The new Glow services are up and running. We are now looking for practitioners to let us know how they are using Glow and how we can improve the products we are offering.
If you would be willing to give us your time and opinions please contact Chrissie Lamont or Dawn Adams and let us know!
The Glow Blogs migration export will start on 19th September 2014
Any new posts or content added to blogs after that date will not be migrated to the new service. It is therefore advisable that if you do add to a blog that you keep a copy of the text/images.
The new service should be up and running by Oct 3rd 2014
The data from the current blog servers will be exported on the 19th of September and migrated to the new service ready for the go live date.
We’re making every effort to achieve the deadline of the new service for 3rd October. If anything changes, we will get in touch immediately.
This is not technically a content freeze as users will be able to add to their blog, rather it should be considered as a procedural content freeze.
Once again Glow TV will be at the Scottish Leraning Festival to bring you the seminars that you can ‘t attend yourself!
This year we will be focussing on the new Glow tenancy and how you could use it effectively in your classroom:
SLF 2014 – Online Learning Spaces – Wednesday 24th September at 4.15pm
SLF 2014 – Using Glow and Office 365 to Support O365 – Thursday 25th September at 9.15am
SLF 2014 – Glow in Action – Thursday 25th September at 12pm
SLF 2014 – Glow the Evolution Continues – Thursday 25th September at 1.15pm
We hope that you can sign up and join us live or if not Watch Again!
Britain from Above is a four year heritage lottery funded project to conserve, digitise and make accessible a collection of historic aerial photographs taken by pioneering company Aerofilms Limited.
The Aerofilms collection is a unique archive of 1.2 million historic aerial photographs, dating from 1919 to 2006 and documenting the changing face of Britain in the 20th century.
The aim of the project is to protect the most vulnerable pieces in the collection, which includes the first 95,000 photographs of the collection, dating between 1919 and 1953.
In this Glow TV event meet members of the Britain from Above project, as they answer questions about their work in the heritage sector, and the path they took to get there.
Learn about all of the different jobs within this one project, and the ways that they work together to reach their goals. Join us on Tuesday 23rd September at 10am in Glow TV or Watch Again if you can’t join us live.
Community Resilience Education – Free Conversation Day and Networking Event
09:30 (for 10:00 start) – 15:00, Tuesday 7th October 2014
Venue: Thistle Hotel, Millburn Road, Inverness, IV2 3TR
Education Scotland is excited to be hosting a second 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 the potential of community resilience as a rich and exciting context for teaching and learning. Key contexts for focus include flooding, severe weather and pandemic flu and the impact they can have on communities and how we can take steps to mitigate against their impact through educating learners.
We would also like to extend this event invite to school representatives (members of management teams, or teachers who have been, or are interested in engaging in community resilience education) to explore how we can take forward resilience education. Places will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.
Conversation activities will provide delegates with opportunities to network and engage in professional dialogue in relation to developing more resilient individuals, families and communities. Selected examples of good practice will be shared through engaging presentations delivered by Education Scotland, Scottish Government, local councils and schools.
All interested delegates should register online at the following link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/N2F3TWC to confirm attendance and inform us of any special dietary or access requirements you may have.
If you have any further questions or your school is/has been involved in community resilience projects or initiatives and you would be interested in presenting at the event to share your practice with others, please contact Jennifer Moore at: Jennifer.Moore@educationscotland.gov.uk
Teachers Tea and Scones
Free
8th October 2014
4pm –6.30pm
You’re invited to meet Glasgow Science Centre’s education team, experience our shows, components of our education programme and chat to some of our executive team over tea and cakes. We’d also like to introduce you to colleagues from Cineworld, Skills Development Scotland and Whitelee Windfarm Visitor Centre, who contribute to making the Science Centre a significant education resource.
Please register your interest at http://science-glasgow.polldaddy.com/s/teacherdays
World Space Week,
4th-12th October 2014
Education activities suitable for P4-S6
Celebrate World Space Week by joining us for our space themed programme of activity. Get hands on in the Lab and explore how we can use Invisible Science to view deep space or join us in the Fantastic Forces science show where we investigate the forces needed to get a rocket into space. Stargaze in our Planetarium or experience a multimedia musical feast amongst the stars with guest presenters Let’s Talk About Space. Pupils can also engage with cutting edge research happening right here in Scotland through our Meet the Expert programme.
Please call our bookings team on 0141 420 5003 for more details.
EU Code week will take place 11-17 October all around Europe. The purpose of the event which is taking place at Mozilla, London is to discuss, “Why should we teach coding to children?” and will also include some fun coding activities.
The event is free and you can book your tickets via the link below. Please pass this information around and encourage people to run a coding event during EU Code week. They should add their event directly to the EU Coding website.
Sign-up now for TeachMeet @ Scottish Learning Festival 2014.
Learn something new, be amazed, amused and enthused. This is an informal gathering of those curious about teaching and learning. Anyone can share great ideas they’ve trialled in their classrooms, ask important questions or simply sign up to take part in learning conversations. Education professionals from all sectors are welcome to take part.
The Scottish Learning Festival TeachMeet is always something special. It is usually the biggest TeachMeet in Scotland and often attracts some of the biggest names in education. It is also great fun!
With SLF 2014 now only 4 weeks away we hear for one of this year’s keynote speakers, John Carnochan about his keynote and thoughts on Scottish education.
Responding Differently
“We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men; and among those fibers, as sympathetic threads, our actions run as causes, and they come back to us as effects.” Herman Melville
Teachers, parents and families have a collective responsibility to ensure our children receive a rounded education that helps prepare them for life. Sadly, in the process, we too often forget or ignore the fundamental importance of human connection and relationships in our lives.
We seem to think now that as professionals we just need to do more of the same and everything will be ok, more policy, more training, more process and everything will be fine. This slavish adherence to professional process is, at times, naively arrogant and often ineffective. Not only does it ignore the value of human attributes, it often deliberately de-values them as being somehow unprofessional.
Professionals do not have all the answers and neither can we continue to assume that professional skills are the only “skills” appropriate or adequate responses to persistent problems. The strategies, systems and structures that exist today often can only manage the problems we face, new thinking is required if we are to make these problems better. We must begin to Respond Differently.
Professional and technical skills are important but they are not more important than the human attributes that demand we care for our fellow humans that help us establish relationships and that keep us connected. By combining the professional technical skills with our human attributes we will produce far more effective services and also help us do the right things for the right reasons.
Teachers are on the front line of Responding Differently, helping prepare our children for life. It’s certainly true that our children will need many of the technical skills delivered so effectively everyday in classrooms across Scotland. But these technical skills alone will not be enough if our children are to lead successful and productive lives. There is every possibility that many will be working in roles and doing jobs that have not yet been invented; they may be working in industries that haven’t been created yet. The skills that will be of most use to them in everything they do will be human “skills’. Our children will need to be resilient, adaptable, courageous, thoughtful, collaborative; they will need to communicate, problem solve, negotiate, compromise. Most importantly they will need to connect with others, they will need to be human; create better relationships and in schools it will create better learning and better behaviour.
In Scotland we have started to Respond Differently, particularly in Education. We have defined What our ambition is for our children, we want to make Scotland the Best Place to Grow Up. We have also defined How we are going to do it with the introduction of national policies such as GIRFEC and CfE. The inclusion of “wellbeing”, in CfE, with its aims to help children become Successful Learners, Confident Individuals, Effective Contributors and Responsible Citizens is hugely important.
This is an exciting time for Scotland and I sense that we have started to Respond Differently to children how we educate them and how we include them.
We know What we want to do and we know How we’re going to do it that’s a great start. Change is always difficult but if we remember also Why we are doing it the angst borne of the change will lessen as our aspirations increase. We are after all humans first and change is what we humans do, its what we have always done. Leadership has a role to play but we are all leaders and we can all Respond Differently.
If you want to hear John’s keynote then register for SLF 2014.
Meet the Engineer with Primary Engineers.
This is an exciting series of 6 Glow TV events between the 4th of September and the 23rd of October from 10am until 11am to help support the Scottish Engineering Special Leaders Award with Primary Engineer and the Leaders Award for STEM.
Ask your pupils the question ‘What would you do if you could be an engineer in Scotland?’ to help them formulate their answer join our Glow TV interviews with engineers and a Glasgow based solicitor who can tell you how to protect your ideas!
For the third year in a row Education Scotland supports this award as an exciting and relevant way for students from primary and secondary schools in Scotland to discover more about the impact and diversity of engineering, alongside paths and routes into this amazing career.
The list of all the dates and speakers is shown below and their biographies can be found on the leaders award website http://leadersaward.com/index.php/corporate/glow-meets
4th September – Philip Hannay – Cloch Solicitors (Patents Solicitor) – Watch Again
11th of September – Craig Goldie – Director Sweitelsky
25th of September – Gordon Masterton – Vice President Jacobs Engineering
2nd of October – Tom Sreeves – Director of Manufacturing Aggreko
9th of October – Douglas Anderson – Founder and CEO OPTOS – this presentation will not be interactive and will be recorded and uploaded to the Education Scotland website Technologies pages
23rd of October – Emma Henderson – Senior Engineer Expro Group
You can find out more and sign up for any of these events by following the relevant links above.
The Leaders Award for STEM website holds resources such as lesson plans for primary and secondary schools, links to resources from The Scottish Engineering Hall of Fame and award winning engineering companies from across Scotland through Scottish Engineering.
Entry deadlines are the 12th February 2015 with awards being presented in Glasgow alongside a public exhibition in March 2015.
Fully functional immune organ grown in mice from lab-created cells.
Scientists have for the first time grown a complex, fully functional organ from scratch in a living animal by transplanting cells that were originally created in a laboratory. The advance could in future aid the development of ‘lab-grown’ replacement organs.
Researchers from the MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine, at the University of Edinburgh, took cells called fibroblasts from a mouse embryo and converted them directly into a completely unrelated type of cell – specialised thymus cells- using a technique called ‘reprogramming’. When mixed with other thymus cell types and transplanted into mice, these cells formed a replacement organ that had the same structure, complexity and function as a healthy native adult thymus. The reprogrammed cells were also capable of producing T cells – a type of white blood cell important for fighting infection – in the lab.
For the full story visit the Centre for Regenerative Medicine website
With SLF 2014 now only 4 weeks away we hear for one of this year’s keynote speakers, Prof Alma Harris about her keynote and her thoughts on Scottish education.
I am looking forward to being part of the ‘Scottish Learning Festival’ 2014 and engaging with this vibrant educational community. I will be bringing a group of Malaysian educators with me and I have promised them a warm welcome but not warm weather! In my previous visits to Scotland I have found that teachers and principals appreciate honesty and integrity so my aim is demonstrate both.
In my session I will argue that we need to go ‘beyond PISA’ to find the touchstone of real educational success and that there are important lessons that systems, like Scotland, can give to the global educational community. Despite the fact that education systems in Asia currently dominate the top of the PISA tables, there is much that the East can learn from the West in terms of educational change and improvement. Some of these messages will be shared with you all.
The aim of the session is not to devalue or dismiss PISA but rather to underline that high performance in education is defined by much more than rankings. The session will argue that we need to put the ‘learner’ at the forefront of our educational reform processes and avoid being seduced by superficial explanations of ‘high performance’ that tend to objectify learners and place performance above learning.
I will also focus upon leadership and will aim to answer the question, ‘what type of leadership is required to ensure success for every student in every setting?’ To answer this question, I will share the findings from two recent comparative studies. The first set of findings comes from a ‘7 System Leadership Study’ that is exploring the relationship between leadership development and leadership practice in differentially performing systems (Australia, England, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia Singapore and Russia). Initial findings highlight that there are more similarities than differences in the approaches these systems are using to secure and sustain improvement. The findings also challenge some of the cultural assumptions and popular assertions about ‘high performing systems’.
The second study looks at leadership within high performing organisations across different sectors (education, sport and business). The full range of empirical findings can be found in a new book with Andy Hargreaves and Alan Boyle called ‘’Uplifting Leadership’. Among, a range of conclusions, the findings from this study show that the type of leadership needed to secure and sustain exceptional performance is that which builds professional and social capital.
Overall, my message is that we need to look ‘beyond PISA’ and to move past the current preoccupation with international rankings, if authentic school and system improvement is to be achieved. I will propose that the real power and potential for system transformation in Scotland resides in the professionalism of its teachers and its school leaders, combined with an unshakable belief that every child deserves the best education possible.
It is with a huge degree of humility that I take part in this ‘Scottish Learning Festival’ 2014 involving educators from many countries. It is also with a great sense of pride that I am speaking at a conference that is about learning first and foremost. Putting the learner at the heart of the reform process, deeply, authentically and genuinely gets us much closer to the outcomes that we want for all young people.
If you want to hear Alma’s keynote then register for SLF 2014.
1 day – Thursday 25th September 2014 from 09.30-16.00
The Lighthouse, Glasgow
Delivered by Made-by (www.made-by.org) on behalf of Zero Waste Scotland
This event is suitable for individuals and companies involved in the design and manufacturing of apparel as well as academic and education professionals interested in the wider issues of clothing and environmental sustainability.
Event detail
The days training will provide you with an overview of:
Alongside the global case studies you will also hear from our speakers working within Scotland
For further information and to book onto this event please visit here.
Pilot project for schools, using museum collections datasets as part of the Computing Science curriculum:
Museums have an untapped resource of rich data, relating to their collections, which can be explored and re-used in new and exciting ways.
Museums in Scotland have identified digital engagement as a priority (see page 17 of One Year On: Turning Actions into Advocacy), with a focus on how to reuse assets such as digital collections records (which can be similar to library catalogue records, containing data about individual or groups of museum objects) and images.
Education Scotland and MGS (Museums Galleries Scotland the national development body for the museum sector in Scotland) would be keen to establish up to a number of pilot projects to run over the autumn to spring terms, through which schools would make use of museum collections data, as part of the Computing Science curriculum.
Museums would provide access to museum collections data, to support coding or other exploratory work. The time available by the museums involved in these pilot projects will vary, but there would be the opportunity to discuss with the museum what the collections data represents, and how it is currently organised, and for the museum-school partners to explore their shared interest in data reuse. There may also be the opportunity to work with the museum to create a resource which has a life beyond the project, to present new stories about the collections in new ways to the museum and its visitors.
Education Scotland and MGS would aim to work with the school-museum partnerships to develop case studies and a report on what has been learned from the pilot projects, to share with the wider museum and education sector.
If you are interested or would like to find out more about this opportunity please contact Kirsty McFaul Senior Education Officer Technologies, Education Scotland, Kirsty.mcfaul@educationscotland.gov.uk
To celebrate the tenth year of sponsoring the Edinburgh International Book Festival, the ScottishPower Foundation is offering one lucky primary school in Glasgow and one in Edinburgh and the Lothians the chance to win the ultimate library makeover and their very own book festival.
We love books and we know how important reading is to schools; that’s why we’ve launched the Library Energiser competition. Whether your school has a library, reading room or poetry corner, this is your opportunity to turn that space into the ultimate bookworm’s haven.
To enter the competition, simply email a photo of your current space and 100 words on how you’d like to transform it into your perfect reading area to – libraryenergiser@stripecommunications.com.
The winning school will be given a makeover worth £2,000 to help create the perfect reading space, whether that be with a lick of paint, new furniture or a stash of the latest books. The revamped library will be officially opened by a renowned Scottish author at the school’s very own mini book festival.
Closing date is 26 September 2014. For full terms and conditions please visit the website – Library Energiser.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has published new web resources designed to support school managers in adopting a sensible and proportionate approach to health and safety risks. The resources will also interest anyone who provides advice or direction to schools or education providers, including local authorities.
The guidance draws on the work of HSE’s Myth Busters Challenge Panel. Some of the Panel’s cases raised concerns about over-protective approaches to health and safety in school activities. School managers themselves called for more support in developing rational approaches to risk management – particularly when dealing with risks to children.
HSE has used the experience of people working in education, so the guidance addresses the issues faced by schools on a day-to-day basis – illustrating the balance between overly cautious risk aversion at one extreme and failing to manage the significant risks at the other. In summary the guidance aims to:
The guidance tackles activities in the classroom and at school premises, and extends to the challenges and benefits presented by school trips and other outdoor learning activities – with links to case studies on sensible risk management outside the classroom
HSE hopes the new resources will help schools to strike a balance and prioritise and target the real risks while enabling pupils to experience learning opportunities to the full.
A one-day course for Secondary Teachers
Advancing Science, Technology and Safety
Imagine if we changed the way we used materials and energy. Imagine that instead of using things up, we designed objects so they were made to be made again. Firms have already begun to do this, and they are reaping the benefits of this ‘circular economy’ approach.
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation and SSERC are offering a professional development workshop designed to enable participants to learn about the circular economy, to investigate case studies of some companies that are adopting this model, and to look at some of the 700 teaching resources the Ellen MacArthur Foundation has produced.
The course will be of interest to those who teach about:
Industry
Energy
Raw materials
Food and textiles
New technologies
Design
Systems
Business and economics
Participants will be supported to develop an inter-disciplinary learning (IDL) project in conjunction with others attending the event. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation will support schools in implementing the IDL project. We strongly encourage schools to send at least 2 members of staff to the event.
Costs: The cost per participant will be £15 to include refreshments and course
materials
The closing date for booking is Monday 25th August.
For more information visit:
www.sserc.org.uk or
www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org
With SLF 2014 now only 5 weeks away we hear for one of this year’s keynote speakers, Dr Frank Dick OBE, on his thoughts about how people are prepared to take ownership of their lives and the vital role that teachers and mentors play.
A Winning Lead
Whether as teacher, coach or mentor, our purpose is to prepare the pathway that takes people from who they are to who they will become. My thinking in this was mostly shaped by two life changing books: Richard Bach’s Jonathan Livingston Seagull which to me was about taking the risk of being different; and The Prophet which persuaded me that the coach is to the athlete as Kahlil Gibran saw the parent to the child – the parent is to the bow as the child is to the arrow.
Both of these seemed to point to preparing people to take ownership of their lives – to doing things right and to do the right thing.
We are not in total control of conditions in our lives, nor of results, but we are of our attitude to dealing with them and of our performance. And because life is more like a white water ride than a flat water glide, our attitude must find us controlling the controllables and being agile to turn uncertainty and adversity to advantage. In this, focussing on the performance of those whose development we influence and our own, is key.
Our behaviours, it seems to me, must work to a simple acronym: “O.D.D.” Own: take personal ownership of each moment to turn it into opportunity. Decide: take considered risks in decision making to turn opportunity to advantage. Do: just do it – effectively and excellently.
Giving ownership means not only preparing people to be let go (arrow) but being prepared to let go (bow).
Whether teaching, coaching or mentoring or being taught, coached or mentored, the most important quote to reflect on is Arie de Geus: “Probably the only sustainable advantage we have, is the ability to learn faster than the opposition.” The key to this, clearly is in being prepared to learn.
“Being prepared” is about attitude (again!) and process. The attitude part is clear and must be there every step of the life experience pathway towards who we will become.
The process starts with learning to learn and having in place the “machinery” to learn. For example, before a Commonwealth Games you must put in place how you will collect the necessary intelligence to debrief meticulously all that has influenced the performance and results.
In all of this we might agree that there are some things in life we can be taught, and others we can only learn.
Early in our life experience pathway of shaping personal and professional growth, we are taught the “science” for our education and development role. As we proceed, through experience, we learn the “art” of translating the science to action excellence by effective decision making.
The trouble, however, as Vernon Law avered, is: “Experience is a hard teacher, because she gives the test first and the lesson after.”
Yet if we are to learn the art of delivering our purpose in education, we must be exposed to the challenge and pressure of experiencing the untrodden path. It is by taking such risk that we turn fear to courage in the process of making right judgement calls.
It is important to get this right. The learning experience must be planned to ensure it is appropriate for the intended lesson, and we must have a critical competency set in the person responsible to teach, coach or mentor following the experience.
To return to our purpose: by preparing the pathway well, we not only develop people for their arena, but through the process for a better life. We not only develop them to improve performance, but to deliver it under pressure, on the day.
Want to hear more from Frank? Then register for SLF 2014 today.
Education Secretary Michael Russell has raised concerns that there is a gender imbalance in Scotland’s colleges and universities, with too few women holding senior positions.
The problem appears to be most prevalent within the physics, maths and computer technology departments.
Mr Russell has suggested this issue be addressed as a priority with solutions, such as Universities and Colleges becoming more family orientated working environments to attract women into senior positions, a possibility.
Science must also be given the priority it deserves in school, starting in primary school, to encourage and enthuse girls into the sector.
Read the full article:
http://www.heraldscotland.com/comment/herald-view/plotting-course-on-a-gender-balance.24908897
SCILT, Scotland’s National Centre for Languages, is working with businesses and schools in Scotland to promote languages as a key skill for employment.
Operating effectively in a global economy relies on many skills and includes the right language skills. People who can communicate, at least conversationally, can make all the difference in the conduct of business, consolidating relationships with existing suppliers and customers and opening the way to new overseas contacts. When combined with STEM skills, the career opportunities in a vast array of sectors widens.
Key facts from the CBI Education and Skills Survey 2013
Seven out of ten (70%) businesses value foreign language skills among their employees
Read about people who have combined their STEM and language skills in the pharmaceutical industry, technologies and the Scottish Football Association and find out why they consider that learning a language is really important.
http://www.scilt.org.uk/Business/Jobprofilesandcareers/tabid/2867/Default.aspx
Higher Computing Science – Conference Report
Background information
Education Scotland held a conference on Thursday 29 May 2014 as part of the ongoing support of the new national qualifications. The need for this national event became clear following a series of meetings early in 2014 between the Technologies team at Education Scotland and the following local authorities:
Discussion with the local authority representatives focused mainly on the implications of moving from 2 Higher Grade courses in this area of the curriculum to one new higher. The opportunity to up-date the content was quite rightly taken. However this has resulted in a significant amount of new content which has resulted in practitioners being uneasy about their ability to deliver the subject content for this new qualification. In order to evaluate the scale of the difficulties Education Scotland established a Short Life Working group for Computing Science to discuss the best ways to address the issues that were being highlighted. This resulted in two main areas of activity
The main aims of the conference were to
Conference organisation and delivery
The programme for the event was a mix of keynote presentations and workshop sessions. Gerry Docherty set the scene for the conference. He is currently Chief Executive of Smarter Grid Solutions a fast-growing company, with operational bases in Glasgow, London and New York. He leads on the implementation of the ICT and Digital Technologies Skills Investment Plan. This plan makes explicit the need for developing skills in this key area of the Scottish economy. It also makes clear connections to the industry working much more closely with the education sector. From an education perspective, Education Scotland see this report as being a powerful driver behind the support we are going to be giving this area of the curriculum over the next year or two. Gerry did a tremendous job setting the scene for the conference and many of the issues he raised in the morning were discussed again in the closing plenary.
Peter Donaldson set the scene for the afternoon sessions by outlining the aims and objective of PLAN C (Professional Learning and Networking for Computing). He explained that the Core PLAN C team are connected to 50 lead teachers who are then connected to a further 10-25 teachers in their local area with industry, HE and FE encouraged to link in taking a more strategic approach to supporting work in this area of the curriculum.
The workshops were delivered by 9 practitioners identified by the Computing Science Working Group and delegates were able to attend 3 workshops over the course of the day. It was planned that each of these workshops would focus on learning and teaching as well as new course content.
Evaluations
The evaluations and conversations with various stakeholders during and after the event indicate these aims were met. The table below indicates how successful the event was with respect to the evaluation forms returned at the end of the event. This is based on 66 returned evaluations. In total there were 125 delegates in attendance and 30 out of 32 local authorities had representatives and there was representatives from the private sector and from colleges.
The key statistics from the table above are
The figure of 67% in the final statistic is probably explained by the fact that the delegates were approaching the new content from a slightly different teaching background. These being either a Computing Science or Information Systems background. It is also an indication that much more needs to be done to support teachers in this area. One of the comments from the delegates also helped explain this
‘Still need more detail. Some subjects were over-subscribed, more access to these would be helpful.’
Further comments from delegates were very helpful and they focused on the following key areas.
Ongoing Support
The delegates recognise that this is just the start
‘More events like this to show ideas and methods. Better continued support. Direct guidelines to local councils as to how staff should be supported – reinforce the importance of computing science.’
‘We are still unclear about the depth of coverage and are simply guessing. Fortunately we have a year to get the handle on this so hopefully more information will come out from SQA and yourselves.’
‘More meetings where we can gather, talk face to face and get away from being lots of ‘wee islands’ – the sessions were excellent and I am away feeling muchh more confident about the higher. Anything for ISDD would be great.’
Professional Learning Community
While computing teachers have an excellent ‘professional learning community’ through CompEdNet there is still more that we can do.
‘Local ES events welcome. How can we develop a shared agenda?’
‘More of the same please. Always good discussions + inspiration.’
The role of key organisations
In the context of on-going work across education and the ICT sector this comment is pertinent
‘Very interesting and useful event. Great speech by Gerry Docherty’.
Education Scotland and SQA are still expected to do more in this area too.
‘SQA arrangements still require more guidance on depth of treatment required.’
‘More detail on the support team at Education Scotland. Who’s our contact? Who does what?’
Summary/Conclusions
Education Scotland would like to thank the Computing Science Working Group for their support in making this conference a great success. The conference would not have been possible without their knowledge and understanding of the computing science context in local authorities and in schools. Workshop presenters did a superb job and the level of ‘interactivity’ in the sessions was impressive.
The following comment is one that we should finish on
‘Absolutely fantastic, we need more of these to get up to speed.’
It may be worth considering following this conference up in May 2015 to cover other aspects of the new higher but also have a focus on the new ‘Advanced Higher’.
Next steps
The following suggestions have been made as to how we build on the success of the conference
– Work with the CompedNet practitioner network to identify the features within Glow that will support what they are doing through their professional on-line community. This will focus on the added value Glow brings that is different from what’s on offer already through CompEdNet e.g. Glow TV, Glow Meets etc
– Create user stories (identifying practice that’s worthy of sharing)
– Monthly Computer Science update (publication, 2 sides A4)
– Host a series of regional events to roll out the information from the conference
– Host an online national conferences.
Education Scotland is aware that more support is required for computing science and this will continue over the next academic year.
Passionate about good care?
The Care Inspectorate is looking for people to help them carry out their work. They would like people with first-hand experience of care to help make sure care in Scotland continues to improve, by becoming an inspection volunteer. Inspection volunteers are members of the public who use a care service, have used a care service in the past or care for someone like a family member or friend who has used a care service.
Volunteers help the Care Inspectorate get the views of people using care services. They work closely with the Care Inspectorate’s teams of specialist inspectors and together they help spot where things need to improve, help keep people safe and ensure that the rights of people receiving care are respected and their needs met.
Interested?
To find out more please click the link below
http://www.scswis.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7731&Itemid=757
On 8th July, a Soyuz rocket successfully launched two UK built cubesats: UKube-1 and TechDemoSat-1.
Cubesats are small satellites – normally about the size of a fridge – packed with scientific instruments.
UKube-1 is the UK Space Agency’s first cubesat mission. It is a collaboration between the UK Space Agency, industry and academia. The instruments on board include the first GPS device aimed at measuring plasmaspheric space weather; a camera that will take images of the Earth and test the effect of radiation on space hardware; an experiment to demonstrate the feasibility of using cosmic radiation to improve the security of communications satellites and flight test lower cost electronic systems; and FUNcube 2 – an educational project designed to engage and inspire school pupils.
The FUNcube payload consists of a tiny radio transmitter for science education and a materials science experiment from which school students can receive data which can be compared to results obtained from similar reference experiments in the classroom.
TechDemoSat (TDS-1) will carry no less than eight payloads plus a mixture of heritage and new product development systems from Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. This satellite includes a cosmic ray detector built by students at Simon Langton Grammar School, in Kent. LUCID, The Langton Ultimate Cosmic ray Intensity Detector, was developed by the students at the school after a trip to CERN. The LUCID experiment is part of a wider project called CERN@school, a programme that aims to bring the excitement of CERN into the classroom, and encourage the future generation of scientists
The ASPIRES study, tracked the development of young people’s science and career
aspirations from age 10-14.
The first ASPIRES Project has now ended but the ESRC has awarded further funding to continue their research for the next five years.
ASPIRES 2 will continue this tracking over the crucial next five years of the young people’s lives, to understand the changing influences of the family, school, careers education and social identities and inequalities on young people’s science and career aspirations and, crucially, relate these to their actual subject choices and attainment in national examinations and their post-16 choices. This tracking of young people’s aspirations and educational outcomes comprises the crucial ‘final link’ in the longitudinal project,
and will have strong bearing on educational policy and practice.
ASPIRES 2 aims to investigate:
1. How are student educational and occupational aspirations formed, and how do they change, over time?
2. How are subject choices and (GCSE) attainment related to aspirations, and how are these patterned over time?
3. How are aspirations shaped by families and schools (including experiences of school science and careers education)?
4. How are aspirations shaped by gender, class and ethnic identities?
5. How can findings be translated for stakeholder audiences, specifically for policy-makers/ intermediaries, teachers, students and parents/families
It a special night which will live long in the memories of the young people and their teachers who attended the first Midlothian Moscars ceremony. Last Tuesday Lasswade became the movie capital of the world as 300 specially invited guests, many dressed glamorously for this red carpet event, gathered to find out which films had been nominated for the 14 prestigious gold statuettes.
The Moscars, challenged primary pupils to come up with a great idea for a film and then demonstrate their creative talents by writing screenplays, acting, filming, editing and directing. The project integrated a range of CfE experiences and outcomes covering literacy, technology, art and design, drama, and music and involved more than 1,500 Midlothian primary children in a range of activities including:
· Researching about film genres
· Writing a screenplay or narrative
· Auditioning for parts – performers and production team
· Creating a production plan
· Storyboarding
· Filming and production
· Creating a score or soundtrack
· Editing
The connected nature of these themes provided an excellent context for interdisciplinary learning as well as opportunities for pupils to apply knowledge and skills in new and unfamiliar situations.
Between February and May 48 films were produced, including dramas, thrillers, comedies, documentaries, animations and even a musical! The entries included films about zombie invasion, ghost stories, time travel, and superheroes, as well as dramas based on WW1 and WW2, the Scottish Wars of Independence and the Midlothian Mining disaster of 1890.
The judging panel, which had the almost impossible task of deciding the winners of the first ever Moscars awards, was impressed by the high quality of the films submitted. Midlothian Schools Group Manager, Alan Wait, said: “The judges were amazed at the film-making skills demonstrated by children. It wasn’t just about the performance of the actors, it was the overall quality of production and direction that made films really stand out. Some films had great stories, whilst others had memorable performances, but things like costume, make-up, special effects and the musical score also contributed hugely to the overall impact.
There was drama, tears and even an emotional acceptance speech from Strathesk pupil Ellie Wotherspoon, whose team took the Best Film award for their wonderful anti-bullying story, Pig. It might be too early to say if the next Leonardo DiCaprio or Cate Blanchett has been discovered in Midlothian, but the 2014 Moscars was an unforgettable evening, enjoyed hugely by all those who attended.
There will also be an opportunity for the general public to view the movies at a film festival which will take place in September.
For more information about the Moscars Project contact:
Alan Wait, Schools Group Manager – Alan.Wait@Midlothian.gov.uk
lf you could be an engineer in Scotland – what would you do?
The Leaders Award for STEM is a Primary Engineer programme open to students from 5 to 19 years old. It is a fantastic way to increase their awareness of the breadth of opportunities open to them within STEM subjects. Students have the chance to speak directly to professionals from different fields in STEM. This award is a great opportunity to engage pupils with real engineers who will convey the importance of STEM in their daily working lives. Schools will be able to develop relationships with industry, both local and worldwide, giving pupils a unique perspective of professions and their significance in the wider world.
The Challenge
Pupils are asked to research engineering and interview a practicing engineer to interpret the statement “lf you could be an engineer in Scotland – what would you do?”. Primary pupils are asked to illustrate their response, accompanied by 100 words. Secondary pupils are asked to illustrate their response, accompanied by 350 words.
The website contains resources and lesson plans which can help pupils get their research underway. Just visit the ‘Downloads’ section of the website at www.leadersaward.com.
All successful participants will receive a certificate and winning entries will be exhibited to the public at the Barony Hall, University of Strathclyde (date TBC).
Closing date: 10th February 2015
How to get involved
Register your school via the website www.leadersaward.com. Once registered, you will receive an application pack and further guidance on completing the award.
Nominations are now open for the SQA’s annual Star Awards.
The awards are a unique way to celebrate success, triumph, achievement and recognition of the best in education and training. Behind every success story lies motivation and commitment, pride and self-esteem and, of course, sheer hard work.
See the stars come out – nominate your stars today at www.sqa.org.uk/star
Closing date for entries is Friday 27 June 2014.
Education Scotland organised and delivered a conference to support learning and teaching around the new Higher Computing Science on 29 May 2014. The main aims of the conference were to
Gerry Docherty, Chief Executive of Smarter Grid Solutions, who leads on the implementation of the ICT and Digital Technologies Skills Investment Plan was the keynote speaker. He did a tremendous job setting the scene for the conference and many of the issues he raised in the morning were discussed again in the closing plenary.
It was a really great day and gives us lots to build on. If you have any suggestions as to how Education Scotland can further support this area of the curriculum please contact jim.lally@educationscotland.gov.uk.
Wednesday 24th – 25th June 2014
Into Films will be running 3 career sessions at next month’s EIFF.
One focusing on STEM students, the other on the same day includes STEM as part of film careers, with a third event will involve conversations with a VFX industry professional.
If you are interested in attending these events please contact – yen.yau@intofilm.org
Nominations are now open. The SQA’s annual Star Awards are a unique way to celebrate success, triumph, achievement and recognition of the best in education and training. Behind every success story lies motivation and commitment, pride and self-esteem and, of course, sheer hard work.
See the stars come out – nominate your stars today www.sqa.org.uk/star
Closing date for entries is Friday 27 June 2014.
Registration for SLF 2014 is now open at www.scottishlearningfestival.org.uk
The theme of SLF 2014 is raising achievement and attainment for all with a focus on maximising educational outcomes through:
• early intervention and prevention – for children, young people and adult learners in order to maximise educational outcomes;
• health and wellbeing – ranging from physical education and sport to the full range of health and wellbeing subjects which are the responsibility of all practitioners;
• employability skills – to secure a highly educated, well prepared and well-motivated young workforce able to compete in a global market.
SLF 2014 is free for everyone to attend and gives you access to:
• Inspirational keynotes from Michael Russell MSP, Dr Frank Dick, Prof Alma Harris and John Carnochan;
• Over 100 professional development seminars where you can engage in activities and learn from practitioners and young people;
• Lively debate at the professional discussions led by Sir Ian Wood, Chair of the Commission for Developing Scotland’s Young Workforce, Sir Bill Gammell, Chairman and Co-founder of the Winning Scotland Foundation and Kenneth Muir, Chief Executive of the GTCS;
• Scotland’s largest education exhibition with over 100 exhibitors showcasing educational resources;
• Opportunities for discussion and professional networking with peers and colleagues from across Scotland.
Book Now
To guarantee your place at SLF 2014 and your choice of seminars book now, as many sessions do fill up before the summer break. Visit www.scottishlearningfestival.org.uk to browse the full conference programme and book your place today.
The new Higher Computing Science has a clear focus on modern technologies and development for the Web. Server-side scripting and online databases are the building blocks of the large information systems that we all use today.
The new Higher requires learners to provide “exemplifications and implementation of coding to create and modify information systems including the use of: … scripting (database/web pages), server-side scripting…”
This means that every learner studying Higher Computing Science should have experience of using these technologies. To support the introduction of the new Higher Computing Science, Aberdeen City Council have created and deployed a number of open source software packages.
We have deployed EasyPHP to provide each learner with a dedicated web and database server. This open source software provides an Apache Web Server, MySQL Database Server, PHP language plug-in 
(to allow for server-side scripting), phpMyAdmin (a web based database management tool) and Xdebug (to provide full debug information for learners as they develop programs). These servers are hosted locally on each computer where this software is deployed and the servers are controlled via a small application that learners can manage to start/store the servers as required.
This solution provides a full suite of technology that our teachers can now deploy in the classroom. We have modified the software so the data that a learner creates is stored and moves with the leaner in his/her roaming profile. No matter which computer he/she is using the required data is available.
As the solution is deployed locally on each station, the web pages are viewed using the localhost (http://localhost/) URL and the server is not broadcast to the wider Internet.
To assist with the development of programs, we have also deployed the open source NetBeans web project editor which supports development using a number of technologies that feature in the new Higher: Javascript (client-side scripting), PHP (server-side scripting), MySQL (database queries), HTML, CSS and others.
In tandem with this software deployment, we have also provided training to support this technology, which all our Computing Science teachers have been involved with.
If you would like additional information about this solution please contact Charlie Love at Aberdeen City Council.
The Glasgow Science Festival is preparing to bring its exciting mix of science and innovative events to its biggest ever festival.
Primary practitioners can access a variety of events, activities and workshops which showcase the contribution Glasgow and Glasgow based researchers make to the worlds of science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine (STEMM).
From the intriguing Commonwealth Games Whodunnit, to the genetic investigation entitled Blame it on the Parents, to demonstrating energy and forces through the construction of a medieval castle there is something for every budding STEM learner.
For further information: http://www.gla.ac.uk/events/sciencefestival/events/schools/
As Glasgow prepares for the Commonwealth Games the Glasgow Science Festival is preparing to bring its exciting mix of science and innovative events to its biggest ever festival.
The principle aim of the Festival is to showcase the outstanding contribution Glasgow and Glasgow based researchers make to the worlds of science, technology, engineering, maths and medicine (STEMM).
From 5-15th June explore the frontiers of research through comedy, live shows, public debates and hands on exhibitions.
The science of sport will be uncovered and you can debate questions such as “If Usain Bolt was a bacterium, what would he be?”
For further information: http://www.gla.ac.uk/events/sciencefestival/events/
Leaders Award for STEM is a fun and rewarding way of finding out about careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM). We also play host to additional Special Leaders Awards which run throughout the year, each having a particular focus.
If you could be an engineer in Scotland – what would you do?
We challenge Primary and Secondary school pupils in Scotland to research and interview inspiring engineers!
This award is a great opportunity to engage pupils with real engineers who will convey the importance of STEM in their daily working lives. Schools will be able to develop relationships with industry, both local and worldwide, giving pupils a unique perspective of professions and their significance in the wider world. Our website contains resources and lesson plans which can help pupils get their research underway. Just visit the ‘Downloads’ section of our website at www.leadersaward.com. All successful participants will receive a certificate and winning entries will be exhibited to the public at the Barony Hall, University of Strathclyde (date TBC).
Closing date: 10th February 2015.
The Challenge
Pupils are asked to research engineering and interview a practicing engineer to interpret the statement “if you could be an engineer in Scotland – what would you do?”
Primary pupils are asked to illustrate their response, accompanied by 100 words.
Secondary pupils are asked to illustrate their response, accompanied by 350 words.
Register your school via the website www.leadersaward.com. Once registered, you will receive an application pack and further guidance on completing the award.
For more information about the Scottish Engineering Special Leaders Award, please visit www.leadersaward.com
10:00 – 10:25 am – Registration
10:30- 11:15 am – Welcome to Big Ambition Scotland
11:20 – Learning zones:
13:45 – 1405 – Lunch break
14:05 – 14:15 – Closing session
Register via the BigAmbition Scotland website:
http://www.bigambitionscotland.com/news/events/national-ict-event-2014/
Scotland’s Environment Web has a unique set of on-line guidance and digital tools to help people set up their own public environmental monitoring projects.
Public monitoring or ‘citizen science’ can be described as “scientific activities in which non-professional scientists volunteer to participate in data collection, analysis and dissemination of a scientific project…” It can be a great, fun way to gather information and get involved – scientists need your help!
On May 7th a best practice guide on When and how to use Citizen Science was published.
It will take anyone thinking about embarking on a project through the steps which will help decide when you should choose and how to use citizen science.
Whether you are a teacher keen to get your students outdoors, a member of the public wanting to get more involved in your local environment, or an organisation wanting to set up a project, here is support available in the Scotland’s Environment Web toolkit. The tools make it easier to start and run a project, using some of the new digital technology to help.
Click on the link to access Scotland’s Environment Website: http://bit.ly/18JGXwU
National Women in Engineering Day has been set up by the Women’s Engineering Society (WES) to celebrate its 95th anniversary. It takes place on 23 June 2014.
The aim is to celebrate the work that women do in engineering, and to showcase the great engineering careers that are available for girls.
The WES is calling on all groups (Governmental, educational, corporate, Professional Engineering Institutions, individuals and other organisations) to organise their own events in support of the day, and link them together for maximum impact through the use of the NWED logo, corresponding website, and supporting resources.
Find out how you can get involved here National Women in Engineering Day
A range of top-class sporting venues across Glasgow and Scotland will be used for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games and we’ve produced films for each, to help you see where the action will take place. Access them on the Game On Scotland site.
From the Athletes’ Village through to Tollcross International Swimming Centre, there’s a wide range of spectacular venues to explore, all captured on film to make for an interesting viewing experience. We are currently finalising the Hampden Park film and this will shortly be added to the site.
On a related note, for those teachers who may be thinking of organising trips to the venues, control will shortly be handed over to the Glasgow 2014 Organising Committee to enable them to be made ready for the Games. When this happens, they will no longer be open to the public and it will not be possible to accommodate visits or tours. At that point, the priority is to make the final modifications necessary to deliver 11 days of world class sport. Please do not contact Game On Scotland about organising visits as we are unable to assist.
Part of the remit of The Young Academy of Scotland’s Excellence in Education Working Group is to “draw upon YAS expertise to develop teaching resources that enable teachers to make full use of the interdisciplinary possibilities of CfE [Curriculum for Excellence].”
This resource, working within the Numeracy curriculum area, utilised the broad multi-disciplinary nature of the YAS membership to show how numeracy matters in the everyday lives and work of Scotland’s emerging leaders from the disciplines of science and humanities, the professions, the arts, business and civil society.
Through this YAS resource learners can find out how Cardiologist Marc Dweck uses numeracy in the diagnosis and treatment of heartattacks, discover how astrophysicist Catherine Heymans uses spread sheets when buying a new mobile phone and, most importantly, find out why ‘Numeracy Counts!’
Access the resources here – http://bit.ly/MqEQrJ
CPD session 
Lynn Wilson, Key Accounts Manager (Textiles), Circular Economy Team at Zero Waste Scotland (ZWS) will deliver a GLOW TV session introducing circular economy textiles and clothing industry models and how examples could be applied to class project work. It will also cover ZWS current work with the clothing industry – Sustainable Clothing Action Plan 2020 and the consumer side of this work – Love Your Clothes (www.loveyourclothes.org.uk) as well as Circular Economy Business Models in clothing retail.
ZWS is commissioning a series of master classes for textile and clothing industry experts, academia and education practitioners to up skill in areas such as zero waste pattern design; assembly for disassembly; fibre processing and dry dyeing and printing, to be delivered from January – December 2015. Four places per master class (there will be 16 in a class) are offered to teaching staff responsible for national curriculum development. Those wishing to attend must apply by preparing a proposal identifying how it will contribute to their professional development and how they will disseminate the learning. An introductory one day event introducing the topics will be hosted by the Scottish Textile and Leather Association in partnership with Zero Waste Scotland in September and the date will be announced shortly.
This session and the master classes proposed will be of interest to teaching professionals across disciplines from Science to Design and Technology as well as more traditional textile and clothing curriculum areas such as Home Economics and Art and Design.
Click on the link below to sign up for this session.
STEM Conversation Day
09:30 – 15:00, Monday 12th May 2014
Venue: Optima Building, 58 Robertson Street, Glasgow
Education Scotland would like to invite you to take part in the Stem Conversation Day.
The day will commence with a presentation about STEM, followed by four discussion activities exploring STEM in education.
If you wish to attend please contact Louise Morton, STEM Development Officer at Louise.Morton@educationscotland.gov.uk
You may find it useful to familiarise yourself with some of the documentation relating to Science, Technologies and Mathematics, all online at Education Scotland.
As you might know, the current wiki service within Glow will be decommissioned in October 2014 and we are planning to have a replacement service by then.
As part of that process, we are gathering requirements and we would like to consult with users of wikis to understand their current use (Glow or otherwise) and the features they would be interested to see in the future.
To participate in this survey please visit the QuestBack Survey.
Thank you in advance for taking part your feedback is very important to us.
Nesta are running a one day digital creativity CPD event for primary school teachers. Find out more about digital activities you can introduce into your own classroom. Choose from four workshops on website creation, animation, Scratch and Kodu. No previous experience is necessary.
Date: Saturday 10th May
Location: University of Glasgow
To book go to onedaydigital.eventbrite.com
One Day Digital Workshops
Web development with CoderDojo
CoderDojo is a global movement inspiring young people to get involved in coding. At a CoderDojo you learn how to develop websites, build apps, design games and more. CoderDojo makes development and learning to code a fun, sociable, kick ass experience. This workshop covers the history of the world wide web, and how it is fast becoming the most exciting platform for digital making. The workshop will give participants the chance to learn about coding for the web, and build their own digital creation using the latest web technologies including HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript.
This workshop is suitable for those with a little experience of using a computer.
Creating, Editing and Sharing Content on the iPad
The iPad’s not just for capturing content; it’s an editing suite and means of sharing on the move. This session will give you a taster in photography, film-making, animation and audio, as well as manipulating, editing and sharing. While you can share this content with the world, more importantly you’ll leave equipped to share your knowledge with your class!
This workshop is suitable for complete beginners.
Scratch
Scratch is designed especially for ages 8 and over but is used by people of all ages. With Scratch, you can program your own interactive stories, games, and animations and share your creations with others in the online community. This workshop will focus on the importance of computational thinking and how to deliver these within the Curriculum for Excellence for upper primary school classes. The workshop will first look at the background issues followed by an extended hands-on session using MIT’s free Scratch software – an entertaining and engaging graphical programming environment for learners.
This workshop is suitable for those with a little experience of using a computer.
Kodu
Kodu is a visual programming language from Microsoft specifically designed for the creation of games. It can be used to teach creativity, problem solving, storytelling, as well as programming. This workshop will introduce you to the different Kodu tools that allow you to build engaging 3D worlds in which to situate your game, as well as learning to code the different objects in the world. The workshop will be very much hands on and you will make a range of worlds/games that will develop your confidence to take Kodu into the classroom. You will also be able to use the materials provided in class and how to deliver these within the CfE.
This workshop is suitable for those with a little experience of using a computer.
To book go to onedaydigital.eventbrite.com@onedaydigital
Running throughout July and August, The Royal Institution Summer Schools bring to life all areas of science, mathematics, computing and engineering.
With over 50 sessions to choose from, covering topics from climate change to acoustics, earthquakes to rocket science, forensics to 3D printing, crash-testing to ancient history, there is something for everyone.
The two week long Summer Schools, ‘Computer-based mathematics’ start on Monday 28th July and ‘Introduction to robotics’ starts on Monday 11th August.
Booking is now open and places can be booked online via the Ri’s What’s On calendar or by calling our Public Programmes team on 020 7409 2992.
Please read on for just a snapshot of the different activities on offer.
Issue 5 of “SwitchedOn Scotland” – Computing At School Scotland’s newsletter – has been released. This edition gives an overview of the recent Digital Skills Investment Plan announcement, an update on the PLAN C Professional Learning programme, advice on how SQA standard pseudocode can be used and exciting news from Universities regarding their recommendations for Computing as an entry requirement for courses.
The newsletter can be viewed online at http://www.casscotland.org.uk or on ‘issuu’ at http://bit.ly/casscotissue5“
Power Politics is a new education learning resource for schools, community groups, and anyone interested in global learning.
The resources were developed by the Living Earth Foundation as part of a three-year project funded by the European Commission. They were designed to meet the need for engaging development education materials, providing resources to teach with confidence on a broad range of issues relating to international development and global citizenship.
The resources explore issues including the Millennium Development Goals and the environmental, social and economic impacts of the oil industry, enabling pupils to compare and contrast the different contexts of Scotland and Nigeria.
Teachers, pupils and members of community groups in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and Port Harcourt, Nigeria, were involved in a range of creative exercises and workshops, and were at the heart of developing the resources, which is clear to see in the final products. They created films and comic strips to bring to life the differences and similarities in their day to day lives, and to provoke debate and discussion about the opportunities and challenges that living alongside the oil and gas industry can bring.
The Power Politics pack includes:
Power Politics is aimed at S1-S3 and the learning activities can easily be tailored to suit any age group.
The learning pack, with comics and exercises for entire classes is available free to use. You can borrow them from the Montgomery Development Education centre www.montgomerydec.org.uk. or access and download from the website www.powerpolitics.org.uk.
John Muir Education Pack – This resource aims to help teachers understand outdoor learning opportunities, and
give confidence to use outdoor spaces for teaching a wide range of experiences and outcomes. The pack for Second Level encourages structured learning in the outdoors, along with a deeper understanding of John Muir’s writings and philosophies. The pack can be used flexibility as stand-alone activities to cover certain aspects of the topic or as activities leading into each other as a programme of learning. The Second Level pack can help with an introduction to the John Muir Award. John Muir Education Pack – Second Level
The pack has been created by The Rural Connect Project which is all about reconnecting local communities to the rural environment through community engagement events, workshops and online resources www.ruralconnectwestlothian.co.uk.
Outdoor Learning Resource Guide – This new Outdoor Learning Resource Guide summarises the many benefits of Outdoor Learning, and contains useful information and website links for further information.
http://www.jmt.org/assets/john%20muir%20award/downloads/resourceguideoutdoorlearning.pdf
John Muir, Earth – Planet, Universe – A graphic novel based upon the life of John Muir has been produced by the
Scottish Book Trust with free copies going to every secondary school in Scotland. It’s also available for anyone, anywhere to download as a PDF version. Teaching support notes and pupil activities also accompany the book. John Muir, Earth – Planet, Universe brings Muir’s story to life in a new way, and is intended to develop a deeper understanding and awareness of the natural environment and the importance of protecting wild places.
http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/learning/teachers-librarians/teaching-resources-cpd/john-muir
New John Muir Way website – Find out everything you need to know about the UK’s newest long distance route, by visiting the new website. There are maps and information for each of the ten sections of the 133 mile route, which runs between Helensburgh in the West and Dunbar on the East. http://johnmuirway.org/
For information, resources, support, key organisations and national guidelines on taking learning outdoors click on the link below to access the Education Scotland outdoor learning online resource:
Education Scotland Outdoor Learning online resource
Key documents available on this resource include:
A downloadable word document highlighting all these links is available here: Education Scotland Outdoor Learning online support materials
Scottish science centres are to benefit from an extra £2.5m in funding.
Glasgow Science Centre is to get the largest share of the Scottish government funding, at £962,680. Our Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh will receive £899,090, Dundee Science Centre £332,220 and Satrosphere in Aberdeen £246,010.
The combined total includes £110,000 towards subsidising school transport costs, and a further £100,000 will be shared by the four centres for community events.
The popularity of the science centres has increased since last year with almost 645,000 more people visiting the four centres in the past 12 months.
The funding package will allow each centre to invest in hands-on exhibits and activities and use their experience to help improve the confidence of primary teachers in delivering physics, engineering and technology.
Dundee Science Centre has announced plans for use of its share of the funding, with the “Ice Station Antarctica” exhibit due to open this summer. This is a major exhibition from the Natural History Museum and will be seen outside of London for the first time.
The new “Scotland’s Time Lords” galleries will open at Our Dynamic Earth this month, bringing to life the impact scientists have had since the Scottish Enlightenment.
Skills Fusion is a VFX film careers outreach programme. Funded by Creative Skillset (http://www.creativeskillset.org/) , the Sector Skills Council for the Creative Industries, its aim is to highlight the skills shortage that the UK film industry faces in this sector and the opportunities, particularly in the more technical specialist roles that rely on strong educational foundations in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths), and computer science subjects, available to students.
Young people concentrating on these areas very often do not know, or realise that rewarding careers based on STEM subjects are possible in the creative industries, nor that many of computer generated imagery (CGI), that they see on the big screen, have been created here in the UK and not Hollywood.
It is recognised through the landmark report published by NESTA – The Next Gen Report – http://www.nesta.org.uk/publications/next-gen, that there is a knowledge gap between the classroom and jobs, and that without an intervention such as Skills Fusion, the UK film industry will not be able to maintain its position as a leading country to do business in the global marketplace.
The intention of Skills Fusion through its resources, attending conferences, working with schools, participating in career fairs, engaging STEM orientated school clubs and cascading information through career advisor networks, that it can inspire and spark that initial interest to potentially fully fledged careers, career paths, which they might not have otherwise considered.
If you would be interested in copies of the specially commissioned careers resource or have opportunities for someone to come to your school to talk about Skills Fusion, participate in an event/teachers CPD session or present a film careers talk to students, please get in touch with yen.yau@intofilm.org (Talent Development Manager, Into Film)
Meet Roma Agrawal
Date: 25th April
Time: 9:30 – 10.30am
Sign up here:
http://bit.ly/leaderswardforstem
Roma Agrawal (www.romatheengineer.com) , an Associate Structural Engineer at WSP, will be talking to students about her career and her role in designing bridges, skyscrapers and sculptures with signature architects over her eight year career. She will then take questions from the students in the studio and logged in on GLOW TV.
Roma Agrawal is being interviewed to encourage students to engage with The Leaders Award for STEM (www.leadersaward.com).
Roma Agrawal , an Associate Structural Engineer at WSP, will be talking to students about her career and her role in designing bridges, skyscrapers and sculptures with signature architects over her eight year career. She will then take questions from the students in the studio and logged in on Glow TV. Roma Agrawal is being interviewed to encourage students to engage with The Leaders Award for STEM
Join us in Glow TV on Friday 25th April at 9.30am.
The Kodu Kup is open to anyone from a Scottish school aged between seven and fourteen. Children must be entered as a team of three, forming a mini “game studio”.
Follow @KoduKup on Twitter or ‘Like’ us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/KoduKup) to receive regular updates, including dates of free training sessions!
You can download Kodu Game Lab and other useful resources from the Microsoft Partners in Learning website www.pil-network.com. Project Spark can be downloaded from Project Spark
There will be three winning teams in both Primary Secondary sectors. All 6 winning teams will receive a Kinect device, plus a copy of the official Kodu for kids book and a wireless XBOX360 controller with PC USB wireless receiver for their School.
One overall winner will be selected and they will receive the Scottish Kodu Kup and an invitation to present their game to a panel of judges from the games industry at Microsoft Headquarters in Reading. The winners of each category in the UK final will each receive a Surface RT tablet and one overall winning team will take home the UK Kodu Kup! Download more information about the Kodu Cup Scotland 2014
