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 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!

Join us for another Glowing Thursdays double bill this week (3rd December)!

At 2pm we welcome back Scottish Ballet after their successful Glow Meet last week and this time they will be discussing Inspirational careers – Join our “Scottish” dancers for a live Q&A about their career pathways and an insight into their lives as dancers. Hosted by Ailsa-Mary Gold, Associate Director Education, and live studio audience of Senior Associates. We are delighted that on the day we will be joined by all 4 of Scottish Ballet’s Scottish dancers. If you are unable to be part of the live event please leave a question in our discussion board which can be found in the Glowing Thursdays National Group.

Then at 4pm we are pleased to welcome Professor Aline-Wendy Dunlop, Chair of Childhood and Primary Studies, Strathclyde University and Gerard McKernan, Quality Improvement Officer, Glasgow City Council to lead the Glow Meet session. They will discuss their recent involvement in the National Transitions Advisory Group as well as their own current work from pre-school into primary.

Find out more about Glowing Thursdays at glowhelp.me/thursdays

It was first week back at school for Northfield Academy and its associated Primary schools in Aberdeen last week. First year pupils started at the big school by taking part in four days of activities based on critical skills.  

Eight Primary schools were involved in this project:

Holy Family RC School, Westpark School, Bramble Brae School, Heatheryburn School, Middlefield School, Muirfield School, Quarryhill School, Smithfield School.

It was my pleasure to help the school in the final stage of this transition project. Lorna Murray and I teamed up with the Aberdeen City Council Glow team to support a Glow meet with seven local primary schools. This  Glow meet took place in their own Local Authority Transition Glow group .

Lorna Murray, Richard Elliot and I worked closely with the school transition team and the technicians at Northfield to support pupil presentations in the school hall.  Four groups of pupils prepared powerpoint presentations describing their transition experience and then shared these live in a Glow meet room: both with parents and teachers and their respective primary schools, who watched from their classrooms across the city. Pupils from seven primary schools were able to ask S1 pupils they recognised, a wide variety of questions about moving up to Northfield Academy from Primary seven:

What was your first day like?

Is the work harder in the big school?

Did you get lost on your first day?

Was it a scary experience ?

It was wonderful to see parents and pupils sharing  this experience in the school hall. S1 pupils at Northfield Academy described their their first week at the big school in front of a large real, and larger virtual audience.

If you would like to know more about this transition project and how Glow can be used to connect up primary schools and secondary schools, contact  Richard Elliot at the ACC Glow team or Andrea Strachan at Northfield Academy. Many thanks to Sue Muncer,  Head Teacher at Northfield, for welcoming us into her school. It was  a useful insight for us into transition and great fun working with her team.

relliott@aberdeencity.gov.uk

astrachan@northfield.aberdeen.sch.uk

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.