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That sounds like a fantastic initiative! The native tree planting with Amazon is a brilliant way to boost biodiversity, and an outdoor classroom with a pond would be such a rich, hands-on learning space. Wishing you luck with the Google application — it sounds like it’ll make a real difference for your pupils.
Where I live, near Passage East and Dunmore East in County Waterford, sustainability is a big part of local life. Dunmore East is a busy fishing harbour, and the fishermen there take part in a programme to pick up rubbish from the sea, helping keep the water and marine life safe. Passage East is a small village nearby, also close to the water, with fishing and a ferry as part of daily life.
For my class of 6 ASD pupils, I would keep this simple and visual. We could look at pictures of the harbour and boats, and sort picture cards into “good for the sea” and “not good for the sea.” This helps pupils join in by pointing and matching, even if they don’t use words. A visit or video of the harbour would help pupils connect these ideas to a place they know well.
My students and I regularly bring out litter pickers around the local area. We could extend this to a beach clean up to help keep the marine life safe. We could also as a whole school work towards a Blue Schools Award.
It’s great you learned so much, even though you don’t eat seafood yourself. I like your point about pupils maybe not knowing much about seafood either. I know lots in my class don’t eat it either! Using Science and SPHE to teach it is a great idea.
Learning about the nutrition of seafood in this module has real meaning for my small class of 6 ASD pupils, in a school in a fishing village in County Waterford. Seafood is rich in protein, iron, vitamin D, and omega-3, all important for growth and brain development, and it’s also part of daily life for my pupils’ families, many connected to fishing and boats.
For my class, I’d use simple, visual food pyramid charts alongside real or picture examples of local seafood, like mussels and salmon, to make healthy eating concrete rather than abstract. Since some of my pupils are non-verbal, activities like “Eye Spy in the Supermarket” would work well, using picture cards of seafood labels for pupils to point to or match, rather than needing spoken answers.
This links naturally to SPHE, teaching healthy eating in a way my pupils can access, and helping them to understand the work of the local fishermen in the village. It also links to Oral Language through games like “Eye Spy in the Supermarket”.
I completely agree. The ARC resources really do bring STEM to life through real, local connections. I especially like the idea of a Marine Team and working toward a Blue Schools Award. This would give our school a shared, hands-on focus that’s meaningful and rooted in our own fishing village community.
The four ARC lessons, What is Aquaculture, Nutrition of Seafood, Aquaculture and the Community, and Sustainable Irish Seafood, are a great fit for my classroom. They’re short, visual videos, which work really well for my ASD pupils. Some of my pupils are non-verbal, so having clear pictures and simple, repeated content helps them join in and understand, at their own pace.
Because our school is right in a fishing village, these lessons connect straight to real life for my pupils. They can see the boats that these videos talk about, which makes STEM feel real. They won’t however be able to see the farms as there aren’t any in our local area but they can learn about those through these video lessons.
This fits well with the STEM Education Policy, which wants learning linked to the pupils’ own world. On a whole-school level, this could also become a School Self-Evaluation (SSE) target, using ARC videos across classes to build science, maths, and a sense of pride in our village. Many of the children in our school have a special interest in aquaculture as their fathers are fishermen.
I completely agree, Kilmore Quay shows how aquaculture supports a whole chain of local jobs, not just the farms themselves. I especially like your point about it reducing reliance on wild catch alone, and how tourism ties into the wider marine economy too. Great example of how important aquaculture is for coastal towns like ours.
For my ASD class, I’d use a big map of our own coast, so pupils can see a place they know. I’d keep instructions short and use pictures and symbols, not just words, so non-verbal pupils can join in too. Pupils would work in pairs or small groups. For maths, I’d keep it simple and hands-on, using string or counters to measure, instead of just numbers.
Aquaculture farms in Ireland are mostly found on the west coast, in sheltered bays, inlets, and fjords. This is because the land there is rocky and mountainous, not good for regular farming, but the calm, deep waters are perfect for growing salmon, mussels, and oysters.
I teach a small class of 6 ASD pupils in a small primary school in a fishing village in the southeast of Ireland. Even though our village is not on the west coast, many of the same ideas apply. Fish farming and fishing support jobs and family income in coastal villages like ours. It also brings other local jobs, like boat work, processing, and trade.
Learning where and why aquaculture happens helps my pupils understand their own community better. It connects them to the sea, the jobs around them, and gives a real-life, visual way to learn about geography, nature, and how people earn a living near the coast.
Hi Eimear,
I agree, it’s very important for the children in your school to learn about the sea especially since they don’t have a lot of real life experience with it. Pictures and videos will be key for helping them to understand the topic.
My school is in a small fishing village, so aquaculture is not just something we learn about from a book, it’s part of everyday life for my pupils. They see the boats in Passage East, the oyster trays in the Woodstown, and the larger fishing boats in Dunmore East. Many of their families work in the fishing industry. This makes learning about salmon, mussel, and oyster farming feel real and close to home.
I teach in a 6 pupil ASD class, and some of my students have limited verbal language. Because of this, tools like BIM’s Aquaculture Remote Classroom work really well for them. It uses pictures, sounds, and hands-on activities instead of reading. This helps pupils understand and take part in ways that suit them best.
Learning about Social License also helps. It teaches pupils why people need to trust and support the fishing industry. This helps them feel proud of our village and understand the world around them, even without needing lots of words.
I like the BIM lesson “What is Aquaculture?” as it is a short, simple video that explains farming in water. This would work well for my pupils, as some are non-verbal and need clear, visual, easy-to-follow lessons. It can also be paused or watched again, which helps them take it in at their own pace.
I think it’s important to introduce children to aquaculture at a young age as it builds a foundation of knowledge for them so that they can better understand the goings on of their local village.
You’ve really given a great range of music, poetry, and art that all connect with the night sky. I will be making note of these for future lessons!
There are lots of songs, poems, and art that connect us with the night sky. I tried to focus on ones that kids in my ASD class would be familiar with.
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
Under The Sea- The Little Mermaid
When You Wish Upon a Star- Pinocchio
Reach For The Stars- S Club 7
Fireflies- Owl City
Counting Stars- One Republic
We could also use the art piece “Starry Night”- Vincent Van Gough and the children’s book “How to Catch a Star”- Oliver Jeffers as ways to engage the children at the beginning of a lesson on the night sky.
Mapping the school garden’s actual habitats gives pupils a hands-on connection to real biodiversity before asking them to problem-solve. Their suggestions for improvements (like planting evening primrose or reducing lighting) come from their own observations.
Exploring Biodiversity in our local area and the impact of light pollution:
I will begin by introducing the children to the book “Wild Things at School” by Éanna Ní Lamhna. I will show picture cards of a few relevant species from the book that we can find in our local area of Passage East and the associating harbour. Pupils will sort picture cards into “day” and “night” animals, then go on a short sensory walk around the school grounds using picture checklists to spot signs of wildlife (feathers, nests, insects).
We will then do a project to help our wildlife such as planting flowers or creating bird feeders.
To link this to light pollution, I will show two contrasting images on the Interactive Whiteboard, a dark harbour at night versus a lit-up harbour. We will discuss the ways in which light pollution can disturb migrating birds and nocturnal animals such as bats.