Following the NQ Sciences events which took place in Hampden Stadium in December 2013, Education Scotland, in partnership with the SQA, organised cross authority writing workshops for NQ sciences qualifications. Faculty Heads and Principal Teachers from 30 local authorities have attended and worked collaboratively to co-develop materials for priority areas identified required support at the Hampden events.
These events have been hugely successful; at the first event hosted at SSERC materials for the National 5 Assignment, National 4 Added Vaue unit were produced along with a bank of open ended questions.
The first Higher event allowed practitioners to generate and share further support materials. The second event at SSERC allowed delegates to choose practical activities appropriate for the new Highers and practice these as well as gain some content training from our partners at SSERC. Over 500 resources were shared through the GLOW 365 sciences platform. http://bit.ly/glowsciences
The third Higher Cross Authority Writing Workshop took place on Tuesday 27th May.
The purpose of the day was to provide practitioners with the opportunity to complete the materials they are developing for the Higher Sciences qualifications and professional learning events with updates from industry and further education professionals of the applications and theory of new content areas. Colleagues from HMI, SQA, RSC, STEMNET and research institutes also attended to provide input about careers in life sciences, particle physics, antioxidants in food and stem cell research. Speakers then worked with teachers to produce professional learning materials, teacher and pupil resources and assignment materials.
The feedback from the events was very positive with those attending keen for the model of cross-authority collaboration to be extended to include preparations for the new Advanced Higher courses and review best practice in National 3, 4 and 5 courses. If you haven’t done so already then you can view and download the materials produced by visiting the GLOW 365 sciences platform http://bit.ly/glowsciences
