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. 

At this time of year, many P7 pupils are getting a taster of a day or two at secondary school to prepare them for S1. P7 pupils at Craigiebarns PS in Dundee are ahead of the game through Glow! Two P7 classes and their teachers were able to take part in a series of lessons about Burning and the Gases of the Air through Glow Meet video-conferences with Kath Squire, PT Biology at the associated secondary school, Craigie HS. Some S2 volunteers helped Kath to show live, various aspects of burning. She had also prepared presentations to deliver though Glow Meet’s whiteboard space. The two classes were able to annotate on the whiteboard in different colours, reponding to Kath’s questions and interacting in the lesson. This Glow tool is a powerful way to support transition and help enhance topics which are difficult to deliver safely in the primary classroom.

This week’s Glowing Thursday Glow Meet session will enable Glow users to meet Kath, and also, Avril Martin, DHT at Craigiebarns PS. Avril set up the project Glow Group and arranged for the two P7 classes to participate. If you have a Glow login, navigate to the Glowing Thursday page and read more about the project and then join the Meet around 4pm Thursday 11th June.

Mission Impossible Science Challenges

Find out about how schools from across Scotland are talking part in science challenges and collaborating using Glow Meet. From 9am until 3pm today, June 1st, three schools from across Scotland are taking part in the Foam Fire Extinguisher challenge by Kitchen Chemistry. Pupils from Perth High School, Marr College and Calderglen High School will be exploring a range of chemical reactions with the aim to produce foam. The design process will then begin as pupils from S2 – S3 strive to create a fire extinguisher which can put out a fire in the shortest time. One of the challenges they will face is to find a way to keep the chemicals apart to ensure the fire extinguisher doesn’t go off until they need to put out a fire!

These schools are exploring the possibilities of creating their own fire extinguishers through hands on experiments and sharing their findings in Glow Meet. Pete Johnson from Kitchen Chemistry who is also a teacher at Stewart’s Melville College will be working with all four schools to guide them through their scientific discoveries using the audio, video and white board in Glow Meet. Pupils will be collaborating and updating discussion boards in a Science Challenges Glow Group throughout the day to update everyone with their findings, sharing top tips and eventually their finished products.

The fire service will be joining S2 at Perth High School to give a presentation on fire safety to all the schools involved and then judging the competition to find the most successful fire extinguisher.

You can join this Glow Meet now, Monday 1st June to watch their progress. Join the Science Challenges Glow group by clicking on the link below and then clicking on Send request.
https://portal.glowscotland.org.uk/establishments/nationalsite/Science/Science%20Challenges/default.aspx

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.

Today saw over 200 delegates gather at Carnegie Conference Centre to develop thinking on how to progress learning and teaching of science within Curriculum for Excellence throughout Scottish schools.
Sir Andrew Cubie chaired the day. The first address was delivered by Fiona Hyslop, Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning, who set the scene for the day and announced additional funding for teacher CPD at Glasgow and Aberdeen Universities. Her address was followed by Professor Jack Jackson, well known to many teachers involved in science education, and then Marie Dougan, Programme Director for Glow.
It was not just a day for listening. Delegates took part in 3 sessions of questions and intense consultation about what changes and developments might be progressed to augment existing good practice in:
- the selection and training of teachers of science;
- maintaining and enhancing subject and pedagogical knowledge, understanding and skills (CPD);
- improving pupils’ learning, motivation and achievement in science.
The delegates also got a chance to enjoy some scientific activities hosted by SSERC. The deliberations of the day were captured in Glow with groups of delegates responding to questions in a specially created Glow Group. This enabled Sir Andrew Cubie to see the delegates’ ideas develop in real time across all 15 groups as the day progressed.
Keith Brown, Minister for Schools and Skills closed the Summit. He emphasised the importance of everyone taking responsibility for contributing to the way forward and working in partnership. He invited delegates to consider what specific contribution they might personally make. These can be recorded on this website. A full conference report will be published by the end of May 2009.

April 29th saw the first national Glow Meet for chemistry classes. It was hosted in Aberdeen Grammar School thanks to P.T. Chemistry, Susan Davis, and Aberdeen City’s Principal Officer (Education ICT), Richard Elliott, but classes from around Scotland benefitted: St John’s HS, Dundee; Stirling HS; Marr College, South Ayrshire; Lenzie Academy, East Dunbartonshire; and several from Aberdeenshire – Fraserburgh Academy, Aboyne Academy and the Gordon Schools.

Craig Burnett, a recent entrant to the profession, described his path from Banchory Academy to his current postion with Talisman Energy, and also took the audience through the Higher Chemistry content statements about the Chemical Industry.
Gavin Smith shared his vast experience in various areas of the chemical industry with the pupils, and showed the huge responsibility that can weigh on engineers’ shoulders in terms of making sure that plants (including oil rigs) are safe – from design through to everyday procedures.
Some of the teachers who accessed the Glow Meet with their classes have left feedback in the National Sciences Glow Group:

“I used Glow Meet for the first time this morning and I really enjoyed it! I thought the presentation worked very well and I thought Gavin and Craig were very interesting and covered the topic well. I found Glow Meet very easy to use and I was happy to find that you could still join in the discussion just by typing. Thanks for giving me opportunity to join in this morning. I will be keeping an look-out for more Glow Meet events.”

“First experience of Glow Meet a very positive one. Gavin and Craig excellent at giving the pupils a wider perspective on the applications of Chemistry after school/university.
We found Glow Meet easy to use, no problems with set-up.
We didn’t have a microphone and so had to type all questions in – found this a bit restrictive and slowed things down a bit, making the Glow meet not quite as interactive as we had anticipated.
Would definitely participate again.”

“I am trying to push the use of Glow in SHS and it is events like this that are going to make it happen. The feedback from both Chemistry staff and pupils has been great. Thanks to Gavin and Craig and more please!”

If you have ideas for future Glow Meets for chemistry or any of the other sciences, leave a note in the National Sciences Glow Group, or by leaving a comment on this blog.

Unit 3, Topic a, of Higher Chemistry looks at the Chemical Industry. A Glow Meet involving two chemical engineers, covering the Higher Chemistry Content Statements in this topic area, and giving an idea of the career opportunities available in the field, will take place on Wednesday 29th April at 9.25 – 10.30 in the National Sciences Glow Group

The engineers are Gavin Smith, Process Engineering Manager, Altra Energy and Craig Burnett, Operations Reservoir Engineer, from Talisman Energy Ltd. Gavin has 17 years’ experience in many industrial chemistry fields and Craig is recently qualified, with fresh memories of the decisions pupils are about to make regarding their future careers. They kindly responded to a plea for volunteers to assist Higher Chemistry classes in this way, issued through the Institute of Chemical Engineers.

Aberdeen Grammar School chemistry department is hosting the event, so pupils there will be able to ask Craig and Gavin 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.

Richard Elliot of Aberdeen’s ICT Support Team is coordinating the Aberdeen end.

The Glow Meet room will be open from 9.00am on Wed 29/4/09, with the session getting underway in earnest at 9.25 until around 10.30.

Click here to find out more about using Glow Meet.

If you are planning on joining the Glow Meet, you can let the Glow Team and other participants know by leaving a note of your school and local authority on the discussions area in the National Sciences Glow Group as a reply to the post there.
Bring your chemistry classes in to this novel event where experienced industrial chemists can give pupils an insight into how chemistry and the topics they have to study, fit into the real world.

I was privileged to attend the Scottish Science Education Conference at Dunblane on 6/7 March as a delegate and also as a Glow Team representative. So many of the people who stopped to chat were really keen to get into Glow but did not have their login details yet. It seems such as shame that the admirable plans of some local authorities to bring schools into Glow in stages that seem manageable in terms of training, seem to be stopping some keen teachers from accessing Glow.

Although training is helpful for making use of the wealth of opportunity that Glow offers, there are so many resources and chances to link up with others, that do not need any special training. The science teachers at the conference were impressed that via the Glow National Site they could access Sunflower for Science (An interactive resource covering biology, chemistry and physics – each program is either a simulation or a collection of interactive animations on a particular topic), Crocodilia for Crocodile Chemistry (This suite of learning resources allows you to model experiments and reactions safely and easily), Science Resource Center (An in-depth, curriculum-orientated science database that provides a one-stop resource for all science-related research needs) as well as more general but equally useful resources such as LearnNewsdesk@LTS (This online news service provides a real-life context for curriculum topics) and Spark Island (Offers primary teachers a range of interactive toolkits which make teaching and learning English, maths and science easier and more fun).

Allyson Dobson, Curriculum for Excellence Development Officer, delivered her session “Science Curriculum – Where Next?” to a full house. About 200 teachers and technicians heard the latest information about the Science Outcomes and Experiences, due to be published 2nd April. The participants felt more part of the process when they were then given, in pairs, an outcome to rate in terms of CPD needs, and whether and how it tied in with existing practice. These responses will help inform the Curriculum for Excellence team about areas which most need explanation or CPD input.

Many of the sessions involved exciting new practicals, and advice on engaging pedagogy – all supporting a move to strengthen Curriculum for Excellence. Science was the first framework to begin development and now science teachers can at last look forward to the final publication of the Experiences and Outcomes – but the conference showed that many science teachers are already engaged in promoting the aspirations of Curriculum for Excellence in their daily teaching.

I was lucky enough to attend the Science in the Parliament event last Wednesday at Our Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh – both as a delegate interested in the proceedings of the day, and as an exhibitor, providing information about Glow to the other delegates as they visited our LTS stand.

Science and the Parliament is an annual event, co-sponsored by all the major parties in the Parliament, where scientists and decision makers in Scotland come together, with education usually being a hot topic. MSPs get the chance to hear the aspirations and concerns of scientists and also to respond to questions generated by those considering the implications of Curriculum for Excellence on science education. Around 300 delegates heard Fiona Hyslop, Cabinet Secretary, stress the importance of science for Scotland’s future and the need for our children to become problem solvers and imaginative thinkers, with teachers’ bringing back the wonder of science to the classroom in the implementation of Curriculum for Excellence. She acknowledged the need for quality CPD for science teachers and thanked the Royal Society of Chemistry (originators of this event) for their input to this. SSERC also got a particular mention as a prime provider of the sort of CPD required in this new climate of cooperative and collaborative learning.
One particularly dynamic speaker was Stuart Monro of Our Dynamic Earth. Stuart’s presentation reminded us how exciting science can be and how the study of the Earth’s history, and future, can bring together many science strands and capture the essence of Curriculum for Excellence.
Gill Robinson of LTS and John Coggins of Glasgow University led the breakout session on CfE in the afternoon, where the audience showed their focus to be on quality preparation, both in terms of CPD and resources, for the new syllabi and exam systems in current development.

Our LTS stand was set up for the evening reception, but some other science organisations were on hand earlier in the day so that I had the opportunity to introduce myself as a Glow Development Officer and discuss any resources or CPD they offer for science education. I’ve since made contact with several representatives and hope to be able to share their resources with teachers via the Science Glow Group in the National Site.
Allyson Dobson and Mark Hunter, current writers of the science outcomes and experiences were also on hand at the stand, as was Deirdre Cassidy from the social studies team. We were able to demonstrate Glow in action to many interested delegates and gave away many DVDs of good practice.

At the end of the evening, a great firework display (5th November) could be seen in the distance though the wonderful glass walls of Our Dynamic Earth, but the real Glow was inside the building!