Available for practitioners across the Tayside region, the aim of the STEM By Nature Professional Learning Programme is to build STEM skills through the use of nature settings and outdoor learning methodologies for the school year 2019/20. It supports effective whole-school and interdisciplinary approaches to STEM and will develop skills and build confidence to deliver the entitlement to Learning for Sustainability for every pupil in Scotland.
The programme will be delivered through a blended learning model including face-to-face twilight sessions and online learning. An interdisciplinary approach will be supported, incorporating different subject areas and building skills in enquiry-based learning.
Practitioners (from primary, secondary, ASN and CLD) are invited to commit 8 hours of participation between October 2019 and March 2020 including face-to-face delivery (provided by FSC Scotland and the John Muir Trust), engagement and reflection via online delivery and forums, and trialling techniques and resources with their own pupils.
This professional learning programme is FREE of charge for schools and participating establishments within the Tayside region thanks to funding from Education Scotland.
STEM By Nature Professional Learning Programme Outcomes
- Help practitioners raise attainment by building confidence and developing skills to deliver inspirational, high quality interdisciplinary STEM teaching through contexts of nature, Citizen Science and Learning for Sustainability.
- Promote and support interdisciplinary and team learning approaches by engaging practitioners in reflective practice within their local clusters (and their wider regional community) using the STEM and Learning for Sustainability self-evaluation and improvement frameworks.
- Utilise outdoor learning pedagogy to engage all learners across both gender and attainment gaps, make explicit the connection between STEM and young people’s lives, and provide techniques for addressing gender stereotypes, unconscious bias and inequity.
- Highlight ways to incorporate mathematics and numeracy (as well as literacy and creativity) by setting out STEM by Nature as an accessible and interdisciplinary model for learning, and one well suited to project work.
- Make explicit links with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and how to develop the skills and outlooks required of practitioners and learners to live in an interdependent world.
How can I get involved?
Applicants should be:
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- Teachers and practitioners working within the Tayside region (Angus, Dundee and Perth and Kinross Councils). Priority will go to practitioners in Primary (second level) and Secondary (S1-S3) education including ASN and CLD practitioners.
- Able to attend both face to face and online training sessions.
- Supported by their headteachers and wider school community.
- Committed to sharing learning with colleagues in their establishment and across their learning cluster.
Complete the booking form and email to Katie Rudge to reserve your place.
