Link to HMIe
IMPROVING ACHIEVEMENT IN SCIENCE IN PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS

Looks like most of you have now had the updated CD of the ISE 5-14 Exemplar Materials from LTS. I've referenced all the stuff on the disc to the website.

There are now links to the relevant Pathways or Key Ideas for each of the three attainment outcomes on the Local Links drop-down menu as well as the Larger text menu. Some folk have noticed that conflicting Target Groups and Target menus can appear when you Search for pages on the ISE 5-14 Website. This can be caused by the pages from the original Framework for Planning, which formed the basis of the Renfrewshire Science Pack. The ISE 5-14 revised Framework for Planning, after consultation, re-jigged the order in which the Targets were taught. You would only normally come across the Renfrewshire Science Pack pages if you access these directly from the sheet related to the "Renfrew" tag at the bottom of the Planning Spreadsheet or if they were displayed as a result of a Search. In the case where a page from the Renfrewshire Science Pack is found it will have a red notice :-

Renfrewshire Science Pack Materials - For materials related to the new Planning Framework click any Target Code (below right) for the Interactive Guidelines then click the link to the equivalent Target menu there.

The Search matches which come up with Target Groups from the New Planning Framework have (NP) at the end of the page link - look out also for "New_Plan" in the URL. We were torn between leaving the Renfrewshire structure on or not but were swayed by the fact that many authorities still use this scheme. Therefore there are parallel universes on the site and unfortunately sometimes they overlap.

I've started a Photo Collection - as you can see it is in its infancy at the moment so any suggestions for categories, photo-contributions etc. would be gratefully received.

2.02.2005 - The Highland Science Sacks can now be referenced via the last columns of the Planning Spreadsheet. Thanks to Robert English, Staff Development Co-ordinator, for granting permission for these to be used.

Dessy the Curious Duck is star of the show - Premiere at the ScottishPower Planetarium, Glasgow Science Centre

However, we have managed to get oor hands on a pack and have started adding some of the extras to the ISE 5-14 website. Have a look at the excellent photo collection on Plants taken by  Ginger Franklin of the Edinburgh Academy. This has spurred us into creating a new section akin to the SSERC 5-14 Clip-Art Collections which we have called the ISE 5-14 Photos.  This section will expand in the fullness of time. Any contributions would be gratefully received. All photos may be used freely within schools but permission has to be sought from us if they are to be included in derivative publications, software or on the web.

• Margot Gillies, St Mary's RC Primary School, Edinburgh
• Ian Haining, Tynecastle High School, Edinburgh
• Leslyanne Jollie, Nether Currie Primary School, Currie
• Teresa McErlean, Fox Covert RC Primary School, Edinburgh
• Pam Williams, Craigroyston Community High School, Edinburgh

• Helen Celnik, Kincorth Academy, Aberdeen
• Carole Thomson, Banff Academy, Banff

conducted by Dr Jim Murdoch, formerly Head of Curriculum Studies in the School of Education at the University of Aberdeen.

The two project leaders collaborated to produce the final materials. Both have delivered training to teachers in the classroom use of mapping techniques, and Jim currently leads the Science team in a European project (ELISE) investigating the use of ICT in the delivery of training to teachers. As part of this project, the team has produced am interactive course on Concept Mapping in Secondary Science teaching.

These materials are also available as Word files on this part of the website. The files can be printed.

The project was supported by funding from the Improving Science Education 5 to 14 Project through the Scottish Schools Equipment Research Centre (SSERC).

11.01.2005 - Science & Technology Equipment News No. 32 now available online

Let there be light and Fungus features

I've completed the cross-referencing of the Borders materials (Word files) to the targets etc. in ISE 5-14 - the coverage of all topics by Borders is by no means comprehensive.

 e.g. LT-D2.1 (TG also), ES-C3.4, ES-F3.2 & LT-D2.5 (Tg also)

Local Links drop-down menu (Latest Links). Another new link which has been added to this is Correlation with National Curriculum etc. This table may be a help when reviewing resources for Science 5-14 when looking at ideas from materials designed for the National Curriculum and American materials from the web such as NASA teaching materials. See also

So, please refer to the Planning Spreadsheet mentioned above for any cross referencing of the target codes used in this website - either to the Renfrewshire materials or the current Planning Framework.

You will also see that cross referencing of the science targets with CASE materials and Concept Cartoons is now complete. Thanks are due to the Renfrewshire team for all the original hard work setting out these two sets of linkages. I have also made a start on cross curricular links with the other Attainment Outcomes in Environmental Studies as well as Maths, Music and Art.

Please let me have some feedback on how this is progressing and whether you find it useful or not.
 

to 3/09/03 - NOW AVAILABLE to registered users - SSERC Clip-Art Collections - takes you to over 700 samples of clip-art which is in PC wmf ( Windows Metafile Format - a vector based format good for Microsoft Word. You should be able to scale these up or down without the losses in quality associated with GIF and JPEG bit-image formats (Right mouse click on the graphic you want then Copy. You can Paste the figure straight into Word).

Briefing pack sent to Local Authorities -

, ISE Development Officer has posted on a folder in the ISE 5-14 Smartgroup a number of Word files from a Briefing Pack which has been issued through LTS and explains to the Local Authorities the :-

• aims and purpose of ISE 5-14
• roles and remits of LTS and SSERC
• type of ‘support materials’ the project will develop
• benefits to everyone involved in the project not only in terms of curriculum development but also personal professional development
• approach to grouping attainment targets which provides one way of describing a coherent and progressive route through the national guidelines. Enclosed in the pack is an example of a ‘Framework’ through the national 5-14 Guidelines: Science illustrating links within the Attainment Outcomes and to further learning in terms of progression to Standard Grade and/or Intermediate 1.
  
  ISE 5-14 recognise that many Local Authorities have developed their own programmes of work and we would encourage these Authorities to engage with the project so that the materials developed are of use to as many Scottish schools as possible.

The pack contains :-

• description of the rationale, aims and outcomes of ISE5-14
• description of the Roles & Remits of those involved in the national project
• descriptions of the benefits to schools, staff and Local Authorities of being involved with the development phase of ISE 5-14
• overview of the 3 day residential conference for those staff involved with the development of the support materials
• an illustration of a ‘pathway’ through the guidelines with accompanying ‘key questions’ challenging the big ideas behind the grouping of attainment targets
• examples of assessment in skills and KU that challenge pupils’ misconceptions along with a general checklist of the main components that should be considered in the development of the curriculum support materials.
• extract from the ‘Framework for Planning’. Full version is on an included CD-ROM which was enclosed with the pack

Please print off as many copies of the files as you feel is appropriate.

The ISE 5-14 Team hope that the enclosed information will assist your discussions with staff who would like to participate in this project. If, however, you would like to discuss the project further with a member of the ISE 5-14 Team or have them meet with potential developers then please do not hesitate in contacting us so that we can arrange a meeting.

We hope that once you have had time to review the materials within the pack and talk things through you will be in a position to indicate if you will be able to be involved with the project. Please indicate your preferred area of involvement on the attached response sheet.

We would also like to thank those authorities who have already responded. This information has enabled us to begin our mapping exercise.
 

Revised Framework for Planning - now installed as a drop-down menu on the Home Page. All pages associated with this have the orange/pink background. Target menus for the Revised Framework are accessible via the red/green buttons.

Number of Target Groups - reduced from 36 to 33. You can still access the old framework via the drop-down menu at the bottom of the Home Page.

Interactive Guidelines for the Knowledge & Understanding for the Strands/Targets in Social Subjects now accessible from the top of the Home Page. Each target has a link (the NGfL logo) to exemplar material produced to support teachers in "gathering and interpreting evidence in classroom assessment".

Articulation with Standard Grade Units - from the Home page you can link to a page which details articulation of S.G. Units with the relevant attainment targets in Environmental Studies 5-14.

Target pathways - There are three Word files showing pathways through each of the three Attainment Outcomes.

If you have any comments about any of the new developments then please reply to the Smartgroup. If you experience any problems then E-mail me or post your comments on the Smartgroup.

PIPS2 (Partnership in Primary Science) Project - this has now wound up and Dr. Susan Rodrigues is putting together a package with details of all the homework materials created by the merry band of teachers who participated (pipettes?). I attended the last two meetings and was inspired by the enthusiasm and ideas shown. Welcome to any former PIPS2 teachers who have now joined this Smartgroup. I've already put some of the homework materials on site but I'll wait a spell until Susan produces the full, refined product before putting up the rest. Meanwhile, if you want to see what PIPS have been sown so far simply type "PIPS2" - no quotes, on the Search facility from the Home Page.

Rock On Scottish Geology Festival 2003
Scottish Ice Age Animals
Primary School Competition - see Website

Earth in Space 5-14
CPD for Teachers (P1-S2)

Course developed by SESEF and the Royal Observatory Edinburgh. Pilots in West Lothian and Edinburgh during 2003 with expansion to more local authority areas for the school year 2003/04. See Contacts below :-

If your school or local authority is interested having this innovative package delivered e-mail (Visitor Centre Manager, Royal Observatory Edinburgh)
If you are interested in becoming a deliverer of Earth Science CPD in your area contact Hamish Ross .

The reports of our being an ex-project are greatly exaggerated

You may have seen various references recently to the above national programme in august journals such as the Times Educational Supplement Scotland (TESS). If so, you might be forgiven for thinking that the programme was, stalled, ceased-to-be, or moribund (aka “deid”). This is not so, although we were saddened and disappointed that Bill Fleming had resigned his post as Project Manager at the turn of the year. He will be, indeed is, sorely missed.

SSERC, however, continues to work closely with the two national Development officers who remain in post and a new implementation group should be up and running shortly. Now, in addition to looking after the ISE 5-14 website SSERC is about to finalise an agreement with the Scottish Executive Education Department (SEED) to facilitate those elements of the overall programme which are relevant to practical activities and the continuing professional development (CPD) of teachers.

Learning Teaching Scotland is, we understand, to manage other aspects of the overall programme such as development of formative assessment tools and homework activities. See also Assessment is for Learning Newsletter (pdf).

In pursuing our own programmes of work we intend collaborating closely with a wide range of partners including: the Scottish Local Authorities; Science Centres and their outreach programmes; other relevant visitor centres such as observatories and botanic gardens; the Scottish Universities; industry and commerce; research centres and government bodies, the major science education trusts and  others. Currently we are looking at a number of proposals and models for the provision of CPD for teachers through practical activities. Ideally, we should like to see up to four centres of activity in various locations across Scotland and are working towards assisting with the setting up at least two such centres in early course.

Here's a weird picture I took today - apart from the fact I'm in it and the Scottish Parliament building is above ground level!

Am I a giant or have the vehicles & the parliament shrunk in the rain? Gives a whole new perspective on life. Click on thumbnail to get bigger pic.

CALLING ALL BUDDING PHOTOGRAPHERS - How many of you got a digital camera for Christmas? photees which we can all use (and can only be taken at this time of year) to illustrate (y)our web site e.g. for LT-A2.2, ES-B3.1, ES-C3.4, ES-D3.1, ES-D3.3, & EF-D1.1.

      

Its objective is to address the relevant priorities identified within the HMI report Improving Science 5-14 (1999) and the Science Strategy for Scotland (2001).

Together with the Development Officers - and we are moving on to the next phase of on-line support for 5-14 Science Education.

We now have new section on an Investigative Approach to Science. This will be expanding with more examples of investigations.

An interactive HTML version of the Revised 5-14 Guidelines Guide for Teachers and Managers is now available on-line - see above for a drop-down menu which gives easy access to all the main areas. As well as the exemplars contained therein we'll provide links to a Provisional Framework for Planning for P1 - S2 and other exemplar material e.g. the SSERC Primary Newsletters. You can now search ISE and check out some great sites in Good Web Sites. Former WSOTW can be seen in Past Masters.

Be aware that all files are under continuous development and are subject to adaptation of content and web addresses.

Click on Refresh to make sure you are looking at the latest version of a page.