Education Scotland has produced a new sciences resource guide.
This is a comprehensive information document for anyone with an interest in STEM – Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.
Details regarding how to access our main science website, Journey to Excellence videos, blogs, NQ materials and Tigtag are available, alongwith a number of useful links to other relevant websites and organisations.
To download click : Sciences Resource Guide
Special Seminar for Teachers – 3.30pm Friday 25th of April Royal Highland Centre
Need a greater understanding of the automotive industry to pass onto your learners? Transport Scotland, the Energy Saving Trust and their partners will provide an insight into the developments within the automotive sector and how Scotland is helping shape the future, with specific focus on low emission transport including low-carbon, hybrid, electric and hydrogen vehicles. The seminar will include case studies and examples of innovation to help shape courses and prepare learners to take advantage of this newly emerging and rapidly changing market. Please register your interest by emailing charlotte.cassar@psigroupltd.co.uk
Or you can just come along and enjoy the EVOLUTION show on 26th April and test drive new generation cars. FREE entry. Register at: www.evolutionshow.co.uk
Flash Learning is pleased to announce free online access to Virtual National 4 Physics and Virtual National 5 Physics until July 2014.
Our software to support National 4 and 5 Physics has been very well received and is now in use in approximately two thirds of Scottish schools. We have developed an enhanced version of the material and this is available online at www.eflashlearning.co.uk
All Scottish pupils (and teachers) are invited to register online. Click on the Join Now button and you will be asked to supply a username, password and email address.
This online, enhanced version of the software includes topic quizzes and progress checks. There is also a forum (one for each course) and this will be available for a trial period . Please note that the website uses advanced web design technology and is best viewed with a modern web browser.
Pupils need to provide an email address when they register and we undertake not to do anything with this, other than to send one mail in August, inviting them to subscribe to the next physics course they may be taking.
Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) are permanent lifelong developmental disabilities caused by maternal use of alcohol during pregnancy. Worldwide incidence is estimated at 9/1000 live births.
As part of a programme of events over the last 3 years, to coincide with the Scottish Government funded FAS Surveillance Study, this year an event for nursery, primary school and educational psychologists has been arranged.
The events keynote speaker is Jo Egerton, Schools Research Consultant & Educational Writer, who has a teaching background and a wealth of practical experience to share on:
– The impact of FASD on learning
– Helpful teaching and learning strategies
– Supporting social skills
– Promoting mental health and wellbeing
– Encouraging positive behavior
– Working with families
We will also have parents talking about both positive and negative experiences.
If you would like to book a space on this event, please contact RCPCH.admin@rcpe.ac.uk
This year’s theme is Bookbug’s Big Sports Day, and there will be a whole host of fun story, song and rhyme activities taking place in local libraries and community venues.
Bookbug is Scottish Book Trust’s Early Years programme, which encourages and supports parents to share books, talk, sing and cuddle their children from birth, and helps every child in Scotland to develop a love of reading.
Sharing books with children has many wonderful benefits and Bookbug Week is the perfect chance to get involved, meet other parents and get ideas to make sharing books, songs and rhymes with children a fun part of each day.
For details of Bookbug Week events in your area, visit www.scottishbooktrust.com/bookbug or ask at your local library.
Tune in to speak to a group of young filmmakers who are eager to share their experiences of filming the habits and habitat of their newest neighbour—the Beaver!
Beavers became extinct in the UK 400 years ago, but now they are back in Scotland as part of a trial reintroduction, being co-ordinated by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland and the Scottish Wildlife Trust in partnership.
Your class can watch the short film (made by the pupils) and then ask lots of questions related to beavers and their habitat to the school pupils, who are in P5 to P7.
They will be able to show you what beaver signs to look out for, just in case you want to go to Knapdale and find them for yourself!
This event is aimed at primary aged learners and takes place on Monday 31st March at 9.30am. Sign up and join us in Glow TV!
Glow TV is delighted to offer pupils the opportunity to join a homework revision session on National 5 Mathematics provided by SCHOLAR.
The session on Unit 1, Revision Topic 3, Algebra will be presented by Margaret Ferguson, SCHOLAR Online Tutor for Maths. This event will take place on Tuesday 1st April at 7pm. Sign up and join us in Glow TV!
This Professional Learning Game on Scotland Glow TV event will give Social Studies staff the opportunity to find out about international partnerships.
A representative from the British Council will take practitioners though all the benefits a school can get from a partnership and explain the basics of how to get started.
Sign up and join us for this Professional Learning opportunity on Tuesday 1st April at 4pm. – GOS – Social Studies
The Sustainable Learning Partnership, in association with our partners The Crown Estate, welcomes teachers, school leaders, educational professionals and learners to this progressive, interdisciplinary learning and teaching resource – the first in a planned series – founded upon the principles and practices of 21st Century Learning and designed to help young learners prepare for life and active participation in a global society that is safe, just and sustainable.
These are match to Key Stages in the English Curriculum but provide and excellent free resources for Scottish Schools.
Education Scotland currently has a Tackling Sectarianism Network engaging a range of organisations, including Scottish Government, Voluntary Action Fund, Church of Scotland, Scottish Catholic Education Service, Bridging the Gap, Children’s Parliament, Youthlink, Nil by Mouth, Sense over Sectarianism, South Lanarkshire Council, Garscadden Primary School, St Thomas’ Primary School (Glasgow). The network allows the opportunity to share good practice in our schools and communities and engage in professional dialogue regarding the issue of sectarianism.
The network came together recently to discuss our aim to tackle sectarianism in Scotland. The group discussed the role of education in eradicating sectarianism. The discussions offered an opportunity to share good practice in both our schools and communities. The group also took a pro-active approach when discussing some of the challenges facing practitioners, and focused on finding positive solutions to these challenges.
All partners involved were keen to offer support to schools and communities tackling sectarianism, so why not take a look at some of their websites?
Glasgow Sense over Sectarianism
Education Scotland has a development officer in post dedicated to tackling sectarianism in Scotland. If you would like to share your good practice or discuss the possibility of developing your anti-sectarian work please get in touch, Yvonne.Donald@educationscotland.gsi.gov.uk
The Minister for Learning, Dr Alasdair Allan, recently put in place a package of support to help secondary schools to deliver the new National Qualifications. This support included new route maps through assessment and these have now been published on the Education Scotland website. Developed by Education Scotland, in partnership with the SQA, these provide a sequenced list of main messages and links for National 4 and National 5 Sciences.
Education Scotland is delighted to announce that schools can access Tigtag – the award-winning online science resource for primary schools – free of charge through Glow.
We have agreed a 12 month national education licence with Twig World which allows Scottish schools to have unlimited access to this great resource.
There is no need to ask for a free trial or subscribe to the site if you are already a glow user.
Simply, click on www.tigtagonglow.com
You will see a box labelled Glow User. Put in your glow user name and password and start using this fabulous resource.
Alternatively, if you have entered a search for Tigtag and gone through http://www.twig-world.co.uk/tigtag/ click on the Tigtag image in the top right hand corner
and you will be taken to the Tigtag home page.
You will then see this image
Click on Log in with Glow and input your user name and password to start using the resource.
Remember there is no need to click free school trial if you are an existing Glow user.
You can use Tigtag straight away to enhance and support your science learning and teaching.
Tigtag provides access to:
• background information, relating to the key concepts identified in the science organisers, and quality films to support and enhance teaching and learning in the sciences.
• planning resources, investigation sheets, practical challenges and succinct clear lesson plans, providing a range of contexts for learning which draw on important aspects of everyday life and work.
• interactive lesson packages to help stimulate the interest and motivation of all learners and support staff in planning challenging, engaging and enjoyable learning and teaching activities.
• a “What Happens Next?” and “Scientific Enquiry” section to encourage learners to engage in dialogue, developing their investigative and inquiry skills.
Science Resources for the Nationals
Following the SQA/ Education Scotland joint publication of Past Paper Guidance for N5. Education Scotland has published copies of the identified questions 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 new class spreadsheets for tracking assessment standard passes at National 4 and an updated version for National 5. Look in the N4 and N5 folders in your subject.
Abbot House Heritage Centre, Dunfermline Presbytery, and Historic Scotland are pleased to offer a collaborative programme exploring three themes of the life of King Robert Bruce (1274-1329) for local primary students.
On Tuesday 25th March, the date of Robert Bruce’s inauguration as King of Scotland in 1306, representatives from a dozen P4/5 classes will travel back in time to the 14th century, where they will explore three central concepts—dignity, peace, and humility—through problem-solving, music, and crafts, based on the life of one of Scotland’s most famous kings.
And YOU can join us live via Glow and have an opportunity to meet the King himself and to help him solve a tricky problem! Sign up and join us on Tuesday 25th March at 10.15am in Glow TV or Watch Again if you can’t join us live.
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 third theme, 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:
The final part of this discussion addressed the question, how do we get it right for every child and young person? Delegates’ suggestions included:
Glow is delighted to continue with its fantastic series of live broadcasts from the National Museum of Scotland which lets pupils explore their collections and meet our experts face to face. You can ask questions, come up with answers and explore their object handling collections on screen!
On 24th March 2014 at 1.30pm you can Ask the Expert all about the Romans. This is a great opportunity to meet one of our expert curators at National Museum Scotland, Dr Fraser Hunter who will explore our Roman object handling collection and he is keen to hear from pupils with questions about life in Scotland in roman times.
Sign up and join us in Glow TV or Watch Again if you are unable to join us live.
Better Movers and Thinkers is an innovative, exciting and challenging movement and learning programme for Physical Education, that focuses directly on enhancing the links between movement and thinking, and how these critical elements scaffold the development of physical performance and learning across the curriculum.
That was the starter for Mossend. They worked up a programme with the North Lanarkshire cluster champion. The school uses all the higher order skills in the classroom programme so in every way they are best placed to deliver a successful Better Movers and Thinkers programme.
The children have simply taken off and blossomed with this approach.They decided to take it a stage further and introduced the parents into the equation. This approach has been highly engaging for staff, parents and pupils. It makes a difference!
Here is an opportunity for your children to watch a BMT sessions and to try it themselves and the ask the children who are participating how it feels too!
Join us live in Glow TV on Wednesday 19th March at 1.30pm. Sign up and join us or Watch Again if you can’t join us live.
The value of peer mentoring in developing health & wellbeing for your pupils – gaining inspiration from Lead 2014
Lead 2014 recognises the potential of young people to contribute to the development of future generations through engaging teams from secondary schools in a peer mentoring approach to the organisation and delivery of Commonwealth Games themed festivals in their school cluster.
This Glow meet on will highlight the successes of the Lead 2014 programme, analyse the value of the experiences for young people in relation to health & wellbeing and will explore the scope within schools to organise peer mentoring programmes with physical education, physical activity and sport as a central focus.
Join members of the Health & Wellbeing team and the Lead 2014 delivery team on Tuesday 18th March at 4pm and be inspired by this informative and thought provoking look at a highly successful programme.
Sign up and join us or Watch Again if you miss the live event!
The Creativity Portal is now 3 years old and we would love to hear from anyone who has used it – has it challenged your idea of creativity? Have you found it useful? Did it lead you to any inspiring resources, research or contacts?
If you have ever visited the Creativity Portal please take the time to answer a 5-minute questionnaire that will allow us to build a picture of what impact the Creativity Portal has made and give direction to its development in the future. Your responses will be invaluable in taking Education Scotland’s support of creative teaching and creative learning forward.
To access the questionnaire click the link below:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/creativityportal2014
Your responses will form a vital piece of evidence for an independent evaluation of the Creativity Portal, led by Consilium Research and Consultancy, which will be published on the Creativity Portal in April/May.
If you have yet to use the Creativity Portal go to http://creativityportal.org.uk/
Last year Glow worked in partnership with Midlothian Council to support a new and innovative approach to learning – the M Factor. This successful partnership was recognised as the team scooped the COSLA 2014 Scottish Government Delivering Excellence Award last Thursday at a star studded event in St Andrews.
The M-Factor was an interdisciplinary project aimed at Midlothian pupils in the upper stages of primary school (P6 and P7). The project used the context of the pop music industry to combine a range of curricular areas that enable pupils to develop knowledge and skills.
The M-Factor challenged pupils to write and record a pop song and create an associated pop video. Alongside this activity was a range of related activities, including:
• Advertising and promotion
• Branding
• Creating a simple website
• Planning a concert tour
• Carrying out research into the pop music industry
The project integrated a range of CfE experiences and outcomes covering Literacy, Numeracy, Technology, Art and Design, Music, Social Subjects and Enterprise.
Glow was able to provide the national platform for the final music video productions with thousands of pupils across Scotland casting their votes for their favourite bands. Voting took place over a 3 week period and the enthusiasm this generated amongst the teams was phenomenal – they were being recognised for their work by pupils all over the country!
The education team was presented with the award by First Minister Alex Salmond who said that Midlothian’s M Factor Project was an outstanding example of excellence in education – an innovative project where teachers became learners and learners became teachers.
An initial meeting of the Drama National Working Group meeting took place at Optima, Glasgow on Wednesday 5th March. The aims of the meeting were to identify and discuss the key national issues with regard to Drama education 3-18 and to begin considering actions to address these issues.
Using the International Futures Forum “3 Horizons” tool, the group set out to map the current landscape and to explore visions for the future, not just in three years’ time but looking further ahead into 2020 and beyond.
The statements the group used to stimulate discussion through the 3 Horizons sessions are shown below:
These statements were designed to provoke conversation and thinking in relation to current practice, either observed or undertaken by members of the group, and thinking about the future direction of Drama education and its relevance to learners.
From the conversations, the key issues that were highlighted during the day included:
The outputs from the meeting are collated and posted below in both Word and PowerPoint format.
Comments from all stakeholders on the outputs are very welcome.
An initial meeting of the Art and Design National Working Group took place at Optima, Glasgow on Tuesday 4th March. The aims of the meeting were to identify and discuss the key national issues with regard to Art and Design education 3-18 and to begin considering actions to address these issues.
Using the International Futures Forum “3 Horizons” tool, the group set out to map the current landscape and to explore visions for the future, not just in three years’ time but looking further ahead into 2020 and beyond.
The statements the group used to stimulate discussion through the 3 Horizons sessions are shown below:
These statements were designed to provoke conversation and thinking in relation to current practice, either observed or undertaken by members of the group, and thinking about the future direction of Art and Design education and its relevance to learners.
From the conversations, the key issues that were highlighted during the day included:
The outputs from the meeting are collated and posted below in both Word and PowerPoint format.
Comments from all stakeholders on the outputs are very welcome.
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:
Activity packs
National school poster competition
Mass participation in Flusurvey project
Case studies
How to guides
Our new activity packs include:
Explore the future– for primary schools
Community garden challenge – for secondary schools
Get engineering II – in partnership with Engineering UK (coming up)
Cracking chemistry, in partnership with Royal Society of Chemistry
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.
For further information :
http://www.britishscienceassociation.org/national-science-engineering-week
We’re on a mission to get more people dancing in Scotland than ever before.
How? We’re working with as many dance providers as we can and together we’re campaigning for and promoting dance to the public, encouraging all to try a free taster dance class and to join in with our all-singing, but especially all-dancing, events programme.
Get Scotland Dancing (GSD) was created by a Scottish Government policy in 2010 and is one of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games Legacy programmes. It’s also part of Culture 2014, the national strand of the Glasgow 2014 Cultural Programme. It’s free to join and school/youth groups can register at getscotlanddancing.org
Being part of the online community means you can find out what’s going on in your area and make connections with other dance groups and teachers who could help develop your work.
Events especially suitable for school/youth groups
Partners can work alone or team up with others to put on one or more of these events which are designed to be scaleable and can be staged at low/no cost. We provide event guidelines, funding advice, Culture 2014 branded print and sample press releases.
The Big Dance Pledge
created by Scottish Ballet – Friday 16 May at 1pm or 7pm
The Big Dance Pledge is a chance to learn, make and perform dance with the rest of the world. The free online films show you the dance and how to learn it, or give you the starting point to make your own version. Music and teaching resources are provided too. Learning the dance is a fun way to get a group together to have a fun time doing something creative. Using rhythm and percussion, the dance is complete mix of dance styles. It’s under 4 minutes long and easy to learn, whatever your experience of dancing.
Join other local groups and perform the pledge in a local landmark location and invite your local press along
The Commonwealth Ceilidh
with the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society – Saturday 21 June at 7.30pm
A 24-hour global ceilidh on Saturday 21 June (the summer/winter solstice) with a programme of dances including three newly commissioned ones. Beginning at 19:30 (local time) in New Zealand and moving around the world, the final event ends 24 hours later in Hawaii. Add some local flavour with a unique interval dance that showcases dance styles from other Commonwealth cultures.
Free online event guidance advises on how to plan your event. Free videos and teaching resources help a group to learn the dances in advance which they then share with their community on the night.
Could be planned and run within a school context by students with mentoring.
Make Things Do Stuff is a campaign to inspire young people aged between 13 and 18 to make things in the digital world. It aims to help them to look beyond being a consumer and instead to create things, understand why things happen and to take ownership of it for themselves.
The campaign offers support, advice, resources and tools that are ideal for use in schools and at home, whether it’s a lesson, after-school club or competition. There’s something for everyone, whatever level they (or you) are at – and it’s all designed to nurture understanding and enjoyment through practical experience.
Adapted from a special digital making event for Teachers in Scotland, these videos show a range of different step-by-step digital activities for computing/other secondary school teachers.
MAKLab
MAKLab is Scotland’s first open access digital fabrication studio. The video covers how to create a 3D model of an object of your choice in 3D software and shows how the physical object can be then printed on a 3D printer. The process of creating a 3D object is a memorable and meaningful learning experience.
Suitable for: Secondary teachers of all subjects at all levels, particularly CDT, Art and Computing.
Processing Tutorial with Chris Martin
Processing is an open source programing language, community and development environment. In this session you will learn how to rapidly demonstrate computational principles with striking interactive visual output. This will be hands on, fun and you will make something interesting.
Suitable for: Teachers of National 4 / National 5 Computing
LiveCode Tutorial with Elanor Buchanan and Neil Roger
Livecode is an easy to learn, open source, high level language for creating programs and mobile apps for a variety of platforms including Windows, iOS and Android. The LiveCode introductory session will take you through creating a short interactive side scrolling hot air balloon game. Working with text, simple animation and using sound to create moving background images to give the illusion of movement, controlling an on-screen element, and detecting collisions to collect bonus points or end the game when you collide with negative elements.
Suitable for: Teachers of National 4 / National 5 / Higher Computing
App Inventor with Jeremy Scott
We have to provide students with an experience of Computing Science that’s not only accessible and exciting, but real world. What better way to do this than tapping into the mobile revolution? This workshop will provide an overview of the RSE/BCS Computing Science exemplification project and focus on how teachers might use “I Love My Smartphone” to introduce mobile app development in the classroom.
Suitable for: Teachers of National 4 Computing
Colin Maxwell Animation Tutorial
Vectorian Giotto is a powerful and free animation tool for creating 2D animations and interactive presentations. In this session you will explore the features of the tool whilst making short animations for science, literacy and foreign language, and discuss how the software can be applied to different curriculum areas. Animation is not just for art or computing classrooms, it can be an engaging medium across the curriculum.
Suitable for: Secondary teachers of all subjects at all levels.
Webmaker and Video Editing tools with Doug Belshaw from Mozilla
The Web is the world’s largest free public resource. Do you feel confident in teaching your students about how to read, write and participate on the Web? In this session, Doug Belshaw from the Mozilla Foundation (the people behind the Firefox web browser) will introduce some free Webmaker tools that you can use in your teaching. You will also learn how to use Popcorn, a free and open video editing tool. You can make videos to educate your pupils or get your pupils creating campaign videos or short films to revise a topic.
Suitable for: Secondary teachers of all subjects at all levels.
“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.”
Facts from Engineering UK 2014 – http://www.engineeringuk.com/View/?con_id=441
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.
http://www.edinburghtrams.com/
This will be based on a first come first serve basis, if you are interested please contact kirsty.mcfaul@educationscotland.gov.uk for more details.
Would you like to win £1000 for your school or group?
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.
Follow the link for further information about this competition and to get an entry form: www.environment.scotland.gov.uk/yd
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.
There are still places available at Education Scotland’s Community Resilience Conversation and Networking Event on Monday 17th March.
The day is aimed at members of the Scottish Government, emergency planning and civil contingencies teams from local councils, representatives from local education authorities, and members of other key organisations to consider community resilience as a rich and exciting context for teaching and learning.
Conversation activities will provide delegates with opportunities to network with one another and engage in professional dialogue in relation to preparing for emergencies and developing resilient communities. Selected examples of good practice will also be shared through engaging presentations delivered by government, local council and school representatives.
We would like to invite you to take part in the event at the Glasgow Hilton Hotel on the 17th March 2014 to explore how we might take forward resilience education in schools and consider important developments in teaching and learning.
We would be grateful if you could register online at http://svy.mk/Mb8ZM7 by end of day Thursday 13th March 2014 to confirm your attendance and inform us of any special dietary or access requirements you may have.
First Minister announces funding to attract up to 11,000 jobs.
Scotland’s digital technologies sector will benefit from £6.6 million to boost its internationally renowned reputation for cutting-edge expertise, the First Minister Alex Salmond announced today (Tuesday 11 March, 2014).
The funding will support digital skills and address actions set out in the information and communications technology (ICT) and digital technologies Skills Investment Plan, which was also published today by the First Minister, on a visit to officially open the new Edinburgh premises of CodeBase, Scotland largest digital incubator company.
The announcement comes during Make Young People Your Business Week which focuses on promoting the digital technologies sector as a career option to a younger audience while celebrating Scottish successes in the industry.
The plan includes actions such as:
• Responding to the immediate skills shortage by developing an industry led talent academy model in summer 2014 to support the demand of up to 11,000 jobs per year
• Offering more opportunities to increase female participation in the digital sector
• Aligning education systems to employers need and supporting employer engagement with schools
• Delivering 750 work placements for FE/HE students by 2016
Scotland’s ICT and digital technologies sectors deliver £3 billion to the Scottish economy and currently employs 73,000 digital technology professionals. There is huge global demand for Scottish expertise and talent in this sector and today’s announcement will help maintain Scotland’s position as a key player in the global arena.
For more details follow the links below.
The SDS/Scottish Government press release is here – http://news.scotland.gov.uk/News/-6-6m-for-digital-Scotland-a3c.aspx
The SIP has also been uploaded to SDS Skills Force website – www.ourskillsforce.co.uk/ict-and-digital-technologies-skills-investment-plan/
BBC Coverage – www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-26528176.
Just as a reminder to follow the Make Young People Your Business Week on twitter, use #DigiSkills.
Delegates attending our fourth conversation day at Bucksburn Academy identified three key themes for improving science education.
Discussions focussed on:
Education Scotland is keen to hear your views regarding the second theme 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:
Delegates identified areas of partnership working which they regarded as requiring further development:
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.
Glow TV events:
Ask the Expert – Neil Kermode 11 March 10.30 http://bit.ly/1g9zh90
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.
The OU’s free Moons MOOC is at; https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/moons and I am gearing up to facilitate some of the discussion. It starts on 17 March.
We envisage it taking around 3 hours per week, for the eight week presentation.
Aberdeen Biodiversity Centre have a S1-3 poster competition running currently, copies can be downloaded from their website under secondary education – ttp://www.abdn.ac.uk/biodiversity/education/secondary/cfe-support/
Education Scotland in partnership with Perth and Kinross Council set up a project to explore the issues around, and identify current practice in, family learning within a local authority. Family learning is seen as a powerful method of learning which can challenge educational disadvantage, promote socio-economic resilience and foster positive attitudes towards lifelong learning. The project team wanted to identify family learning in different contexts (both rural and urban), and see if there was a consistent, needs-led approach being taken towards engagement and learning.
A report has now been published on the Education Scotland website outlining the findings of this project along with case studies reflecting current practice within this area. For more information and to download this report follow the link below.
Family Learning in Perth and Kinross: A Local Authority Case Study
The Scottish Peer Education Network is an initiative hosted in Edinburgh by Fast Forward. Peer Education is a term wide used to describe a range of initiatives where people from a similar age group, background, culture and/or social status educate each other about a certain issue. SPEN supports and promotes peer education and the work of peer educators, practitioners, and policy makers involved in this sector across Scotland.
What does SPEN do?
SPEN works in partnership with organisations, young people, professionals, the NHS and schools to encourage and enable youth participation in peer education. It works by connecting, promoting and supporting a diverse range of projects that cover a variety of topics and skills across Scotland. SPEN advisory group meetings are held every few months to allow members to discuss their projects, exchange ideas and learn more about how peer education is being run across the country.
Why should I join?
Join SPEN for free and you will be joining around 200 other peer education projects throughout Scotland, with access to the following services:
• Training
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Visit our website at www.spen.org.uk to become a free member, to find other Peer Education projects near you, or to simply sign up for the monthly newsletter featuring Peer Education news, funding, training and resources.
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Blog: http://fastforwardorg.wordpress.com
Contact: simon@fastforward.org.uk / 0131 554 4300
The Small Steps-Big Changes? Seminar on 27 February 2014, organised jointly by Education Scotland and Learning for Sustainability Scotland attracted over 60 participants from across Scotland interested in how those working in Community Learning and Development and those with sustainable development experience and expertise could work more closely together.
The seminar heard about learning for sustainability through Scottish Government policies, Education Scotland initiatives and local projects.
Aileen Campbell MSP, Minister for Children and Young People set out the policy context for this work. Ms Campbell highlighted the opportunities offered by the Children and Young People’s Bill, the National Youthwork Strategy, the CLD (Scotland) Regulations, the Community Empowerment Bill and the recent Adult Learning Statement of Ambition. She said that ‘Learning for Sustainability is a Scottish Government and international priority for every type of learning’.
Professor Pete Higgins, Professor of Outdoor and Environmental Education at the University of Edinburgh and Director of Learning for Sustainability Scotland said, ‘Through learning together we’ll ensure that people and communities in Scotland have opportunities to understand more about the sustainable development issues that concern them, and to use their learning to help them shape their future as members of a nation that takes these responsibilities and opportunities seriously’.
Learning for sustainability is not just about One Planet schools but also involves the wider community. The links with Curriculum for Excellence and communities were ably illustrated as were empowerment approaches in partnership with Malawi and through community development in Scotland.
The showcase sessions provided eight examples of learning for sustainability in action and stimulated lots of discussion. The presentations and filmed clips of the seminar will be made available through i-develop.
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
Travelling on Water – First Level
Uses of Water – Second Level
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
http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/stemcentral/contexts/water/index.asp
Sciences – National Qualifications Update
We can now confirm that three Higher Cross-Authority Writing Workshops will now take place as follows:
Session 1 – Evening session 5pm – 7:30pm on Wednesday 19th March and all day Thursday 20th March 2014. Venue: Stirling Management Centre, Stirling
Session 2 – Thursday 24th April 2014. Venue: SSERC, Dunfermline
Session 3 – Tuesday 27th May 2014. Venue: Glasgow, to be confirmed. Note: Date changed due to clash with Biology Markers’ Meeting.
The purpose of the days will be to provide practitioners with the opportunity to share existing materials developed for the Higher Sciences qualifications and co-develop further materials as required including resources for each Higher Unit, banks of questions etc. Our hope is that we will have groups collaborating to support all five sciences Highers including: Biology, Human Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Environmental Science. Education Scotland and SQA colleagues will also be attending to work alongside practitioners.
Each local authority is invited to identify one practitioner to attend. This should be a Faculty Head, Principal Teacher and/or someone with experience of developing course materials for national qualifications. Nominations should be sent to Grant.McAllister@educationscotland.gov.uk by 5pm Monday 10th March 2014. When submitting nominations please provide the following details: name, role, school, email, subject specialism and dietary requirements. Our hope is that the same representative will attend all three events to ensure continuity but we realise that this may not always be possible.
One place for each local authority is guaranteed providing nominations are received by the deadline. Places not claimed by this point will be reallocated to other authorities. A limited number of reserve places will also be available to ensure balance across each of the five Higher qualifications. Authorities can nominate a second individual, from a different subject specialism, to be added to this list. We will notify reserve list nominees about availability of places shortly after the deadline on the 10th March.
Other updates:
Please note: you may need to click the compatibility view icon and/or refresh button in the top navigation bar of your internet browser to see the videos.
An extensive range of course materials for Higher Sciences is available from Education Scotland’s NQ Higher Sciences website: http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/highersciences/
The cross authority writing group’s approach to National 5 Hydrogels assignment has been published on the NQ Glow portal. http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/nqcoursematerials/subjects/c/nqresource_tcm4827127.asp .
Highland council have kindly shared their mapping of changes from traditional higher to CfE Higher for Biology, Chemistry, Human Biology and Physics. Again available on the NQ Glow Portal.
South Lanarkshire have produced a guide to assessments in the sciences at national 3, 4 & 5. This has been adapted to into subject specific versions and are available on the NQ glow portal http://bit.ly/1lcuFGn
The sciences glow 365 site http:\bit.ly/glowsciences continues to be populated with more materials including resources for National 4 & 5 Biology, Chemistry and Physics.
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation has an educators’ group: http://is.gd/circulareconomy. The Ellen MacArthur foundation has a number of resources suitable across the sciences and interdisciplinary learning activities. The Scotland’s Environment Website Youth Discussion competition is aimed at 5-18 yr olds and closes on 31 March. The competition has an environmental theme so it could cover a range of areas within the curriculum.
Time: 09:30 (for 10:00 start) – 15:00
Venue: Glasgow Hilton Hotel, William Street, Glasgow, G3 8HT
Education Scotland is excited to be hosting its first community resilience conversation and networking event with a view to developing a shared, partnership approach to provide 3-18 resilience education opportunities.
The day aims to bring together members of the Scottish Government, emergency planning and civil contingencies teams from local councils, representatives from local education authorities, and members of other key organisations to consider community resilience as a rich and exciting context for teaching and learning focusing on a range of contexts such as flooding and other forms of extreme weather and their impact on our lives.
Conversation activities will provide delegates with opportunities to network with one another and engage in professional dialogue in relation to preparing for emergencies and developing resilient communities. Selected examples of good practice will also be shared through engaging presentations delivered by government, local council and school representatives.
We would like to invite you to take part in the event at the Glasgow Hilton Hotel on the 17th March 2014 to explore how we might take forward resilience education and consider important developments in teaching and learning. Places will be allocated on a first come, first served basis. There is no cost to attend.
We would be grateful if you could register online at http://svy.mk/Mb8ZM7 by Monday 10th March 2014 to confirm your attendance and inform us of any special dietary or access requirements you may have.
Education Scotland has uploaded some new materials illustrating good practice on to the Studying Scotland website.
Discover how primary teachers at Eaglesham Primary School used the Statistical Accounts of Scotland to further enhance their learning. Learners used these primary sources to make a connection with the past through their interdisciplinary Victorians project. Watch the video to find out how the pupils used a variety of approaches to learning whilst undertaking their focus on the history of their community including Outdoor Learning, Rights Respecting Schools as well as Learning about Scotland.
Education Scotland is delighted to announce that schools can now access Tigtag – an award-winning online science resource for primary schools, free of charge through Glow.
We have agreed a 12 month national education licence with Twig World which allows Scottish schools to have unlimited access to this great resource.
There is no need to ask for a free trial if you are already a glow user.
Simply, click on www.tigtagonglow.com
Put in your glow user name and password and start using this fabulous resource.
Alternatively, if you have entered a search for Tigtag and gone through http://www.twig-world.co.uk/tigtag/
Click on this tigtag image in the top right hand corner and you will be taken to the Tigtag home page.
You will see this image 
.
Click on Log in with Glow and input your user name and password to start using the resource.
Remember there is no need to click free trial if you are an existing Glow user.
You can use Tigtag straight away to enhance and support your science learning and teaching.
Tigtag provides access to:
• background information, relating to the key concepts identified in the science organisers, and quality films to support and enhance teaching and learning in the sciences.
• planning resources, investigation sheets, practical challenges and succinct clear lesson plans, providing a range of contexts for learning which draw on important aspects of everyday life and work.
• interactive lesson packages to help stimulate the interest and motivation of all learners and support staff in planning challenging, engaging and enjoyable learning and teaching activities.
• a “What Happens Next?” and “Scientific Enquiry” section to encourage learners to engage in dialogue, developing their investigative and inquiry skills.
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