Glow Scotland

May 5th, 2009

Schools Science Summit 2009

J Jelly

Comments: 2 Comments » Tags: Tags: science, summit
 : Categories Curriculum for Excellence, Events, Glow Groups, Glow Meet, Local authorities, National Groups, Uncategorized

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.

May 2nd, 2009

Chemical Industry Glows from Aberdeen across Scotland

J Jelly

Comments: Comments Off Tags: Tags: chemistry, industry, NQ, science, SQA
 : Categories Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire, Dundee City, East Dunbartonshire, Events, Glow Meet, South Ayrshire, Stirling, Uncategorized

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.

April 15th, 2009

Glow Meet Invitation to all Higher Chemistry Classes – 29th April

J Jelly

Comments: Comments Off Tags: Tags: chemistry, industry, science
 : Categories Aberdeen City, Events, Glow Meet, Uncategorized

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.

March 8th, 2009

The Scottish Science Education Conference Glows

J Jelly

Comments: 1 Comment Tags: Tags: , resources, science
 : Categories Curriculum for Excellence, Events, Local authorities, National Groups, Uncategorized

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.

November 10th, 2008

Science and the Parliament

J Jelly

Comments: Comments Off Tags: Tags: Dynamic Earth, Fiona Hyslop, parliament, science
 : Categories Curriculum for Excellence, Events, Uncategorized

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!