To design, develop and deliver a tutor resource for adult learners with resources and activities to develop numeracy skills and an understanding of environmental issues and their impact on everyday lives.
The award-winning, Counting on a Greener Scotland tutor resource pack is the result of partnership working, innovative tutoring practices and student feedback from over ten years of the WEA’s involvement in Numeracy and Environmental studies. It was written in 2012 and updated in 2016 and has become increasingly important and highly relevant.
Funded by Education Scotland and co-authored by Meteorologist, Dr Heather Reid OBE, our work contributes directly to Adult Literacies Scotland, 2020, Scotland’s ten year strategy for improving adult literacy and numeracy by supporting learners to gain the numeracy skills and confidence that allow them to grasp the opportunities around them. In order to achieve this tutors and learners need access to high quality resources.
Who is it designed for?
The Counting on a Greener Scotland (COGS) resource is designed to be used primarily with adult learners. It is put together with adults in mind and so uses appropriate language and graphics. However, it could used in schools, youth clubs, community groups or in any other appropriate learning context, including SQA accredited numeracy provision. In many ways the pack reflects the ambitions of Curriculum for Excellence: it is rich in opportunities for learning while not being prescriptive; it allows for deep learning in contexts that are relevant to the lives of individuals who understand themselves as global citizens; and it threads numeracy – and literacy – through broader areas of interest.
Content and Structure
We have drawn on expertise and knowledge from a wide variety of organisations to bring together information and activities that will make the content as relevant as possible to learners’ everyday lives and to increase their understanding of the world around them. Although the COGS pack is, on the surface, about climate, weather
and energy, at its core sits numeracy.
Using the pack
The COGS pack could be used as a stand-alone course, which has been credit rated at level 4 of the Scottish Credit Qualifications Framework, working from cover to cover or it could be used to supplement or complement existing adult learning activities. Equally the pack could be used to help encourage a more confident understanding of the three main topics, and any related issues, with a view to increasing social inclusion, confidence in decision-making and problem solving.
The pack is an organic resource which is hosted online by Glasgow Clyde College to enable the updating of information and activities and the inclusion of new materials.
CPD for CLD Practitioners
The WEA runs CPD workshops on the use of free WEA STEM resources for CLD practitioners based on Counting on a Greener Scotland and Science for a Successful Scotland.