Topical Science and Partnerships Glow Meet – Wednesday 4th March 3.45-4.45pm

Following the publication of its 3-18 Curriculum Impact Report for Sciences in September 2012, Education Scotland organised a series of conversation days, where priorities for action to secure improvements in science education nationally were identified.

Key aspects for development emerged, which included:

In the primary sector and at the early stages of secondary school, there is generally less emphasis in the key area of Topical Science than on the other four organisers……. In these cases, children and young people do not have enough opportunity to discuss and debate a range of ethical issues.”

Young people are increasingly surrounded by scientific issues in the media and their everyday lives. By considering current issues through topical science, learners increasingly develop their understanding of scientific concepts and their capacity to form informed social, moral and ethical views. They reflect upon and critically evaluate media portrayal of scientific findings.

To address this aspect the Sciences team is hosting a “Topical Science and Partnerships” Glow Meet which will be complimented again by a series of professional learning twilight sessions.

Join us on Wednesday 4th March at 3.45 – 4.45 pm in Glow TV to find out more.

Register https://meet.glowscotland.org.uk/topicalscience/event/event_info.html

Register for the twilight session

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/TwilightSessions2015

Sessions will include input from STEM Ambassadors, Royal Society of Chemistry, Citizen Science , Community Resilience, Creative Thinking and the Sciences  and Glasgow City of Science

Marr College DigiLearn TeachMeet

5thMarch2015Thursday 5th March from 3.30 to 4.30

Mrs McGregor-Sloman (Head Teacher) and Mr McLean (PT Computing Science) would like to invite you to attend a ‘TeachMeet’ In Marr College.  The theme is the use of technology to enhance the learning of our pupils.

Any educator can come along can share their ideas and practice around the use of technologies to help young people learn and develop their skills and knowledge.

To register just email marr.mail@south-ayrshire.gov.uk

 

Launch of Early Learn Community

Early Learn

Education Scotland is building an online professional learning community for early learning and childcare practitioners.This will be the place where these practitioners and other Scottish educators can come together and converse, share resources, add, and take part in, professional learning opportunities and, of course, share the impact on learners.

The community (which is on the new Glow platform) goes officially live next week at a professional learning Masterclass in Dundee City Council. In the meantime, you are all very welcome to come in and say “hello”.

The community is at http://bit.ly/earlylearn and, if you are new to professional learning communities on Glow, look for the Support menu option.

If you are in the early learning and childcare sector in Scotland and need a Glow username and password, see How do I get a login?

Digital storytelling update – part 2

We told you last week about our Digital Storytelling exercise. Well, already there has been a major plot development!

Award-winning childrens’ author, Theresa Breslin, has kindly agreed to provide the story starter for Digital Storytelling 3.

Among the schools who will be taking part are Kilbarchan, Lochfield, Invergowrie, Pumpherston and Uphall Station primary schools.

The great news is that as of the time of writing this blog post, there are still slots available. So if you want to take part, get along to the storytelling learning space

<Please note, there are also still slots available for Storytelling 2 (for older writers) see Digital Storytelling 1 and 2 update for another surprise!>

Theresa_Breslin_400x400About Theresa Breslin

  • Carnegie Medal winning author of over 40 books
  • Her books include Divided City, Ghost Soldier and Illustrated Treasury of Folk & Fairy Tales
  • Her work has appeared on Stage, Radio & TV

You can keep up to date with Theresa’s work online:

Digital storytelling update – part 1

We told you last week about our Digital Storytelling exercise. These two stories haven’t even started yet and there has been a major plot twist!

Renowned Scottish childrens’ author, Cathy MacPhail, has kindly agreed to provide the story starters for both Digital Storytelling 1 and Digital Storytelling 2.

First to take up Cathy’s challenge will be the young writers of St Michael’s Primary in Dumfries. Of course, they won’t see Catherine’s starter until just before they start writing!

You can see all the other schools taking part in this particular challenge on Glow by going to the storytelling learning space

<Please note, Storytelling 1 is full but there are still slots available for Storytelling 2 and Storytelling 3 –see Digital Storytelling 3 update for another surprise!>

Cathy_MacPhailAbout Cathy MacPhail

  • Cathy is Patron of Reading at Falkirk High
  • She is also an Ambassador for Children 1st.
  • Her novel , Out of The Depths, was shortlisted for the Grampian Book Award and she is weel kent for her Tyler Lawless Mysteries.
  • Her novel, Another Me, is soon to be released as a film, Panda Eyes.

You can keep up to date with Cathy’s work online:

‘Dams to Darnley’ Education Pack

d2dlogo_big[1]The Dams to Darnley education resource offers an interesting range of outdoor learning activities for all practitioners. Each activity is linked to science experiences and outcomes from early to fourth level. Whilst the resource was produced by the countryside ranger service in East Renfrewshire, it promotes a number of engaging approaches which can be replicated within school grounds or country parks across Scotland.

Countryside rangers can lead activities, however, there are also self-led activites to allow teachers to take ownership within their own settings. The pack also contains helpful appendices with guidance on taking learning outdoors, templates for risk assessments and useful contacts and links.

Second Assessment in the Sciences Glow Meet

Following the publication of its 3-18 Curriculum Impact Report for Sciences in September 2012, Education Scotland organised a series of conversation days where priorities for action to secure improvements in science education nationally were identified.

Key aspects for development emerged, which included primary and early years practitioners requiring guidance and exemplifications for assessment in the sciences.

To address this aspect the sciences team hosted a Glow Meet, Assessment in the Sciences, which was complimented by a series of professional learning twilight sessions across Scotland.

Practitioners have asked that the Meet be run again, therefore join us on Tuesday 10th March 3.35-4.45 pm in Glow TV.

Participants should be familiar with the Assessing Progress and Achievement Overarching Paper.

We will also be using a highlighted Assessing Progress and Achievement in the Sciences curriculum paper, Sciences Progression Framework and an Annotated Exemplification which can be downloaded through the blog link upon registration for the Glow Meet.

To register https://meet.glowscotland.org.uk/assessscience2/event/event_info.html

 

 

Assessment in the Sciences Glow Meet

Small - Sciences AssessmentFollowing the publication of its 3-18 Curriculum Impact Report for Sciences in September 2012, Education Scotland organised a series of conversation days where priorities for action to secure improvements in science education nationally were identified.

Key aspects for development emerged, which included primary and early years practitioners requiring guidance and exemplifications for assessment in the sciences.

To address this aspect the sciences team hosted a Glow Meet, Assessment in the Sciences, which was complimented by a series of professional learning twilight sessions across Scotland.
Practitioners have asked that the Meet be run again therefore join us on Tuesday 10th March 3.35-4.45 pm in Glow TV. – Register to take part live in Glow TV.

The Education Scotland assessment support documentation will be explored using exemplifications from the NAR and addressing particular science Significant Aspects of Learning.

Participants should be familiar with the Assessing Progress and Achievement Overarching Paper

We will also be using Annotated Exemplars therefore please download these documents prior to the session:

Highlighted Annotated exemplar

Highlighted Professional learning paper Assessing progress and achievement in the Sciences

Highlighted Sciences Progression Framework

1 + 2 Languages Strategy

Small Image 1+2This second Glow TV event in the series hosted by the modern languages team at Education Scotland will focus on developing listening and talking in young learners in a 1+2 context.

There will also be information on the latest developments and support available from Education Scotland.

This session is aimed at development officers and practitioners and will take place on Wednesday 25th February at 4pm. – Register now in Glow TV to join in on the day.

UNICEF UK – Find out More!

Small - UNICEFJoin Frances and Katie from Unicef UK to find out more about the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and Outright.

Frances Bestley and Katie Cox from Unicef UK will be talking about the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and how in a rights respecting school children’s rights are learned, taught, practised, respected, protected and promoted. They will also look at some of the other activities that rights-respecting schools get involved with like Outright, speaking out about children’s rights and Day for Change raising money to support Unicef to help children realise their rights across the world. You will also have the opportunity to watch the response by Fiona McLeod MSP to the many letters that were send in during the Outright initiative.

Join us live in Glow TV on Wednesday 25th February at 11am. – Register for UNICEF UK – Find out More!

Build-a-space live from Lockerbie

5thMarch2015Calling all educators!

Welcome to Build-a-space live from Lockerbie!

You too can have the online learning space of your dreams! Maybe it’s a space for your class, your CfE projects, your parents? Whatever it is, we will do our very best to make it happen.

We have assembled a ‘crack team’ of experts from the Digital Learning & Teaching Team (Pam Currie, John Sexton, Ian Stuart, oh and me, Con Morris!)

The team will be assembling (some online and some in person on Lockerbie campus) on Thursday, 5th March to support you and build your spaces until all our pointers are exhausted.

How to take part

  • If you are in the Lockerbie area, feel free to pop in to the Primary School library area and make your request in person.
  • You can make requests and book some time on the Learning Spaces community on Glow
  • The whole thing will be broadcast online using various Glow Lync rooms

NMS – Dinosaur Discovery

Small - Dinosaur NMSGlow TV once again returns to the National Museum of Scotland on Tuesday 24th February at 1.30pm to find out more about our past and this time we are going back to prehistoric times to find out more about dinosaurs!

Explore fossil evidence to discover clues about how dinosaurs lived. Join the team at National Museums Scotland who will take you through some fun experiments and calculations to find out some facts and figures about dinosaur life.

Scotland’s Glowing Global

Small - 1+2 DigiLearnHave you Got the 1 + 2 Factor?

The 1 + 2 Factor is a nationwide competition for Scottish education establishments. We are asking clusters to work together using any of the tools within Glow to create learning spaces which will help them with the transition from primary to secondary and the implementation of 1 + 2.

Successful clusters from across Scotland will be chosen to take part in the final event on the 30th September 2015 to showcase their work and then take part in a fun interactive afternoon using digital technologies to enhance language experiences.

  1. Why should you take part?

It has been highlighted by SCILT that links between the secondary school and its associated primary schools have become increasingly important for additional language learning. Clusters must work together to decide which languages will be studied. Secondary departments must know what has been delivered and how. Assessment information should be shared. In best practice, secondary school language departments will have regular contact with the associated primary schools.

Some senior managers have expressed concern over having sufficient time to devote to language learning and over maintaining sufficient numbers of trained staff. It will be important for school management teams and local authorities to work together to address these concerns. The 1+2 Factor hopes to encourage clusters to work together to address these issues.

  1. How do I take part?

In Glow O365 you will find the 1 + 2 Factor site: https://glowscotland.sharepoint.com/sites/learners/1plus2/_layouts/15/start.aspx#/SitePages/Home.aspx

Here you can find out about important dates and find useful links and documents to help you create your learning experiences. This is also where you can enter your cluster for the event.

For more information watch the 1 + 2 Factor Glow TV event on Wednesday 4th March. Register here to take part in this event in Glow TV.

St Michael’s and #digilearnscot Week

St_MichaelsThe learners of St Michael’s primary in Dumfries and Galloway Council are delighted to do their bit for #digilearnscot week!

Supported by Mrs Cubbon, they will be the first class to take up the Digital Storytelling Challenge on Monday 2nd March

On Thursday 5th, the St Michael’s team will be doing yet more storytelling and taking the time to present and record some of the ways that they use technology in their learning.

There are two ways that learners and educators from all over Scotland can join in:

newsfeedOne – Post messages for the St Michael’s young learners using the tag #stmichaels on the Glow Learners’ community at http://bit.ly/learnershome

digilearn_wikiWatch for the contributions on the Digilearn wiki as soon as possible

Digital Leaders at Kirklandneuk Primary School, Monday 2nd March at 3.30 pm

On Monday, 2nd March at 3.30 pm come and learn via Glow TV all about Digital Leaders. Class Teacher Natalie Lochhead, who is a Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert, will share her insights and ideas from her own experience in developing this in a Primary school setting.

Digital Leaders are part of a wider network of schools across the UK who train and support teachers and pupils in ICT. Natalie Lochhead started the process of employing Digital Leaders by employing children, who felt confident with ICT, to be part of a team of experts from Primary 4 to Primary 7.

The children teach full class lessons, support during ICT slots and have supported teachers in the daunting experience for some, of using iPads in the classroom.

Digital Leaders is a truly wonderful pupil group in Kirklandneuk Primary School and a must have for all schools.

Register now to take part in Glow TV.

Aberdeen City and Shire TeachMeet #DigiLearnScot on Monday, 2nd March, 6.30 – 9.00 pm

Aberdeen City and Shire TeachMeet for #DigiLearnScot

Monday 2nd March

6:30 – 9.00 pm

MacRobert Building, Kings College Campus, University of Aberdeen

Live streaming video on the night via GlowTV

Sign up here to attend the event: http://teachmeet.pbworks.com/w/page/92953584/TeachMeet%20DigiLearnScot%20(North-East)

Sign up here for to register and watch via Glow TV: https://eventpub-meet.glowscotland.org.uk/content/connect/c1/7/en/events/event/shared/default_template_simple/event_landing.html?sco-id=1189075

Learn something new, be amazed, amused and enthused. This is an informal gathering of those curious about teaching and technology. Anyone can share great ideas they’ve trialled in their classrooms, ask important questions or simply sign up to take part in learning conversations. The national Digital Learning Week is being promoted by the National Digital Learning Forum (NDLF).

Everyone involved in education is welcome at this TeachMeet: primary, secondary, further education, higher education, probationary teachers and student teachers!

TeachMeet DigiLearnScot (Aberdeen City and Shire Edition)

6:30 pm Nibbles and refreshments,

7:00 – 7:10 pm TeachMeet #DigilLearnScot introduction

7.10 – 7.50pm Four 7-minute presentations and three 2-minute presentations

7.50 – 8.15pm Refreshments / Networking time

8.15 – 9.00pm Four 7-minute presentations and three 2-minute presentations

9.00 pm Close

Dundee Digital Technology Sharing Event – Tuesday, 3rd March, 5 pm – 7 pm

Teachers from Dundee and neighbouring authorities are invited to attend this Digital Technologies event in the Dundee Science Centre. Dundee Teachers can book via Dundee’s internal CPD online system and anyone else wishing to attend can contact louise.foreman@dundeecity.gov.uk

Local technology & games design companies, Universities and partner agencies will exhibit and share knowledge and experiences of employability within the technology industry.

Schools will exhibit and share some of the innovative ways in which digital technologies are impacting on learning and teaching.

There will also be an opportunity to take part in a workshop with Dundee University to learn inspiring and engaging ways to teach Binary Coding with some of our younger learners.

This is a great opportunity for you to come along and learn something new. Give IT a go and join us for this exciting event!

Digital TeachMeet Falkirk on Thursday, 5th March, 5 pm – 7 pm


Digital TeachMeet Falkirk #DigiLearnScot

Thursday 5 March 2015

5pm – 7pm

Refreshments from 4:30pm

St Mungo’s High School, Falkirk, FK2 7JT

Education professionals from any sector and from any geographical area are invited to this TeachMeet which has a theme of the use of technology to enhance the learning of our pupils. Anyone can share great ideas no matter how big or how small as long as it incorporates the use of technologies. Find out more and sign up here:

http://teachmeet.pbworks.com/w/page/92353827/Digital%20TeachMeet%20Falkirk

Email the organisers via digitalteachmeetfalkirk@gmail.com

Follow on Twitter @FDTeachMeet

Digital storytelling across Scotland

Calling all learners!

From 2nd to 6th March, we’re going to co-create stories using Word Online on Glow.

There will be story starters published at 9am on the 2nd March. At 9.30, the learners of St Michael’s Primary in Dumfries will write the first chapter.

Classes who sign up each get about an hour to write their chapter of the story. The twist is the storyline and characters have to flow, that’s the fun bit! Any learner or educator can ‘tune in’ and see the story developing live.

By the end of the week, we will have three fab co-written stories!

There are three separate storytelling experiences. To take part, you should ask your teacher to read the Teacher guide – storytelling for digilearnscot week and sign you up on one of the spaces on Glow

 

Light bulb with colorful education iconAnother learning experience brought to you by #digilearnscot

SpyQuest and DigiLearnScot

spy

Have you always dreamt of becoming a super spy?…Well your secret agent staff training can begin right now!

On Thursday 5th March there will be an event to train specially gifted staff recruits which will be held at Educations Scotland, Floor 9, Optima Building, 58 Robertson Street, Glasgow starting at 17:00 hours.

Only the best will do… if you believe you have outstanding abilities and obvious potential to be a SUPER SPY then sign up to the event by emailing digitallearningcommunity@gmail.com

As part of the Digital Learning Week, Education Scotland will be holding an entertaining and informative event for practitioners with a passion for technology and a sense of fun. Once you arrive at the Optima building you will put into teams. Your own personal agent will lead you through a series of secret missions while you learn about different innovative technologies and find out about the different events that have been held throughout #DigiLearnScot week.

Should you choose to accept this mission you will be entering the secret world of international espionage. You will be competing against and training along with fellow recruits testing your special agent skills, breaking secret codes and much more…

TeachMeet Digital Learning at Preston Lodge High School

This TeachMeet is in Preston Lodge High School, Park View, Prestonpans, EH32 9QJ and is part of the National Digital Learning Community’s Digital Learning Week. The programme looks like this:

6pm Arrival & Networking
6.20pm Welcome & Introduction
6.30pm Micro & Nano Presentations I
7.05pm Learning Conversations
7.25pm Micro & Nano Presentations II
7.55pm Closing Remarks
8pm Close

You can sign up for clicking on the link below and entering your details in the document. You have four options when signing up…although one of these options is to attend and join in, we really need some folk to sign up to be presenters or to lead learning conversations – otherwise it won’t be much of a TeachMeet! As this is part of the Digital Learning Week, we’re really wanting presentations and conversations which focus on digital learning…with a real emphasis on the *learning*. In other words, not just what digital tools are you using, but why are you using them and what impact are they having on learning in your context. PowerPoint is strongly discouraged in all types of presentations. Presenters will be chosen at random on the night.

So, your options are…

  • You can sign up to attend and be prepared to deliver a 7-minute micro presentation.
  • You can sign up to attend and be prepared to deliver a 2-minute nano presentation.
  • You can sign up to attend and lead a learning conversation…you’ll be asked to suggest a discussion question when signing up, please make this related to digital learning. You can ask a question that you’re grappling with yourself, if you are other people will be too. And yes, you can sign up to lead a learning conversation as well as signing up to present you keen bean you.
  • You can sign up to attend…but you’ll still be expected to join right in and share your thoughts and ideas.

If this sounds like this is right up your street then click the link below and get yourself signed up…

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OOjA19_QVPnemFkvV2GAGIMBlDaduW13KW9Vn5BGwx4/edit

Share – Do – Develop! ​Scottish Digital Learning Week: 2 – 6 March​

dlscotdates

SAVE DATES

SAVE DATES*Sync with our public calendar

The aim of the National Digital Learning Week is to:

  • share the innovative and exciting ways in which learners are using digital technologies in school
  • develop a National Digital Learning Community comprising teachers/educators across Scotland
  • encourage pledges from educators about what they are going to do next to change their practice

Have a look at what is happening.

Be inspired and get involved

This is your chance to give I.T. a go!

 

If you have an idea of your own

Get in touch with us using whichever method below suits and let us know what you’r planning

 

glowpurple.fw Use Glow

 

Log on to bit.ly/digilearnscot

Use the events button Events to tell us your plans.

 

Snip20150207_2 Use Email

Email digitallearningcommunity@gmail.com to share your plans.

We will include them in our calendar of events for you.

 

Snip20150207_4 Use Twitter

 

 

Tweet @ndlcscot what you are planning – remember to use the #digilearnscot

Please let us know if your event is going to be public or private.

Tune into the Brydekirk LearnMeet!

brydekirk_PrimaryYou may have heard of TeachMeets, where teachers take turns to share their practice? Well, the learners of Brydekirk Primary in Dumfries and Galloway Council are running their own LearnMeet.

Hosted by Mr Archibald, the Brydekirk learners will take turns to ‘pop-up’ and share the whats and whys of their favourite learning. It takes place on Thursday 5th March and kicks off at 11am.

There are two ways that learners and educators from all over Scotland can join in using their Glow access:

newsfeedOne – Post messages for the Brydekirk  young learners using the tag #learnmeet on the Glow Learners’  community at http://bit.ly/learnershome
glow_tv Two – Take part in the event live via Glow TV – Register now in Glow TV to take part.

 

Donald Meek Award 2015

The Gaelic Books Council is inviting submissions for the Donald Meek Award 2015 which aims to encourage new and creative writing.   This may be poetry, short stories, novels or drama.   Academic works and research studies written in English related to Gaelic are also invited.

For more information, please contact janice@gaelicbooks.org or www.gaelicbooks.org. Applications must be submitted no later than Friday 3 April 2015.

Working with Scotland’s Communities ‐ A survey of who does community learning and development (CLD) in Scotland – online survey now open

peopleWorking with Scotland’s communities is a national study to find out more about the diverse range of paid workers and volunteers that provide community learning and development across Scotland. The online survey aimed at the organisations that employ these workers and volunteers is now open until Friday 10 April.

We know that community learning and development approaches are used by workers and volunteers with a variety of job titles in a range of different organisations in the community, voluntary and public sectors.

We want to hear from as many of these organisations as possible to build a current national picture of how many workers and volunteers there are, what they do, and what their training and development issues are. Please be aware that we’re only looking for one response on behalf of each organisation or service.

The findings from the survey will be used to inform national community learning and development policy and planning.

Working with Scotland’s communities is being carried out by Education Scotland on behalf of the Scottish Government, with help and support from the following national partners – Youthlink Scotland; The Scottish Community Development Centre (SCDC); The Workers Educational Association (WEA); The CLD Standards Council for Scotland; and CLD Managers Scotland.

For more information and to access the survey, please go to the Working with Scotland’s communities page on the Education Scotland website.

St Michael’s and #digilearnscot Week

St_MichaelsThe learners of St Michael’s primary in Dumfries and Galloway Council are delighted to do their bit for #digilearnscot week!

Supported by Mrs Cubbon, they will be the first class to take up the Digital Storytelling Challenge on Monday 2nd March

On Thursday 5th, the St Michael’s team will be doing yet more storytelling and taking the time to present and record some of the ways that they use technology in their learning.

There are two ways that learners and educators from all over Scotland can join in:

newsfeedOne – Post messages for the St Michael’s young learners using the tag #stmichaels on the Glow Learners’  community at http://bit.ly/learnershome

digilearn_wikiWatch for the contributions on the Digilearn wiki as soon as possible

 

#meandglow – Please pass this onto your learners!

LOC_2Big-150x150Today the Primary 4 learners of Lockerbie Primary School issue a challenge to all learners across Scotland. Tell us what you want from Glow!

newsfeedJust reply to their post on the Glow Learners Newsfeed (http://bit.ly/meandglow) or use the tag #meandglow in your own Glow discussions.

These P4 learners will gather up all the comments and pass them onto their teacher, Mr Anderson.

“So what?”, says you.  Well, Mr Anderson is a member of the National Digital Learning Forum. The Scottish Government set the forum up to help us all learn better using technology, so your suggestions will be heard!

Oh, by the way, no teachers to post please but do pass on the message to your learners! That shortlink again? http://bit.ly/meandglow

Scottish Guidance Association Workshop Day – 7th March 2015

Places are still available at the Scottish Guidance Association Workshop Day on 7 March 2015 at the Carnegie Conference Centre,  Dunfermline.

The keynote speaker is Phil Raines, Scottish Government. Phil will offer insight into how the GIRFEC provisions of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act are being implemented, specifically regarding the statutory guidance that has been produced for the Named Person service, Child’s Plan, wellbeing and information sharing.

There are also workshops during the day.  For full details visit the SGA website.

A new resource for Gaelic Medium Education

The Education Scotland website, Weather and Climate Change,  is now available through the medium of Gaelic.  This is aimed at providing practitioners with resources to help them include climate change within the curriculum for Gaelic Medium Education.  Read more.

Other Education Scotland websites that are available through the medium of Gaelic are:
Scotland’s History, Scotland’s Songs, Scotland’s Stories, Scots and Canada.

Digital storytelling

morepupilswriting260_tcm4-828817

Calling all learners!

From 2nd to 6th March, we’re going to co-create stories using Word Online on Glow.

Renowned authors, Theresa Breslin and Cathy MacPhail are providing the story starters!

These will be published at 9am on the 2nd March. At 9.30, the learners of St Michael’s Primary in Dumfries will write the first chapter.

Classes who sign up each get about an hour to write their chapter of the story. The twist is the storyline and characters have to flow, that’s the fun bit! Any learner or educator can ‘tune in’ and see the story developing live.

By the end of the week, we will have three fab co-written stories!

There are three separate storytelling experiences. To take part, you should ask your teacher to read the Teacher guide – storytelling for digilearnscot week and sign you up on one of the spaces on Glow

digilearnscotloho
Another learning experience brought to you by #digilearnscot

Talk to us about your professional learning: ELCC Local Conversations

Places are going really quickly for the ELCC Local Conversations about Professional Learning. Our three events in March (Ayr, Edinburgh and Inverness) give ELCC practitioners the opportunity to talk to us about what they would like to see over the coming weeks and months to support their learning and development.

We’ve just confirmed that SSSC will be coming along to each of the events to give an update about the various tools and resources available to practitioners. Some really exciting stuff happening there.

Make sure that you don’t miss out.

Sign-up for the conversations by completing a simple Survey Monkey questionnaire.

You can also comment here if you would like to make a suggestion as to what should be included on the day.

Topical science and partnerships

BF2A9145Following the publication of its 3-18 Curriculum Impact Report for Sciences in September 2012, Education Scotland organised a series of conversation days, where priorities for action to secure improvements in science education nationally were identified.

Key aspects for development emerged, which included:

In the primary sector and at the early stages of secondary school, there is generally less emphasis in the key area of Topical Science than on the other four organisers……. In these cases, children and young people do not have enough opportunity to discuss and debate a range of ethical issues.”

Young people are increasingly surrounded by scientific issues in the media and their everyday lives. By considering current issues through topical science, learners increasingly develop their understanding of scientific concepts and their capacity to form informed social, moral and ethical views. They reflect upon and critically evaluate media portrayal of scientific findings.

To address this aspect the Sciences team are hosting a Glow Meet entitled “Topical Science and Partnerships” which will be complimented again by a series of professional learning twilight sessions.

Contexts for delivering topical science and methods for planning topical science will be addressed.

Join us on Tuesday 4th March at 3.45 – 4.45 pm in Glow TV to find out more.

Register now to take part.

https://meet.glowscotland.org.uk/topicalscience/event/event_info.html

 

Social Studies Digital Learning Day

laptop-online-learningDate and time:

Saturday 21st March, 2015

9:30 – 15:00

Where:

Stirling Management Centre, Stirling Court Hotel

Organised and funded by Education Scotland, the day aims to engage practitioners in lively professional dialogue about the success and challenges of using digital learning in the Social Studies classroom. Download the full programme here: http://bit.ly/Ddayprogramme

There are 50 places available on a first come, first served basis and the day is open to all primary teachers and secondary Social Subject teachers. Book your place now: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/2STXHJS

This is a free event, including a free lunch. However, delegates will be required to meet their own travel costs.

0911f6a762ac45e393b0c08706b2b061_400x400Keynote Speakers

1) Active History

Russel Tarr – Head of History at the International School of Toulouse

Russel will share the digital applications and programs he has developed for his websites www.classtools.net and www.activehistory.co.uk. All of these have been designed for the students in his own history classroom.

2) Digital Commonwealth 2104

Professor David McGillivray – Chair in Event and Digital Cultures

School of Media, Culture and Society, University of the West of Scotland

Jennifer Jones – Project Coordinator, Digital Commonwealth 2014

David and Jennifer will share the success of the Digital Commonwealth to engage learners in developing and applying skills in digital media.

3) Digital Learning with the BBC

BBC Learning Online

Learn about new online resources to support CfE, the success of School News Report and the creativity of BBC Scotland’s L.A.B.

4) Reconnecting with Glow

Glow Futures Team, Education Scotland

The Glow team want to highlight some of what’s on offer and would like to invite delegates to have a fresh look at how Glow can help support learning and teaching.

online-learningWorkshops

  • Apps and Maps Annette Iafrate, Geography teacher, Gryffe High School, Houston

As one of Microsoft’s Innovative Educator Experts, Annette will share her passion for digital learning through using a variety of apps on tablets and ipods that integrate ICT seamlessly into her lessons, as well as creating class textbooks in OneNote.

  • Digital StorytellingPhilip Donnolly, Education Manager, Scottish Film

A former Senior Lecturer on Glasgow University’s Initial Teacher Education programme, Philip has long been a passionate innovator and exponent of digital technology in the classroom.

Delegates will learn simple but powerful methods for pupils to use Digital Video to reinforce curricular learning across all ages and contexts of Social Studies. Delegates will develop skills in voice overs, selecting still and moving images, and using video editing software.

  • Online MappingCarol Blackwood, Digimap For Schools

Online mapping can be the starting point of any lesson that has place as a concept. Carol will show delegates how to get pupils to be creative and present information to demonstrate their understanding of something they are being taught.

  • Citizen JournalismAnna Brocklehurst, Sky Skills Studio (TBC)

A team from Sky Skills Studio will show delegates how to combine a range of digital and presentation skills to develop learners abilities to research, debate and report on news and politics.

 

Directions:

http://www.stirlingcourthotel.com/stunning-location/Getting-Here/

Generation Science 2015 Tour Launches Across Scotland!

gen scienceGeneration Science (GS) – the largest science education outreach programme in the UK – is once again hitting the road as its 2015 tour gets under way, with science shows and workshops visiting Primary Schools the length and breadth of Scotland.

This Generation Science tour is set to be one of the biggest ever, with visits to all 32 of Scotland’s Local Authority areas scheduled, travelling from the Borders right up to Shetland. The 2015 tour also sees the addition of two brand new workshops to the GS stable, Fuel Hunters and Lego Mindstorms Advanced.

In Fuel Hunters pupils take on the role of exploratory engineers as they learn about geology, where fossils come from, and how oil and gas are formed over millions of years. They then form a team to build their very own 6ft oil rig platform – it’s exploration on a brand new level!

Lego Mindstorms Advanced sees pupils join ‘Mission Control’ to learn about the amazing real-life robots currently operating in space, before programming their own robots on a rescue mission to another planet, as we aim to inspire the computer scientists of our future.

Each year Generation Science tours all around Scotland from February until May, reaching around 60,000 children aged 5 – 12 years all over the country, where teams of skilled science communicators will bring science and technology to life across a range of subjects through 17 shows and workshops.

Visits are designed specifically to support and supplement the Curriculum for Excellence and introduce children to ideas in science and technology in a fun and immersive way. The programme also aims to inspire tomorrow’s scientists, by alerting young girls and boys to the possibilities of a career in science and technology.

For more information about the programme visit generationscience.co.uk.

 

Working Hard on Numeracy and Mathematics in Wishaw

IMG_20150211_142800

It was great to be invited to join with ELCC colleagues in Wishaw to take forward their thinking about Numeracy and Mathematics. I really enjoyed the level of debate and discussion that took place. We talked about the importance of ensuring that children have lots of experience of using arbitrary measures and how they should be engaged in experiences that help them to experience the passage of time.

Colleagues managed to keep their focus despite the warm temperature in the room. I am sure everyone cooled quickly when outside.

Just a reminder about ways to keep in touch. Become a member of the Early Years Glow community. Login to Glow and search for http://bit.ly/earlylearn. All materials from the session are available when inside the Community.

I’d be very interested to know how you are taking forward what was discussed today. Lots of colleagues were interested in finding out about how to take Numeracy and Maths outdoors. Perhaps we could start a conversation about that in the Glow Community? Remember the Glow Community is a closed group so only members can see what is being discussed.

Follow us on Twitter @CaFTeam and search for #TalkELCC. There are some good photos of colleagues debating the issues of the day.

Just a reminder that we are having Local Conversations about Professional Learning in ELCC in March in Ayr, Edinburgh and Inverness. If you’d like to come along, register here.

Best wishes/Dùrachdan,IMG_20150211_142921

Lisa

Lisa McCabe Education Officer – Children & Families (Early Years)

T: 44 (0)1506 600466 | M: 44 (0) 7701 280805 | E: lisa.mccabe@educationscotland.gsi.gov.uk | Glow: Lisa.McCabe@glow.gov.uk | Follow us on Twitter @CaFTeam

Technologies Impact Review, “Building Society: young people’s experiences in the technologies”

Education_Scotland_logoEducation Scotland will publish the report of the Technologies Impact Review, “Building Society: young people’s experiences in the technologies”, on 9th March 2015. This report continues the series in which Education Scotland evaluates the quality of young people’s learning and achievements, in this case in the technologies. The report contributes to the overall picture of what it is like to be a learner in a Scottish early years centre or school in this second decade of the 21st Century.

Education Scotland have organized a launch event for this report and the college aspect report Computing and Digital Media.

Making tomorrow happen: technology education in Scotland

 will be held in Celtic Park, Glasgow on 9 March 2015.

 The event has been organized to raise awareness of the reports and to discuss the implications for future developments in the Technologies area of the curriculum.

It would greatly assist the organisation of the conference if you could send your nominees to Kenneth Rae – Kenneth.Rae@educationscotland.gsi.gov.uk by 27th February 2015, stating their name, role and email address.

New Zooniverse project in the Serengeti

untitledScientists in the Serengeti need your help to classify all the different animals caught in millions of camera trap images.

Zooniverse have just launched season 8 of Snapshot Serengeti, and you can now classify hundreds of thousands of amazing new images from the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania. In addition there are some brand new features in the project, such as a checkbox for images with fire in them, and six new species to identify! They have also updated the site to make it easier to use on your tablet or smartphone.

An interesting way of engaging learners in conservation and environmental issues.

http://www.snapshotserengeti.org/

 

 

Secondary Schools – Outdoor Learning CLPL

 Making your space work harder:

Using your school grounds as an outdoor learning resource

Free twilight professional review and development opportunity facilitated by Architecture + Design Scotland.

Venue: Delivered in your school.

Audience: Secondary teaching staff teams from all curriculum areas or cluster teaching staff.

Cost: Free

Date: Dates are available in March 2015

Are you using your school grounds effectively? Have you considered the outdoor learning opportunities on your doorstep? This session will provide you and your team with a space to develop creative ideas for outdoor learning using your current immediate outdoor environment.

Designed to address the GTCS Standards for Career Long Professional Learning the workshop will support participants to develop confidence and capacity in the delivery of outdoor learning.

Workshops will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.

To book a workshop or for more information please contact Samantha.macdonald@ads.org.uk .

Celebrate Chinese New Year 2015

Small - Chinese New YearTo bring in the Chinese New Year St Ninian’s High school (Kirkintilloch) will be hosting a Chinese showcase. Four primary schools as well as pupils from St. Ninian’s, local Chinese community children choir, and Musicians from Harmony Chinese Music Ensemble will take part in the show displaying the wide ranging talents and skills honed by pupils through the work of East Dunbartonshire’s Confucius Hub based in St Ninian’s.

The programme includes traditional Chinese performances such as dragon dancing, traditional music and drama. There are also more modern Chinese performances of break dancing, rapping and singing.

Join us in Glow TV on Friday 20th February at 1pm to take part in the celebrations.
Register to take part live in Glow TV – Celebrate Chinese New Year 2015

Fife’s BIG Book Brains Quiz Final 2015

Small - BBBQ2015On Wednesday 18th February at 10am join over 80 primary schools in Fife for the final of the amazing BIG Book Brains Quiz, organised for the sixth year running by Fife’s Public Library Service.

Reading Challenges and Quiz Heats have been taking place across Fife since last September and now we have over 80 school teams who will come together to compete for the title of BIG Book Brains 2015. As well as winning some fabulous prizes, our champions have the chance to be ‘Librarians for a Day’ and select £500 worth of books for their school library sponsored by Scotia and Chameleon Books in Kilsyth.

You are all invited to tune in and rise to the challenge as you pit your book knowledge against the teams who have won through to the final in Rothes Halls, Glenrothes. Compered by Jonathan Meres, hilarious author of The World of Norm books, all schools joining us on Glow will have the chance to send a shout out to wish our teams good luck and the chance to win some great spot prizes. Don’t miss it!

The event runs from 10am – 12pm with a break for lunch then we’ll be back at 1.30pm we announce the winners at our 2015 Award Ceremony.

Register to take part live in Glow TV – Fife’s BIG Book Brains Quiz Final 2015

Learn about Chinese New Year

Small - Learn about Chinese New Year copyThis year Chinese New Year will be celebrated on Thursday 19th February and 2015 will be the year of the sheep. Have you ever wondered why the Chinese have different animals to represent different years? Well now is your time to learn more about this and all the celebrations that go on all over the world to celebrate Chinese New Year.

Join Ms Liu on Monday 16th February at 11am as she tells us more about this very special celebration and teaches us how to speak some words in Mandarin.

Register in Glow TV – Learn about Chinese New Year

Last chance to enter the Scottish Education Awards 2015

SEA launchWe’ve received a fantastic number of entries for the Scottish Education Awards but times running out now. The awards showcase and celebrate the hard work and dedication across Scottish education.

To be in with a chance of winning make sure you’re entries are in before midday on 16 February.

A full list of categories and details on how to enter are on the Scottish Education Awards website. Get you’re entry in now and good luck.

HMD 2015 Arts Response Event

HMD 2015Join us in Glow TV on Thursday 12th February at 11am for our final Holocaust Memorial Day 2015 event. This time we will be visiting South Ayrshire to meet artists who have created pieces of work to respond to to HMD 2015.

Artists who created willow work, glasswork and other art with schools across South Ayrshire for Holocaust Memorial Day will talk about their work and how to turn pupils’ ideas into art. This session is most suitable for upper primary and secondary pupils.

Register today in Glow TV – HMD 2015 Arts Response Event

NMS – The Romans

Event - NMSHow do we know about the Romans in Scotland?

Join us on Thursday 12th February at 2pm to find out more interesting things about the past. This time we are finding out about the Romans. How do we know about the Romans in Scotland? Find out about the work of archaeologists to discover Roman remains and some of the objects in the National Museums Scotland with our museum experts.

Register to take part in Glow TV – NMS – The Romans

Safer Internet Day

Screen Shot 2015-02-09 at 13.57.59Glow is working with Kinglassie Primary School in Fife to launch the Internet Safety – Learners site on 9-10th February. The school are using these day to work on a whole school Internet Safety activity. The site will be used to capture the learning that is taking place and to use the National Newsfeed on Glow to raise awareness of the site and get everyone involved in contributing during these days.

The aim is then to develop a case study of how the school used the technology to support them in delivering such an event and more importantly how this helped to have a positive impact on improving the learners experience.

The site is can be followed at: http://tinyurl.com/lkhaz5b

Improving Social Equity through Education: Raising Outcomes for Low Achieving Students

Symposium with Dr Andreas Schleicher, Professor Pasi Sahlberg and Dr Bill Maxwell
4- 5 May 2015, Edinburgh – John McIntyre Conference Centre, Edinburgh University

One of the biggest challenges facing education systems across Europe and further afield is how to improve outcomes – in the broadest possible sense – for low achieving children and young people in order to create a more equal society. Whilst both politicians and educationalists are clear about the importance of this aim there is, as yet, inadequate understanding about how it can best be achieved.

This symposium is being organised by the European Forum for Freedom in Education in association with Education Scotland to bring together educationalists and policy makers from across the UK and mainland Europe in order to learn with and from each other in the task of bringing about change. International experts Dr Andreas Schleicher of OECD and Professor Pasi Sahlberg, author of the influential book, Finnish Lessons, will be sharing their thoughts on this crucial theme and there will be plenty of opportunity for dialogue amongst delegates.

The European Forum for Freedom in Education (effe) is a non-governmental organisation based in Germany and with members in 25 European countries which is committed to safeguarding the human rights and dignity of every child. It is organising this event in Scotland because of the explicit commitment of the Scottish Government to creating a fairer society and the work being done by Education Scotland to explore the role of education in this overarching aim.

To book your place go to: https://eventbrite.co.uk/event/6270692811/
For further information email: contact@effe-eu.org or view effe symposium flyer.
www.effe-eu.org

 

New Grant Scheme for Biology Events in Scotland

The Society of Biology is pleased to announce the first round of our Regional Grant Scheme in Scotland

Individual biologists or biology-related organisations can apply for funding to run a biology public engagement or schools event or activity in Scotland.
The grant scheme is funded by the Scottish Government and offers grants of up to £200 for small events and up to £500 for larger events.

Events can take place between May and December 2015 and priority will be given to events in under-served areas of Scotland.
Application forms are submitted by email and the deadline is Monday 16th March 2015.
Full details and application forms are available at www.societyofbiology.org/RGS-Scotland

For questions about the grant scheme, please contact

Dr Jane Magill
Regional Co-ordinator (Scotland and Northern England)
Society of Biology
janemagill@societyofbiology.org
Mobile: 07885 914212

Tenner Challenge for Enterprise

logo-yeBlueThe deadline is fast approaching for the Tenner Challenge. All schools must register by the 27th February. To do so go here:

http://www.tenner.org.uk/about-tenner#

The Tenner Challenge is for young people aged 11-19 who want to get a taste of what it’s like to be an entrepreneur. It gives them a chance to think of a new business idea and make it happen, using real money to take calculated risks in the business field, make a profit – and make a difference. Tenner is a national competition and young people from all over the country can get involved.

Tenner can be a great way to take on a Challenge in your local area and make money at the same time.

How it works:

Step 1 – Here’s a Tenner!
Young people are pledged £10 from the Tenner Bank on 23 February.
Step 2 – Get started
They use this start-up capital to get their business off the ground, working alone or in a group.

Young Enterprise can help kick start your Tenner Challenge by running a half day masterclass for your participants.  This does have an associated cost, subject to local funding streams.  Please contact us for further information.
Step 3 – Keep it going
They have 4 weeks to make as much profit as they can from their tenner while also trying to make a difference and give back to society.  Participants can also take part in weekly competitions to keep them engaged and motivated.

There are online resources available in the unique area of the website to help teachers lead their students through the Challenge, some of which include; guidance, activities, templates and more.  For the students there will be templates and guidance as well as an online logbook to help them keep track of how they are getting on, which will also be their entry to the National Competition.
Step 4 – Keep the profits
Participants are in full control of the profits they have earned and should decide themselves what they would like to spend them on  – for example, a day out, resources or activities for school, or they may wish to donate their money to a charity of their choice.
Step 5 – Payback for the future
At the end of the month, participants enter the National Competition and payback their £10 plus a suggested £1 legacy donation so more young people can participate in the Challenge next year.

 

Ask Scotland: exciting new search engine!

logoHeaderAsk Scotland is an online information service provided by Scotland’s libraries that lets you get real answers from real people, without leaving your computer. Have a go yourself here: http://askscotland.org.uk

Your question will be sent to a librarian who will use their rich library collections to research your query and send back a personal response. We aim to provide you with reliable information that you can trust, whether for study, research or just plain curiosity.

Ask Scotland is coordinated by the Scottish Library and Information Council (SLIC), the advisory body to the Scottish Government on libraries, and is staffed by librarians and library assistants in Scotland’s libraries. It is a non-profit service, jointly funded by the Scottish Government through the Public Library Quality Improvement Matrix and the participating libraries.

Also, a wee reminder of Education Scotland’s excellent Studying Scotland site full of resources to support deep and rich learning about Scotland’s history, culture and landscape.

And if it is Scottish History you are interested in then delve in to the past through Education Scotland’s Scotland’s History website.

Sunday Mail Young Scot Awards

young scotUntitled Untitled YS LOGO 2015 3The Sunday Mail Young Scot Awards celebrate their tenth year celebrating the inspirational achievements of young people aged 11-26. The deadline for this year’s nominations are the 27th February. Nominations here: http://youngscotawards.com/nominate-now/

The awards categories for nomination are:

  • Young Hero
  • Sport
  • The Arts
  • Health
  • Entertainment
  • Volunteering
  • Unsung Hero
  • Environment
  • Community
  • Enterprise
  • Cultural Diversity

Here is a look back of all the amazing winners from the past 10 years!

 

 

Sanquhar Primary Spiks Scots

Scots language is being used and taught increasingly in schools as a way of enhancing literacy skills and learning across the curriculum. A good example of this can be found at Sanquhar Primary School in Dumfries and Galloway where Scots is used across the school and throughout the year as appropriate: it is not just for Burns Night!

On Monday 26th January ITV Border ran a very positive feature on the work which is going on there on its magazine programme Border Life. One of Education Scotland’s four Scots Language Co-ordinators, Diane Anderson, was there to see how Scots is benefitting the learning and teaching in the school for herself.

You can watch the programme by visiting http://stv.com/border and clicking on the “Watch Border Life” tile.

STEM and Food for Thought: Education Fund Phase 3

Participating in the Food for Thought project provides opportunity to raise awareness of STEM careers in the food and drink industry, one of our key economic growth sectors.

Recent figures estimate that 170,000 employees with STEM skills are required by 2020.

Apply now and take STEM forward in your establishment.

Applications can now be made to the Food for Thought: Education Fund Phase 3. The fund aims to support practitioners to build their confidence and capacity and to improve learning and teaching within food education in Curriculum for Excellence. Awards of up to £3000 per project are available. Apply now.

This year we are looking for schools to plan food education projects that:

  • aim to improve outcomes for learners in ways which seek to eliminate the inequity that currently exists amongst learners from different backgrounds and from particular vulnerable groups
  • plan to focus on Developing Scotland’s Young Workforce by improving work experience, career advice and careers education. This is why we are asking you to work with local businesses as by working more closely with employers we can all aim to ensure our work is taking account of their views and needs to developing the workforce of tomorrow.
  • provide the opportunity for staff to develop their knowledge and skills around food education
  • involve progressive learning and teaching in delivering and embedding food education
  • build respect around food education into the ethos of the school (i.e. not one off events)

Proposals must be submitted by Sunday 29 March 2015. You will receive a confirmation email once your application has been submitted.

Read also our news release: Food for Thought Education Fund serves up another course of funding.

 

Adult Learning Statement of Ambition – Dundee Discussion

Adult Learning Statement of Ambition Implementation Planning

Education Scotland will be holding a stakeholder event as part of the National Conversation on the implementation of the Adult Learning Statement of Ambition. The event will consider priorities for implementation and how best to engage with learners on taking the Statement forward.

 

This event will be held in The Shore, Shore Terrace, Dundee DD1 3DN from 1.30 p.m.-3.30 p.m. on Wednesday 25th February 2015.

 

If you would like to attend please complete this Survey Monkey