Tag Archives: History

Social studies

Ask Scotland: exciting new search engine!

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

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

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

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

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

Early Years, Primary, Professional Learning, Social studies, Technologies

Scottish Learning Festival 2015 – Social Studies

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SLF_2015logoThe Scottish Learning Festival is Scotland’s largest annual professional learning event, offering education practitioners a great opportunity to increase their knowledge, discover new work, and improve their practice. Delegates can take part in a range of Conference sessions (Keynotes, seminars, discussions and more) and meet Exhibitors from organisations with products and services which benefit learners.

Scottish Learning Festival 2015 will take place at the SECC in Glasgow on Wednesday 23rd and Thursday 24th September 2015.

The theme of this year’s event is “Raising attainment and achievement for all”, with a focus on maximising educational outcomes through local partnerships and collaboration; self-evaluation; and work-related learning.

Education Scotland is inviting organisations to submit proposals for seminars that will become part of this year’s programme. Full details of the themes and the online submission form are available on the SLF website. The closing date for submitting proposals is Friday 27th February 2015.

In the Social Studies team we are keen that the final programme includes great examples of effective and stimulating practice from schools, including creative projects and fresh approaches to learning. We are interested in all the subject areas within Social Studies, and in any sector. If you would like to showcase some of the work that your school or class is undertaking, or an activity that supports the professional development of teachers, please do consider submitting a seminar proposal.

CfE, Primary, Social studies, Technologies

BBC Learning Survey and Social Studies Resources

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A wee reminder about all the fabulous learning resources to support Curriculum for Excellence on the BBC.
BBC Scotland Learning are currently developing new CfE materials but are also looking at how they improve communicating with teachers about these resources. the BBC have put together a very short, multiple-choice survey that attempts to find out how they could be better at keeping teachers informed.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/997CYLT
Please share with your friends, neighbours and colleagues who teach. There’s also a box for further comments where any thoughts, gripes, requests or ideas are welcomed.

When you have completed the survey check out the revamped Bitesize site that has resources to support National 4, National 5 and Highers. BBC Bitesize

The fabulous new iWonder site, designed to ‘feed your curiosity’ has some brilliant thought provoking materials. Have a look at the various resources supporting History and the BBC’s Democracy Day.

The home of BBC Learning Scotland is here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/learning/

Primary, Skills, Social studies, Technologies

Save The Date: Social Studies and Digital Technologies Day

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Social Studies and Digital Technologies Day
organised by Education Scotland

Date: 21st March 2015

Time: 9:30 – 3:00

Venue: Stirling Management Centre, Stirling

Places: 40 – open to all primary and secondary practitioners

This is an excellent CLPL opportunity to refresh and learn new approaches to integrating ICT and Technologies through Social Studies.
There will be three exciting keynote speakers in the morning, followed by an afternoon session with a choice of three interactive workshops.
A complete programme for the day and the opportunity to book a place will be published in early February.

Social studies

New WW1 Gallipoli Resources on Glow

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25th April 2015 will mark the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Gallipoli. Education Scotland have created new resources to support secondary teachers with this topic. The resources approach the topic from the specific Scottish context and the involvement of Scottish regiments.

The resources can be found here on Glow: http://bit.ly/WW1Gallipoli

52nd Division
Scotland’s impact on Gallipoli was enormous and in fact, Gallipoli’s impact on Scotland was even greater. A whole Scottish division, bar two battalions, served at Gallipoli. The losses of the 52nd Division were so enormous that for the Scottish Lowlands it has been dubbed a ‘second Flodden.’ On 3rd July 1915 the division numbered 10,900 men of all ranks; by the 13th it had lost over 4,800 men. The impact on Scottish towns, villages and families in the Borders was so immense that scarcely a household between the Tweed and Forth did not mourn a loss. Hawick hosts its own Gallipoli Commemoration Event every year on the 12th of July to honour and remember all of the soldiers who lost their lives at Gallipoli whilst serving with the King’s Own Scottish Borderers.

Quintinshill Train Crash
Poignantly, 210 52nd Lowlanders lost their lives before they had even left the country. Tragedy struck on 22 May 1915 when a train carrying the battalion HQ and two Companies of the 1/7th Royal Scots crashed in an accident at Quintinshill near Gretna while on route to Liverpool to meet the troop boat. 3 officers and 207 men died while 5 officers and 219 troops were injured. This is thought to be the worst rail crash ever to have occurred in Britain. Not only did the death toll reach 227 after two collisions but a secondary fire left very little behind.

Social studies

Ponte City: new exhibition and private teacher viewing at Scottish National Portrait Gallery

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Teachers Private View
Thursday 15th January 5.15pm – 7pm
Enjoy a guided tour of the Ponte City exhibition with the curator and find out more about the schools programme.
Exhibition runs 6th Dec 2014 – 26th April 2015
at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Queen St Edinburgh EH2 1JD

https://www.nationalgalleries.org/whatson/exhibitions/ponte-city
Please book by contacting lconacher@nationalgalleries.org

This photographic exhibition documents the Ponte City tower block building in Johannesburg, South Africa from 2007 to 2012.

Potential curriculum links: (especially suitable for secondary school pupils)
• People, place and environment
• Social issues – apartheid / equality and diversity / poverty
• Comparison with Scottish cities eg. the demolition of the Red Road Flats in Glasgow
• Values, beliefs and cultures
• Global Citizenship
• Expressive Arts

Ponte City was built for white people at the height of apartheid, but with the end of the Group Areas Act in 1991 became a refuge for black newcomers from the townships and rural areas, and then immigrants from elsewhere in Africa.

The building entered into a period of decline; by the turn of the century Ponte City symbolised urban decay and was perceived as the epicentre of crime, prostitution and drug dealing in Johannesburg. In 2007 developers evicted half of the residents and began gutting the empty apartments, but financial difficulties halted the renovation process before completion.

During this time artists Subotzky and Waterhouse began to document the building by:
• interviewing the remaining tenants
• photographing every door in the 54-storey structure
• photographing the view from every window
• photographing TV screens in the flats where residents were watching television
• collecting documents and other debris from the abandoned units

Expressive Arts, Social studies

Pack Up Your Troubles: music and WW1

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Read the new blog post in Education Scotland’s World War One blog. Pack Up Your Troubles explores the relationship between music and the war during 1914-18.

Listen to contemporary soundscapes composed by English group, the Tindersticks, and German avant-garde industrialists, Einstürzende Neubauten, for installations and live performances commemorating the Great War.

Follow this link: http://bit.ly/1HL2d8f

If you’ve not yet done so, remember to sign up to the Social Studies e-bulletin for all the latest information and events from Education Scotland’s Social Studies team. http://bit.do/e-bulletin