Glow Scotland

A pilot Glow Group has been set up at national level to enhance the experience of a visit from Generation Science’s outreach show - Body Builders. Schools that have access to Glow and have booked a Body Builders Show from Generation Science in the next few weeks are able to use the Glow Group to extend the value of the visit.

The show scenario has four characters visiting the doctor:
Timmy Hawkes, a skater with bone trouble
Kevin Shearer, an out of breath football hero
Rome Zeglobe, an itchy explorer
Don Pupi Panti, a chef extraordinaire with flatulence

Through the very humorous interviews, the pupil audience gains a good understanding of body systems, general health, anatomy, and how to act in a responsible way regarding personal health. The Glow Group enables schools involved to follow up the visit by pupils’ responding to the patients requests for advice, by staff uploading pictures from the visits or posting further work related to the health topics.
It is hoped that teachers will give feedback on whether they feel the Glow Group gave extra value to the visit. This will help the Glow Team and Generation Science plan for next year’s shows.
Generation Science brings shows and workshops into schools to make the learning of science simple and fun. The website has details of all the shows, a downloadable programme and teachers’ notes. These back up the science covered in the shows with the Curriculum for Excellence links for teachers and with follow on experiments for pupils. The shows run from January to June each year. In 2008, 66000 children got to see a show!
If you have had Generation Science visits this year, please leave some feedback about it here and what you would want from Glow in supporting future visits.

I spent a fun two days in Dumfries and Galloway this week, taking part in three different events geared towards getting people onto and using Glow.

On Wednesday night, I joined the D&G Glow team for a Glow roadshow, where the cluster primary teachers gathered for a demo and introduction to Glow. There was a real buzz in the room (maybe a sugar rush from the lovely biscuits, but I think it was about Glow).

I was fortunate enough to work with some of the same teachers the next day in their own schools. We visited two primary schools, and got all the pupils from P4-7 logged into and playing with Glow. Any fears I had about this task being beyond the younger children were clearly unfounded, as they remembered every step from their short demo, and mostly managed to log on without issues. When one or two issues did arise, the excellent D&G Glow team were on hand to help out. The children had a chance to email their friends from Glow Mail and have a look around their school sites. They all seemed to love it, and were raring to get home and log on to the Glow Games. I was lucky enough to have the chance to talk to one of the classes, a Primary 3/4/5 in Moniaive Primary, about what other classes are doing with Glow around the country and I showed them some fun Glow Groups from Shetland and Aberdeenshire.

In the evening I joined the team in delivering a CPD event to teachers on the Glow communications tools, and the attendees discussed their own ideas for using these in the classroom and collaborating with each other. With the primary rollout just over halfway complete, and a fantastic local support team, Glow is gaining momentum in Dumfries and Galloway and everyone’s getting in on the act.

The latest Glow Mentor training proved inspirational for the educational community in Dumfries and Galloway, Inverclyde and Aberdeenshire.

Mentors in Dumfries and Galloway have already got started on a project where each school in the authority creates a virtual island. The island is populated by characters created by the pupils, and the islands communicate and collaborate through the tools available in Glow.

In Inverclyde, mentors plan to use Glow to help pupils catch up following absence or revise for a test or exam. Mentors also felt Glow provided a golden opportunity to involve parents in their child’s education, and are keen to start uploading material to keep pupils’ families informed.

One of the most interesting ideas to emerge from the Aberdeenshire event was mentors’ plans to train their pupils in Glow. The ‘Glow Bugs’ would then pass on their new knowledge to classmates, and earn their ‘Glow Wings’.

Feedback from the Mentors was very encouraging, and they have wasted no time in getting started with their projects. See future issues of Glowing for more updates!