow-valley for more details and venues.
A Small Story
Dates for the Scottish tour of ‘a small story/ eine kleine gesichte’ our co-production with Berlin-based Theater o.N, are now on our website at www.starcatchers.org.uk/things-to-do/small-storyeine-kleine-geschichte-scotland with most venues now available to book!
The show is for children aged 2 and over and is all about the small stories which make up big stories life – love, marriage, babies, friendships, everything! It has been made by Andy Manley and Ania Michaelis with design by Fred Pommerehn and music by Danny Krass.
Don’t miss this opportunity to see this fabulous international performance!
Our Creative Skills Programme is in full swing! Early years practitioners in Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Fife, Inverclyde and South Lanarkshire took part in a What is Creativity? session with Heather at the start of the year and have begun practical sessions delivered by Early Years artists. Sessions have been well attended with early years practitioners from a variety of settings, and early feedback is positive with a high percentage of participants having already started using skills and techniques they’ve learned in the sessions in their own practice.
The HNC Childcare students at Glasgow Kelvin College and Dumfries and Galloway College also continued their training, with music sessions led by Greg Sinclair. The students seem to have carried the same enthusiasm from last year’s sessions into the new year – long may it continue!
Expecting Something
We’re more than halfway through our second block of Expecting Something, our project with the Family Nurse Partnership Edinburgh and Lothians. In this block lead artist Sacha Kyle has been looking at the concept of there social and connected mother and baby, and our young mothers, babies and mothers-to-be, have been enjoying relaxing music and movement with various visiting artists. Our mums, their partners, friends or family are also looking forward to the last couple of sessions in this block, where we’ll be going on trips to Edinburgh Botanic Gardens and Edinburgh Zoo! All together now “We’re going to the zoo, zoo, zoo, How about you, you, you…”
For more information on everything that Expecting Something have been up to see Sacha’s blog at http://expectingsomething.wordpress.com.
Nickum
We’re getting closer and closer to the culmination of our Nickum project, in conjunction with the RSNO, and nursery and family centre venues in Aberdeen are now confirmed for the mini-tour of the work-in-progress Hup. Abi and Hazel, our lead artists, along with musicians Liz Lloyd and Andrew Huggan have only had one week of intensive rehearsals but already Hup is coming together and enthralled the 0-24 month audiences who saw shadings at Out of the Blue, Leith and Ashgrove Family Centre, Aberdeen.
To read all about Nickum and Hup see Hazel and Abi’s blog at http://nickumaberdeen.wordpress.com
Scotdec – new resource
Our Forest Our Future a new educational resource produced in association with the Forestry Commission Scotland and with support from Oxfam Scotland will be launched at Royal Botanic Garden, 20A Inverleith Row, Fletcher Building, Edinburgh EH3 5LR at 10.15am on Friday 21st March 2014 to coincide with the first International Day of the Forest and the Tree.
Our Forest Our Future is an online resource which takes teachers and pupils on a learning journey to discover the vital role forests play in sustaining our environment and encourages them to take positive action for maintaining sustainable forests for the future.
More information from isabel@scotdec.org.uk or www.scotdec.org.uk
New help for entrepreneurs
The Skills Development Scotland careers web service, My World of Work, has a range of new resources designed to help people interested in entrepreneurship.
The new area is full of tips and advice aimed at anyone from budding entrepreneurs with an idea they have been longing to turn into a business to job seekers simply wanting to develop their enterprise skills. It shows that traditional jobs are not the only career options available to people and encourages them to think about the opportunities in enterprise.
Highlights include:
- A series of videos featuring a panel of entrepreneurs who share their experience and give their top tips for taking a business idea off the ground
- Advice articles on topics such as financing a business idea through crowdfunding and coping when things go wrong
- A calendar of key dates for opportunities, funding deadlines and competitions
- Links to resources which will provide entrepreneurs with further advice and financial help to turn their ideas into reality.
Find out more at www.myworldofwork.co.uk/enterprise.
STEM e-bulletin March 2014
Welcome to the e-bulletin for sciences, technologies, engineering and maths (STEM). Sign up to receive it directly. |
Sciences Technologies Numeracy and mathematics Did you know? Video Inspiration We’ve got loads more news to share! See our STEM blog for the latest updates. |
Linking education and employment outcomes
We are delighted to confirm that Andy Creamer, Deputy Head Teacher from Menzieshill High School, will be presenting at Learning through Technology 2014. Andy will speak about the LEEO project on Linking Education and Employment Outcomes; discussing the work students have undertaken with partner schools in Florida and ongoing collaboration with industry and employer mentors.
Learning Through Technology 2014 will be an unmissable event for all of Scotland’s lecturers. Now in its third year, LTT is a unique opportunity to explore the effective use of technology to enhance the learning experience and examine ongoing developments in policy, resource and practice.
Technology is a vital education resource with the potential to increase engagement, widen participation and inspire creativity in the classroom. You will explore how it can be used to best effect with examples of innovative practice from an impressive array of leading thinkers and practitioners. The event will also present am ideal forum for knowledge exchange and networking with educators from across Scotland.
Speakers will include:
- Dr James Fanning, Head of Emerging Technologies, Education Scotland
- Prof. Lizbeth Goodman, Chair of Creative Technology Innovation/Professor of Inclusive Design for Education, University College Dublin. Founder and Directpr of the SMARTlab
- Prof. Bill Buchanan, Professor of Computing and the Institute for Informatics and Digital Innovation, Edinburgh Napier University
- Charlie Love, Education Support Officer, Aberdeen City Council
- Jane Houston, Head Teacher, Struthers Primary School
- Christine Lamont, Primary Teacher, Struthers Primary
- Lynn Brand, Principal Teacher, Tollcross Primary
- David Cameron, Head of Career Management Skills, Skills Development Scotland
View the Tuesday 29th April Agenda here (pre-16) or Wednesday 30th April Agenda here (post-16)
Learning Through Technology 2014 also benefits from up to 10.5hrs of verified CPD from the CPD Certification Service, so BOOK NOW to hear from the experts, take part in thought provoking discussion, share your knowledge with like minded peers and boost your CPD hours.
What? Learning Through Technology 2014
When? 29th and 30th April 2014
Where? Our Dynamic Earth, Edinburgh
Junction 25 Teachers CPD Workshop
Teachers CPD Workshop
Sunday 30th March 2014 12-6pm
Tashi Gore and Gary Gardiner directors of the most recent Junction 25 show, i’d rather humble than hero lead a creative session designed for teachers and educators.
This one-day workshop aims to explore ways into the devising process alongside ideas of ownership and authorship in making original performance work with young people.
To book a space contact the Tramway box office on 0845 330 3501
Limited spaces available for £15/10
Poetry by Heart
Pupil artwork to welcome Commonwealth athletes
Thousands of Scotland’s school pupils will demonstrate their artistic talents to the world at Scotland’s Commonwealth Games. More than 700 schools across the country have participated in a national art competition run by Game On Scotland, the official education programme for the Games.
This competition, launched in May 2013, has provided a unique opportunity for Scottish schoolchildren to create Games-inspired artwork for the Athletes’ Village. The artwork will adorn the rooms of the Village, which will be a true home from home for all the competitors coming to Glasgow from the 70 nations and territories of the Commonwealth.