The chamber will convene at an earlier time than usual for a Wednesday at 13:15 as Tory MSP Miles Briggs leads a debate on lung disease.

Portfolio questions will cover transport and justice.

Image source, AFP/PA

Then Environment Secretary Roseanna Cunningham will make the annual greenhouse gas emissions statement, followed by Veterans Minister Graeme Dey providing an update on the veterans strategy.

MSPs will debate the Census (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill for the final time.

Ending the day is a member's debate on housing co-operatives led by Labour MSP Johann Lamont.

Prof Yellowlees concludes the sessions saying there must be a buy-in at school level in terms of resources to drive forward STEM in the early years.

The education committee moves into private session to discuss the evidence heard today.

Image source, KATIE BOUMAN

Astronomers have taken the first ever image of a black hole, which is located in a distant galaxy.

It measures 40 billion km across - three million times the size of the Earth - and has been described by scientists as "a monster".

The black hole is 500 million trillion km away and was photographed by a network of eight telescopes across the world.

It was captured by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), a network of eight linked telescopes.

Katie Bouman is the MIT student who developed the algorithm that pieced together the data from the EHT.

Without her contribution the project would not have been possible.

Read more here

Image source, EHT

Shona Birrell says early years settings as a whole must be looked at to see what messages teachers and parents are giving to young people.

Ms Birrell also wonders if there is more of a role for the media to play to show different genders in a variety of roles.

She cites the coverage of the recent female MIT student who created the algorithms that created the first ever image of a black hole.

Alastair MacGregor agrees with Prof Yellowlees that there must be top level intervention otherwise it will not be a made a priority.

Dr Karen Petrie highlights the Let Toys Be Toys campaign, external which urges shops and providers not to gender toys, and she suggests the government could get behind this.

Prof Yellowlees calls for the curriculum to be looked at as a whole to ensure it is gender neutral.

She says it is clear gender bias impacts children from a very early age.

There must be a "concerted effort to change the culture, to make it not acceptable" for the curriculum to be biased, she tells the committee.

Any bias must be called out where is it found because it should not be in there, Prof Yellowlees adds.

I would just pull experts in to look at our curriculum to see whether it is delivering what we want, she states.

"We have to step up to the plate and say this is not acceptable in Scotland and this is what we're going to do about it."

She calls for the Scottish government to take the lead on this.

Image source, bbc

Money earmarked to improve the academic performance of disadvantaged children goes directly to head teachers but how do they choose to spend it?

Last year BBC Scotland reporter David Allison looked into this.

Another school day gets under way at Tarbolton Primary.

The 193 pupils now occupy a brand new building replacing the loved but leaky old schoolhouse.

They have been in the new premises for around a year, roughly the same amount of time the Scottish government's £120m Pupil Equity Funding (PEF) scheme has been in place.

Image source, bbc

Alastair MacGregor calls for a core funding scheme to develop the type of interventions that promote STEM teaching in the early years.

A lack of resources can be detrimental to attainment and enjoyment, he says.

Shona Birrell suggests pupil equity funding (PEF) could play a role, though she does question whether this funding is sustainable.

Lorna Hay explains STEM has been on her school's improvement plan which means PEF was used for resources, including ensuring access to the internet to teach things like coding.

PEF aims to give children from poorer homes the same life chances as those in more affluent areas. The actual cash allocation under the policy of £1,200 per child is based on the number of children qualifying for free school meals.

Image source, bbc

Labour MSP Johann Lamont asks about funding.

Prof Yellowlees says resourcing issues impact on those from more deprived backgrounds.

Ms Lamont asks about avoiding reinforcing inequality in the way resources are being made available.

Prof Yellowlees explains her research was across over 30 primary schools and says perhaps they should go further than that, adding "I'm a scientist, I love data".

She says increasing the science capital of our population will yield results for the country.

Shona Birrell stresses the importance of parental engagement and cites Germany as a country where good practice is in place.

Dr Petrie says some parents think science is too difficult.

Lorna Hay adds that parental engagement is an issue whatever the subject.

The primary school teacher agrees there is a lot of misconceptions around engineering, highlighted in her recent post-grad.

She points to a recent STEM event where there was a real buzz in the room among parents by simply asking them to build something with 100 blocks and making it like the X Factor.

Image source, Getty Images

Scotland's four science centres have been given a cash boost of £2.63m.

The latest grant from the Scottish government comes during British Science Week and brings the total funding given to the attractions over the last four years to £10m.

The money for 2019-20 is aimed at making Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) accessible to everyone.

It includes efforts to engage pupils in rural and deprived areas.

Read more.

SNP MSP Alasdair Allan wonders about inequalities in access to science and what can be done in early years about recognising them.

Prof Yellowlees says it is important to be very self-critical about this and act on the findings, not just in STEM but across the whole school.

Dr Petrie argues it is important to see STEM as interdisciplinary and therefore attract people interested in all parts of it.

She points to bio-mechanical engineering courses at university which are broadly equal in terms of gender balance, attributing this to the fact it has elements of science, engineering and medicine.

Prof Yellowlees also talks about the importance of science festivals and increasing awareness of STEM benefits.

Jamie McIvor
BBC Scotland education correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

There's been concern for many years about the difficulties experienced filling some vacancies in remote and rural areas.

Often qualified applicants need to be persuaded to move to the area - and the problems recruiting teachers are often similar to those filling other skilled and specialist jobs.

Relatively high house prices in some areas have also led to difficulties - teachers' pay is standard across Scotland.

More people are going into teacher training - but not all the extra places created in teacher training are being filled.

Some councils have also noted problems filling vacancies in specific subject areas, including the STEM subjects and home economics.

The teachers unions are currently campaigning for a 10% pay rise, which they claim would help restore the value of salaries.

They argue this would also help encourage more graduates to become teachers and help retain people within the profession.

Image source, bbc

Professor Lesley Yellowlees says computer based education is fine but lab training must also be in place.

Solving this issue in rural schools would solve the problem everywhere, the academic says.

Image source, bbc

Tory MSP Oliver Mundell asks about rural specific issues.

Dr Petrie says some schools thrive but others don't in rural areas due to access to resources.

The British Computing Society representative reiterates her concerns about the internet genuinely being an issue in rural schools.

She says some rural schools can't have all their computers on at once as it will crash access to the internet.

STEM should be for everyone and that is the message we must get across, including the parents emphases Prof Yellowlees.

Alastair MacGregor explains there are issues with getting teachers released from the day-to-day to attend interventions organisations like SSERC offer.

Tory MSP Oliver Mundell wonders about funding for the private and voluntary early learning sector, given they will be pivotal in delivering the expansion of free childcare.

Mr MacGregor says SSERC is at a tipping point in what it can offer in terms of resources and it is looking at working more in partnership to deliver more.

Prof Yellowlees says the term 'STEM' was useful initially, but now people think of STEM as everything.

She wants STEM to mean interdisciplinary across science, technology, engineering and maths, not just the individual subjects.

The academic says she is sad pupils are frightened of STEM subjects as they should be excited about it.

Image source, bbc

Shona Birrell explains a lot of early years practitioners have STEM backgrounds but face barriers in being able to deliver these activities in nurseries.

Green MSP Ross Greer asks if local authorities are providing support to nurseries to address this, to which Ms Birrell replies not in her experience.

Mr MacGregor says SSERC operate "twilight sessions" online from Dunfermline and basically do a "cook along" for may schools across Scotland.

He adds this short intervention usually works.