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I carried out the ESA activity ‘From the Ground and From The Sky’ -analysing and understanding images of planet earth taken from space. its a great activity for the classroom. the worksheet is very clearly laid out, colourful and engaging. In this activity, pupils are asked to discuss and match photographs of the Earth from space. There is a nice variation of different landscapes to talk to the children about. (mountains, lakes, rivers, cities, islands, and deserts). I would encourage discussion about each place and what life would be like in each. The matching activity is very interesting as photos of the same places photographed on earth are also taken by astronauts onboard the International Space Station and by Earth Observation satellites.
I felt that the quality of the images and photographs taken were very good and the labels from the international space station would be very exciting for the children. I especially enjoyed looking at the images of the photographs taken by astronauts from the international space station and looking through all their Flicker accounts. This made the topic very relatable and would encourage the students in my classroom to explore these accounts also.
The ‘Did you Know’ section of the student’s worksheet was very interesting. It depicted a satellite image of a glacier taken over the course of seven weeks. The grey area was where the glacier hadn’t changed, and the coloured section was where the glacier had changed. I tried to imagine myself as a student in a classroom and during an activity I felt that an interesting piece of information like this added to the learning experience.
I would use this resource in a classroom as it easily generates discussion and different points of view. The matching activity also requires lots of observation skills.
I found the Climate change 2020 video very impactful. I was so affected by it as it made me question my own carbon footprint and more aware of the climate crisis. It is emotional and heartbreakingly sad. The music and visuals are so poignant. The visuals depicting pollution, destruction, pain and suffering of human and animal life on such a global scale alongside images of money is so impactful. The final line from Greta Thunberg saying ‘We have run out of excuses, and we are running out of time’ spoken alongside the sound of a ticking clock and followed by the image of a globe burning is really moving. Greta Thunberg’s Ted talk is very compelling and made me really question my own actions, responsibilities and personal accountability in relation to the climate crisis.
I feel that showing short clips from these videos would prove effective in the classroom. They would act as a lesson opener to engage children, to introduce the topic and to generate class discussions. I would use these videos to help children gain ideas and language for to make their own video presentations on the climate change challenge. ‘Home’ by Yann Arthus-Bertrand is breath-taking and moving. The images were so beautiful and reminded me of the incredible world we live in and our duty to protect it. It was so informative and very sad viewing such destruction and changes that have already taken place.
I found the ESA video on The Greenhouse Effect very beneficial, and I think the students in my classroom will learn a lot from it. Paxi the space explorer character is child friendly and will keep their interest and attention throughout the video. The visuals of the earth’s atmosphere and throughout the video are of a very high standard, very clear and repetitive which will ensure the understanding and the retention of the very important content of the video in relation to the Greenhouse effect. The comparison between the actual greenhouse with plants is clear and has engaging visuals with good sound effects. Th recap at the end of the video is excellent as it id directly linked to the worksheet for the children. this consistence of visuals helps to consolidate learning. I found the TEAL tool for predicting future temperatures very interesting. Kt took ma a while to navigate my way around the site and took time for me to get familiar with the tool. I think the children would also find this tool fascinating. Watching the videos help enhance my understand of how the tool works. I like that you can specify which timeframe of data to collect e.g. summer months in a specific country and they print out the findings. This would be a great tool for project work, or presentations are the visuals are very clear and professional. I did love the climate reporter’s activity; however, I feel that my class would need a lot of support to complete this activity. I would like if there was a filled in example of the exercise on a certain country as an example and explanations with visuals as to how the findings were researched. A lot of skills are used during this exercise including mathematical equations. Saying this I do feel it would be a very beneficial and exciting activity to complete within the classroom.
1. Review of the paper. Upon review of the paper ‘Unravelling STEM: Beyond the acronym of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics’( Liston 2018) I found it be very informative and to the point. At the beginning it clearly states the reasons for the emergence of STEM. It describes how governments and many research publications have highlighted the need for STEM lessons within our classrooms. Based on the SESE curriculum and these recommendations STEM education is reflected daily within my current classroom. I strive to create an environment in which the children are creative, engage in problem solving and critical thinking and practice communicating to one another through 1:1 engagement and within groupwork. The children in my classroom engage in frequent project work, both individual and group projects thus promoting teamwork. The children use the internet to research information and must use research-based content and present it as typed format. These assignments encourage critical thinking and improve technological literacy.The students in my class also conduct many experiments and as a STEM classroom we often further this experience by encourage students to design products to make the world a better place. In an ever-changing world with many current problems I encourage children in STEM lessons to analyse and interpret solutions to real-world problems and to deliver their findings to the class in a debate format in addition to written format. This solidifies the learning experience for all.I found the focus on ‘A simple pen’ in the article very helpful for a more in depth understanding of the STEM concept.
2. Feedback on ESA resources. I loved these resources and found them very colourful, engaging and child friendly. I like the structure of them and appreciate that there are teacher guidelines which will prove very beneficial for the planning process in the classroom. These will also help to facilitate collective practice within my school as I plan to email these to each teacher and download and create a school folder for a shared resource in the school. I am very lucky to work in a school that has a lovely outdoor sensory garden. There is an area where I think would be very suitable for to set up a meteorological/weather station and this will be done alongside another classroom. The students will enjoy making the weather measuring instruments and can incorporate these lessons into the visual arts. The entire school community will see the station and be able to access the results of rainfall and windspeed and air temperature on the school website and also weather board in the Dome area of the sensory garden which is covered from the elements. I particularly like the weather detectives and climate reporter sections of the climate and weather resource. It has very concise yet informative lessons for children. the children in my class would particularly love predicting the weather up to 2065! The interactive links such as ‘Paxi’s video about the greenhouse effect’ is very useful in addition of all the links and space ESA projects.