ES Training blog

Primary practitioner information Glasgow Science Festival 5th – 15th June 2014

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/

Glasgow Science Festival 5th – 15th June 2014

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 5-15^th 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/

Mathematics, Sciences, Skills, Technologies

Scottish Engineering – Special Leaders Award 2014/2015

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

Technologies

S3–S6 NATIONAL ICT AND DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES CAREERS DAY

http://www.bigambitionscotland.com/news/events/national-ict-event-2014/

11th June 2014

Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh

10:00 – 10:25 am – Registration

10:30- 11:15 am – Welcome to Big Ambition Scotland

11:20 – Learning zones:

Expert Zone – join us for opportunity to ask industry experts questions like
- What it is like to work in ICT and Digital Technologies?
- How do I get in to the sector?
- What sort of skills are you looking for in employees?
- What the jobs of the future are likely to be?
- Opportunity Zone – learn from employers and education providers about the different entry routes into the ICT and Digital Technologies sector. You will be able to hear about the different job opportunities that are available, college and university courses and other options such as Modern Apprenticeship
Interactive Zone – an interactive session led by industry to teach you about programming in coding languages. Hand on session giving you an important insight into the world of code

13:45 – 1405 – Lunch break

14:05 – 14:15 – Closing session

Register via the BigAmbition Scotland website:

Expressive Arts, Health and wellbeing

National Working Group for Dance

The national working group for Dance met on the 8th May at Optima Glasgow.
The main focus of the group is
• to establish what the barriers are to the delivery of Dance
• to improve communication within the dance community
• to establish a network of contacts within the dance community
Con Morris from Education Scotland gave the group an insight into how Glow could be used to establish better communication and links. How a “Blether account” would allow practitioners to support each other and share good practice.

Emma Stewart Jones from Creative Scotland gave an update on the latest training opportunities for PE students and staff. Also partnership with the Conservatoire of Scotland. New PGDE Dance course to start 2015/16.

Keith Murphy from Education Scotland gave an account of how the 3 horizons approach can be used for future thinking, focussed discussion and raise points for action
This led onto discussion points for the next meeting.

Improving the communication network.
As Dance is mainly delivered by PE teachers in Schools Anne McEwan from Denny Dance Academy suggested contacting SATPE (Scottish Association of Teachers of Physical Education) to join their network.
Response from SATPE was
“The SATPE Conference is to be held at Tulliallan on 1st November 2014 ,they would be delighted for the National working group to include a slot on Dance in Education. They are also happy for us to offer workshops etc, if we feel it would be appropriate. This is an excellent opportunity for us to reinforce concrete links with the PE Profession and ensure PE Teachers are fully up to speed in the delivery of dance.”

The group will meet 3 times per year, the next meeting is scheduled for 2nd September 2014

We would welcome your comments and thoughts in this exciting time for Dance education in Scotland.

Uncategorised

Computing Science Conference

As part of the ongoing support for senior phase qualifications Education Scotland has organised a conference to support practitioners who are delivering the new Higher Computing Science course. This will be held in Edinburgh on Thursday, 29 May, 9:30 am, at the Hilton Grosvenor Haymarket. Places have been allocated via local authorities, however there are a limited number of spaces still remaining and we would like to offer these on a ‘first come, first served’ basis to anyone who will be delivering the new course. If you would like to attend, please email your name, school and authority/organisation to Brett.Hillman@scotland.gsi.gov.uk as soon as possible. Full details will be sent out by email once all of the remaining places have been allocated. We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at the event.

Uncategorised

The Gaelic Books Council – free workshop

May 19, 2014 User deactivated Leave a comment

The Gaelic Books Council, with the Scottish Book Trust, are hosting a free workshop for those interested in writing through the medium of Gaelic.

The workshop will be led by Catriona Lexy Campbell on Saturday 24 May at 1200-1600 at the Gaelic Books Council, 32 Mansfield St, Glasgow, G11 5QP. Participants will be given an opportunity to write stories, poetry, songs or plays. If you are interested in this workshop, please e-mail rosemary@gaelicbooks.org or storiesofhome@scottishbooktrust.com.

Gaelic Learners, Literacy and Gàidhlig

e-Stòras, a new resource for Gaelic Medium Education, is now live

May 19, 2014 User deactivated Leave a comment

The Multimedia Unit of the Education and Children’s Services Department of Comhairle nan Eilean Siar has developed a new website to support 3-18 Gaelic Medium Education.Resources support Gàidhlig as well as a range of other curricular areas.

The website is being continuously updated with new materials to enhance young people’s learning opportunities through the medium of Gaelic. For more information,visit the website or contact the Multimedia Unit at Comhairle nan Eilean Siar by emailing evelyn.coull@cne-siar.gov.uk.

CfE, Sciences

Open day – a whole cluster approach to science

May 16, 2014 User deactivated Leave a comment

Venue: Mearns Primary School, East Renfrewshire

Date: 9am to 12:30pm, Tuesday 3^rd June 2014

This professional learning event presents an exciting opportunity to learn about the approaches to 3-18 sciences developed by the Eastwood High School and Mearns Castle High School clusters which have been identified through the inspection process as being very good practice.

The event is aimed at Quality Improvement Officers, Science Development Officers, science coordinators, school leaders and practitioners from all sectors with responsibility for sciences as well as national agencies and partner organisations.

The event will provide delegates with an opportunity to hear about various strengths of work taking place in the cluster including the:

effectiveness of their collegiate working led by the Science Ambassadors and also the partnership with SSERC
cross-cluster development which has produced a very high-quality programme with strong progression across all the organisers and significant aspects of learning
well planned discrete and interdisciplinary learning experiences from nursery to secondary
outstanding resources for science across all stages which are easily accessible and very well matched to the experiences and outcomes
learning rounds involving staff across the clusters focused on progression which provide very good evidence of how well children are progressing through the levels
curriculum transitions which are described as sector leading.

To book a place at this event please contact Jennifer.Moore@educationscotland.gov.uk. It is advisable to book early to avoid disappointment.

Skills

Inter-Authority Skills Network

Notes from Inter-Authority Skills Meeting – 19th April

The Inter-Authority Skills Network convened for the second time this year on April 19th at Denholm House, Livingston. A key focus for the meeting was discussion of the recommendations from the Wood Commission’s interim report “Developing Scotland’s Young Workforce.”

Keynote presentations were made by Neil McLennan, co-chair of RSE Young Academy of Scotland, Excellence in Education group and Louise Harley from ‘Inspiring the Future.’
Neil described work undertaken by the Excellence in Education group in taking forward the skills agenda, including developing the ‘numeracy counts’ area of the group’s website.
Louise discussed the range of work undertaken by “Inspiring the Future” focussing on the area of employer engagement.

Details of these presentations and notes from discussions are linked within this post.

Documents shared by local authority representatives and partners – to follow.

Glow TV, Health and wellbeing

Your Unique Opportunity…..

Tomorrow – Thursday 15th May school pupils from across Scotland will be inspired to ‘be their personal best’ by meeting and learning from dozens of Scotland’s top athletes, including Olympic and Commonwealth medallists.

You can join us too live through Glow TV and also take part in a unique opportunity to ask questions of Scotland’s most influential sporting hero and heroine!!

We can’t tell you who they are at the moment as they will be revealed tomorrow morning so watch this space at 9.45am to find out who they are and join us from 11.20 – 11.50am in our “Athlete Lounge” for a Q&A session with an exclusive slot for Glow participants! Sign up and join us in Glow TV.

You can join us all morning too if you like as we will have an exciting series of events going on via Glow TV:

9.30 – 10.00am Meet the Athletes – Join us as we reveal live who our special athlete guests will be
10.35 – 11.10am “Success Through Effort” – an active session that you can join in with live in your classrooms
11.20 – 11.50am “Athlete Lounge” – Q&A session with an exclusive slot for Glow participants

Watch this space and don’t miss your opportunity to speak to top Scottish athletes live in Glow TV!

Gaelic Learners, Literacy and Gàidhlig, Uncategorised

Writing competition for Gaelic Medium and Gaelic Learner Education

CLAS – The Professional Association for Secondary Teachers of Gaelic – are pleased to launch their annual writing competition for Gaelic Medium and Gaelic Learner Education. Young people in S1 and S2 are being encouraged to write on a choice of topics related to the significance of the year 2014 for Scotland. Schools should submit their entries by 9 June 2014.

For more information on the competition, please visit www.clas123.wordpress.com/co-fharpaisean. For general information on CLAS, which celebrates its 10th anniversary later this year, please visit www.facebook.com/tidsearan.

CfE, Mathematics, Sciences, Technologies

New When and how to use Citizen Science guide

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 7^th 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 June 23rd 2014

May 13, 2014 User deactivated Leave a comment

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

Uncategorised

Bookbug’s Big Sports Days

May 13, 2014 User deactivated Leave a comment

Bookbug, Scotlands national book gifting programme have announced the details of their annual Bookbug Week celebrations. The dates for this year are 19^th-25^th May 2014 and the theme is Bookbug’s Big Sports Day.

Sports themed activities, rhymes, stories and songs will be available at over 200 special events. Details of the events can be found by visiting www.scottishbooktrust.com/bookbug .

Bookbug’s Big Sport’s Day – Launch Event in North Inch Park, Perth

There will be a special Bookbug Week flagship event at North Inch Park in Perth on Monday 19 May from 10.30am to 3pm. There will be races and games in the park, getting creative with arts and crafts and face painting and joining Bookbug for some special sporty stories, songs and rhymes. For more information about the event, please visitwww.pkc.gov.uk/library or contact the Perth and Kinross Bookbug team atBookbug@pkc.gov.uk or 01738 477 043.

Gaelic Learners, Literacy and Gàidhlig, Uncategorised

New Gaelic Young Writers Award

May 12, 2014 User deactivated Leave a comment

The Gaelic Books Council, the lead organisation for Gaelic literature in Scotland, is delighted to be working in collaboration with the Scottish Book Trust to establish an award for a young writer of Gaelic.

Teenagers who are keen writers are being offered a golden opportunity with four awards from the Scottish Book Trust being available to people between 14 and 17 who write in Gaelic, English or Scots. The recipients of this year’s Young Writers’ Awards will receive a prize which includes a six month mentoring period with a published writer, a visit to a top London publisher, a writers’ retreat at Moniack Mhòr and the chance to meet industry professionals.

Budding authors are invited to submit a piece of creative writing and a personal statement explaining why they would benefit from this programme. The closing date for applications is 27 June 2014. Full details are available on the Scottish Book Trust website. For more information on the award for Gaelic please contact rosemary@gaelicbooks.org.

Adult Learning, Outdoor Learning, Responsibility of All, Technologies, Young people, children & families

New Commonwealth Games venue films available now!

May 12, 2014 User deactivated Leave a comment

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.

Glow TV, Health and wellbeing

Meet the athletes…..

May 12, 2014 User deactivated Leave a comment

On 15 May, school pupils from across Scotland will be inspired to ‘be their personal best’ by meeting and learning from dozens of Scotland’s top athletes, including Olympic and Commonwealth medallists.

Two world-famous Scottish sporting heroes will also be revealed and will take part on the day!

Through a series of workshops, the event aims to inspire young people to be successful in life and show them that everyone has it in them to succeed. The athletes will help the pupils understand how to learn through failure and how success comes from sustained effort.

No matter who you are, where you’re from or what you’re good at, everyone has it in them to be their personal best.

The session will include the following components:

9.30 – 10.00: Meet the Athletes – Introduction

10.35 – 11.10: “Success through effort” – an active workshop session

11.20 – 11.50: “Athlete Lounge” – Q&A session with an exclusive slot for Glow participants

RSE Young Academy of Scotland – Numeracy Counts

May 9, 2014 User deactivated Leave a comment

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

Health and wellbeing, Health and wellbeing, Technologies, Uncategorised

GLOW TV Session Introducing circular economy of textiles

May 8, 2014 User deactivated Leave a comment

CPD session

28th May from 16.00-17.00

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.

CfE, Mathematics, Outdoor Learning, Sciences, Technologies

Education Scotland STEM Conversation Day, May 12th

May 6, 2014 User deactivated Leave a comment

STEM Conversation Day

09:30 – 15:00, Monday 12^th 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.

Uncategorised

Glow Update – New RM Unify Release

Each month the Scottish Government produces an update detailing the progress of the various projects involved in Glow as well as useful information for Key Contacts, partners and educationalists.

Here on the Learning Blog we will be publishing these updates and highlighting various aspects of it during the month.

This post will be looking at the Glow Service and the new RM Unify Release.

RM Unify is the product from RM Education that hosts the Launchpad from which users can access their Glow content and services. An update, Version 2.0, is now live. We will continue to try to improve our notification process to you of these updates. The new features include:

Personal Launch Pads and an improved RM user interface including optimization for different screen sizes.

The My Launchpad feature allows individuals to personalise the Launchpad from a selection of tiles, including those made available by their school.

My Launchpad is available to all users by default. All users will now have restricted access to the RM Unify App Library to allow population of My Launchpad.

Schools can disable the My Launchpad feature if they wish using their RM Unify Administration accounts.

The RM Unify support documentation describes in detail the process of enabling.

To find out more visit the RM Unify Blog

You can also download the full Glow Update Newsletter – April 2014 document.

CfE, National Qualifications, Sciences, Senior Phase

HIgher Chemistry Resources Guide

Higher Chemistry Resources Guide

This is the next in a series of Higher Resources guides linking key areas of the curriculum to identified learning and teaching resources

The pages show the SQA Higher Chemistry course and unit support notes with an extra column. Content new to the course from the Higher Still Higher are highlighted in green.

The extra column, entitled “Resources identified by Education Scotland”, shows links to resources each with a brief description. They are web-based resources such as animations which help understanding of the mandatory content listed. Each resource is placed adjacent to the content it exemplifies.

Updates will appear on GLOW 365.

Assessment, CfE, National Qualifications, Sciences, Senior Phase, Supporting Learners

Higher Physics Resources Guide

Higher Physics Resources Guide

This is part of a series of Higher Resources guides linking Mandatory Course key areas to useful learning and teaching resources.

The pages show the Mandatory Course key areas table from the SQA Higher Physics Course and Unit Support Notes with an additional column containing hyperlinks to videos, animations and other resources. Content new to the course from the Higher Still Higher has been highlighted in green to further assist practitioners.

Updates will appear on GLOW 365

Health and wellbeing, Health and wellbeing, Literacy, Outdoor Learning, Responsibility of All

Forestry Commission Scotland – Woodland Workout

Forestry Commission Scotland is encouraging young people to feel the benefit of the Commonwealth Games with a new Woodland Workout pack. Targeted at 3-14 year olds the pack promotes opportunities for quality, fun and safe physical activity in the outdoors and includes ideas for games, physical activities and staging ‘adapted’ Commonwealth sports in the woodlands. The pack, complete with teachers’ guide, encourages young people to have fun but to also be responsible for their well-being and consider risk. As well as considering potential hazards in their activity space and taking risks with solving problems, it also allows children the chance to learn how to manage ‘failure’ through reflecting on performance to set new challenges.

The Woodland Workout, with Commonwealth Games supplement has been issued to schools across Scotland and is available to download.

CfE

Space Dinner Competition

This resource provides information about a competition which requires students to create a meal for Tim Peake to eat on the International Space Station.

The On board the ISS presentation outlines facts about food in space and provides photographs to simulate discussion.

The Great British Space Dinner Competition presentation sets the challenge for the students and gives information about the constraints that must be taken into consideration when designing the meal. The full size picture file contains higher resolution images.

The Menu design team activity sheet can be used to plan out the meal, give reasons for choices made and to evaluate the results, after making the meal.

For further information and how to participate in the competition: http://bit.ly/1iGqdix

Profiling, Research, Technologies

Use of Wikis

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.

CfE, Sciences, Skills

I’m a Scientist, Get me out of here!

Chemistry N5 Past Paper Questions Chemical Changes and Structure (pdf)

I’m a Scientist, Get me out of here! have been producing a series of science debate kits for some years now. They contain a detailed lesson plans and online resources. They are simple and ready to use educational resources that are good for small groups or a whole class.

Their latest free debate kit is on the topic of Electricity Distribution. It gets secondary students thinking about how electricity distribution is a major engineering and technical challenge. Teachers can sign up to receive this kit and future ones here: debate.imascientist.org.uk/electricity.

CfE, National Qualifications, Sciences, Senior Phase

Particle Physics Masterclass, 17th June 2014

May 1, 2014 User deactivated Leave a comment

On behalf of Dr Aidan Robson FInstP,

Reader in Physics,

The University of Glasgow

Dear colleagues,

As part of “Elementary – CERN and Scotland”, http://cernandscotland.tumblr.com,

I’m pleased to invite you and your current 5th-year students to this year’s schools Particle Physics Masterclass, which will be held on Tuesday 17th June 2014 at Glasgow University.

This one-day introduction to fundamental particles and forces will be led by experts working at CERN and will convey some of the excitement of front-line research in a rapidly-developing field, with talks and hands-on sessions in particle detection and analysis of real collider data.

The masterclass will take place on Tuesday 17th June 2014 from 10am to 3.30pm, with registration from 9.30am, in the Kelvin Building at the University of Glasgow. It is intended for students who are just finishing 5th year; ideally for those continuing to Advanced Higher. There is no charge, and lunch will be provided. However, participation is by advance booking only and numbers are limited.

Please consult your pupils and if they would like to attend, email a list of their names to masterclass@physics.gla.ac.uk and indicate whether you would like to accompany them. The masterclass is normally oversubscribed, so I will try to make a fair allocation to schools on 9th May or shortly thereafter. Note that I’m unlikely to be able to fulfil requests for groups of more than about 10 per school.

We all look forward to seeing some of you here on 17th June.

Best wishes,

Aidan Robson

CfE, Skills, Technologies

NESTA Primary One Day Digital Creativity CPD event

April 30, 2014 User deactivated Leave a comment

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

Assessment, National Qualifications, Sciences, Senior Phase

N5 Chemistry Past Paper Guidance

April 29, 2014 User deactivated 1 Comment

Education Scotland and SQA have identified questions from Standard Grade Credit and Intermediate 2 papers from the last three years and matched them to Key Areas in the N5 Chemistry Curriculum.

This resource has been produced in response to the requests from practitioners who attended the National Qualifications Sciences events at Hampden Stadium in December 2013 which Education Scotland organised in partnership with the SQA.

The questions in this resource relate to National 5 Chemistry and have been taken from the 2011, 2012 and 2013 Standard Grade and Intermediate 2 Past Papers.

Booklets of past papers and answers have been collated for the three units and a problem solving booklet for teachers and students to use as part of their revision programme for the N5 exam.

Chemistry N5 Past Paper Questions Chemical Changes and Structure

Chemistry N5 Past Paper Questions Chemistry in Society (pdf)

Chemistry N5 Past Paper Questions Chemistry in Society

Chemistry N5 Past Paper Questions Nature’s Chemistry (pdf)

Chemistry N5 Past Paper Questions Nature’s Chemistry

Chemistry N5 Past Paper Questions Problem Solving (pdf)

Chemistry N5 Past Paper Questions Problem Solving

Skills

Skills Conversation Day 3

April 29, 2014 User deactivated Leave a comment

The third Skills Conversation Day will take place at Eden Court Theatre, Inverness on Thursday 5^th June 2014. Education Scotland are delighted to host the event with our education partners Highland Council and Skills Development Scotland.

The event will provide an opportunity for stakeholders to continue the conversations started at Loch Leven Community Campus in September and December 2013. The focus was on exploring the issues around developing a common language and understanding of skills and local approaches to engagement with employers, including contrasting rural and urban opportunities for work experience.

The key area of focus for the third event in the series will be how schools are planning for and recording progression in the development of skills. The conversations will pick up some of the inter-linked threads from previous events and weave these through the day’s presentations and activities.

The outcomes, materials and suggested actions generated from the day will be posted on the Education Scotland Learning Blog.

Assessment, CfE, National Qualifications, Sciences, Senior Phase

N5 Biology Past Paper booklets

April 28, 2014 User deactivated Leave a comment

Education Scotland and SQA have identified questions from Standard Grade Credit and Intermediate 2 papers from the last three years and matched them to Key Areas in the N5 Biology Curriculum.

The questions in this resource relate to National 5 Biology and have been taken from the 2011, 2012 and 2013 Standard Grade and Intermediate 2 Past Papers.

Booklets of past papers and answers have been collated for the three units for teachers and students to use as part of their revision programme for the N5 exam.

Biology-N5-Past-Paper-Questions-Cell-Biology

Biology-N5-Past-Paper-Questions-Life-on-Earth

Biology-N5-Past-Paper-Questions-Multicellular-Organisms

Assessment, National Qualifications, Sciences, Senior Phase

N5 Physics past paper booklets

April 28, 2014 User deactivated Leave a comment

Education Scotland and SQA have identified questions from Standard Grade Credit and Intermediate 2 papers from the last three years and matched them to Key Areas in the N5 Physics Curriculum.

The questions in this resource relate to National 5 Physics and have been taken from the 2011, 2012 and 2013 Standard Grade and Intermediate 2 Past Papers.

Booklets of past papers and answers have been collated for the three units for teachers and students to use as part of their revision programme for the N5 exam.

Physics-N5-Past-Paper-Questions-Dynamics-and-Space

Physics-N5-Past-Paper-Questions-Energy-and-Electricity

Physics-N5-Past-Paper-Questions-Waves-and-Radiation

Assessment, CfE, CLD, Early Years, Health and wellbeing, Young people, children & families

Glenfield Pre-five Centre Celebrate Success

April 25, 2014 User deactivated Leave a comment

Minister for Children and Young People, Aileen Campbell, visited Glenfield Pre-five Centre in Renfrewshire on the 24th April 2014 to congratulate them on their recent positive inspection from Education Scotland and the Care Inspectorate.

Children, parents and staff welcomed the minister as they celebrate the ‘excellent’ work they are doing to meet children’s learning needs. Glenfield Pre-five Centre is an integrated service that caters for children aged 2-5 years and Education Scotland inspectors have said that they do this exceptionally well.

The very caring, supportive and stimulating environment that the children benefit from has been highly commended and the work of staff in creating a loving and nurturing experience for the children was acknowledged. The centre is committed to supporting families. Parents shared with inspectors how much they value the approaches staff have embedded as part of everyday practice.

The children that attend Glenfield Pre-five Centre are provided with opportunities that support and challenge their learning and the minister observed these as she toured the nursery. The staff have embraced a range of professional development opportunities and are committed to ensuring that their knowledge enhances the experience for the children. During the inspection, collaboration with a variety of professionals was highlighted as best practice. The communication staff have as a team has created an environment where children receive the support they need. This is reflected through delivery of all aspects of the SHANARRI indicators and the education authorities approach to GIRFEC. The minister was very keen to congratulate the centre on their achievements.