Mike Russell, Education Secretary, launches the Action Plan at Balfron High School and 'Pimps thur Trolley'.

SSERC considers that the Scottish Government’s - Science & Engineering 21 – An Action Plan for Education provides a way to address many of the challenges ahead.

"We (SSERC) believe that the success of our professional development provision for teachers and technicians, which was initiated and is supported by the Scottish Government, is something that can be built upon to support the implementation of the Action plan. SSERC’s CPD provision has received a very positive external evaluation by the University of Glasgow (see Hall, S., Lowden, K., Lally, V. and Mancy, R. (2009) Support for Science Education in Scotland through CPD: External evaluation interim report). This Government initiative is the most coordinated and significant attempt over the last five years to build capacity in professional development and expertise of teachers and technicians.

Both technicians and teachers are central to the success of developing science and technology education in Scotland and we will work hard to ensure that their development needs are catered for going forward.

SSERC is a leading provider of advice and support for science and technology education in Scotland. We believe that, through our work and partnership with Local Authorities and the Scottish Government, along with our extensive and dynamic network of collaborators, we are one of the organisations key to the successful implementation of the Action Plan. We look forward to working closely with the Scottish Government and other partners in ensuring its successful implementation."

CPD at SSERC                 SSERC SafetyNet (members only)

Live blogging from the Arctic

Alison McLure, the IOP’s National Officer in Scotland is to join the British Schools Exploring Society (BSES) Extreme Arctic 2010 in
Svalbard this April. During the expedition she will keep us up to date with regular features on her research project and life in the Arctic.

Link to her blog on the IOP site

Here Alison explains what Extreme Arctic 2010 is all about.

"Our expedition to Svalbard, in Arctic Norway, will begin in early April where we will be faced with challenging lows of around -25°C. As spring turns to summer we will experience 24 hours of daylight with daily temperatures soaring to a balmy 0°C, forcing back the winter blanket of snow and ice to reveal the striking tundra beneath. Svalbard’s summer visiting birds bring life back to the archipelago, a truly magical place.

As winter recedes, life slowly returns to Svalbard and work on the research projects can begin. We will be studying glaciology and geomorphology by glacial mapping using differential GPS (accurate to 2cm) and taking accurate measurements of spring melt surge studies. We will also be taking meteorological observations.

There will be ornithological surveys of indicator species of Svalbard, including studying the behaviour of barnacle and pink footed geese, which will have migrated from Britain to breed in Svalbard. We will also survey a remote colony of Northern fulmars.

All of these projects will contribute to the BSES long term research that began over three years ago. The plan is to build data year on year to establish a body of knowledge in specific regions. This means that the main body of the fieldwork is repeat science. By employing this method, we hope to build a picture of the region as an indicator for the whole of Svalbard and wider environments."

..... and in today's news ..... Will the polar bears make it back to shore?