May 2, 2014
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Space Dinner Competition

This resource provides information about a competition which requires students to create a meal for Tim Peake to eat on the International Space Station.

The On board the ISS presentation outlines facts about food in space and provides photographs to simulate discussion.

The Great British Space Dinner Competition presentation sets the challenge for the students and gives information about the constraints that must be taken into consideration when designing the meal. The full size picture file contains higher resolution images.

The Menu design team activity sheet can be used to plan out the meal, give reasons for choices made and to evaluate the results, after making the meal.

For further information and how to participate in the competition: http://bit.ly/1iGqdix

May 2, 2014
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I’m a Scientist, Get me out of here!

I’m a Scientist, Get me out of here! have been producing a series of science debate kits for some years now. They contain a detailed lesson plan and online resources. They are simple and ready to use educational resources that are good for small groups or a whole class.

Their latest free debate kit is on the topic of Electricity Distribution. It gets secondary students thinking about how electricity distribution is a major engineering and technical challenge. Teachers can sign up to receive this kit and future ones here: debate.imascientist.org.uk/electricity.

May 1, 2014
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Particle Physics Masterclass, 17th June 2014

On behalf of Dr Aidan Robson FInstP,

Reader in Physics,

The University of Glasgow

Dear colleagues,

As part of “Elementary – CERN and Scotland”, http://cernandscotland.tumblr.com,

I’m pleased to invite you and your current 5th-year students to this year’s schools Particle Physics Masterclass, which will be held on Tuesday 17th June 2014 at Glasgow University.

This one-day introduction to fundamental particles and forces will be led by experts working at CERN and will convey some of the excitement of front-line research in a rapidly-developing field, with talks and hands-on sessions in particle detection and analysis of real collider data.

The masterclass will take place on Tuesday 17th June 2014 from 10am to 3.30pm, with registration from 9.30am, in the Kelvin Building at the University of Glasgow. It is intended for students who are just finishing 5th year; ideally for those continuing to Advanced Higher. There is no charge, and lunch will be provided. However, participation is by advance booking only and numbers are limited.

Please consult your pupils and if they would like to attend, email a list of their names to masterclass@physics.gla.ac.uk and indicate whether you would like to accompany them. The masterclass is normally oversubscribed, so I will try to make a fair allocation to schools on 9th May or shortly thereafter. Note that I’m unlikely to be able to fulfil requests for groups of more than about 10 per school.

We all look forward to seeing some of you here on 17th June.

Best wishes,

Aidan Robson

April 25, 2014
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N5 Chemistry Past Papers

Education Scotland and SQA have identified questions from Standard Grade Credit and Intermediate 2 papers from the last three years and matched them to Key Areas in the N5 Chemistry Curriculum.

This resource has been produced in reponse to the requests from practitioners who attended the National Qualifications Sciences events at Hampden Stadium in December 2013 which Education Scotland organised in partnership with the SQA

The questions in this resource relate to National 5 Chemistry and have been taken from the 2011, 2012 and 2013Standard Grade and Intermediate 2 Past Papers.

Booklets of past papers and answers have been collated for the three units and a booklet of problem solving questions for teachers and students to use as part of their revision programme for the N5 exam.

Chemistry N5 Past Paper Questions Chemical Changes and Structure

Chemistry N5 Past Paper Questions Chemical Changes and Structure (pdf)

Chemistry N5 Past Paper Questions Chemistry in Society

Chemistry N5 Past Paper Questions Chemistry in Society (pdf)

Chemistry N5 Past Paper Questions Nature’s Chemistry

Chemistry N5 Past Paper Questions Nature’s Chemistry (pdf)

Chemistry N5 Past Paper Questions Problem Solving

Chemistry N5 Past Paper Questions Problem Solving (pdf)

April 25, 2014
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Royal Institution Summer Schools

Running throughout July and August, The Royal Institution Summer Schools bring to life all areas of science, mathematics, computing and engineering.

With over 50 sessions to choose from, covering topics from climate change to acoustics, earthquakes to rocket science, forensics to 3D printing, crash-testing to ancient history, there is something for everyone.

The two week long Summer Schools, ‘Computer-based mathematics’ start on Monday 28th July and ‘Introduction to robotics’ starts on Monday 11th August.

Booking is now open and places can be booked online via the Ri’s What’s On calendar or by calling our Public Programmes team on 020 7409 2992.

Please read on for just a snapshot of the different activities on offer.

http://www.rigb.org/

April 25, 2014
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N5 Biology Past Paper Booklets

Education Scotland and SQA have identified questions from Standard Grade Credit and Intermediate 2 papers from the last three years and matched them to Key Areas in the N5 Biology Curriculum.

The questions in this resource relate to National 5 Biology and have been taken from the 2011, 2012 and 2013Standard Grade and Intermediate 2 Past Papers.

Booklets of past papers and answers have been collated for the three units for teachers and students to use as part of their revision programme for the N5 exam.

Biology-N5-Past-Paper-Questions-Cell-Biology

Biology-N5-Past-Paper-Questions-Life-on-Earth

Biology-N5-Past-Paper-Questions-Multicellular-Organisms

April 25, 2014
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N5 Physics Past Paper Booklets

Education Scotland and SQA have identified questions from Standard Grade Credit and Intermediate 2 papers from the last three years and matched them to Key Areas in the N5 Physics Curriculum.

This resource has been produced in response to the requests from practitioners who attended the National Qualifications Sciences events at Hampden Stadium in December 2013 which Education Scotland organised in partnership with the SQA.

The questions in this resource relate to National 5 Physics and have been taken from the 2011, 2012 and 2013 Standard Grade and Intermediate 2 Past Papers.

Booklets of past papers and answers have been collated for the three units for teachers and students to use as part of their revision programme for the N5 exam.

Physics-N5-Past-Paper-Questions-Dynamics-and-Space

Physics-N5-Past-Paper-Questions-Energy-and-Electricity

Physics-N5-Past-Paper-Questions-Waves-and-Radiation

April 24, 2014
by K. McFaul
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Issue 5 – Switched On Scotland

Issue 5 of “SwitchedOn Scotland” – Computing At School Scotland’s newsletter – has been released. This edition gives an overview of the recent Digital Skills Investment Plan announcement, an update on the PLAN C Professional Learning programme, advice on how SQA standard pseudocode can be used and exciting news from Universities regarding their recommendations for Computing as an entry requirement for courses.

The newsletter can be viewed online at http://www.casscotland.org.uk or on ‘issuu’ at http://bit.ly/casscotissue5“

April 24, 2014
by K. McFaul
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Power Politics – teaching resources exploring Oil and Development

Power Politics is a new education learning resource for schools, community groups, and anyone interested in global learning.

The resources were developed by the Living Earth Foundation as part of a three-year project funded by the European Commission. They were designed to meet the need for engaging development education materials, providing resources to teach with confidence on a broad range of issues relating to international development and global citizenship.

The resources explore issues including the Millennium Development Goals and the environmental, social and economic impacts of the oil industry, enabling pupils to compare and contrast the different contexts of Scotland and Nigeria.

Teachers, pupils and members of community groups in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and Port Harcourt, Nigeria, were involved in a range of creative exercises and workshops, and were at the heart of developing the resources, which is clear to see in the final products. They created films and comic strips to bring to life the differences and similarities in their day to day lives, and to provoke debate and discussion about the opportunities and challenges that living alongside the oil and gas industry can bring.

The Power Politics pack includes:

Comic text books
9 short films introducing the key issues
Exercise packs with activities to suit a range of abilities
A user guide for teachers giving background information and additional support.

Power Politics is aimed at S1-S3 and the learning activities can easily be tailored to suit any age group.

The learning pack, with comics and exercises for entire classes is available free to use. You can borrow them from the Montgomery Development Education centre www.montgomerydec.org.uk. or access and download from the website www.powerpolitics.org.uk.

April 22, 2014
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Free hands-on teaching kit

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation has invited secondary schools to apply for a free resource kit which brings the circular economy to life.

The Handling Collection is a box full of products and accompanying teaching resources designed to challenge students to think differently about product design, materials and business models.

Each product has a story and there are worksheets developed by teachers, trialled in the classroom, to give information about the product and raise questions.

Each kit contains many hours of ideas for classroom activities, suitable for several subjects, with a particular emphasis for Design Technology, the Sciences, Business and Geography.

What’s in the box?

Products:

The core of this collection is a selection of products which help you to explore aspects of a circular economy.

Ecovative mushroom packaging
Vegware packaging
Aveda shampoo
Desso carpet tile
Broken mobile phone
Sharklet antibacterial film

Information resources:

Animation videos
Two presentations to use in class
Teachers’ notes and worksheets for each product and for a range of additional products not physically included in this box that are easy to source
Specific videos and graphics for particular products
Instructions and videos for running a ‘Teardown Lab’
Circular economy card game

There are 100 of these kits; apply for yours at http://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/news/handling-collection