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I really liked your research question and reflection Cathal. I think this would be a very worthwhile investigation to carry out with a class because it gives children the opportunity to explore a real-life issue in a hands-on way. I particularly like how you begin by encouraging the children to observe changes in their local park before introducing the science behind rainfall and plant growth. The practical activities, such as measuring rainfall and recording plant growth, would help them develop important scientific investigation skills while working collaboratively. It also encourages children to care for their local environment and understand how weather can affect ecosystems. It is a well-planned investigation that would be both enjoyable and educational for the class.
The research question I have chosen for my class is:
What impact would adding more green spaces have on our school and the local environment?
As we are school based in the city with no green space I think this would be a good research question. I feel it connects the children to their own school and community. Although we generally have a mild climate, the children can still investigate how hard surfaces such as concrete and tarmac become warmer than shaded or planted areas. This helps them understand that green spaces are important not only for reducing temperatures but also for supporting biodiversity, improving air quality, and making school environments more pleasant.
I would divide the children into small groups so that everyone has a role, such as taking temperature readings, recording results, taking photographs, or sharing findings with the class. This would encourage teamwork/scaffold learning and ensure that all pupils are actively involved in the investigation.
After we have finished collecting and discussing the results they could think about simple ways to improve our school environment. This could be in a simple way such as adding planters, creating small wildlife-friendly areas (insect hotels) or planting small trees in our sensory garden. They could then present their ideas to the rest of the school during assembly. An extension to the activity for older classes could be to write to the local council with their suggestions to see if we could get some funding for plants/trees. This would help the children see that even small actions can make a positive difference to their local environment.
There are so many satellites but here are five examples of satellites orbiting Ireland recently:
International Space Station (ISS) – This helps scientists understand how humans can live and work in space.
Starlink Satellite – These provide high-speed internet access, especially in rural and remote areas where traditional broadband is limited.
Sentinel-3 – This European Earth observation satellite monitors the oceans, land, and atmosphere.
NOAA-19 – This weather satellite collects information about clouds, storms, temperatures, and atmospheric conditions.
Terra – Terra is a NASA Earth observation satellite that studies the Earth’s environment.I am the same, I did not realise so many satellites pass over Ireland so often. It is very interesting and like you mentioned Sean a it is a bit mind blowing to see so many. I thought the same also that it can be an addictive website, 20 minutes passed by and I’m still playing around with the website.
Yes I agree it would be more suitable for older classes, I feel while it is very engaging the content and facts may be lost on younger children. It is quiet long so it would be best to pick suitable clips from the documentary.
I think the HOME video is a very good resource for introducing the children to climate change, sustainability, and caring for the environment. The film uses really powerful visuals to show both the beauty of our planet and the impact human activity has had on it. It encourages you to think about how people are affecting the plant in their choices and how nature is affected. It shows them how people and nature are connected and why protecting the Earth is important for both people and nature.
In the classroom, I would use selected clips rather than the full documentary as it is very long and it would be hard to engage their attention for the whole documentary. I would pick clips suitable for each class grouping. Before watching the video clips I would encourage the children to observe what they notice about different environments and discuss their ideas. We could do this again after discussing what they noticed in the clips.
It would be good to encourage the older classes to do projects such as recycling projects or planting projects to enforce the learning.
I found the Paxi video on greenhouse gases very engaging because it explained a complex scientific concept in a simple, child-friendly way. The colourful animation and clear language would help younger learners understand how greenhouse gases trap heat in the Earth’s atmosphere and contribute to climate change. There are also much more details for older classes to focus on. It uses key words without over complicating the video. It is very clear on the do’s and don’ts to help the green house effect which is clear for all age levels.
The TEAL tool was also valuable because it allows you to explore how different levels of greenhouse gas emissions can affect global temperatures over time. It would be more aimed at higher classes but it would get them to think about the long-term impact of human actions and highlights the importance of making good sustainable choices. It can be linked to geography and there are lots of options for group work activities around using this tool.
I could use this activity with my class as part of a science or geography lesson on climate change. The video would provide an engaging introduction, while the prediction tool could be used in pairs or small groups. The children could compare different scenarios and countries.
I really like your approach, especially the idea of starting with historical weather data before moving on to future climate projections. It would give the children a clear understanding of how temperatures have changed over time. You could integrate the lesson to maths by asking the children to graph their findings and this would give them a visual representation (this would be good in older classes)
I really like the idea of using videos to introduce the different climate zones to a 6th class and then having the pupils research them in groups. Each group could be assigned a different climate zone to research using a country as an example, allowing them to compare climates and present their findings to the class. They could create a presentation using slides, photographs and other digital tools, which would provide a great opportunity to integrate digital technologies while developing their research and presentation skills.
In my school we don’t have on overall weather station but I think this would be a great idea. The children from different classes could visit the school’s created weather station. In the past, with my class we have collected rainfall from outside our classroom window and measured how much has fallen over a period of time or recorded various temperatures. This would be particularly useful for activity 2 – weather detectives.
I enjoyed Activities 1 and 2 from the Weather and Climate resource. Is it Weather or Climate? helped reinforce the difference between short-term weather and long-term climate in a clear and engaging way. I liked the questions given such as – remembering what the weather was like on their birthday last year to this year to understand the difference that can happen on the same date. It gives them the opportunity to learn that weather refers to days/weeks and climate to years/decades. It is good that it can be extended for older classes to climate zones.
Weather Detectives encouraged observation, discussion and the use of evidence to support conclusions. Pupils could collect daily weather data from our weather station, compare results over time and present their findings using charts or digital tools, developing STEM skills across science, maths and technology. We have internal thermometers in our class and we could extend it by getting outdoor and indoor thermometers and comparing the differences and reasons.
One other improvement could be to include an extension activity where pupils compare their local weather data with another region or country to deepen their understanding of climate e.g pick a city in another country as a class and monitor their weather over a period of time and compare it to ours.