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Hi Paula,
I like the idea of having a “STEM week” annually, where the school engages in local environmental projects. What a perfect way to connect children’s STEM education to the real world and real people, by connecting with projects and people within their own community! Thank you!
Aquaculture farms of Ireland are located mainly along the West Coast. This landscape is mostly dominanted my mountains making it unsuitable for agriculture but is where aquaculture is dominant. The Western Atlantic coastline has many land features such as sheltered inlets and estuaries not forgetting Killary fjord. These sheltered areas are ideal for aquaculture. Irelands climate being the ideal “goldilocks climate” not too hot or too cold and the gulf stream providing warm water during the winter and cooler waters in the summer provide optimum conditions for the aquaculture farms of Ireland’s west coast. Aquaculture farms support local and coastal communities directly through stable employment( the skill level is vast providing many opportunties) and indirectly, providing a sustainable food source, supporting and encouraging small businesses and also indirectly by boosting the local economy, money generated in the area will be spent in other businesses in the area, promoting tourism ,and also the maintainance and improved of local infrastructure such as roads etc because of these industries.
<p style=”text-align: left;”>Hi Karolina, I found reading your post interesting as it came from someone who lives in a coastal region and has seen and experienced first hand how aquaculture supports the coastal community it resides within, providing jobs, attracting visitors and tourism which in turn strengthens local businesses, ensuring these beautiful small towns of Ireland stay vibrant.</p>
This module highlighted to me the importance of children learning about aquaculture and social licence from a young age. Through the various resources they will learn about Irelands fishing industry and its importance in communities around Ireland as well as their impact worldwide. They will see how these industries are managing our natural resources in such a way that they will be here for generations to come. By teaching them about this sustainability children will learn about becoming responsible for the choices they make that protect the planet, also realising how nutritious the food provided by our aquaculture is and the benefits to our own health. Beginning this learning from a young age is important, it is sowing seeds of sustainability and responsibility, promoting irelands wealth of natural resources and employment opportunities, its taking teaching back to the “grassroots” of our beautiful country. The BIM social licencing projects include ARC, Taste the Atlantic, Young Chef Ambassador and Next Generation Oyster Farms. I found these very interesting to read about, particularly the Young Chef Ambassador project, what an opportunity for a young talent!
Hi Paula,
<p style=”text-align: left;”>It was great to read from a teacher that has experienced a visit from the ARC as the waitlist of over 500 schools seems like it will be quite awhile before we are fortunate enough to have an in person visit! I like how you approach the concept of social licence as being fair, listening to one another, giving everybody a voice in the decision making when it comes to topics.</p>So many ideas here Stephanie across the curriculum for Space Week, thank you!The Pe activity with the hula hoops to name and order the planets by distance from the sun, simple but effective!
Activity: making rockets using the esero enquiry framework.
<span style=”text-align: center;”>To spark and engage the children’s interest I would read the book “Mousetronaut” by astronaut Mark Kelly. It is such a lovely book on space while also having the message for children that being small doesnt mean you cant make a big difference! We will discuss how the mouse “Meteor” travelled into space. -On a rocket.</span>
I will show children images of different rocket ships using the primaryscience.ie website.
I will explain to the children that we are going to create our own “Rocket Mouse” using plastic bottles,sticky tape and paper.
By squeezing the bottle we will make their own “mousetronaut”fly.
The investigation;does changing the force on the bottle make the rocket(mousetronaut) go further?
We will discuss and record predications and carry out the investigation.
The more you squeeze a bottle, the pressure inside increases and the rocket goes further.
Hi Nicola,I love the idea of getting google maps to give the street view of some of their homes! As it really opens up the discussion to the whole class on the features of a house! And when it is personal and visual to the children all the better to captivate their interest!
Activity: where do you live? (Esero 5)
I liked this lesson in particular as I feel it provided many opportunites for cross curricular links to visual arts, geography,maths and sphe.
I would begin the lesson by getting children to talk about their own houses, making references to all the features, type of roof, garden or no garden etc. I would show them the different types of houses, terrace, detached semi detached bungalow,mansion,mobiles etc also showing them some houses from across the world, houses on stilts, igloos etc.
While noting all the physical features, I would ask them what makes a house a home, the feeling, the people living in, the relationships, the time spent and menories shared.
After drawing their home on a worksheet. They will then create their home from modelling clay and place all the houses together.
I will explain that they have now created a village but some important things are missing. What do we do everyday? Go to school..this village needs a school, a church to attend mass, a post office etc. We will discuss the importance of all these facilities and include them in our model village.
Activity : Life in Space
All children have such a fascination with aliens, I loved how this lesson steered the direction onto whats special for each child while still including the aliens!
I would begin by explaining to the children that we know there are many planets in space but as far as we know there are no aliens in space.
I would encourage them to think about what is special to them.
“If people did live on other planets, and they came to visit here on earth, what would you like to show them, what is special to you?” Try to think of an object or an animal that is special to you and why.
Without disclosing what it is, I would ask the children to draw the object and then in pairs act out to one another what it is. They fun will be in guessing were the right!
We will discuss if it was easy to act it out and figure out what was special to each person and why.
Children will explain what their partners special object is and why instead of their own.
They will also be given an opportunity to draw and decorate an alien using their imaginations!
<p style=”text-align: left;”>The book ” Aliens love underpants!”,thats why I love the sharing of ideas here, id never come across that book before and will definitely be adding it to my library to use in lessons going forward! Id say the children love it! The title alone has me sold!</p>
I particularly like the use of Bear’s Shadow’ by Frank Asch to introduce the lesson to this age group, a story such as this captures their attention from the get go and gets them thinking!
Dr.Maeve Liston’s activty set on the sun and shadows outlines many lessons on both topics including cross curricular links, I found it very interesting and comprehensive.
The activity ; Shadows in the school yard.
I liked the simplicity of this lesson, the limited amount of resources needed, but the effectiveness in terms of both learning outcomes and enjoyment for the children.
Questioning:
I would begin by asking the questions,what do you see today/where does the light come from/ what do you think your shadows will look like.
Activity:
Stand in line with their backs to the sun, describe what they see. Discuss shadows, how they are formed,where is the light coming from.
I think to keep this fun and engaging for the class I would allow them in pairs to trace one another’s shadow, highlighting that shadows are black, (later for visual arts we can get creative with coloured chalk perhaps!)
To further extend their learning, marking their footprints in their original shadows and then standing in the same spot at different intervals throughout the school day, will highlight how the sun’s position changes the length and direction of your shadows!
Thanks Irene for that fact, I will be using it going forward, it really gives a good perspective on the scale of the size of the sun!
How I would use one enquiry based activity in the classroom:
I liked the approach outlined for the lesson on materials which are/are not absorbant.
I would begin by using the prompt, I particularly liked the idea I having an “oops” moment, children love when teachers make mistakes, we are only human after all! But I feel it would really get them interested and the more dramatic the better!
Then comes the brainstorming and the questions to get them thinking, what can we do now to clean up to mess teacher has made? What could we use?
Looking at four different materials (newspaper,plastic,paper towels,magazine),explore them,name their properties,record the similarites the differences
Predict outcomes using the different materials,record predictions.
Conduct investigation using the four different materials. Record outcome using smiley/sad faces to indicate if material obsorbed liquid or didnt.
Interpret and display data collected using a pictogram.
I really liked this enquiry based acitvity and can see how children would enjoy all aspects of the lesson outlined.