Daily Archives: May 1, 2012

Sciences, Social studies, Technologies

Circular economy event – resources now on Glow

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Cross post from Global Citizenship Blog.

Education Scotland hosted an event in partnership with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and the University of Edinburgh on 30th March 2012 at the Menzies Hotel in Glasgow to explore how the concept of a circular economy can be used as a focus for sustainable development education and interdisciplinary learning.

The circular economy is a generic term for an industrial economy that is, by design or intention, restorative and in which materials flows are of two types, biological nutrients, designed to re-enter the biosphere safely, and technical nutrients, which are designed to circulate at high quality without entering the biosphere. The circular economy proposes a coherent framework for re-thinking and re-building a positive vision of the future.

Find out more about the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and the circular economy by watching this short video.

The presentations and resources from the event are now available on Glow (Glow log in required).

Adult Learning, CfE, CLD, Community Capacity Building, Young people, children & families

Live UnLtd – Summer of Social Action Campaign

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Live UnLtd support young people to run inter-generational projects, start sports, arts, environmental and community projects; projects to address bullying, isolation and much more. Some of their award winners start their own sustainable social enterprises. All projects and enterprises are run by young people themselves (those under 18 need an adviser who can be a teacher, youth worker, parent or similar). For examples of projects please see here.

Individuals or small informal groups leading their own idea can apply. Applicants must be aged 11-21 and live in the UK. Applications cannot be made on behalf of organisations such as youth clubs or schools.

Applications must:

  • Show how the project will have a positive social impact on the applicant’s community;
  • Have identified a problem and show ho the project will tackle the problem;
  • Tell Live UnLtd what specific activities the project/enterprise includes and what it hopes to achieve;
  • Show how the project provides a learning experience for the applicant.

Receiving an award allows individuals to use their creativity and learning a hands-on way which may enhance their CVs. They can also help erase the negative stereotypes associated with ‘youth culture’ in the media today while making their world a better place.

What can they apply for? The costs of running projects. For example: venue hire, equipment costs, marketing materials, travel and volunteering expenses.

Eleven to 15 year olds can apply for up to £500 and 16-21 year olds can apply for up to £5,000. Award winners also receive the support of a Development Manager.

The deadline for applications is 31 May 2012.

Contact: Gina Headden at Live UnLtd in Scotland, Tel: 0131 220 0511 [ e-mail | website ]

Social studies, Technologies

Stock Market Challenge

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The Investment Challenge is being run as an online competition for S5 students from across North East and South East Scotland. Students will compete online using the new Global Investor simulation, which will be launched on 7 May 2012.

The competition comprises an in-school qualifying event during May and early June involving all participating schools. The top 8 schools from the first round will compete in the final on Thursday June 14 at Standard Life’s offices in Edinburgh.

Competition entry is free and each participating school will receive a site licence to the full Stock Market Challenge resource. Students from the winning school will visit Standard Life’s offices in July for a prize presentation and a chance to observe how the company’s trading desk works.

The competition’s main aim is to promote higher education opportunities and develop students’ business awareness and transferable skills. The challenge is sponsored by Standard Life, Scottish Investment Operations and Skills Development Scotland.

The closing date is 4th May.

For more information visit their website.

National Qualifications, Technologies

Advice & Guidance for NQ Technologies

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As you will no doubt know, the SQA have published their final documents for National 2 – Higher. In order to support schools in the delivery of key aspects of the new qualifications, Educations Scotland have published published a suite of practical advice and guidance for teachers and lecturers.

There are new materials to help practitioners deliver their national 4 and 5 courses, although with some amendment, practitioners could use these materials at other levels too. Practitioners can also use the ideas and suggestions to apply them to their own materials as they see fit.

I think all teachers who will be delivering the new qualifications will find them useful and we would be delighted to receive your feedback. To access the advice and support from Education Scotland please click here.

To access the SQA website pages containing the final documents for Technologies please click here and selct your subject from the drop down menu.

Sciences, Technologies

Stirling University Investigate STEM Central

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On Friday I visited Stirling University to complete a Technologies workshop with BEd2 students. We began by discussing the misconceptions surrounding Technologies within Curriculum for Excellence, and spent the rest of the time looking at draft second level learning journeys for STEM Central. The students thought the website was easy to use and felt that there was lots of ideas that they could adapt to their own lesson planning.

You can find the presentation here. (Glow log in required)

We ended by looking at some of the other resources available from Education Scotland to help with teaching Technologies:

STEM Central in Motion

Technologies Staffroom (Glow log in required)

Glow Science (Glow log in required)

Technologies area of the website

Exploring Climate Change

Weather and Climate Change

Working in the Energy Sector

National Qualifications

Advice and guidance for new NQs

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Education Scotland has now published a range of practical advice and guidance to support teachers and lecturers in the delivery of new NQs. This is now live on our website.

The advice and guidance which is available to download has been developed through ongoing discussions with Scotland’s national education stakeholders. My involvement has seen me working with many practitioners who are at the chalkface.

The views of teachers and lecturers have helped to shape the priorities for the advice and guidance. The focus has been on the delivery of courses where there is significant change – new units, combined courses and / or new contexts of learning. The advice and guidance hosted online is presented in a variety of accessible formats and include written advice, videos and some PowerPoint presentations. Links to other information and websites are also available within the documents and practitioners can use and / or adapt these materials to suit the needs of their learners.

The files are freely available – a Glow login is not required to download them. They can be found on the Education Scotland website here. Please take some time to read the materials and leave your comments on them.