Do you teach Transition Year Science and want to focus on skills to prepare students for senior cycle?
Or maybe you want get involved in a programme to empower students to build a wide range of investigative skills?
Or maybe you are a primary school teacher who wants to get your classes involved in some fun activities (Climate Detectives for Kids)?
If you answered yes to these questions, then the ESA Climate Detectives Programme might be a great initiative for you and your classes!
Climate Detectives Programme
The ESA Climate Detectives programme empowers students aged 8-19 to become climate champions. Teams investigate local environmental issues using real satellite data or ground measurements. They act as detectives, analysing the problem and proposing solutions to these problems. These can be local issues on a small scale, or national issues relating to climate change.
The programme is divided into 3 phases:
- Phase 1 – Identifying a local (or national/international) climate problem that your team wants to investigate.
- Phase 2 – Investigating the problem by collecting and analysing data. Satellite images can be used or ground measurements.
- Phase 3 – Proposing actions based on results and presentation of projects.
- Each school is assigned a Climate detectives advisor/mentor to help guide along through the phases.
From my experience, this is a fantastic initiative, particularly for Transition Year students. It does require a lot of time and commitment, but it empowers students to become critical thinkers, being more creative and also developing their computational thinking skills.
It can also help with progression into senior cycle science subjects that will require students to collect primary data as part of an investigation (particularly for the Individual Investigative Study for Agricultural Science).
Participants:
The minimum number of students per project is 2, or you can have the entire class involved in a single project. There’s even a beginner-friendly “Climate Detectives Kids” option with fun activities that is aimed more at primary school level.
The showcase for the event takes place in Athlone on Monday 22nd April.
Please see the video below if you are interested in getting involved next year!