The STEM Ambassadors in Scotland Hub is a hive of activity over the next short while, and they want you to be involved.

First up, on Monday 15 November from 9.15-10am as part of Book Week Scotland they’d love you to come to their “STOP DROPPING LITTER” event which will include a reading, presentation and Q&A session about sustainability and engineering for learners in P3-P6. The3Engineers team will be showcasing their new series of books raising awareness of environmental issues.

Also in November, their Forestry and Aquaculture in STEM Week is running from the 22^nd to the 26^th, and will be showcasing the unique people and careers in these sectors, with opportunities to engage with STEM Ambassadors from a range of related careers. Two exciting schools competitions are also being launched so head to their website to find out more.

Not an event but a new resource from the Hub are their Sustainability Cards. Currently featuring over 20 Ambassadors, with more to be added, the cards demonstrate how the work carried out in various roles support the Sustainable Development Goals. There’s also some suggestions of ways the cards could be used with learners.

Lastly they’d love you to save the date in your diary for the next STEM Ambassadors in Scotland Week, taking place in 2022 from 31 January to 6 February. This will be a great chance to hear from and work with Scottish STEM Ambassadors from a huge range of backgrounds and sectors and you won’t want to miss it, make sure to express your interest in being kept up to date with all the details.

TechFest Digital Science Festival 2021 

Techfest are holding their Digital TechFest again this November. Techfest Digital Science Festival 2020 had presenters from as far away as San Francisco, USA and reached an international audience from the UK, France, Canada, South America, USA, Cyprus, Lithuania, the Netherlands and Slovakia. This year TechFest aim to reach even bigger audiences across the globe. Dates for this year are 5 – 25 November, the programme will be online soon.

Techfest are excited to announce a strategic partnership with Skills Development Scotland and will be holding Scottish Careers Week from 15-19 November as part of the Festival schools programme. This week will promote the skills needed to ensure Scotland’s young people are equipped with the tools to thrive in the digital world.

TechFest Talks – Podcasts by students for students 

A new venture for TechFest, as part of the Festival and the Scottish Careers Week – a series looking at new technologies influencing our future careers, not only in the energy industry but in agriculture, manufacturing and transportation.  A recent series of podcasts linked to Explorathon 21, which looked at the 100^th anniversary of the discovery of Insulin, are still available, more details here.

Explorathon 

Explorathon 2021, is an initiative with researchers from universities across Europe joining together for events and presentations.  TechFest were invited by the University of Aberdeen and The Rowett Institute to collaborate with Explorathon 2021.

The Rowett Institute delivered a series of workshops for schools on the discovery of insulin.  TechFest also curated a podcast series with students interviewing researchers involved in developing new diabetes treatments and helping to better understand how this condition develops, and the factors that influence it. They also interviewed people living with diabetes who had experienced the changes in technology and influenced the management of their condition. These podcasts are still available online.

Help shape the future of STEM professional learning by completing our 10 minute online survey by Monday 20 December 2021

Education Scotland is inviting you to complete our Annual STEM Professional Learning Practitioner Survey for 2020-21. The information you provide will help improve the access that practitioners in relevant sectors, and in various geographical locations, have to high-quality professional learning that meets their needs. It will also help us to track improvements in the provision of professional learning over the lifetime of the STEM Strategy (2017-2022) and will enable us to identify where further support may be required.

Your individual response will not be shared with other organisations. However, the anonymised analysis from the survey will be shared widely to help STEM partner organisations align their programmes to your priorities.

Who should complete this survey?

Separate surveys have been developed for specific sectors. You should only complete one of the surveys below:

Practitioners in early learning and childcare, primary, additional support needs and secondary sectors (all subject areas including those not normally associated with STEM) are invited to complete this survey:

https://forms.education.gov.scot/i/STEMPractitioners2021

School-based technical support staff should complete this survey:

https://forms.education.gov.scot/i/STEMTechnicians2021

Community learning and development practitioners should complete this survey:

https://forms.education.gov.scot/i/STEMCLD2021

Did you know?

• The findings from previous surveys are available on Education Scotland’s National Improvement Hub: https://education.gov.scot/improvement/learning-resources/a-summary-of-stem-resources/
• Survey responses have shaped decisions about how over £3 million of Education Scotland STEM grant funding has been allocated in recent years.
• In 2019/20, STEM grants benefitted over 11,000 practitioners in 5,754 schools and settings.

We would be very grateful if you could take a few minutes to complete our online survey to help us get the STEM professional learning offer right for you and your setting.

Welcome to our fortnightly STEM blog post. Keep reading to find out more about exciting STEM developments across Scotland. Please feel free to share this post with colleagues and school partners.

Secondary Sciences Network

Join us as the Linlithgow Academy Science Team share their thoughts and experiences about how they have developed their BGE Science curriculum, their successes and plans for the future.

BGE Science Curriculum Rationale, led by staff from Linlithgow Academy, supported by the Education Scotland STEM Team.

Tuesday 2nd November 6:00pm – 7:00pm
Sign up via the Eventbrite link HERE

COP26 – Use Data Science to reduce your school’s carbon footprint

Just launched  – a new live lesson for learners P7-S4.

The free event ‘Use Data Science to reduce your school’s carbon footprint’ is on 9 Nov and aligns with COP26. Each live lesson focuses on a data science topic and brings together a YouTube livestream event with a series of guided web-based activities.  The first live lesson, ‘Defend the Rhino’, focused on machine learning (training cameras to spot poachers and save rhinos!).  The second ‘Data Selfie’ live lesson supports learners to explore data visualisation.

Access both lessons from the events page in the Data Education in Schools website: Events for data education – Data Education in Schools (dataschools.education)

STEM Online Resource

Spotlight on Professional Learning

As practitioners we need to keep up to date with what is happening in the STEM landscape.  Within this PL section we have selected reading material which can support you to deepen your professional knowledge and understanding and help you develop progressive and innovative practice. Here you will find policy documents and reports relating to STEM, Improving Gender Balance and equalities, Digital, Developing the Young Workforce and research demonstrating effective approaches to STEM education.

A professional learning offer from the STEM Education Officers at Education Officers is available and further details can be found in the section titled STEMedscot professional learning.

STEM Summary page

The STEM Summary page provides a summary of key information, resources, and exemplification relating to Sciences, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).

This page aims to support policy makers and practitioners from all sectors with an interest in, or responsibility for, STEM-related learning.

Technologies Wakelet

With Computing Science, CDT, Home Economics and Business Education – there are materials stored online which can be used for each curricular area. The links take you to the National Improvement Hub, Glow, websites or YouTube – easy to access materials in one place.

Technologies – DigiLearn (glowscotland.org.uk)

National e-Learning Offer

The National e-Learning Offer complements the delivery of teaching and learning by schools and settings, local authorities and Regional Improvement Collaboratives in Scotland. You will find resources to support learning across the curriculum.

Dates for your diary

Secondary Science Network Linlithgow Academy  2 November

STEM in the North Professional Learning September 21 – June 22

COP26  Glasgow   1 November – 12 November

The Primary Science Capital Teaching Approach (PSCTA) project invite you to the launch of the brand new ‘PSCTA: Primary Teacher Handbook’. This free to use handbook and resources are the result of two years of collaborative working between researchers and primary teachers across England. The social justice oriented teaching approach works with any curriculum and provides a reflective framework for teachers to support science engagement among all their students.

This virtual event will introduce teachers, school leads, education professionals and policy makers to the new approach and resources. Attendees will get to hear from the UCL/KCL research team, the primary teachers who helped co-develop and trial the approach and the funders, PSTT and The Ogden Trust. Details will also be provided of plans for cascading the approach to regions and schools over the coming year.

Venue: Online

Date: 19 Oct 2021

Time: 4.00 – 5.30 pm

To attend the event register here:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/primary-science-capital-teaching-approach-launch-event-tickets-17332702479