SEFARI: Science education resources
The SSERC Biology Team have been collaborating with several scientists working within the new collective of Scottish Research Institutes, known as SEFARI (Scottish Environment Food and Agriculture Research Institutes) to help develop and promote their excellent educational resources available to support the delivery of the biology curriculum.
Photosynthesis using seaweed – opportunities for investigative work in Environmental Science?
Within SSERC we continue to explore the use of hydrogencarbonate indicator as a convenient experimental system for demonstrating both photosynthesis and respiration in plants and we have recently extended our range of published protocols to include materials in support of the SQA assignment for revised National 5 Biology.
For the last two years, the physics team at SSERC have investigated apps for Android and IOS that enable experimental work to be carried out with mobile devices. When we heard that a number of schools had chosen to issue Chromebooks to students, we took a virtual wander to the Chrome Web Store to see what was available there.
There is much excellent chemistry that can be done in class using gases but unfortunately, less is done than might be the case due to the difficulty of getting a supply of gases to experiment with.
SSERC professional development courses
Our professional development courses range from twilight events, day-courses through to residential meetings lasting up to 6 days in total. Our curriculum coverage spans both primary and secondary sectors and we offer events for teachers as part of their career long professional learning, newly qualified teachers and technicians. Many of our events receive funding from the ENTHUSE awards scheme or the Scottish Government.
Leak testing – myth versus actuality
“I’m never going to use electricity in my department because there’s a legal requirement that portable appliances need to be tested.” If you had a pound for every time you heard somebody say that, you would not have any extra money at all. Nobody thinks that way, at least where electricity is concerned.
