Glow Scotland

December 1st, 2010

December Maths Puzzles now available

ronnierankin

Comments: Comments Off Tags:  : Categories Glow Groups, Mathematics, National Groups, Pupils

The Monthly Maths Puzzle Group has now been updated with five festive posers.

We’ve tried to broaden the target age group and Puzzle 5 may even test the odd Maths teacher!

Find them here:

http://glo.li/cEqfCi

Enjoy

November 19th, 2010

STATE OF EMERGENCY – Day Five

Julia Fenby

Comments: Comments Off Tags:  : Categories Argyll and Bute, Co-Create, Curriculum for Excellence, East Ayrshire, Expressive Arts, Glasgow City, Glow, Glow Meet, Health and Wellbeing, Inverclyde, Literacy, Mathematics, Moving Image Education, National Groups, North Lanarkshire, Outdoor Learning, Religious and Moral Education, Sciences, Social Studies, South Lanarkshire, Technologies, West Lothian, modern languages

On the final day of State of Emergency, S2 year groups from all seven schools came together via Glow Meet to share their learning experiences from this intensive week of activity.

Tarbert Academy journalists gave a live report on the conflict as news broke in the west of Scotland. Their broadcast was interrupted when freedom fighters broke into the newsroom in protest against the government regime.

A Bathgate Academy human rights campaigner gave a powerful speech about the importance of integrity and trust.

During the week, Lochend Secondary pupils had explored war poetry in English and code breaking in Maths. In Drama they’d made a film about a boy who wanted to join the army and in PE they’d learned what it might feel like to be in the army as they were made to run outside in the cold!

Clyde Valley High had a visit from the Red Cross and found out about refugee camps; they created Facebook pages and video messages for viral communications; they made images of war by acting out and photographing scenes involving rebels, civilians and government soldiers.

The Army marched into Cumnock Academy hall and set up an assault course – the highlight of the week for the reporters:

“It was amazing, great fun – I didn’t come first but I did enjoy it!”

“It helped build my confidence”.

They also had visits from the Red Cross and a Human Rights lawyer and learned that everyone has rights to equality and protection. Pupils had purified water in Science, and designed and built devices to transport black market goods through underground tunnels in Technology and Art.

At Greenock Academy aid workers had training in basic first aid and learned to cook nutritious meals with limited supplies. The army launched a search for a missing soldier and through constructing a refugee camp, they learned team work, how to filter water, make up ration packs and distribute food to refugees.

Holy Cross High reported that propaganda was rife, with posters put up around the school by both factions; normal lines of communications had been destroyed. The Department of PE had transformed soldiers into ‘lean, mean fighting machines’ in Sniper Alley; the Department of Technology investigated ways of disposing of human waste; the Department of Social Studies researched the causes of conflict, whilst the Department of Drama explored the motivations of those involved.

State of Emergency has clearly been an amazing experience for both pupils and staff. I would encourage you to visit the Glow Group to read pupil diaries about their learning, look at more photographs of cross-curricular activities and see the rich variety of resources shared by participating teachers. This really has been Curriculum for Excellence in action.

Co-Create is funded through a partnership between Learning and Teaching Scotland and the Creative Scotland National Lottery Fund.

Image credit: Kath Morley, Greenock Academy

November 16th, 2010

STATE OF EMERGENCY – Day One

Julia Fenby

Comments: Comments Off Tags:  : Categories Argyll and Bute, Co-Create, Curriculum for Excellence, East Ayrshire, Expressive Arts, Glasgow City, Glow, Glow Groups, Health and Wellbeing, Inverclyde, Literacy, Mathematics, Moving Image Education, National Groups, North Lanarkshire, Outdoor Learning, Religious and Moral Education, Sciences, Social Studies, South Lanarkshire, Technologies, West Lothian, modern languages

“This film is about what’s going on in my city, right now”…..

For S2 pupils in seven secondary schools, this week began with the first of four webisodes about conflict. Each day, they will learn about the crisis and dilemmas faced when a city is transformed into a war zone.

Over the last few months, teachers have been working together with Visible Fictions theatre company to share ideas and plan activities for this intensive week. The State of Emergency Glow Group is the central collaborative space for all participants; it contains an amazing bank of documents and information on war and related issues, with materials relevant to all subject areas and aspects of the Curriculum.

Now State of Emergency has begun, schools are uploading images, videos and diary entries about their experiences and their learning. Here are just a few entries from Day One:

“Red Cross and Army came through as did staff in school….Loads of discussion, design of emergency shelters, building emergency shelters, army assault course, science dept filtering dirty burn water through socks, tights, sand and other things and the webcasts – first class. We also had our own STV newsdesk presentations personalising the state of emergency to Cumnock. Roll on day 2..”

Teacher, Cumnock Academy

“We started playing games to get to know each other. We then got into groups to discuss the film we watched in the morning, we also discussed what a state of emergency is and the things we would need if this happened.  After lunch a police officer came into the school and showed us their equipment for a riot and a state of emergency. We got back to class we talked about the difference between needs and wants, we came to a conclusion about healthcare, basic food, childcare, water and shelter as our basic needs.  Transport caused us come debate but in the end we decided in was a need because our legs are a type of transport too.  Nearer the end of the day we talked about world war two, rationing, the dig for victory and make mend and do campaigns.  Pupil, Bathgate Academy

And from a teacher in Greenock Academy:

“We thought we’d struggle to fill three days, now we think we could keep this running for two whole weeks”

For an overview of the project read the recent TES article and visit the State of Emergency Glow Group.

Co-Create is funded through a partnership between Learning and Teaching Scotland and the Creative Scotland National Lottery Fund.

Image credit: Eoghann MacColl, Cumnock Academy

November 1st, 2010

New look Monthly Maths Puzzle Group now open

ronnierankin

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The revamped Monthly Maths Puzzle Group is now open to all Glow users.

In it you’ll not only find 5 (yes FIVE) new puzzles to challenge your skills but we’ve also archived all the older puzzles too!

Remember to leave us feedback on the discussion boards and to upload your solutions once you’ve solved the fiendish puzzles.

Find the new Group here: http://glo.li/cEqfCi

Be warned – we’ve cranked it up a notch from last year!

October 29th, 2010

Scotland on Screen – a Moving Image Education resource

GerryQ

Comments: Comments Off Tags: Tags: CfE, CPD, Creative Scotland, English, Glow, Glow Groups, History, Learning and Teaching Scotland, Literacy, moving image education, National glow groups, National Library of Scotland, Social Studies
 : Categories Curriculum for Excellence, Glow, Glow Groups, Homecoming, Literacy, Moving Image Education, National Groups, Social Studies

Scotland on Screen is an exciting educational resource that puts hundreds of important historical film texts online, providing a rear-view mirror on our society over the past century.

It’s a web-based resource developed by National Library of Scotland, Creative Scotland, Learning and Teaching Scotland and Scran.

Scotland on Screen has now been up and running for over a year and has proved to be very popular among teachers and practitioners across Scotland. During 2010, the resource was further developed with the inclusion of a considerably enhanced collection of archive material that can be used across the curriculum.

The website provides short film material and resources for Glow users to use as part of their teaching in the classroom. The public can browse and view the collection of clips on the website but Glow users can log into the site via Glow to also download film clips of interest for reuse in the classroom.

Sitting underneath the main Moving Image National Glow Group, Glow users can access the Scotland on Screen Glow Group – a place to share knowledge, information and content surrounding the resource. Users can also catch up on the latest news and information as well as discuss topics of relevance and interest through the Scotland on Screen Glow Forum. So far, we’ve found that the resource has been of interest and benefit to teachers using it across a variety of subjects and curricular areas including social studies, literacy and health and wellbeing. Scotland on Screen has also been of value to Moving Image Education practitioners.

October 27th, 2010

Languages on Screen – a Moving Image Education resource

GerryQ

Comments: Comments Off Tags: Tags: CfE, Creative Scotland, film, Glow, Glow Groups, Learning and Teaching Scotland, Modern Foreign Languages, modern languages, moving image education, National glow groups, video
 : Categories Curriculum for Excellence, Glow, Glow Groups, Literacy, Moving Image Education, National Groups, modern languages

Languages on Screen is a web-based resource developed by Creative Scotland, Learning and Teaching Scotland and Scran. The website provides short film material and resources for Glow users to aid the teaching of Modern Languages in the classroom. The public can only access parts of the website but Glow users can log into the site via Glow to access all its content. This includes the ability to browse and download film clips of interest for reuse in the classroom.

Sitting underneath the main Moving Image National Glow Group, Glow users can access the Languages on Screen Glow Group - a place to share knowledge, information and content surrounding the resource. Users can also catch up on the latest news and information as well as discuss topics of relevance and interest through the Languages on Screen Glow Forum. We hope this resource is of interest to Modern Languages teachers as well as Moving Image Education practitioners.

October 27th, 2010

Moving Image Education – Glow National Group

GerryQ

Comments: Comments Off Tags: Tags: CfE, CPD, Creative Scotland, Glow, Glow Groups, Learning and Teaching Scotland, Literacy, media literacy, moving image education, National glow groups, National Library of Scotland
 : Categories Curriculum for Excellence, Expressive Arts, Literacy, Moving Image Education, National Groups

Moving Image Education (MIE) is fast becoming an integral part of 21^st century literacy and modern teaching practice. Using moving image texts as a source in addition to the written word has been proved to vastly increase wider literacy skills, confidence, engagement and fun in the classroom.

Learning and Teaching Scotland is working in partnership with Creative Scotland to make moving image education more accessible and active within Glow

We now have a Moving Image Education National Glow Group which is steadily being populated with information, resources and CPD opportunities. Work is also underway to engage with Glow users across Scotland and encourage them to participate in interesting and relevant topics of discussion through the group’s Glow Forum. There are some Glow Meets planned too.

We look forward to seeing you on Glow.

October 5th, 2010

Critical Skills – CPD Meet with Sarah Burton

Gail Cairns

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 : Categories Glow Meet, National Groups

Join Sarah Burton at 4pm on Wednesday 6th October for this Critical Skills CPD Meet.

Sarah is a Primary School teacher, currently working with Learning and Teaching Scotland as a Glow Development Officer.

In this CPDMeet, Sarah shares her own experience on the value of Critical Skills. Sarah also acts as a facilitator for the National Glow group for Critical Skills.

Find out more and sign up now in the National CPDCentral Glow Group.

September 28th, 2010

Scottish Ten – Laser Scanning of Historic Sites

Gail Cairns

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 : Categories Events, Glow Meet, National Groups

Join Historic Scotland and the Glasgow School of Arts Centre for Digital Documentation and Visualisation via Glow Meet as they discuss their fantastic laser scanning project. This Scottish Ten Glow Meet will provide public access to otherwise inaccessible areas of ten historic landmarks. The team will create an amazing record of these sites, analysing the various sites from unseen angles and providing expertise on the historic sites such as Stirling Castle, New Lanark, Rosslyn Chapel, Mount Rushmore and the Orkney World Heritage Sites.

Dr Lyn Wilson from Historic Scotland and Alastair Rawlinson from the Digital Design Studio, Glasgow School of Art will present the Glow Meet on 3D digital laser scanning on Thursday 30th September from 2-3pm.

An event ideal for secondary school pupils this Glow Meet will cover a range of subject areas including Science, Physics, History, Technical/Engineering Studies, Social Studies, Computing/I.C.T and provide the opportunity to ask the team about their work.

For more information and to sign up to this Glow Meet visit the National Scottish Ten Glow Group.

September 24th, 2010

The Creativity Portal

Julia Fenby

Comments: 1 Comment Tags:  : Categories Co-Create, Curriculum for Excellence, Expressive Arts, Glow, Glow Groups, National Groups

– bringing creativity, the arts, culture and heritage together with learning and teaching through Glow

“I believe Scotland stands on the threshold of becoming a world leader in creativity, if, and only if, the education sector embraces the challenge of creativity across the curriculum to realize the Curriculum for Excellence.

You already know everything you need to know about creative teaching and learning to begin this transition well. Forget definitions and waiting for lessons others develop–you have great ideas of what a creative lesson, a creative learning environment, and creative administrative support might look like. Use this Portal to support your ongoing experimentation, but begin now and change the world, re-centering it in Scotland”.

Eric Booth, international creative learning consultant and author of The Everyday Work of Art; keynote speaker at 2010 Scottish Festival of Learning

Wednesday saw the launch of the Creativity Portal – an exciting new collaborative online environment accessible through and integrated with Glow. The Portal brings together practitioners from both the arts and education sectors to place creativity at the heart of all learning and teaching through partnership.

The Portal aims to inspire and stimulate creativity in learning and teaching and to support all teachers, across all subject areas and levels. It gives access to:

•    Scotland’s arts and cultural organisations

•    Inspiring quotes on creativity from people working across Scotland

•    Links to articles and research concerned with aspects of creativity

•    View case studies demonstrating good practice

•    Related Glow Groups

•    Discussions on creativity in learning and teaching via Glow Forums

Please visit and start using the Portal via the Creativity Portal Glow Group, or www.creativityportal.org.uk – use the discussion forum to
raise questions and to seek advice about partnership working. Read case studies for inspiration and to find out how others have overcome challenges and barriers.

From 4 October, Stephen Bullock takes up post as Glow Development officer for the Creativity Portal. We are very keen to hear what you think and to have your suggestions for improvements and new content, so please do get in touch.

The Creativity Portal is a partnership between Creative Scotland, Learning and Teaching Scotland and the Scottish Government.