Glow Scotland

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.

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.

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.

The new Monthly Maths Puzzle Group is open for business.

Each month a set of fiendish puzzles will appear that will test the skills of pupils, teachers and parents alike! There will also be themed puzzles for special dates in the year.

Upload your pupils’ solutions onto the group and we’ll then publish the most innovative methods.

It’s then our intention to have the pupils’ that have thought up the most creative solutions to use Glow Meet to tell everyone else how it’s done.

You can link to the group here: Monthly Maths Puzzle Group

There isn’t much of January left so best get your thinking caps on.

Good luck!

Are you and your class celebrating Burns Day with dancing, poetry or maybe something else? Why not share your talents with other schools throughout Scotland and join in through Glow Meet?

Whether you are doing To a Mouse, Tam O’Shanter, Highland dancing or playing an instrument sign up in the Homecoming Glow Group where the event will be held and let us all enjoy your celebrations of Burns Day.

Our event takes place from 1.30 – 3pm on Monday 25th January.

In addition why not start your celebrations a little earlier and join us from 2-3pm on 21st January for a special Glowing Thursday entitled Burns250?

Written to fit with the concepts of Curriculum for Excellence Burns250 is a one-man show of songs and verse, in full costume, telling Burns life story, accompanied by background slides and involving history, geography, music and literature.

Songs and poems include: To a Mouse, To a Louse, Tam O Shanter, Scots Wha Hae, A Man’s a Man, Auld Lang Syne and many others. Celebrate Burns with us in the Glowing Thursdays Glow Group.

We hope you can join us to celebrate this important event in the Scottish calendar!

Once again the children around Scotland entertained us with their singing and dancing during Glowing Thursday’s ‘Scotland’s Got Christmas Talent’. The afternoon was filled with renditions of Jingle Bell Rock, All I want for Christmas is You and a wonderful array of songs from school shows and pantos.

A huge thanks goes to all the individuals and classes who took part that afternoon and to their teachers for making it happen!! We were delighted that we were also joined by many other schools who were our audience and kept writing wonderful comments about the performances. “Fantastic”, “brilliant” and “well done” are amongst a few of the comments made on our public message board.

Thanks again to all those who took part and we hope to have another event like this in the summer term – and find even more homegrown Scottish talent!!

As the world’s eyes were turning towards the UN Climate Change Conference 2009 Glow was getting involved both nationally and internationally.

On the 9th December we were joined by Heather Reid, former BBC weather presenter and professional meteorologist – and 69 Scottish schools!! The opportunity to pose a question to Heather seemed to be a great start to Learning and Teaching Scotland’s coverage this important event. Heather answered the questions posed to her during the live Glow Meet and those that she was unable to answer she will be answering soon in the Sustainable Development Education Glow Group.

In further coverage of COP15 during the Sustainable Development Education Showcase in Stirling on Friday 11th December Glow linked up live to Copenhagen with 2 representatives from Oxfam and WWF. Schools from across Scotland logged in to hear what they had to say and to ask them questions about their roles and how they felt COP15 was progressing. The highlight however had to be at the end of the Glow Meet when Whitelees Primary School played their Climate Change(We Believe) song live in Stirling to Copenhagen. The WWF representative was so impressed he asked for the lyrics which were written by the children and will be using them during the summit to highlight the views of young Scots!!

At the start of the December Glowing Thursdays was delighted to host the second in a double bill of Glow Meets with Scottish Ballet. Entitled ‘Inspiring Careers’ this Glow Meet allowed the viewers to hear directly from four ‘Scottish’ ballet dancers, each of them outlining why they had chosen to be a dancer and how as a career they found it fulfilling. During this session we were joined by 15 schools who also had the opportunity to ask questions and those who were unable to take part posted questions on a discussion board before the event. Who knows this Glowing Thursday might have inspired a pupil to be the next greatest Scottish ballet dancer?!

That same day Glowing Thursday also hosted an Early Years session which was attended by more than 38 individuals. We were joined by Professor Aline-Wendy Dunlop, Chair of Childhood and Primary Studies, Strathclyde University and Gerard McKernan, Quality Improvement Officer, Glasgow City Council who discussed their recent involvement in the National Transitions Advisory Group as well as their own current work from pre-school into primary. It was a lively event and people were keen to ask questions, all of which were answered during the event and the presenters who had never used Glow Meet before were delighted with the experience an at how easy it was.

A very busy day for Glowing Thursdays but a great opportunity for pupils and practitioners to learn, share and collaborate together!