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Research Question: What are the impacts climate change is having on our local weather?
Having such a young class we will begin with class discussion so as to assess the knowledge and understanding of the children in relation to climate change. Talk and discussion is key to correctly gauging the level of information on this topic and enabling active participation.
Children will engage in a hands-on approach to investigating and logging the weather we are experiencing in our locality at present eg: using a rain gauge to measure rainfall, using a thermometer to measure temperature over the course of a month and compare these results to the same month in the past so as to see the change over time.
Children will also engage the involvement of parents and grandparents by interviewing them/ answering a questionnaire/ filling out a survey that have been prepared by the children. This will give the children a meaning connection to and understanding of how weather and climate was in the past and observing the difference and change compared to todays weather and climate.
Such an interactive approach will be a more effective learning tool for the children because they are acquiring their accounts from people they know as opposed to reading the information from a book.
To further improve their research skills, children will work in pairs/small groups on the iPads to investigate the change in our local weather over the years and document and report their findings.
It would be a wonderful idea to invite local environmentalists / meteorologists in to talk to the children about weather and climate in our locality and how it has changed over time.
This would elevate the lesson to another level and the children would love the idea of such an important person coming into the school to talk to them.
Yes, I love this research question too. Incorporating animals into the lesson is always a winner with children. I know myself that bringing animals, especially penguins into any class activity/discussion engages the kids straight away and the lesson tends to flow a little more naturally and fluid.
I think I might try this research question with my own class!
Thank you.
I chose to do Activity 3 which focused on analysing and understanding images of Earth that have been taken from Space. I found this resource very interesting and thoroughly enjoyed carrying out each activity that has been designed for our pupils to tackle.
ACTIVITY 1: The Earth Seen from The International Space Station
This was a lovely activity to do. I loved the fact that the ISS was compared to a football field in size and this immediately grabbed my attention and interest. The thought of something this large moving around in space is mind boggling and totally captured my imagination from the very beginning.
I also found it fascinating to think of the ISS circling around the Earth 16 times a day. In my mind the ISS really is going at some speed to be able to capture 16 sun rises and sunsets every single day!
The photos of the Earth look so different when taken from the ISS compared to how the pictures look from on the ground. Also, photos taken on the ground look way different from the pictures astronauts take, even though they are often taken of the same locations!
This activity is excellent as a discussion starter and one on which every child will have an opinion. It lends itself to many talking settings from whole class discussions, to paired interviewing to small group talk and discussions. The possibilities are endless.
ACTIVITY 2: Match the Photos
In the second activity, the task is to look at and examine photos taken of Earth from the ISS Matching these photos of different landscapes in this activity was an interesting task to tackle and opened the mind to the possibility of various perspectives. The images we have in our minds of these places are no longer set in stone as the only image out there. This attention on varying perspectives really does help to broaden the mind. I have no doubt that children will find this activity very interesting and totally outside of anything they would ever have imagined. It would make a fabulous art lesson too!
Activity 3: Higher Up
The third activity really was the most fascinating exercise of all. The thought of these images been taken from satellites orbiting the Earth. Matching the images taken from the ground and also from the satellites really was challenging and I would imagine the older classes really getting stuck into this activity. It opens up the possibilities of other perspectives on the same landmarks. I have no doubt that the more senior classes will enjoy this activity.
I also agree with the fact that the EO Browser is so user friendly. I am pleasantly surprised at just how straight forward it is to use.
Having said that, I would be more inclined to use this resource in the higher classes. They would be well able for the challenge
While I found that the video was excellent and full of interesting facts and information, I couldn’t ignore the power and impact of the negative facts and images it shared. We have a huge responsibility to be mindful of the growing anxieties children are trying to navigate and so, while it is important to have balance in our delivery of the content, it is worth remembering that this resource is best used to back up the points of your lesson. This aid offers a multitude of stunning visuals of our world that are powerful in igniting passion to preserve our beautiful planet and I believe it is an effective tool for fostering this passion in children. Dipping in and out of this resource and nodding to the negative will also serve as an effective way of igniting a passion to bring about change and strengthen the fight to save our planet. This is without doubt an excellent and effective teaching resource when used in an age appropriate way.
I would be more inclined to show this video to a 6th class audience to back up the content of my lesson. I feel they would be more receptive to the balance of positive and negative effects of climate change and will be inspired to think of ideas on how we can help restore aspects of beauty of our planet moving forward. Geta Thunberg’s powerful Ted Talk would play nicely into this lesson, connecting with the pupils both on an age level as well as an inspiration level. Children greatly admire and look up to Greta and are always encouraged by her powerful words of wisdom on the need for chance and the importance of taking action now. Children can relate to Greta in the simplest way and can empathise with her concerns for our planet. Greta bridges that gap of age and so, when she speaks of what “we” must do to bring about change, children realise the “we” includes them and they become empowered
I also feel that while this is and excellent and highly emotive video, I believe it is better suited to the higher classes in primary school and best suited to second level pupils.
I would dip in and out of it with my own class but only as an introduction to or back up to the points of the lesson we doing.
There are some stunning images in this video and are certainly worth showing so as to acknowledge the true beauty of our planet an instill a passion to protect it as much as possible
I would begin this lesson by finding out what the children already know about the Greenhouse Effect and Climate Change. This will enable me to accurately gage their actual understanding of this topic. Talk and discussion, questions and answers and simple quizzes are excellent ways of acquiring this information.
I would then develop our lesson with the use of the Paxi resource. I found this video to be an excellent teaching aid and believe it can be adequately used as an effective teaching tool with many class levels. This resource is packed with lots of information and I feel it would require a few lessons to fully absorb the content of this video, especially with the younger classes. I love that pupils get to meet the returning character Paxi the Space Expolrer and instantly become engaged in the lesson.
The matters of Greenhouse Effect and Climate Change are explained very well and in a way that is age appropriate from start to finish. Throughout the video many pause and discuss moments have been brilliantly created whereby children get to talk about their thoughts and opinions and we as educators get to subtly assess their understanding of the topic in question.
This is an excellently thought out teaching tool for pupils of all class levels and the fact that learning takes place in a natural, easy and fun way is a real bonus.
I was also very impressed with the Teal tool. It is a lovely visual resource that enables the children to move along their understanding in a very engaging and effective way.
I feel the focus on data might be a little too advanced for younger classes and so, would use the levels of colour as a mark of change over time.
I have no doubt that the above teaching resources will assist the children in acquiring a far greater understanding of the Greenhouse Effect and Climate Change and how we are impacting this each day. The video is an emotive aid that will ignite empathy for our planet and it’s people and spark ideas on how we can improve the world we live in for the generations who will follow in the future.
I also love this idea of a Kahoot quiz to assess prior knowledge. It is a fantastic way of informing your planning and ensuring that the new learning is pitched at the correct level.
It is also a fun and very subtle way of engaging the children in “work”
Having reviewed the paper ‘Unravelling STEM: Beyond the acronym of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics’, it really shines a light on the importance of providing children with as many opportunities as possible to use and develop their skills in critical thinking, problem-solving, communication, creativity, active learning and working as a team. This is vital so as to enable children to progress in the area of STEM and is something I am very mindful of and try hard to foster wherever and whenever possible.
I found Module one to be excellent. It was very informative with lots of practical resources for classes of all levels. I have no doubt that I will be using them with greater confidence when we return to school in September.
As is often the case, a simple video, cartoon or just another voice in the lesson will often be that special component needed to drive a message home to the children. It brings variety and options to a lesson that enables children of all ages, abilities, learning needs and different approaches to learning, to actively engage in the desired understanding and learning in the given lesson.
I love how the videos provided in this module are very useful and age appropriate when explaining the difference between weather and climate. I have no doubt that they will be received very favourably by my new class in September. Not only do the children gain a better understanding of weather and climate….. but I do too! It keeps me in line with the age of my children and keeps the lesson as a whole, age appropriate. It greatly reduces the risk of me gaging the lessons above their level of understanding.
I really enjoyed the ESA Nose up high in the sky resource and intend using it with my new class over the course of a few lessons. It is a resource that is rich in content and integrates brilliantly with literacy and numeracy and also enables the children to play an active, hands on role in their own learning.
I love the idea of creating a weather station and am certain that the children will too. This invites the children into the lesson whereby they play the leading role. They have ample opportunities to create, monitor, record and interpret results from the weather station. It is undoubtedly the most effective way for children to learn.
I also love the whole concept of Weather Detectives in activity two.
Again, children play a very active and important role in the learning process. It invites creativity in designing and creating their own weather instruments from household materials.
It creates practical opportunities for the children to use the very instruments they are learning about and see and understand their purpose when measuring temperature, rain fall, wind speed etc…
This really is the most effective resource for teachers when teaching this topic and I have no doubt that I will be using it regularly when we return to school in September.
I also love the idea of a whole school weather station where every body plays an active role in the process.
It is an excellent subtle way to enable children of all ages to become engaged and active in their learning journey. They become more responsible as they take more ownership of their learning which will often result in better understanding of the lesson in hand.
I will absolutely be doing this when we return to school in September