STEM Blog

Ian Stewart (Development Officer – STEM Nation Award) is excited to represent the Education Scotland STEM Team at the Highland Science Teachers and Technicians Inset CLPL (22 February 2023).

Ian will have a display and is looking forward to opportunities to discuss the STEM Nation Award Programme and the wide range of Secondary Sciences Resources from Education Scotland:

You may wish to consider attending future Education Scotland events. You would be welcome to attend the upcoming Information session on the STEM Nation Award Programme (Nan Eilean Siar) on Monday 27 Feb 2023 – 4pm -5pm.

Other online resources:

• STEM Nation (Education Scotland – STEM Team)
• National Improvement Hub – summary of STEM Resources

Additionally one of our STEM Nation Award supporters – ChemSTEP is looking for your support. Further information : ChemDiverseVlogs ChemSTEP.

The window for STEM Nation Award applications is currently open. We invite applications from all registered settings in ELC, primary school, secondary school and CLD sectors. Please use this link to register if you haven’t already done so.

In order to guarantee feedback by the end of the spring term, element evidence must be submitted by Tuesday 28 February 2023. Any evidence received after this date may not receive feedback until later in the summer term.

There are two different PowerPoint templates for collating and uploading element evidence:

• ELC settings and schools should use this template.
• CLD providers should use this template.

When you are ready to do so, the Form on this page should be used to upload your evidence.

Further details on how to apply can be found on the STEM Nation Award section of the STEM Nation online resource.

Settings applying for all five STEM Nation Award elements will be invited to participate in an online validation conversation following the review of your element evidence. In preparation for this you may wish to prepare a STEM action plan using this template and read more about the validation conversation on page 14  of the Guidance for validators document. Specific Gaelic language and CLD versions of these documents are also available on the online resource.

If you have any questions or would like support with your application from your Regional STEM Education Officer please contact us at STEM@educationscotland.gov.scot stating the name of your setting and the local authority in which you work.

• Would you like to see how STEM looks in other settings?
• Are you thinking of further developing the STEM offering in your setting?
• Are you looking at engaging with the STEM Nation Award programme?

We’re delighted to share an exciting opportunity to visit a setting that has successfully achieved the STEM Nation Award. Join us in seeing how STEM comes to life in the classroom. Find out how staff, learners and parents/carers and the wider community have engaged to promote STEM and skills across learning within the setting. Through this open session you will have the opportunity to engage with learners and staff and see how STEM learning can be engaging and vibrant in settings.

We have scheduled two open sessions:

9^th March 2023 at 1:30pm-3:30pm: Our Lady of the Missions & Glenwood ELC (East Renfrewshire Council)

Event details: STEM Open day – Our Lady of the Missions Primary School and Glenwood Family Centre | Events | News and events | Education Scotland

Register for tickets on Eventbrite: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/stem-open-day-our-lady-of-the-missions-primary-school-and-glenwood-elc-tickets-557598290497

14^th March 2023 at 1:20pm – 3:30pm: Mosshead Primary School (East Dunbartonshire Council)

Event details: STEM Open day – Mosshead Primary School (East Dunbartonshire Council) | Events | News and events | Education Scotland

Register for tickets on Eventbrite: STEM Open day – Mosshead Primary School (East Dunbartonshire Council) Tickets, Tue 14 Mar 2023 at 13:20 | Eventbrite

If you need any further information please contact stem@educationscotland.gov.scot

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

National STEM professional learning calendar

Education Scotland STEM team, working with STEM National partners, have catalogued all professional learning for STEM being delivered across Scotland. This invaluable resource is live on the STEM Nation Online Resource Events page as a calendar, with useful links direct to the STEM Partners websites and booking information. Visit our Events page on the STEM Nation Online Resource to see the wide range of support available from Education Scotland and national partner organisations:

Events – STEM Nation (glowscotland.org.uk)

The contents of the calendar can be viewed in a monthly list view here.

STEM Nation Award Programme

The STEM Nation Award has been developed by Education Scotland to celebrate, promote and build on effective practice in STEM education within and across sectors. All early learning and childcare (ELC) settings, primary schools, secondary schools and providers of community learning and development (CLD) are eligible to apply for the STEM Nation Award. Settings may apply for an individual element or any combination of elements. Settings which achieve all five elements within a three year period will be eligible for the full STEM Nation Award.

Teachers, ELC practitioners and CLD providers from across Scotland worked with Education Scotland during the pilot phase and as part of a CLD working group to shape the award criteria and application process. The programme is designed to be flexible and supportive in response to the varying needs of different sectors and specific local contexts.

Find out more here.

Starting out in STEM

Session 1: 6 February 4-5pm

Session 2: 20 March 4-5pm

Don’t know where to start with STEM learning and teaching? Want to improve your confidence in this area and know where to find resources? Then this two part series is for you!

• These events are aimed at early learning and childcare, ASN and primary practitioners who are starting out in STEM.
• The sessions will explore three provocations designed to look at what STEM pedagogy and contexts for STEM learning look like, why we teach STEM, and how we teach STEM.
• Both live sessions will give you a chance to connect with colleagues and engage in depth discussion around your STEM practice. There will be signposts to helpful resources to get you started plus opportunities to network.

Sign up via Eventbrite: Starting out in STEM (2-part series)

Creativity and science IDL pilot

23 Feb 4-5pm

Are you a science or art teacher with an interest in IDL? What if a science teacher and an art and design teacher worked together to map out an experience that we could offer in BGE? Come along to find out more and be part of this exciting pilot to create a science based experience using the creative design process. This will be in partnership with Daydream believers so if you are already working with them, this could be a great opportunity for you to explore further.

Sign up here via Eventbrite

Secondary Sciences Network – Fraserburgh Academy’s approach to STEM in BGE

21 Feb 16:45 – 17:45

For secondary science teachers, this is the second of three sessions looking at BGE in the sciences. This session will focus on Fraserburgh Academy’s approach to STEM in the BGE. Hear from them as they describe how they created their STEM strategy, how they timetable STEM in the BGE and the way they use challenge and context based learning in STEM. There will be a chance to ask questions and opportunity for discussion.

Sign up here via Eventbrite

STEM Networks Early Years, ASN & Primary

Join us on 2 Feb to explore how learners & practitioners can lead STEM in their classroom or early years setting. Hear from practitioners who have implemented SSERC’s Young STEM Leader Programme & share experiences of leading STEM.

Register here.

Race to Net Zero Learning Programme

The Race to Net Zero suite can be used as a blended or full eLearning programme to empower learners to take positive action inside and outside of school. Available as nine bitesize chapters, the suite can be used to deliver distinct subjects or as part of a whole programme, building on knowledge throughout.

The chapters are packed with resources and extra learning and are available with suggested lesson plans mapping experiences and outcomes from Curriculum for Excellence and Learning for Sustainability.

Practitioners will be provided with CPD sessions, exploring each topic, linking to a wide range of curriculum areas, and considering challenges and opportunities in embedding Net Zero learning throughout education.

The programme offers young people the opportunity to expand their knowledge through topics relating to Net Zero and explore small, manageable behaviour changes that they can make to positively impact on the climate crisis.

STEM Ambassadors in Scotland Week

Running 30 Jan – 03 Feb this is your opportunity to discover who STEM Ambassadors are and how they can bring STEM to life. The theme of the week is ‘Storytelling’ with a series of online events for primary schools called STEM Storytime. Ambassadors will read a book followed by a short talk about how the story relates to STEM or their job. For secondary schools learners can ask questions direct to a variety of ambassadors. Answers will be recorded and sent out to schools.

Practitioners’ guide and website with information, ideas for getting involved and resources all about STEM and storytelling:  https://www.stemambassadors.scot/sais-week-2023

Upskill and Engage Programme

An exciting new project in 2023 will focus on giving STEM Ambassadors the training and tools needed to deliver engaging, interactive STEM sessions across Early and First Level in primary schools.

There is capacity for 50 schools to be matched to a STEM Ambassador who will deliver 3 face to face career linked STEM sessions between April – June 2023. Participating schools will also benefit from a training session from Dr Richard Holmes, Lecturer in Education at Dundee University on making the most of STEM Ambassadors in the classroom.

To apply for a place on the programme please register here

To find out more join our information session.

I’m a Scientist, Get me out of here 

Help school students see science outside of the classroom through I’m a Scientist, Get me out of here this British Science Week!

I’m a Scientist is a student-led activity engaging school students with people working in STEM. Students get direct access to world-leading researchers from top institutions through live, online chats and follow-up questions.

With activities about chemistry, plant science, health, and physics running in British Science Week, there’s something for everyone.

The Molecule Zone

In March 2023, show your students the exciting chemistry research that’s happening in their home nation with the Molecule Zone, funded by Royal Society of Chemistry and ScotChem.

Teachers across Scotland get priority access to the Molecule Zone. Find out more and take part.
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The activity is free to UK state schools and facilitated by DBS-checked moderators.

Rolls-Royce Schools Prize for Science & Technology

The Rolls-Royce Schools Prize is open to all schools in the UK and helps teachers increase STEM engagement in their schools and colleges. Our Schools Prize supports teacher CPD through our partnership with STEM Learning and Project ENTHUSE. The Rolls-Royce Schools Prize for Science & Technology is now open for entries.  To enter you are invited to submit a Stage 1 application outlining an idea for a sustainable science, mathematics or technology project for development during the next academic year.  The proposed project could be a new idea or the progression of something you are already working on but should demonstrate innovation, creativity and ambition in STEM education.

Jacob’s Butterfly Effect

The Jacobs’ Butterfly Effect is a free programme designed to create lasting behaviour change through habit formation, by providing pupils aged 5-12 with the knowledge and understanding they need to put sustainability at the heart of every decision they make. our online program covers all areas of the curriculum and is intended to be delivered throughout the summer term across the school and over the course of 8 weeks. The easy to follow, themed and fully digital activities encourage fun learning and teachers can tailor activities to suit different pupil needs. Activities are short and there is only one set activity per week, lasting between 15 minutes and 1 hour.

Dates for your diary

STEM Ambassador in Scotland Week   30 Jan – 3 Feb

Mars Day 23   7 March

British Science Week   10 -19 March

I am excited to be sharing details of the STEM Nation Award Programme at the West of Scotland Meeting for Teachers of Chemistry at Strathclyde University (Thursday 12^th January 2023).

More information about the STEM Nation Award Programme is available on the STEM Online Resource.

Introduction to the STEM Nation Award Programme:

Additionally there are a wide range of resources which have been collated by the Education Scotland STEM Team – Where to find support for Sciences.

Introduction to Resources from Education Scotland:

As we approach the end of the year, we thought we’d share some of the highlights from Education Scotland’s STEM Team from 2022!

It has been another wonderfully busy and productive year and we’re grateful to all the learners, practitioners and partners who have supported our work and engaged with us. This work has only been possible with all of your engagement and support.

Thank you for the partnership working and commitment to STEM, equity and equality. We’re looking forward to further collaboration and exciting developments in 2023 to promote ‘STEM for all’.

Every best wish to all learners, practitioners and partners from all of us in the STEM Team – enjoy your holiday!

The STEM Team have compiled a range of Useful Links for STEM Careers (Updated Feb 2023) to assist in addressing aspects of the Career Education Standard.

Additionally, a variety of jobs/careers/apprenticeships have been mapped to the BGE Science curriculum:

• Careers mapped to BGE Science Organisers (Teacher Resource)
• Revised Careers to Science Benchmarks – January 2023 (Learner/Lesson Resource).

These resources are designed for use as lesson inserts, in the Laboratory Science – Careers Unit or with a series of BGE lessons – for example Programme Plan from Beeslack Community High School, Midlothian:

• Curriculum to Careers Research
• Years and jobs – Boards
• Cards – Jobs and Employability Skills
• Careers Research Sheet

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

Thank you to all of you for your work and support for STEM learning this year and every best wish for Christmas and the holidays from all of us in the STEM Team.

Education Scotland Christmas card designed by Luke aged 9.

New national STEM professional learning calendar

Education Scotland STEM team, working with STEM National partners, have catalogued all Professional Learning for STEM being delivered across Scotland. This invaluable resource is now live on the STEM Nation Online Resource Events page as a calendar, with useful links direct to the STEM Partners websites and booking information. Visit our Events page on the STEM Nation Online Resource to see the wide range of support available from Education Scotland and national partner organisations:

Events – STEM Nation (glowscotland.org.uk)

The contents of the calendar can be viewed in a monthly list view here.

Prelim study support – Practical science experiment videos

See our interactive list of Practical science experiment films to support you and your learners with study support and Prelim preparation. This spreadsheet allows you to filter by subject, phase, level and unit.  We have also created listings for all National Qualification practical experiments by subject area. These are organised by subject, experiment title, level, unit and includes the direct video link.

Resources – STEM Nation

Science Planning Resource

Developed through the RAiSE Programme with support from Education Scotland and Scottish Government, this resource supports learning, teaching and assessment of science in early learning and childcare settings and primary schools.

This resource supports planning for science around the experiences and outcomes from early to second level.  Activities and approaches should be viewed as useful starting points and are in no way prescriptive.

To download each level, or the entire resource, click on the DOWNLOAD ALL option on the top right corner of the page.

Science Planning Resource – STEM Nation

Secondary Sciences Network

Past event – Assessment construction in the Sciences (5/12/22) -recordings now available:

• Level of demand and a-type (18 mins): https://youtu.be/-HzxJa5H7q8
• Assessment construction (4mins): https://youtu.be/fC7Uk-fqk-Y
• Grade A questions (12 mins): https://youtu.be/i9-TYfUwmdQ
• Information on appeals process and end of session reminders (11 mins): https://youtu.be/3VVYt9C_CUU
• Q and A sections (20 mins): https://youtu.be/VeEomRRXmy4

Next event – BGE (1): Setting the context – Tuesday 17 January 16:45: 17:45 SIGN UP HERE

This is the first of three sessions looking at BGE in the sciences. This session will explore the recent report ‘Structural barriers to STEM engagement.’ We will explore the key messages such as: why there might be a dip in interest in STEM between S1-S3 and the need for a focus on STEM pedagogy.

There will be an opportunity to ask questions and for discussion.

Structural Barriers to STEM

The Structural Barries to STEM Engagement Report conducted by Ekosgen on behalf of Education Scotland and the Scottish Government has been published.

This is the third in a series of reports supporting the implementation of Scotland’s STEM Education and Training Strategy.

The report provides a valuable insight into perceptions of STEM and factors that would encourage a greater number of learners to continue on their STEM pathways. The data was drawn from 78 interviews with teachers, school leaders, local authority staff and college staff and over 1300 responses from learners and 500 from parents.

Structural Barriers to STEM Engagement Report

Green Jobs

Green jobs in Scotland are significant and on the rise. Not only will these jobs help us to tackle the global climate emergency, they represent an exciting opportunity for our young people, offering higher wages than non-green jobs.

To give you a window into green career pathways, we’ve pulled together some of the key websites, facts and reports into one place – Green Jobs in Scotland

NCR V&A Dundee Design Challenge

In an exciting and innovative opportunity for S2 pupils across Scotland, V&A Dundee are collaborating with NCR (National Cash Registers) on a cross-curricular design challenge.

Pupils will:

• Learn skills for creative thinking
• Work through the design process
• Demonstrate the practical application of STEM

Teachers will benefit from:

• Ready-made, adaptable resources
• Continual support from a range of specialists
• CLPL opportunities

Pupils will work in teams with the support of designers, engineers, and other outside agencies to develop a design brief. The winners in each region will be invited to V&A Dundee (expenses paid) to showcase their work and compete to win a week of work experience with NCR. The challenge will run from August 2023 – December 2023 with the finals in January 2024.

Aimed at S2 pupils to inspire their choices as they select subjects for S3 and beyond, this project is looking to enrol 2 schools from each local authority. Email schools@vandadundee.org with NCR Project as the heading for more details.

STEM Ambassadors in Scotland Week

Running 30 Jan – 3 Feb – find out who STEM Ambassadors are and how they can bring STEM to life. With the theme of ‘Storytelling’, STEM Ambassadors present a series of online events for primary schools called STEM Storytime. Ambassadors will read a story followed by a short talk about how the story relates to STEM or their job. Many of the stories are interactive and include activities the class can do whilst watching. For secondary schools, learners can ask questions directly to the ambassadors. Answers will be recorded and sent out to schools.

A practitioners’ guide and website full of information, ideas for getting involved and resources all about STEM and storytelling can be found here: www.stemambassadors.scot/sais-week-2023

Upskill and Engage Programme

 This exciting new project in 2023 will focus on giving STEM Ambassadors the training and tools needed to deliver engaging, interactive STEM sessions across Early and First Level in primary schools.

STEM Ambassadors in Scotland are looking for 50 schools to match with a STEM Ambassador for 3 face to face career linked STEM sessions between April – June 2023. Participating schools will also benefit from a training session from Dr Richard Holmes, Lecturer in Education at Dundee University, on making the most of STEM Ambassadors in the classroom.

To apply for a place on the programme please register here

To find out more join the information session:

Primary School Information Session – Upskill and Engage Programme, 25 Jan, 3.30 – 4.15pm (Teams)

Structural Barriers to STEM Engagement Report is now available on Education Scotland’s National Improvement Hub.

This evaluation was conducted by Ekosgen on behalf of Education Scotland and the Scottish Government and is the third in a series of reports supporting the implementation of Scotland’s STEM Education and Training Strategy.

The report provides a valuable insight into perceptions of STEM and factors that would encourage a greater number of learners to continue on their STEM pathways. The data was drawn from 78 interviews with teachers, school leaders, local authority staff and college staff and over 1300 responses from learners and 500 from parents.

The report also contains high-level recommendations to inform the next phase of implementation of the STEM Strategy.

Findings include:

• Learners want their learning experience rooted in the real world with a strong focus on jobs and work experience.
• 59% of parents want more opportunity for their children to work with businesses through their learning.
• Most learners want to or are thinking about taking or continuing STEM subjects (75%). This attitude is most pronounced at S4-S6 (70%), and amongst males (76% vs 74% female). However, those in S1-S3 are least likely to want to take or continue with STEM subjects.
• More than half of respondents want to continue with STEM subjects because they like a specific subject or topic (52%), whilst many recognise STEM subjects as important for future study (46%) or work (42%).
• A better range of subjects offered at all levels was identified by most pupils as a means to help encourage more pupils to engage with STEM (45%; 54% of parents).
• Some 30% of learners said that they wanted to drop STEM subjects as they were not good at them – 66% of respondents that stated this were female.
• Female learners are more likely to report that Learning for Sustainability, climate education and outdoor learning would encourage them to take STEM subjects.

Education Scotland would like to thank all who took part in the interviews, completed the surveys and supported the evaluation activity. The fourth phase of the evaluation is now underway and will focus on effective practice to encourage strong uptake in STEM. If you have interesting practice to share we’d love to hear from you – email us at stem@educationscotland.gov.scot

To see previous evaluation reports and our full range of national STEM data then visit our National Improvement Hub STEM summary page.