Hi my name is Aideen and I am currently teaching Junior Infants. I am looking forward to completing this course and learning some new ideas about teaching the topic of Space. My favourite space fact is that shooting stars are not actually stars; when you see a shooting star, it’s not a star. It’s actually a tiny piece of rock or dust from space that burns up in Earth’s atmosphere, creating a streak of light.
An inquiry based activity that I have used in the classroom was in relation to observing how different variables affect plant growth. The students were given seeds, soil, and water, and were tasked with designing an experiment to test how different variables (e.g., amount of water, type of soil, amount of light) affect plant growth. They then had to discuss the results in their groups, form hypothesis , collect data, and present their findings. The children really enjoyed the activity and loved comparing their predictions to the results.