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These are lovely examples of the school working with the wider community to promote sustainability. I especially like the hedgerow poster project, as the children could see their learning making a real difference locally. Involving the Men’s Shed in creating the school garden was also a great way to encourage collaboration and allow the children to learn from others.
Living and teaching in Dublin, I can see sustainability being practised in many everyday ways. Recycling bins are widely available, many people use public transport, walk or cycle, and local groups organise clean-ups of parks and streets. Within our school, children are encouraged to separate their waste, reduce food waste and use reusable bottles and lunchboxes.
In my own classroom, I have visual posters showing the children which bins to use and what items belong in each one. These are particularly helpful for Junior and Senior Infants, as the children can match their waste to the pictures and become more independent when sorting it. I would build on this by examining the waste produced in our classroom and discussing how we could reduce it. The children could also take on small jobs, such as checking the bins or making sure lights are switched off when we leave the room.
We could explore sustainability further by taking a walk around the local area to look for recycling bins, litter and other examples of caring for the environment. The children could also examine clean food packaging and look for sustainability labels, including ASC on farmed seafood and MSC on wild-caught seafood. We could finish by creating posters showing simple ways to care for our classroom, community and oceans. I feel that introducing these habits at a young age helps children understand that their everyday choices can make a difference.I agree that learning about nutrition from a young age is very important, particularly when children are surrounded by convenient food choices. Bringing food labels into the classroom is a great practical idea. I also like how you would use the information to create graphs and present the findings, as this would link the topic naturally with Maths, SPHE and oral language.
This module helped me to understand more about the nutritional value of seafood and the important role it can play in a balanced diet. I learned that seafood is a good source of protein, which supports growth and muscle repair. Mussels and oysters contain high levels of iron, while salmon provides vitamin D and omega-3. These nutrients are particularly important for children, as vitamin D supports healthy bones and teeth, while omega-3 contributes to healthy brain and vision development.
As a Junior and Senior Infant teacher, I would introduce this topic in a simple and visual way. We could look at the food pyramid and discuss where fish and shellfish belong. The children could sort pictures of different foods into the correct groups and learn the Irish names for foods such as salmon, mussels and oysters. We could also talk about the types of seafood they have tried at home.
A simplified version of the “Eye Spy in the Supermarket” activity would work well with infants. I could bring in clean seafood packaging for the children to examine. We could look for pictures, identify where the seafood came from and search for the ASC and MSC labels. This would introduce sustainability in an age-appropriate way and help children understand that labels can tell us about our food. Overall, I feel this topic could link well with Science, SPHE, Maths and Irish while helping children become more aware of healthy and sustainable food choices.I completely agree that the resources can be simplified for younger children through play and activity-based learning. As an infant teacher, I also think they would encourage curiosity, discussion and teamwork. I really like your point about building STEM skills gradually from infants upwards, as this would create a more consistent whole-school approach.
While looking through the ARC online resources, I watched a video featuring Professor O’Mara, a cartoon professor who explains aquaculture. I thought this video would be very suitable for the children I teach, as it uses clear language, videos and real-life pictures. He explains how aquaculture is similar to farming on land but takes place in water. He also introduces the three main species farmed in Ireland: salmon, mussels and oysters.
I could pause the video after each section to ask questions, discuss the pictures and introduce the Irish vocabulary for the different animals. The quiz at the end would be a fun way to check the children’s understanding. Each class could also complete a project on one of the three species through posters, artwork and simple investigations. Older pupils could research the topic and then share what they have learned with the younger classes. This would encourage collaboration and allow the older children to take responsibility for teaching others.
My uncle works on a mussel farm and is fluent in Irish, so he could speak to the children about his job. He may also be able to bring in safe shells or equipment for the children to examine. This would create a meaningful link between their classroom learning and a real person working in the aquaculture industry.
These activities align with the STEM Education Policy Statement because they encourage children to question, explore, communicate and learn through a real-life topic. On a whole-school level, STEM could be addressed through the SSE process by first reviewing current practice and gathering feedback from teachers and pupils. The school could then identify aquaculture or marine education as an area for development, set achievable targets, introduce shared projects across different classes and monitor how the children engage with and learn from the activities.I also teach in a DEIS school, although mine is in a city, so I can really relate to your point. Some of the children may have little experience of the coast or this way of life. I think the ARC and its real-life videos and images would be a great way to show it to them and make their learning more meaningfu
Before completing this module, I did not know a huge amount about aquaculture or the work carried out by BIM. As I teach Junior and Senior Infants, I think the videos and real-life photographs in the online resources would be particularly useful. Young children learn so much through visual and hands-on experiences, so seeing real salmon, mussels, oysters and aquaculture farms would help them make a stronger connection with what they are learning.</p>
<p class=”isSelectedEnd”>The resources could be linked with several areas of the infant curriculum, particularly Science, Geography and Irish. As I teach through Irish, I could use the pictures to introduce and reinforce vocabulary relating to the animals and the sea. The children could name the different species, describe what they see and learn simple facts about where the animals live and how they grow. The videos would also create opportunities for discussion and questioning.</p>
The Aquaculture Remote Classroom sounds like a very engaging experience because it is interactive, immersive and different from a normal classroom setting. Learning about aquaculture and Social Licence could help children begin to understand where food comes from, the importance of caring for our marine environment and how aquaculture supports people and communities in Ireland. Introducing these ideas from a young age could encourage curiosity and a greater appreciation of Ireland’s seafood industry.I really enjoyed reading your reflection and hearing about your connection to the sea growing up. I agree that aquaculture plays an important role in providing employment, supporting local businesses and helping coastal communities to thrive
Before completing this module, I did not fully understand why aquaculture farms are mainly located along Ireland’s western coastline. This area has many sheltered bays, inlets and shorelines that protect farms from the full force of the Atlantic Ocean. Different coastal features also suit different species. For example, salmon need deep water and strong currents, mussels grow well in deep water with gentler currents, while oysters are farmed in sheltered intertidal areas.
Much of the west coast has mountainous and rocky land that is less suitable for traditional agriculture. Aquaculture therefore provides an important alternative source of employment and income for people living in these areas. It creates direct jobs on farms, as well as supporting local seafood processing, transport, restaurants, tourism and other businesses. Initiatives such as Taste the Atlantic can also encourage visitors to explore coastal communities, meet local producers and enjoy Irish seafood.
I feel aquaculture can help smaller coastal communities remain economically active by creating opportunities for local people, particularly younger generations. When it is managed responsibly, it can support livelihoods while making good use of Ireland’s natural coastal environment. This module has helped me recognise that aquaculture is not only about food production; it also plays an important role in sustaining the social and economic life of rural coastal communities.
