August 26, 2015
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Fat is an important nutrient in our diets, but there’s a lot of talk of different types of fats, and whether these types are beneficial or harmful to our health. These different fat classifications have their roots in chemistry – and chemistry can also help explain their effects. This graphic takes a look at the different classifications, their sources, and briefly about how they act in our body.
August 24, 2015
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Food and drink offers an engaging and practical context for learning within Curriculum for Excellence and provides opportunities for interdisciplinary learning and for rich and meaningful partnerships between schools, the food and drink organisations and other partners such as academia and research organisations. This event aims to further explore these links and demonstrate to practitioners how to use food and drink as a context for delivering a range of subjects.
Recommended for: primary and secondary practitioners with responsibilities for sciences, technologies, food & health and business studies planning for learning and transition experiences from second level to senior phase.
For more information click Food Chain CLPL – Craibstone 17th September 2015 JULY 2015-1
August 19, 2015
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Twig and Tigtag have been procured by Education Scotland for a further 12 months through to July 2016.
These award-winning online resources will continue to be available to all local authority practitioners and learners for this time through the Scotland Launchpad and the App Library on Glow.
See our simple guide to find out how to add the Twig, Tigtag and Reach Out CPD tiles to your own Launchpad in Glow.
August 12, 2015
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SSERC recently announced the publication of ‘Advanced Higher Project Investigations’ by Jim Stafford. Jim has teamed up with Professor Graeme Ruxton at the University of St Andrews to produce a new publication ‘Statistics for School Biology Experiments and Advanced Higher Projects’. Copies of this new resource can be downloaded from the Biology Resources section of the SSERC website (www.sserc.org.uk/index.php/biology-2/biology-resources/higher-biology-revised). As was the case for ‘Advanced Higher Biology Investigations’, a printed copy of this resource will be sent to all schools and colleges in the near future.
August 11, 2015
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The list below outlines the professional learning opportunities for next school session being organised by Education Scotland’s Sciences Team.
Please note that events may be subject to change due to availability of venues. Further events may be added to the calendar as the session progresses. Links for registration and venues will be sent out closer to the events.
Local authorities are also able to request support for their own events or to meet particular needs. We also welcome requests from local authorities to support citizen science, learning for sustainability and community resilience activities. To request support please email: ian.menzies@educationscotland.gsi.gov.uk
September
30th + 1st Cross-authority CfE Higher Assessment Review
Supported by SQA colleagues, the event will provide delegates with the opportunity to review the key messages from the CfE Higher assessment for each of the sciences. Following an evening of input delegates will then have a full day to co-develop resources for Higher Biology, Chemistry, Environmental Science, Human Biology, and Physics in light of the needs identified.
Target audience: experienced secondary sciences FH and PTs who have been nominated by their authority.
October
28th Sharing Practice Network – raising attainment
This network was set up to explore strategies for raising attainment in the sciences. Our first raising attainment network event was on 11th November 2014. At that event, delegates chose a strategy to develop and trial over the next few months. At the follow up event, as well as some examples of interesting practice, returning delegates will give short presentations on their findings.
Target audience: secondary science FHs, PTs and practitioners. Places will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.
November
12th NQ Cross-authority Writing Group
Supported by a number of partner agencies, this event will reflect on the implementation of Advanced Higher and look to generate further resources to support learning and teaching. This event will have places for biology, chemistry, environmental science, human biology, and physics practitioners. Environmental science delegates will concentrate on other levels of NQ.
Target audience: experienced FH and PTs who have been nominated by their authority.
18th National Early Learning & Primary Science Network
Following on from the two day residential held in June 2015, this event will draw on the collective strengths and expertise of participants to co-develop resources and approaches to share nationally, supporting the on-going development of early learning and primary science. The purpose of this network is to:
Target audience: experienced early learning and primary PTs and practitioners who have responsibilities for science and who have been nominated by their authority.
December
8th Sharing Practice Network;
Flexible progression routes from BGE to senior phase
This network was set up to explore progression pathways through the BGE in preparation for the senior phase in science. The first event was held on 27th February. At that event, delegates learned of different strategies to develop over the next few months. At the follow up event, as well as some examples of interesting practice, returning delegates will give short presentations on their developments.
Target audience: school leaders as well as secondary science FHs, PTs and practitioners. Places will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.
January 2016
19th Cross-authority Writing Group – BGE (secondary)
Supported by a number of partner agencies, this event will reflect on learning and teaching in the BGE and look to generate further resources and strategies to support learning and teaching.
Target audience: experienced secondary FH and PTs who have been nominated by their authority.
27th Sharing Practice Network – meeting learners’ needs
This network was set up to investigate strategies for learning and teaching in classroom where more than one NQ level is being taught at the same time. Our first meeting learners’ needs network event was on 31st October 2014. At that event, delegates chose a strategy to develop and trial over the next few months. At the follow up event on June 8th, as well as some examples of interesting practice, returning delegates gave short presentations on their findings. This event will look at further developments made, celebrating success and learning from our experiences.
Target audience: school leaders as well as secondary science FHs, PTs and practitioners. Places will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.
February
25th National Science Network – Early to Fourth Level
Building on the achievements of the early learning and primary science network and the cross-authority BGE (secondary) events, this event will bring both networks together to co-develop resources and approaches to be shared nationally.
The purpose of this network is to:
Target audience: experienced early learning and primary PTs and practitioners who have responsibilities for science and who have been nominated by their authority. Also, experienced secondary FH and PTs who have been nominated by their authority.
March
1st NQ Cross-authority Writing Group – National 3 & 4
Supported by a number of partner agencies, this event will provide practitioners with opportunities to co-develop classroom resources and approaches to support learning and teaching in National 3 and 4 sciences qualification.
Target audience: experienced secondary FH and PTs who have been nominated by their authority.
August 11, 2015
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Junior Academy is a virtual program for exceptional students interested in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Successful applicants gain access to an exciting community of student peers from across the globe, as well as mentoring from leading STEM practitioners. Each year, Junior Academy students compete in global challenges to solve real-world problems with the chance to win cash prizes and an all expenses paid trip to New York City for a two-day summit. The Junior Academy aims to network thousands of the world’s most promising young STEM talent and provide them the support they need to stay engaged and eager to excel. The program is open to students ages 13–19 from around the world.
This free program is sponsored by the PepsiCo Foundation, ARM, the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, and others. We are currently recruiting students for the program which begins this autumn; applications are due on August 31, 2015.
August 11, 2015
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Higher Physics Professional Learning Videos
Education Scotland in partnership with the Scottish Universities Physics Alliance and SSERC has developed a series of nine professional learning videos focused on new content in Higher Physics.
Featuring some of Scotland’s most talented physicists, they have been designed to provide high quality, accessible professional learning. The videos cover Special relativity, The big bang, Gravitational waves, Collider physics, The standard model, Hubble’s law and nuclear fusion along with two providing guidance on experiments for the Higher Physics assignment.
These videos are available from Education Scotland’s NQ Higher Sciences website.
Included in the resource, kindly shared by SSERC, are the videos of two recent SSERC meets on Hubble’s law and Collider Physics.
Education Scotland would like to thank all of the contributors who gave so freely off their time.
August 10, 2015
by I. Menzies
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Twig and Tigtag Announcement
We are pleased to announce that Twig and Tigtag have been procured, through competitive tender, by Education Scotland for a further 12 months through to July 2016. As a result, these award-winning online resources will continue to be available to all local authority schools through Glow for use by educators and learners across Scotland.
New resources, Twig assignments and Tigtag Junior, will also be added in late autumn to the existing package available. An accompanying resource, Reach-Out CPD – a professional learning resource from Twig World to support primary science – has also been recently made available to Glow users.
The cost of this new one year contract with Twig World Ltd is £430,000 (including VAT) and this is being funded through the Digital Learning and Teaching programme this year. This represents a significant investment in science and mathematics education which is a key priority within the current Programme for Government. In the longer term, it is likely that resources such as these will be procured via a local authority collaborative contract. What this means is that local authorities will be able to purchase digital resources of their choice and opt in to contracts accordingly. See the Education Scotland briefing for more information.
Learners and practitioners (including those in early learning and childcare, additional support needs, primary and secondary school settings) are encouraged to make use of these resources which can be found on the App Library of Glow.
More about Twig, Tigtag and Reach Out
Twig is an award-winning online teaching resource providing thousands of tailor-made, short films to help bring lessons to life. Content has been created by teachers and academics to support delivery of Curriculum for Excellence covering sciences, social studies and mathematics for learners aged 11-16. Twig Experiments offers over 300 short films covering 81 key experiments.
Tigtag is aimed at learners aged 7-11 years and provides online resources to support the teaching of primary science. It contains science in action videos, ready-made lesson plans, hundreds of images and diagrams, practical activities and fun facts. From the end of September, Glow users will also have access to Tigtag Junior which is an accompanying online science resource for learners aged 4-7 years.
Reach-Out CPD offers professional learning videos and resources for teachers delivering primary science and other aspects of Curriculum for Excellence.
July 28, 2015
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Gravity runs the Universe. This free online course explains why, focussing on key concepts from the Big Bang to black holes.
If these concepts pique your interest, this free online course is for you. It doesn’t require any background in physics or mathematics, just a simple curiosity about the Universe and our place in it.
The theory of gravity, Einstein’s theory of relativity, was published exactly 100 years ago. This course presents in a simple manner the main ideas behind this theory, before explaining why “gravity is the engine of the Universe.”
The basic notions are then introduced to understand why the Universe is in expansion. We’ll find out:
• why the further you look, the more distant the past is;
• how we can tell what happened just after the Big Bang;
• what the dark components of the Universe are;
• why we’re so impatiently expecting the discovery of gravitational waves;
• and what happens when you cross the horizon of a black hole.
Over six weeks, you’ll learn with Pierre Binétruy, the Director of the Paris Centre for Cosmological Physics at Paris Diderot University, as well as the cosmologist, George Smoot, who will explain the discovery that earned him the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2006.
This course doesn’t require any background in physics or mathematics, just a simple curiosity about the Universe.
July 21, 2015
by K. McFaul
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Measuring 4cm by 5cm, and designed to be fun and easy to use, users can create anything from games and animations to scrolling stories at school, at home and on the go – all you need is imagination and creativity.
The BBC micro:bit is completely programmable. That means each of its LEDS can be individually programmed as can its buttons, inputs and outputs, accelerometer, magnetometer and Bluetooth Smart Technology.
The BBC and partners are developing a wide range of support resources for parents, teachers and group leaders. These include projects and ideas on using the device straight away, so children can get coding in minutes.
There will be examples of both formal and informal learning resources. Informal learning resources will be usable outside the school environment, whether that’s at home, events or enthusiast groups or clubs.
For more information click here
http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/mediapacks/microbit
To register click here
