Category Archives: Technologies

New CPD sessions at DCA

Click on the link below to download the booklet from DCA detailing new creative CPD sessions for the next academic year.
DCA aim to combine their classroom experience with exciting programme content and ‘really useful’ resources so that teachers take away something that can be used in class the next day.  There is  a charge but within that they provide tea/coffee and cake/nibbles to keep folk going.

STEM e-bulletin – April 2014

Welcome to the e-bulletin for sciences, technologies, engineering and maths (STEM).

Sign up to receive it directly.


Sciences

  • Tigtag award winning primary science resource is free to Glow users – no need to ask for a trial
  • New Water Security learning journeys on STEM Central for early, first and second level
  • Route maps for N4 and N5 Sciences courses available now
  • N5 past paper questions and N4/5 class tracking spreadsheets now on theSciences 365 Glow site

Technologies

Numeracy and mathematics

  • Route maps for N4 and N5 Mathematics and Lifeskills Maths courses available now
  • NCETM videos – strategies for teaching fractions, decimal fractions and percentages from early to third level
  • Career profiles for STEM graduates including interviews with graduates

Did you know?
WWF
Earth Hour 2014 will take place at 8.30 pm on Saturday 29th March

Video Inspiration
Reasons to pursue a career in STEM – from the physics of the slam dunk to inspiring robotics

We’ve got loads more news to share! See our STEM blog for the latest updates.

Lantra Secondary School Awards now open for nominations!

Lantra Scotland, the sector skills council for the land-based and aquaculture industries, is seeking early nominations for their Secondary School Awards which take place at the Land-based and Aquaculture Learner of the Year Awards in early 2015. The award is open to both urban and rural secondary schools with the winning school in each category receiving £250.00.

The Secondary School Awards recognise school projects and activities which support and encourage increased knowledge and understanding in rural learning. To highlight and celebrate the success of school initiatives, Lantra has brought forward the closing date for nominations this year to 16th May 2014. This will allow the judging panel to visit the nominated schools during the Spring season, enabling them to get a more comprehensive look at the entrants and their respective projects in full bloom.

The award finalists will be announced at Lantra Scotland’s stand at the Royal Highland Agricultural Show on Thursday 19th June, and the winning schools will be announced at the award ceremony and gala dinner early in 2015.

For more information about the Secondary School Awards and to access a downloadable nomination form please visit:

http://www.lantra.co.uk/Downloads/Scotland/LBLOYA-2015-Schools-nomination.aspx.

For all other enquiries please contact Lantra Scotland on tel: 01738 646 762 or e-mail lantra.scotland@lantra.co.uk

Internet Safety Drama workshop‏

Come along to a creative workshop on the 28th March, to help the Adult Protection Committee develop ‘Caught in the Net’ a drama about internet safety.  There will be a workshop for older adults, and a workshop for adults with a learning disability.  You don’t have to take part in the drama – just have an opinion!  See the poster below for more details.

caught in the net poster

Make Things Do Stuff

Make Things Do Stuff is a campaign to inspire young people aged between 13 and 18 to make things in the digital world. It aims to help them to look beyond being a consumer and instead to create things, understand why things happen and to take ownership of it for themselves.

The campaign offers support, advice, resources and tools that are ideal for use in schools and at home, whether it’s a lesson, after-school club or competition. There’s something for everyone, whatever level they (or you) are at – and it’s all designed to nurture understanding and enjoyment through practical experience.

Adapted from a special digital making event for Teachers in Scotland, these videos show a range of different step-by-step digital activities for computing/other secondary school teachers.

MAKLab
MAKLab is Scotland’s first open access digital fabrication studio. The video covers how to create a 3D model of an object of your choice in 3D software and shows how the physical object can be then printed on a 3D printer. The process of creating a 3D object is a memorable and meaningful learning experience.
Suitable for: Secondary teachers of all subjects at all levels, particularly CDT, Art and Computing.

Processing Tutorial with Chris Martin
Processing is an open source programing language, community and development environment. In this session you will learn how to rapidly demonstrate computational principles with striking interactive visual output. This will be hands on, fun and you will make something interesting.
Suitable for: Teachers of National 4 / National 5 Computing

LiveCode Tutorial with Elanor Buchanan and Neil Roger
Livecode is an easy to learn, open source, high level language for creating programs and mobile apps for a variety of platforms including Windows, iOS and Android. The LiveCode introductory session will take you through creating a short interactive side scrolling hot air balloon game. Working with text, simple animation and using sound to create moving background images to give the illusion of movement, controlling an on-screen element, and detecting collisions to collect bonus points or end the game when you collide with negative elements.
Suitable for: Teachers of National 4 / National 5 / Higher Computing

App Inventor with Jeremy Scott
We have to provide students with an experience of Computing Science that’s not only accessible and exciting, but real world. What better way to do this than tapping into the mobile revolution? This workshop will provide an overview of the RSE/BCS Computing Science exemplification project and focus on how teachers might use “I Love My Smartphone” to introduce mobile app development in the classroom.
Suitable for: Teachers of National 4 Computing

Colin Maxwell Animation Tutorial
Vectorian Giotto is a powerful and free animation tool for creating 2D animations and interactive presentations. In this session you will explore the features of the tool whilst making short animations for science, literacy and foreign language, and discuss how the software can be applied to different curriculum areas. Animation is not just for art or computing classrooms, it can be an engaging medium across the curriculum.
Suitable for: Secondary teachers of all subjects at all levels.

Webmaker and Video Editing tools with Doug Belshaw from Mozilla
The Web is the world’s largest free public resource. Do you feel confident in teaching your students about how to read, write and participate on the Web? In this session, Doug Belshaw from the Mozilla Foundation (the people behind the Firefox web browser) will introduce some free Webmaker tools that you can use in your teaching. You will also learn how to use Popcorn, a free and open video editing tool. You can make videos to educate your pupils or get your pupils creating campaign videos or short films to revise a topic.
Suitable for: Secondary teachers of all subjects at all levels.

Cannes-struther International Short-Film Festival!

Please find below information regarding an exciting project that we are undertaking here at the Scottish Fisheries Museum in Anstruther, Scotland.

For Festival of Museums 2014 and to accompany our new exhibition ‘Distant Shores’, we will be holding a mini-international film festival, on the theme of coastal life.

The competition culminates in a glamorous Gala Awards evening on the 17th May in the museum, when Anstruther will be reinvented as Cannes-struther!

Even if you may be a bit distant to join us for the evening we would still love for you to be involved by submitting a film entry. All the entry criteria are available on our website http://www.scotfishmuseum.org/events/view/47/festival-of-museums-2014 and in the documents below, we are keen to encourage entries from all ages and abilities.

On the Edge Entry Form

On the Edge Further information and guidelines corrected

On the Edge info leaflet

On the Edge poster

Young Scots get the chance to learn the secrets of computer coding

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.

Click here to read more.

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
• New
food security learning journeys on STEM Central for second level
• Calling all citizens scientists! Join the
Big Bumblebee Discovery
NQ sciences update including Higher Cross-Authority Writing Workshops
• Award winning primary science resource, Tigtag
, is free to Glow users – no need to ask for a trial.

Technologies
• Williamwood High – Using
QR Codes in Practical Craft Skills
• John Paul II Primary –
technologies in the nursery
STEM Ambassador roadshow at 5:30pm Wed 12th March at the Falkirk Wheel
Ellen McArthur Foundation event at University of Bradford 25th – 27th March

Numeracy and mathematics
• Support resources now available for
Mathematics National 4 and National 4 Life Skills Mathematics
Articles for 11-14 year olds, including ‘Do iPods really shuffle?’
• Aspiring teachers –
numeracy video exemplifications

Did you know?
March 14th-23rd is
National Science and Engineering Week. Theme this year: Explore the Future.

Video Inspiration
Renfrewshire school boy’s
Lego animation promotes British Red Cross resilience campaign.

We’ve got loads more news to share! See our STEM blog for the latest updates.