Glow Scotland

Pupils across Scotland will have the chance to take part in activities and Glow Meets about five hot science topics in the Too Hot to Handle? series in the next few months, starting next week with Space for P6-S1 on 25^th March.

Cathy Southworth from Edinburgh University is heading up this development and is keen to involve as many youngsters as possible. She says, “Too Hot To Handle? is here to support the Topical Science organiser of a Curriculum for Excellence from P6-S3. It provides access to current scientists in Scotland that work on a range of hot topics, through a vidcast, teaching materials and a discussion board for questions about the topics that are answered by the scientists, and a GLOW meet where you can grill the scientists with questions.”

As well as learning about the science, pupils will get a flavour of the excitement of being a scientist.

Visit the Too Hot to Handle Glow Group. Have a look at the wealth of materials for the Space topic, show your class the videos, post some questions for the scientists on the discussion board and come into the Glow Meet on 25^th to grill the space scientists – Noe Kains from The University of St Andrews and Duncan Forgan and Chris Evans from The Royal Observatory, Edinburgh.

There will be a competition challenge on the day and members of your class could win a prize.  

Other topics in the series:
Flu Fighters for 2nd level (P6-P7) ready for after the Easter break; Glow Meet 20th May
Biodiversity Buzz for 2^nd & 3^rd  levels (P7-S2) ready for after the Easter break; Glow Meet 25th May
Doable Renewables for 2^nd & 3^rd  levels (P7-S2) ready for May; Glow Meet 15th June
Me and my Brain for third and fourth levels (S1-S3) ready for May; Glow Meet 17th June

This week too, we have another two science based Glow Meets:
Dr Bunhead’s Spoofbusters on 16^th (1.30 – 2.30) for upper primary and secondary pupils,
Industrial Chemistry on 18^th (1.45-2.45) for Higher and AH Chemistry pupils.

All these Glow Meets use the same Science Glow Meet webpart in the National Sciences Glow Group. 

18th March, 1.30pm – 2.15pm

How is your memory? Could it be improved?

Join Drew McAdam, Scotland’s foremost mindreader to find out how to improve your memory and learning techniques.

Join this Glow Meet in collaboration with the BBC and find out how to use systems to make the most of your memory. You can put these to good use for revision or in fact anything else!

Drew will be working with an S4 class at Kirkintilloch High School and allowing everyone else to join using Glow Meet. These techniques can be applied across the curriculum and used by pupils at a range of stages.

Ever wished you could get your brain to work better? Brainsmart can help you discover how to:

* maximise your memory
* get motivated
* achieve your goals

Find out more about the BBC Brainsmart website:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/brainsmart/

Sign up and take part in the Brainsmart Glow group:

https://portal.glowscotland.org.uk/establishments/nationalsite/MINDPLAY%20with%20Drew%20McAdam/default.aspx

11th March, 1.45pm – 2.45pm

Join author Annemarie Allan in Glow Meet to find out more about Breaker, an undersea adventure.

‘Tom and Beth are not happy when they move to North Berwick and find themselves facing a rainy, windswept beach, a house that’s falling apart and a school full or strangers. When they meet Professor Macblain, with his weird and wonderful inventions, little do they know that he has a secret: not only is he a thief, but he has stolen the one thing that can save the Firth of Forth from environmental catastrophe.’

Find out what inspires Annemarie to write, delve in to the wonderful world of sealife in North Berwick and ask her questions. Explore a range of themes such as family, making friends and moving to a new place. Find out more about living by the sea, green energy, science and the environment.

Law Primary will be joining Annemarie at the Scottish Seabird Centre to get some insight into being an author, writing skills and the wonderful book Breaker which is set in North Berwick where they go to school.

This Glow Meet is aimed at pupils from P4 – P7 and is being run in partnership with the Scottish Seabird Centre and Floris Books.

Find out more
To sign up for this Glow Meet click here to visit the Glow group.

In this cookbook, find out how Margo Kerr,  seconded from her nursery post at Kirknewton Primary School, is working as the Early Years ICT Development Officer within the West Lothian Council Early Years Team. Margo’s remit is to provide curricular ICT support to all Early Years practitioners (nursery – P3) within the Local Authority and to drive forward and support the implementation of Glow within the Nurseries.

There are five standalone Early Years Centres and eight Nursery Schools in West Lothian. Since these Early Years establishments are not attached to a school, they do not have access to a school Glow establishment site. West Lothian therefore asked to have a separate, single Glow establishment created for the standalone Early Years establishments. The staff in all of these nurseries had their Glow accounts provisioned within this establishment, which is called ‘West Lothian Early Years’ to enable them to all work together.

Visit this Glowing Cookbook and follow Margo’s story including video footage of how to set up a Glow Meet.

All children can do with extra support at some point in their school journey. Whether they’re finding the transition from primary to secondary school hard, they’ve had a big change in the family such as bereavement or a divorce or maybe just need to be challenged more, sometimes extra support is all that is needed to help.

Parents have the right to ‘Just Ask’ for help for their child, either from school or the local authority, to help them navigate their way through whatever issue is affecting them. There are a wide range of reasons why children may need additional support for the learning at school, and these can be temporary as well as long-term. Help is entirely individualised to the child’s needs and parents are fully involved along the way.

Find out more about how you can access additional support for your child in a special Glow Meet to be held on Wednesday 24th March. The event takes place in the Parents Glow Group 11-12pm and again from 7-8pm.

A representative from Enquire, the independent advisory service, will be available to answer your questions and there will also be case studies of young people who have been helped and more information on the range of issues and help that can be provided.

If you think your child may benefit from extra help it is your right to request it. Whatever you think might be affecting them at school; all you have to do is ask. For information on how to make sure your child gets everything they need from their education call the Enquire helpline on 0845 123 2303 or visit infoscotland.com/justask.

If you require further information about this special Glow Meet or you just want some help to access it please contact Jennifer McDougall, Glow Development Officer – j.mcdougall@ltscotland.org.uk

Higher Chemistry pupils need to know about the Chemical Industry.
Unit 3, part a, is all about the Chemical Industry.
Other chemistry classes will want to hear about career prospects.

Chemical Engineers, Gavin Smith and Gordon Hardie, will be covering this Higher Chemistry topic, and giving a flavour of the life and rewards of a chemical engineer on Thursday, 18th March at 13.45 in a Glow Meet in the National Sciences Glow Group.  Last year, 8 schools took part in the live Glow Meet. Many more are able to take advantage of this Glow Meet opportunity this year. Make sure your pupils can benefit!  If you are not familiar with using Glow Meet, click here.

A career in the chemical industry is exciting and well-rewarded, but both the study required, and the job itself, can be hard work and dangerous. Listen to Gavin, who has decades of experience, and Gordon, a recent graduate recruit, retell their experiences. Kincorth Academy, Aberdeen, is hosting the event, so pupils there will be able to ask Gavin and Gordon questions directly, but classes from around the country will also be able to see and hear the engineers, and ask questions of them via Glow Meet’s tools. Ask them questions about the chemistry, and their jobs.

If you think you will be able to bring your pupils into the Glow Meet, leave a note in the National Sciences Glow Group.

  What pupils need to know:

• The UK chemical industry is a major contributor to both the quality of our life and our national economy.
• Stages in the manufacture of a new product can include research, pilot study, scaling-up, production and review.
• A chemical manufacturing process usually involves a sequence of steps.
• A feedstock is a reactant from which other chemicals can be extracted or synthesised.
• The major raw materials in the chemical industry are fossil fuels, metallic ores and minerals, air and water.
• Chemical manufacturing may be organised as a batch or as a continuous process.
• Process conditions are chosen to maximise economic efficiency.
• Manufacturing costs include capital costs, fixed costs and variable costs.
• The UK chemical industry is, by and large, capital rather than labour intensive.
• Safety and environmental issues are of major importance to the chemical industry.
• Both historical and practical factors affect the location of chemical industries.
• The efficient use of energy is significant in most chemical processes.
• Factors influencing the choice of a particular route include cost, availability and suitability of feedstock(s), yield of product(s), opportunities for the recycling of reactants and marketability of by-products.

On 18th February David Terron from Elgin Academy delivered a masterclass session to teachers across the country that was packed full of ideas for allowing a class to ‘publish’ their work.

During his session David showcased the range of work that he and his classes are doing with WIKIs and blogs, from simple ideas like homework reminders, through model essays and intense drama analysis to a poetry WIKI which has been so successful it now gets requests from other schools for poems they would like to see included!

David then went on to link this work to Curriculum for Excellence, assessment and Skills4Life before explaining how WIKIs can also be used for planning all kinds of activities -in his case TeachMeet Highlands. The session was so packed with great ideas that one of the participants posted “That was fantastic but I need time to take it all in!”

To read David’s own account of delivering the session click HERE to access his blog.

All of the resources discussed in this masterclass can now be accessed through the English Teachers National Glow group and a recording of the session will also be available soon.

Every month a masterclass like this one is delivered FREE through the English Teachers’ National Glow group. The sessions cover a variety of areas but all have an English/Literacy focus. Click HERE to request membership.

Another fantastic masterclass will be available to join in March. Keep checking Glowscotland for further details.

Metaphrog are comics creators Sandra Marrs and John Chalmers, best known for making the Louis series of comics.

For the first time, they are bringing their popular comics workshop to Glow!

Any classes from P5 – S4 are invited to join Metaphrog over Glow Meet at 1pm on Wednesday the 3rd of March. You’ll learn lots about creating characters and comics, and have the chance to create your own characters. They will also set you a comic-creating challenge, and you can come back for the follow-up Glow Meet later in the year and show us how you got on.

To join the Glow Meet, you’ll need a room with a computer with internet access, a projector and screen or interactive whiteboard, and speakers. Pupils will also need access to paper and drawing materials.

The Glow Meet and the sign-up sheet can be found in the Graphic Novels National Glow Group.

David Terron is an English Teacher at Elgin Academy Moray. As a former Army IT expert, David has been using wikis, blogs, ePortfolios and websites in teaching throughout his career. Rather than a theoretical session David’s masterclass will highlight the many ways WIKIs are being used on a daily basis in Elgin Academy, including the work he has been doing with his own English classes.
The session will show the clear links between WIKIs and assessment, Curriculum for Excellence and Skills for Life. David will showcase the work he has been doing on Bold Girls , Intermediate 1 poetry, S1 reading records and will also explain the usefulness of WIKIs as a way of keeping Eportfolios.

This session will run on THURSDAY 18 FEBRUARY at 4pm and is free to all members of the English Teachers’ national Glow group. You do not have to be an English teacher but you do have to be a member to join in! To request membership click on this LINK or alternatively go to National Site – National Groups – Staffroom – English Teachers and request membership from there.

Please note: If you would like confirmation of membership please remember to include a valid e-mail address with your application. All applications will be approved within 12 hours.

The Positive about Science campaign is Scottish Government led and aims to increase interest in studying science, showing children that you can do interesting and exciting things with science e.g. diverse careers/fun activities. The campaign aims to take science ‘out of the classroom’ and show children how science is all around them. The website has a range of great resources for exploring careers in science.

The Big Experiment

Part of the campaign is The Big Experiment which this year is Dr Bunhead’s Spoof Busters.  In a Glow Meet, Dr Bunhead will present and discuss the skills needed for evaluating ’science’ videos posted on the internet, and classes across Scotland will investigate one of these videos for themselves and decide if it is true, partly true or false.  This activity will suit a wide range of ages.

To find out more, go to the National Sciences Glow Group and check out the Glow Meets tab, or click here to go to the Dr Bunhead’s Spoof Busters Glow Group.  Have a look round the Glow Group and sign up for the Meet (1.30pm 16^th March).  You can download teacher notes with instructions, an equipment list and background information from the Glow Group, and there will be discussion opportunities to explore science myths.

Competition

There will be a competition in the Glow Group, where classes can post a link to a hoax science video and the most convincing one will win a great prize.