Primary teachers gain STEM knowledge at Ayrshire College
Primary school teachers throughout North Ayrshire have attended training at Ayrshire College’s Kilwinning Campus on how to best deliver Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) lessons to their pupils.
Every school represented at the first session – which took place during the teachers’ recent in-service days – was given a box full of science equipment along with an activity booklet developed by Ayrshire College’s STEM department.
Training will also be rolled out to teachers in East Ayrshire and South Ayrshire.
STEM education in Ayrshire primary schools is currently delivered in a variety of ways, with some schools delivering regular lessons and others offering only limited dedicated STEM teaching.
Ayrshire College hopes that its CPD sessions will standardise and improve the quality of the STEM curriculum being delivered to all Ayrshire pupils.
The College appreciates the need to engage pupils with STEM subjects at an early age, which is why it has committed to offering the CPD training for teachers. The Ayrshire College Foundation has backed the project – with its Innovation for Learning funding covering the costs of the training.
The first session was tailored towards how to best teach primary school pupils a science lesson.
Marko Prorocic, Curriculum Manager for STEM at the Kilwinning Campus, said “I am hoping that this project, currently in its pilot year, will eventually spread to encompass all primary schools across Ayrshire. Better STEM education will ensure better prospects for the region and a bright future for our young people.”
One of the teachers from the first CPD session, Victoria Fox from Ardeer Primary School, said “What I was hoping to get out of today was more practical experience of teaching STEM and an interesting context to teaching in the classroom. It was very good, the activities were well planned and fun, so it was a very valuable session.
“We’ve been doing quite a lot of work in STEM - it’s part of our school improvement plan - so we have been focused on it this term and this has been very relevant to our needs.”
7 November 2019
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