NI ITT Secondary Summer School at National STEM Learning Centre NB217
Summary
Building on the success of the teacher summer schools STEM Learning ran last year, and with the support of our ENTHUSE partners, we are able to offer a suite of three-day summer schools for trainee teachers with Northern Ireland ITT providers at the National STEM Learning Centre in York. The summer schools have a focus on practical science teaching.
Practical sessions will include core practical activities and techniques, as well as the underlying pedagogical approaches, along with effective ways to help teach “the tricky bits”. Classroom organisation and alternative, cheaper/easier ways to achieve the learning outcomes.
Central to the sessions are purposeful classroom practical science, as well as taking science outdoors and using the wider school environment. Embedding pragmatic health and safety is core to developing science teaching; throughout all the sessions H&S will be developed as a means to enable better practical science for students and teachers.
Throughout the course, appropriate investigative sciences, including enquiry and working scientifically, will be used to help teachers develop students own understanding of applying techniques and subject knowledge in less familiar applications.
Time will be made to explore York, as well as to socialise and network in the evenings, along with opportunities to engage with STEM Ambassadors and other support programmes.
Please note that a payment of £200.00 for travel expenses will be paid on submission of an expenses claim form after the course. Please do not book any travel to York until you have been contacted by the course organiser.
This course is fully funded by the generous support of Goldman Sachs Gives. However, non-attendance without prior notice of at least 14 days (see T&Cs) will result in you will be charged the full course fee of £975.00.
Who is it for?
PGCE and BEd students from Northern Ireland.
How will you learn?
This course will be delivered face-to-face.
How long is this course?
3 days.
Outcomes
Participants will be able to:
- explore a wide range of practical activities across science
- develop their understanding of effective health and safety in school science
- increase their range of approaches to classroom and practical management
- practice a range of engaging and exciting teacher-led demonstrations
- explore using science outside of the lab
"My experience at the Summer School in York was inspirational, and one I will remember fondly. I had the unique opportunity to be a pre-qualified, post-primary attendee. STEM has this stigma that only certain people are "able" or "allowed" to have access to its full capacity as a key central subject area in education and workplaces. I learnt that we can change this view through our mindsets and long-term planning to creating safe, engaging, and functional learning for all involved with STEM. The approach to how we can improve the teaching of statuary science at KS3 and KS4 was phenomenal and inclusive."
"The best bit for me was the practicals, and the collaboration with the other teachers. The practicals are vital for pupils to gain the skills needed when working with, using and communicating STEM outside of the classroom. This is a challenge I am working on. It was such an enjoyable experience and the people I was alongside and learning from made it all the better, who would have thought that a load of teachers could have such fun!"
"The Summer School has, and will benefit my career in regards to my STEM teaching, and how I can best go about improving this for pupils. I want to motivate all pupils about STEM and now I can use this experience to do so. It was a privilege to be a part of the Summer School, ultimately bringing to light the standards for the criteria I need to meet as a trainee teacher."