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I think the video ‘Home’ by Yann Arthus-Betrand could be used as an effective tool to teach about climate change. It could act as a great stimulus for classroom discussion based on environmental issues and how we can sustain life on planet earth.
The video is powerful in explaining how human activity is affecting planet earth through deforestation, the over use of natural resources and the impact on animal life. I think this film could be viewed in segments particularly with younger classes and follow up activities could be provided after each segment. I think it would also work as an excellent stimulus for a class project on how we can reduce our carbon footprint and this in turn could link in with the Green Schools Committee and the work that is already being done in school to promote environmental awareness. This can also promote a deeper understanding of the importance of caring for the environment and how small changes can go a long way to achieving this. I also like how this topic/video can be linked to many different subjects and provides scope to teachers to allow children to explore the topic in their own way making it personal to them.
I like the idea of including technology as I think this would work very well with the older classes particularly if they have access to laptops or iPads. It would certainly deepen their understanding of the topic.
I agree there is lots of scope for cross-curricular integration with this lesson and with careful planning it can be very effective to consolidate children’s learning in this way.
The lesson on climate change is very effective and engaging. I like how it gives facts and information and then sets a challenge for the children. If I was teaching this lesson I would certainly use the ESA-PAXI video as I thought this was an excellent introduction to climate change and greenhouse gases. It explains the concept in a child friendly way and offers scope for classroom discussion after. Having explored the TEAL temperature tool I think this would be a good resource to use to support the learning of the climate change lesson however I think it would be necessary to work with the pupils first to explain the concept and probably would work best at an older class level. I think the lesson is good however I think some children would find it challenging particularly with some of the language used in the questions and the skills mathematical skills needed to complete the activities. There is certainly a need to have this differentiated to ensure each child in the class can access the content.
Maeve Liston’s paper “Unravelling STEM: Beyond the Acronym of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics” seeks to provide us with a more critical look at STEM education and how it appears in our classroom. I liked how she talked about the importance of ensuring that all the subjects are more connected and that we should not be trying to make a science experiment a ‘STEM Activity’ just for the sake of ticking a box. I think as educators we need to look and see if our STEM lessons are ensuring that the objectives and targets of the lesson are being met in a way that is meaningful for the pupils. I think she has also highlighted appropriately the need for more support and resources to be provided for schools in the area of STEM as it can be overwhelming at times for teachers to plan effectively for it and in turn implement STEM in an already over loaded curriculum. More emphasis needs to be placed on the integrated approach which can be taken with these subjects.
Having looked at the ESA resources I thought about how I could potentially set up a met station in my school. I think it is a great idea and I particularly liked the activity where the children look at weather proverbs. This is a great opportunity to promote links between home and school-including parents and even grandparents in this activity. I think the met station activity would also lend itself to a whole school approach perhaps even led by the green schools committee. Certain classes could be in charge of a weather instrument to include construction, monitoring and data collection. It is an effective activity to include lots of subjects including art and maths also.
There is some great ideas here and lots of integration which is great for planning. Space week is something I will definitely be celebrating next year with my class as there is lots of scope and interesting activities shared in this forum.
The lesson I would use from this module would be the rockets one. I think this is a very engaging and hands on lesson that would be suitable for the Junior Infant classroom. I like the idea of using a story as a stimulus for the lesson. It sets the scene for the lesson and allows the children some time to think about the concept. The building of the mouse rocket would be a great art lesson and I think the youtube video is a great resource to have particularly for infants as it provides a visual aid which helps visual learners. I also like how the video provides prompts for discussion and extension of the lesson-What would make the rocket go higher etc? This could also be a junk art lesson in aistear the following week where the children would be encouraged to use their prior knowledge and build a rocket of their own.
I think a space themed aistear station would be a brilliant idea and one which I will consider for next year. There is lots of scope for development and providing the children with meaningful ways to develop their understanding of space. These photos are great to get an idea of how it could be set up. Thanks for sharing.
An activity that I would use in my classroom is the one based on hot and cold. We spend a lot of time in the infant classroom discussing the weather each day. I feel it is a good way to develop oral language and children like the routine of going to the window every morning to discuss the weather. For this lesson I would incorporate it into my theme of The Toy Shop in Aistear as we already do an experiment where we explore floating and sinking-Which toys will float on the top and which will sink to the bottom. We also then freeze the container with the toys in it and spend a lot of time discussing what will happen to the container when it goes in the freezer and how will we get the toys out of the block of ice again. I find this lesson really helps to develop children’s thinking around hot and cold, freezing and cooling and in turn develops their oral language. I like the idea in the lesson of the different scenarios where they must decide whether is it hot or cold. The movement to different areas of the classroom for this activity would be particularly great for junior infants. I think this could also be linked to Gaeilge and the theme of An Aimsir.
I think the idea of the children introducing their alien to the class is very worthwhile and would definitely bring in some oral language targets also particularly in the Junior Classes.
The lesson I would use in my classroom would be ‘Special Life’. I think this would work well in the infant classroom as it is aimed at a younger age group and definitely encourages the use of imagination and creativity. I would link this lesson to Earth Day which we put a lot of emphasis on in our school. I would begin by discussing planet Earth with the children and eliciting all that is special and important about our planet. I would then encourage the children to work in pairs to choose their favourite thing about planet Earth and we would use the role play suggestion in the lesson plan as part of a drama lesson. I really liked the idea of the children drawing an alien. I think this would be a really fun activity to do with the class as an art lesson. The extension activity of making a Martian would also be a great lesson however I think careful planning would be needed especially with infants. Particularly in relation to what materials could be used and the level of support that some children would need to make their Martian. However it is definitely possible once it is planned appropriately. I really liked the idea of using the Martians for maths work. I think the children would love this and would connect their learning across the different subjects.
I really like all the cross curricular links in this lesson. I think it is important to tie in as many subjects as possible to make planning less challenging and also to ensure that the children get a deeper understanding of the topic. I also love the idea of Junk art-it is simple to implement however the scope for imagination is huge.
The activity set I would choose for my class would be ‘The Planets’. I think this one would be the most suitable for the Junior classes as I can see how it can be integrated across the curriculum. I would start by having ‘Space’ or ‘The Space Station’ as my Aistear/Oral Language theme for the month and use the Planet song as a stimilus for the lesson. I think this is also a great way to integrate music into this theme. I love the activities provided with the hula hoops as I think they would be a fantastic as a P.E. lesson or a number of P.E. lessons over a few weeks. It incorporates basic movement skills and also dance which can be a challenging strand for the Junior Classes however I think it is very nicely presented in this activity. I also think the hula hoop activity where the children have to land on a hula hoop when a planet is called is an effective assessment strategy. I would also include some art activities in this-the children would work in groups to paint their own planets and we would create a class Solar System to display.
I thought it was great here that the importance of ensuring children understand the language before engaging in the activity was highlighted. This is certainly something I will have to consider going forward too. It is worth spending the time on this to ensure that the children understand the concepts being taught.
Hi,
My name is Aideen and I currently teach Junior Infants. The push/pull lesson from this module struck a chord with me as this is a lesson that I taught last year. I incorporated it into our Aistear theme of ‘The Toy Shop’. The children had wind up cars and had to explore ways to make the cars go longer distances. This obviously related to how far back they pulled the car before letting it go. They absolutely loved this and had great fun. It prompted a lot of discussion among themselves and problem solving. I then extended this lesson and asked the children to make a slide for the cars using various materials. The children soon learned that the more steep the incline was the faster the cars would go. They also realised a steep incline meant that the cars were more challenging to control. It is definitely a lesson I will include again next year.
An interesting space fact is: Neptune has only completed one orbit around the Sun since its discovery!
