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.
Countdown to COP
Education Scotland is delighted to be working together with our partners to help practitioners and learners engage with COP26 through Countdown to COP ahead of the United Nations COP26 Summit taking place in Glasgow from 1 to 12 November.
Focusing on the key themes of nature, finance, energy transition, clean transport and adaptation and resilience, Countdown to COP provides a range of resources which practitioners can use to support their learners.
Visit our Countdown to COP webpage for more information.
Scottish Learning Festival 21 – 23 September
As SLF 2021 fast approaches, please find below a suggested STEM Pathway through the SLF programme this year.
Tuesday 21 September SLF 2021 Programme Update 5
SESSION 3 14:00 – 14:45
Developing independent digital learners
Building learners skills for independent learning in a digital world – modelling, scaffolding and support for pupils to enable self-regulation. What might this look like as we move through primary->secondary, why is this important and what are the benefits?
Dundee City Council Pedagogy Team
SESSION 5 16:45 – 17:30
Building a STEM Nation through professional learning
A showcase of the professional learning programmes and approaches developed through Education Scotland’s STEM grants programme – covering all sectors.
Education Scotland STEM team
Wednesday 22 September SLF 2021 Programme Update 5
SESSION 3 12:30 – 13:15
Introducing the New Higher Applications of Mathematics
This session will highlight the new Higher, its benefits for students and how to access the support available. Practitioners will share their plans for delivering the course for the first time.
Working group Secondary practitioners from across Scotland
SESSION 5 15:45 – 16:30
Evolving Digital Thinking
An overview of the evolving digital thinking programme. Short and medium term groups of leaders at all levels are enabled to problem find and crowd source questions and possible solutions to digital issues in learning and teaching. Kirsty McFaul and Brian Clark, Education Scotland
Thursday 23 September SLF 2021 Programme Update 5
SESSION 3 12:30 – 13:15
Inspiring and developing young people through STEM
The Young STEM Leader programme is an exciting new award for all young people in Scotland. This session provides on overview of the award, its impact and how to get involved.
Jamie Menzie, SSERC
SESSION 4 14:00 – 14:45
Engaging families in literacy and numeracy at home
This session explores how developing positive relationships with families has supported literacy and numeracy learning at home during COVID-19. It will consider ways to build on this progress moving forward.
Primary practitioners
SCDI Energy Quest Workshop
Embed learning about energy sources and energy transfer
Help students uncover engineering skills they didn’t know they had with Energy Quest. This free 2-hour workshop challenges young people to put themselves in the shoes of engineers to design a solution to power a mobile phone.
The workshop is designed for secondary students aged 11 to 14 and is designed to fit into a 2 hour / double period time slot. Energy Quest unlocks students’ inner engineer as they explore sustainable energy sources. During an interactive workshop, they’re immersed in a real-life situation and challenged to save the day. The workshop is fully linked to the curriculum, students gain an understanding of:
• A range of sustainable energy sources and the role engineers play in green energy/sustainable technology
• How to generate energy, and how they can work as a team to respond to a challenge
• How their skills and interest can lead to a career in engineering
Register here
A Scientist Just Like Me – Primary Science Teaching Trust
A Scientist Just Like Me is designed to raise awareness of diversity in science-related jobs and to provide illustrated examples of a wide range of science-based careers. It consists of a series of short slideshows, each one ‘telling the story’ of a particular scientist or person working in a science-related job. The people included share details of their work and their everyday lives, making their stories relatable to learners. They describe their job, what they like about it, and the challenges they have faced on their career journeys.
The resources focus on the skills, attitudes and habits that are needed to carry out the work, rather than on any expert knowledge, which may be daunting or seem out of reach to young learners. At the end of each slideshow, the learners are encouraged to imagine and discuss what it might be like to do that job.
The slideshows are intended to be used as discussion prompts, guided by a teacher. They can be used in different ways and for different purposes, for example,
- to show learners an example of someone from a particular ethnic background working in a science job
- to challenge gender stereotypes about science jobs
- as part of a science topic that relates to the work of the scientist
- as stand-alone fifteen minute discussion activities
- with a small group or the whole class, or in a whole school assembly
A scientist just like me | Primary Science Teaching Trust
Dates for your diary
Scottish Learning Festival 21 – 23 September
STEM in the North Professional Learning September 21 – June 22
COP26 Glasgow 1 November – 12 November
