[Amy Doyle]

I found this video ‘HOME by Yann Arthus Bertrand’ very interesting, informative and engaging.
This video shows aerial footage from 54 countries, depicting how Earth’s problems are all interlinked due to the pressure humanity has placed on the environment and the consequences of climate change.
I think this video would provide an excellent basis for discussion in the classroom around the actions of humans and their contribution to climate change. Human activities have been the main driver of climate change, primarily due to the burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas. The consequences of climate change include, among others, intense droughts, water scarcity, severe fires, rising sea levels, flooding, melting polar ice, catastrophic storms and declining biodiversity.
This video helps students understand that climate change is a global issue. I would use this video as a stimulus to explore the issue of climate change around the world. I would ask the pupils to then locate different countries around the world where climate change is happening, choose one particular country to research in pairs and then present their findings and compare.
This would enable the pupils to develop a deeper understanding about the impacts of climate change, and develop empathy towards those that may be more adversely affected by climate change.

[Amy Doyle]

Hi Fiona,

I agree that the Teal Tool would be suited to either 5th or 6th classes. The Paxi video however would be great for 3rd class up and provides an excellent basis for discussing climate change and greenhouse gases.

[Amy Doyle]

To carry out this activity with my class, I would begin by eliciting prior knowledge of ‘Greenhouse Gases’ by asking the pupils to brainstorm what they already know. We would then work on addressing common misconceptions and generating questions on what the children would like to find out about greenhouse gases and climate change.

I would then show the pupils the Paxi video on greenhouse gases and discuss.

 

With my 6th class group, I would integrate the activity with Data in Maths. I would split the class into small groups using one Chromebook per group.

Each group selects a different country.

They click on the air temperature tool and use the ‘time slider’ to explore how the air temperature data has evolved over time. They would analyse the temperature each 10 years and record this in a table & graph the data.

This will allow the pupils to see how the selected variable has changed/evolved over time.

They could then use the tool for predicting future temperatures, having analysed patterns over the past 100 years or so.

[Amy Doyle]

I love the idea of using a weather station as a whole school project involving younger and older classes. It is an excellent way to promote real life, authentic and relevant learning experiences about weather and climate.

[Amy Doyle]

Following my review of the paper Unravelling STEM: Beyond the acronym of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (Liston 2018), it is clear that meaningful, real-world and relevant STEM learning experiences are critical to inspire pupils’ creativity, problem solving, critical thinking, teamwork and communication skills in the classroom.

I found that both resources, Nose Up High in the Sky and Weather Vs Climate provide excellent opportunities for pupils to learn about weather and climate in a meaningful way using hands on, interactive activities which lend themselves well to group work and collaboration.
I particularly like how the Nose High in the Sky encourages pupils to use their senses to describe weather conditions. The informative teacher notes are also very helpful in terms of implementing these activities in the classroom.
The ESA Weather Vs Climate and Nose Up High in the Sky resources are excellent programmes of work which could be used over a period of weeks. They include real world, meaningful activities where pupils can explore their local area to collect, analyse and interpret their own weather data. The activities promote critical thinking and problem solving skills.
I look forward to using them in the classroom this coming year.

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