Information posted on the learning-science-concepts list:


>Dear Keith
>
>I like Robin have been a listener to the discussions going on in the forum
>rather than a contributor. However, I would now like to rectify this by
>making members of the list aware of a project we at the DTI [U.K.
>Government Dept. of Trade and Industry] are sponsoring
>to promote the teaching of electronics in schools.
>
>As members will be aware the electronics and ICT industry is currently
>experiencing and will continue to experience over the next decade a serious
>skills shortage in the UK and throughout Europe. Many initiatives are
>currently being put in place to try to address this some on a national and
>others on a European scale, amongst these are Ambition IT in the UK and
>Career Space within Europe.
>
>The electronics project I mention above is designed to encourage and enable
>schools to more effectively take up and deliver effective teaching provision
>in electronics in KS2 and KS3 [i.e. about 7-11 year olds, and 11-14
>year olds respectively]. Initially the project will be trailed in
>four [U.K.] regions contiguous with Local Learning and Skills
>Councils; they are,
>Humberside and West Yorkshire, East Midlands (Nottinghamshire,
>Leicestershire and Lincolnshire), North London and the South West of England
>(Devon and Cornwall). The coordinating body in each of the pilot areas
>will be the local 'Setpoint'.
>
>A two tier approach to the project is being promoted. At the local level,
>the Setpoint Coordinators are establishing a partnership which will explore
>and develop a programme to meet the objectives of the project.
>Simultaneously, the DTI is coordinating a set of National Partners to
>examine ways of using national mechanisms to support and underpin the local
>initiatives. These include DATA, Young Engineers etc.
>
>The project is in its very early stages and the pilot areas are currently in
>the process of putting their ideas into proposals to the DTI. The
>development work will I hope begin in earnest in the new academic year
>(Sept. 01).
>
>We have high hopes for this project and hope to be able to roll it out to
>the rest of the country in the near future. This brief note is merely to
>alert members of the list to the project but also to request information on
>any interesting practice members are aware of in the teaching of electronics
>in both primary and secondary schools in the UK. which hasn't been published
>but may be worthy of some investigation. I am also old enough to remember
>the work undertaken in TVEI and particularly the Mico-Electronics in Schools
>Project (MEP) in the 80s and we hope to be able to learn from and build upon
>the work of such programmes.
>
>I shall be happy to keep members of the list informed of the progress of the
>project and to publish on the list more detail of its aims and objectives
>etc. if interest is there. In the meantime any comments will be welcome.
>
>Peter Revill
>
>Advisor
>
>Communications and Information Industries Directorate
>Electronics and IT Skills
>Department of Trade and Industry
>R233
>151 Buckingham Palace Road
>London SW1W 9SS
>
>e-mail: peter.revill@...
>copy to: peter.revill@...
>
>Tel. +44 (0) 20 7215 1439
>Mobile: +44 (0) 7810 555 706
>
>www.dti.gov.uk
>
>visit: www.career-space.com
>and www.sfia.org.uk
>
>
>[KST: I am aware that there has been a bias on the list towards
>discussing chemistry topics, and - although not wishing for one
>moment to deter postings about learning chemistry - I would like to
>see a more 'broad and balanced' spread of postings developing over
>time. I'm sure that there is an interesting debate to be had about
>the way electronics is taught and learnt, compared with - say -
>physics. Keith]
>
>
>About this list:
>
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>
>Moderator: Dr. Keith Taber, Homerton College, University of Cambridge.
>
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--

Dr. Keith S. Taber

Homerton College, University of Cambridge
Royal Society of Chemistry Teacher Fellow 2000-2001
Visiting Fellow, University of London Institute of Education

to contact me (rather than the whole list) reply to:

kst24@...