Following the SQA/ Education Scotland joint publication of Past Paper Guidance for N5. Education Scotland has published copies of the identified questions for Chemistry and Physics on Sciences Glow 365 site, in the N5 folders for each subject. This compliments the previously shared N5 Biology questions. Further support materials for N5 will be published in the near future.
Shared on the Sciences Glow 365 site class spreadsheets for tracking assessment standard passes at National 4. Look in the N4 folder in your subject.
Delegates attending our fourth conversation day at Bucksburn Academy identified three key themes for improving science education.
Discussions focussed on:
Priorities for sciences education
Identifying partnerships that work
What does great learning in the sciences look like?
Education Scotland is keen to hear your views regarding the thirdtheme, addressing what great learning in the sciences looks like.
What does great learning in the sciences look like?
Science education is important for every child and not just for those who may be headed toward a scientific or technical career.
Great learning in the sciences encourages young people to make sense of the world around them, to be scientifically literate. It develops skills enabling them to analyse, evaluate, think critically, justify conclusions and be creative and innovative; skills required to thrive and succeed in an increasingly globalised and technological society.
Delegates identified factors contributing to great learning in the sciences:
relevant and purposeful (real life) teaching through engaging activities, which occur in and out of the classroom environment
learning environment has motivated and enthusiastic teachers and pupils
lessons have variety, depth, challenge and are interactive, delivered by inspirational teachers with a passion and enthusiasm for the subject and who convey a love of learning
consistent and firm discipline
learners are taught the skills they need through a variety of methodologies e.g. active, visual, audio and concepts are revisited in different ways
progression is evident
subjects are interlinked and connected
great learning is different in different schools and classes, and good teachers are still learning.
The final part of this discussion addressed the question, how do we get it right for every child and young person? Delegates’ suggestions included:
good communication between primary and secondary
establish where the “starting point” for every child is and identify children who need to extend their knowledge
ensure learners feel safe enough to ask for help/guidance
quality provision must be evident all the time
teaching should be delivered in different order/style depending on the needs of the learner.
30th April 2014, Dundee Science Centre, 1630 – 1800 including refreshments
Are you planning learning and teaching in sciences for early to second level? Or thinking about revamping your early, first and second level sciences? Are you an experienced teacher, PT, depute or headteacher looking for a model of staff mentoring and cluster working? Or a student or newly-qualified teacher looking to learn from the practice of others? This is a professional learning session you won’t want to miss!
On 30th April, teachers from primary schools in Perth and Kinross, and from Perth High School, will be joining us to describe how they went from a desire to plan for progression in sciences in the primary schools throughout the cluster, to a successful implementation of a series of rich tasks for all lines of development in sciences, incorporating skills.
Join us to hear how they got started, how they went about it, how they tied it into national resources and guidance, the view of staff on the experience, the pitfalls, and the successes. Teachers will also share some of their rich tasks, implemented in 2013/14, sharing their reflections from the perspective of learners’ experiences.
Charitable funding is available to support your attendance at this session. For more information, see our website. To book your place, or talk to us about this learning opportunity, contact learning@dundeesciencecentre.org.uk or telephone us on 01382868609.
Tuesday 18th March sees the culmination of three months of work by over 320 in Fife on the ‘What’s out there? Explore our amazing universe’ project.
Around 320 P6/7 children from 10 schools will join Dundee Science Centre at the University of St Andrews to celebrate their learning in the ‘What’s out there? Explore our amazing universe!’ science and literacy project.
This Dundee Science Centre and Fife Cultural Trust project, delivered in collaboration with the University of St Andrews, has been running since January 2014. The initiative has included professional learning for teachers and visits to Dundee Science Centre for children, where they have had the opportunity to discover the wonders of our solar system and beyond, and enjoy some hands-on exploration of how we use invisible light to understand what’s out there.
Children have been working on the project within and outwith school, using Dundee Science Centre’s ‘Travellers on Spaceship Earth’ loan box resources to create their own myths around star constellations and hunt for exoplanets – planets beyond our solar system. Each child received a copy of one of the series of science adventures, written by Stephen and Lucy Hawking. Children have been designing and launching rockets, writing letters to Stephen Hawking, contacting the International Space Station, learning to code in binary and lots more. Each teacher received a copy of ‘Why we are Not Alone: Why We Have Already Found Extraterrestrial Life’ by local astronomer and author, David Darling, who is joining the celebration to share his own journey and adventures in science and writing with the youngsters.
The children will share their work with each other, as well as David Darling, Louise Smith, CEO of Dundee Science Centre, and University of St Andrews student ambassadors. The children’s work is also on display for the public at Dundee Science Centre on Sunday 16th March as part of the Fife Science Festival Family Fun Day. You can see more on the progress of the project, and children’s work including videos and pictures, by following us on Twitter @DundeeSciLearn.
We are delighted to have been running this project, working in partnership with Fife Cultural Trust, and with the help of the University of St Andrews. By the feedback from children and teachers in participating schools, this has had a positive impact in the classroom, and on learning. Children, teachers and families have embraced the project, and the opportunities it offers, taking it in many diverse directions, led by the creativity and interests of the children. We are really excited about sharing the children’s learning with the public at Dundee Science Centre, and having the opportunity to celebrate their learning with them.
National Science & Engineering Week (NSEW) is a ten-day national programme of science, technology, engineering and maths events and activities across the UK aimed at people of all ages.
Anyone can organise an event or activity and the British Science Association supports organisers by providing
This year organisers can celebrate anything related to science, technology, engineering and maths. The sky is the limit!
However, for schools, Explore the Future will be the common theme across competitions, new resources and online projects, to encourage teachers and other educators to look forward to the world their students will lead.
“Engineering turnover has grown 2.2% over the past four years to £1.1 trillion in the year ending March 2012. 5.4 million people are employed across 565, 320 engineering enterprises but we need many more engineers!
Engineering companies are projected to need 1.86 million people with engineering skills between 2010 and 2020. This mean we need double the numbers of engineering related apprentices and graduates coming out of college and universities.”
Within Engineering Science National 4/5/Higher the engineering contexts and challenges unit is an opportunity to bring engineering to life and to deepen the learners understanding of how engineering plays a part in their local community.
We have an opportunity for one group of learners studying national 4 or 5 or Higher to work with Edinburgh Trams and to see engineering in a real world context, in and out of the classroom.
Would you like to win £1000 for your school or group?
Enter Scotland’s Environment Website Youth Discussion competition by 31 March for a chance to win.
We have £1000 to award to the best school/group entry and £100 for the best individual entry. We have lots of other exciting prizes including HP tablets, educational experience days with a “green” theme, a backstage tour of The Hydro and tickets to the Irn Bru Carnival 2014.
To enter, just answer the following question: “What needs to change in your local community that will make a positive difference to your environment and what role can you play in making it happen?” then submit your answer in an imaginative way.
The competition is easy to enter and is relevant to many areas of the curriculum including drama, art, science, English and even modern languages. This means entering the competition can easily be dovetailed into current project work or class topics. The competition entry rules are very flexible which enables teachers to choose the level of input they feel is appropriate and suitable for their pupils. A number of useful teaching aids and resources have been developed that provide a good starting point.
You can choose to present your answer in a number of formats from a simple drawing, painting or report to something more complex such as a video, website or photographic essay; be as creative as you want!
The competition is open to all young Scots aged between 5 and 18 years old and you can enter as an individual or as a group e.g. Eco Group, class, youth group. The closing date is 31 March 2014 so there is still time to enter – what are you waiting for?
Your entry may also be eligible for the Young Reporters for the Environment competition. It is being run in Scotland by Keep Scotland Beautiful and is open to young people aged 11 to 21 years.
Delegates attending our fourth conversation day at Bucksburn Academy identified three key themes for improving science education.
Discussions focussed on:
Priorities for sciences education
Identifying partnerships that work
What does great learning in the sciences look like?
Education Scotland is keen to hear your views regarding the secondtheme which addressed identifying partnerships that work.
Identifying partnerships that work
Delegates identified various partner organisations that they were engaging with including subsea 7, forest rangers, ABC, mentoring John Lewis, STEM ambassadors, car safety, BP renewable, Forvie Nature reserve, university medical students, Zoo lab, forensic scientists, “curious about chemistry”. Learners at Bucksburn Academy had also set up a programme of advanced level lunchtime lectures in relation to STEM.
Delegates put forward suggestions for successful partnership working. It was agreed that this had to be mutually beneficial, providing support, resources and expertise for the school, whilst meeting the business needs of the organisation. In addition delegates highlighted the following:
organisation must provide support in the classroom and visit the school (not the other way)
partnerships should be innovative, curriculum led, embedded in the curriculum
personnel involved are enthusiastic individuals with a willingness to commit extra time to establish short/long term working relationship
investment and funding through the partnership provides opportunities for all
Delegates identified areas of partnership working which they regarded as requiring further development:
not enough organisations/partnerships to support early years
more visiting scientists lecturing at a high level – aspirations needed to be raised
speakers need to be able to pitch talk at right level for young people
mixture of input needed for different levels of interest required
Education Scotland is keen to hear your views. Click on the title of this blog post to leave a comment
Nominations for the next three rounds of cross authority working groups are due by 5pm on Monday 10th of March. If you’re interested in attending please contact your local authority organiser.
As part of the Get Energised with the ScottishPower Foundation project, this series of broadcasts from the National Museum of Scotland will help N4/5 students in STEM subjects to learn more about renewables in Scotland. Hear from leading experts in the field and ask them about their work.
Past papers identified by Education Scotland and SQA as appropriate for N5 Biology have been collated and shared by Invergordon Academy. These are posted on the Sciences Glow 365 site.
Geneious software suitable for case studies, a free download suitable for case studies in the Genome key area of DNA and the Genome unit at cfe Higher Biology is available from.
A free online Environmental Studies textbook, Earth’s Dynamic Systems is available at http://earthds.info/ particularly good for Geosphere, Hydrosphere etc.
Dave Edwards from the Open University asked Education Scotland to publicise this MOOC.
STEM Central supports the delivery of teaching in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Through Learning in Context, practitioners can source information, resources, learning journeys and videos for nine learning contexts, including Food Security, Transport and Water.
To support and enhance the existing Water context section we have added three new learning journeys:
Changing States – Early Level
learners explore the changing states of water as they investigate freezing, melting, boiling and evaporation.
Travelling on Water – First Level
learners investigate floating, sinking and buoyancy and develop their understanding of the concept of density and Archemides’ Principle.
Uses of Water – Second Level
through science challenges and investigations learners improve their knowledge and understanding of the different uses of water in Scotland and the world e.g. as source of power or use in recreation.
The new water learning journey format incorporates the Design Principles demonstrating their relevance to planning enjoyable, contextualised and challenging learning experiences and in identifying appropriate forms of assessment.
There are supporting resources for each new journey and links identified for additional learning and teaching opportunities.
Access the water learning journeys and supporting resources on STEM Central
Science Resources for the Nationals
