The Royal Academy of Engineering provides leadership and promotes excellence across all fields of engineering.
The Academy has a diverse range of partners and a long history of delivering STEM enhancement and enrichment programmes in schools to inspire the next generation of engineers and technicians.
Teachers can access resources created by teachers and engineers that aim to engage school students with science, technology and mathematics by placing these subjects in engineering contexts
The most recent resource is Deployable Structures.
These resources allow the learning of maths within the engineering context of deployable structures. There are a range of Third level maths topics covered including density, nets, transformations, scale, conversions, circles, area, compound shapes problem solving. A source of challenging material for Second Level learners.
The resources consist of a teacher’s guide to explain how the activities could be used, six activities and two case studies about engineers involved in deployable structures. Please read the safety advice in each activity.
Further information about the Royal Academy of Engineering resources can be found at
On Monday 3rd November, at Ardrossan Academy, Professor Martin Hendry, Head of the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Glasgow, gave a talk on the astronomy and cosmology content in the CfE Higher Physics course.
The talk can be seen on GlowTV’s watch again service by following this link.
As part of the Scottish Universities Deans of Science and Engineering education groups work to support Scottish Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education in schools many Universities in Scotland have recently set up a single e-mail address for teachers who have STEM related enquiries. It is not expected that the person receiving the initial e-mail at the University will always give a direct response but it would be expected that they ensure a response is made from a related department within the University or to direct you to the appropriate contact within the University.
University of Aberdeen – STEM@abdn.ac.uk
University of Abertay – STEM@abertay.ac.uk
University of Dundee – STEM@dundee.ac.uk
Glasgow Caledonian University – STEM@gcu.ac.uk
University of the Highlands and Islands – STEM@uhi.ac.uk
University of Glasgow – STEM@glasgow.ac.uk
University of Edinburgh – STEM@ed.ac.uk
For a brief overview of STEM study options within each University please refer to the following brief document. (Please always refer pupils to University prospectus and websites as this document may not always be up to date). https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Wg-EaXb-X30TUkT5y1Ok7bm-ll-38zXgF4NsLJ1jgeg/edit?usp=sharing
Please feel free to share this information with other colleagues in STEM departments.’
inspire young people to choose more sustainable life style
promote STEM as a career choice
demonstrate the importance of having low carbon energy supply
EDF have produced a variety of resources to support STEM education which can be accessed through The Pod
The most recent resource supports the WW1 centenary year.
Many schools are looking at what the war meant for the country in 1914 and the impact it had on people’s lives at the time and in the following years.
Engage your learners using a power point presentation showing how electricity was used during both World Wars.
The slides describe how some of the equipment developed during the wars – such as radar and the enigma machine has gone on to shape our modern world.
The Young Engineers & Science Clubs Scotland is a Scotland wide primary and secondary programme run by the Scottish Council for Development and Industry and supported by many of its members including BP, Skills Development Scotland and the Lloyd’s Register Foundation.
Through a network of over 700 science, engineering and technology clubs throughout Scotland, from Orkney to Dumfries, pupils from P5-S2 test their problem-solving skills on a number of themed investigations. So far 12,000 members have worked alongside their teachers, real engineers and scientists on a variety of STEM projects.
Projects for the coming year include:
2015 Junior Saltire Awards Challenge- Design and Build a Wave Energy Convertor
Free Watt’s Watt Kit – Marks the 250th anniversary of James Watt’s invention to greatly improve the steam engine
The Ultimate STEM Challenge – Primary and Secondary Challenges
Further information, advice and contact details can be accessed through the YESC website:
It’s week 3 of the Disruptive Innovation Festival: an online festival exploring emerging ideas and technologies that have the potential to reshape our economy. The Festival is curated by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.
So far you will have had the opportunity to drop in on events covering ideas such as self-driving cars, powering cities with coffee bean waste, cradle-to-cradle design, restructuring the financial system, biomimicry design and the sharing economy.
This week – the penultimate week – has a strong focus on education. This includes a Headline Act by Sir Ken Robinson on Thursday where you will have the opportunity to put questions to him and hear of his thoughts for a transformed educational system. Sign up for free here: http://thinkdif.co/headliners/sir-ken-robinson
Transforming D&T Education
04 Nov 16:00 GMT – 04 Nov 17:00 GMT http://thinkdif.co/emf-stages/transforming-d-t-education
Steve Parkinson of Teach Design will host this session where he will take a look at the changing face of D&T education, and what he and his students have learned from studying the circular economy and Cradle-to-Cradle design.
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Product Teardown
05 Nov 17:00 GMT – 05 Nov 18:00 GMT http://thinkdif.co/emf-stages/product-teardown
Kyle Wiens will walk us through product teardown, showing us the process the iFixit team go through when rating products for their repairability. Kyle will take your questions on how designers could re-educate themselves to design for disassembly and repairability.
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Transforming Learning: Beyond the $1,000 Pencil
06 Nov 13:00 GMT – 06 Nov 14:00 GMT http://thinkdif.co/emf-stages/transforming-learning-beyond-the-1-000-pencil
Join the renowned Alan November to hear how we can equip our students to take responsibility to manage a large proportion of their learning, and to help others to learn.
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The Circular Economy Workshop
06 Nov 17:00 GMT – 06 Nov 18:00 GMT http://thinkdif.co/emf-stages/the-circular-economy-workshop
Watch this video to learn how the circular economy can be introduced to a large group of students by taking a group work approach. Download the presentation and lesson plan so you can replicate the session in your setting
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Education: What are the new stories?
06 Nov 17:30 GMT – 06 Nov 18:30 GMT http://thinkdif.co/emf-stages/education-what-are-the-new-stories
Is the traditional narrative of school, qualifications and a ‘good job’ still relevant? Oliver Quinlan doesn’t think so, but he wants to hear from YOU in this session as he asks for the new stories around education
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Professor Martin Hendry, Head of the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Glasgow, is visiting Ardrossan Academy, on the afternoon of Monday 3rd of November, to deliver a talk on the astronomy and cosmology content in the CfE Higher Physics course.
In order to allow as many students as possible to experience this event, Ardrossan academy has kindly agreed to host a Glowmeet to stream the talk live. After the event the talk will be available in Glow TV’s Watch Again.
The talk is scheduled to begin around 1.50 – 2.00 pm and will last until 3.30 pm.
If you do not receive your confirmation of registration email please don’t worry you can still join the event live on the day by following this link – Higher Physics Astronomy and Cosmology.
A reminder too of tomorrow’s professional learning Glowmeet.
Particle Physics features in the new Higher and Advanced Higher courses.
For those who would like to brush up on your knowledge of this topic, a Glowmeet will be run on November 6th a 4 pm (“doors open” 3:30 pm) featuring Dr Aidan Robson of Glasgow University. Aidan will cover the theory for the new courses and will then answer questions from participants.
If you would like to join the Glowmeet, please let us know by emailing sts@sserc.org.uk with your Glow username and your school email address.
This is the first of a series of Glowmeets covering new Senior Phase topics. It is the result of a partnership between Education Scotland, SSERC, STEMNET and SUPA
Many thanks to Aberdeen City Council for sharing even more resources to support Physics learning and teaching at National 4 and 5. These materials have been posted on the NQ Course Materials Portal and can be found using this link.
Staff are encouraged to draw on these materials, and existing materials, to develop their own programmes of learning which are appropriate to the needs of each individual school.
The materials include National 4 and National 5 teacher guide and a complete set of problems and answers for:
•Electricity and energy
•Waves and radiation
•Dynamics and space.
Many thanks to Aberdeen City Council for sharing even more resources to support Chemistry learning and teaching at National 4 and 5. These materials have been posted on the NQ Course Materials Portal and can be found using this link.
The materials include teaching and learning activities for:
•Metal Chemistry
•Electricity and Chemistry
•Corrosion
•Plastics, Polymers, Ceramics
•Plant Nutrients and Fertlisers
•Nuclear Chemistry
•Chemical Analysis
Also in the package are updated materials for Volumetric Calculations. These materials will also be shared on the Sciences Glow 365 site.
The Education Scotland Sciences 3-18 impact report stated as an ‘aspect for development’ in Scottish Sciences was that ‘staff in secondary schools need to recognise and act on gender imbalance in physics and the biology where it exists’
To support Science departments action this as part of their development needs The Institute of Physics (IOP) has produced a support pack that supports teachers in planning to encourage increased participation of girls studying Physics. https://www.iop.org/education/teacher/support/girls_physics/action_pack/page_41739.html
The misconceptions amongst some teachers regarding the implementations of addressing such imbalance is –
– that this would be at the detriment of boys into Physics, which is not the case as these programmes are looking at an increase in girls on top of existing numbers, not as a balance of existing class numbers
– Focussing on Girls is in itself gender biased. These programmes are about how teaching pedagogy can improve perceptions of the subject amongst girls without affecting the perceptions of boys. In short, teaching pedagogy in Physics education has in past been biased towards the interests and needs of boys without intending to do so.
Some stats –
5% of young people who took up modern apprenticeships in STEM careers last year via Skills Development Scotland were girls. (Scottish Resource Centre for Women in SET (2010))
73% of female STEM graduates do not continue in STEM careers in comparison to 48% of male STEM graduates. (http://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/advice-papers/inquiry/women_in_stem/tapping_talents.pdf)
If gender equality in Sciences is part of your local, school or Science departmental improvement plans and you would like advice and support to use the resources then please contact Alison McLure of the IOP, Alison.McLure@iop.org.
The Royal Academy of Engineering provides leadership and promotes excellence across all fields of engineering.
