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Thank you some great resources there that I will use next year.
How you would engage your learners to explore biodiversity in your local area and
the possible impacts of light pollution on local biodiversity.Biodiversity in our school and locality would be a lesson my class would be really interested to do. I would begin firstly by exploring the concept of biodiversity and giving the children the opportunity to share what they know about biodiversity and how we can encourage and support it. We would go on a minibeast hunt in the school field and garden. Each pair of children checking and noting what they may have noticed and found. This summer in our school we were lucky to have a swallow’s nest with four chicks in the roof of the school and the children loved observing from afar the coming and goings of the adult swallows to feed the chicks. Our school also installed Swift boxes with cameras as they were found to be nesting in part of the school. The school garden and field is very popular and caring and growing different vegetables, herbs and plants is loved by all. The local tidy towns maintain the park beside the school and the insect hotel and herb garden are both lovely to visit on a nature walk. The local river was always visited and was always full of life unfortunately only last month a fish kill caused by a discharge into the river happened. This was heartbreaking and the whole community is very upset. This is man made pollution and a direct affect on our marine life and biodiversity.
To teach children about the affect of light pollution on local biodiversity we could as a school do an audit of the lights in the locality and check and see if we can make it more compliant and respectful for local biodiversity.
How you would engage your learners to explore biodiversity in your local area and
the possible impacts of light pollution on local biodiversity.Biodiversity in our school and locality would be a lesson my class would be really interested to do. I would begin firstly by exploring the concept of biodiversity and giving the children the opportunity to share what they know about biodiversity and how we can encourage and support it. We would go on a minibeast hunt in the school field and garden. Each pair of children checking and noting what they may have noticed and found. This summer in our school we were lucky to have a swallow’s nest with four chicks in the roof of the school and the children loved observing from afar the coming and goings of the adult swallows to feed the chicks. Our school also installed Swift boxes with cameras as they were found to be nesting in part of the school. The school garden and field is very popular and caring and growing different vegetables, herbs and plants is loved by all. The local tidy towns maintain the park beside the school and the insect hotel and herb garden are both lovely to visit on a nature walk. The local river was always visited and was always full of life unfortunately only last month a fish kill caused by a discharge into the river happened. This was heartbreaking and the whole community is very upset. This is man made pollution and a direct affect on our marine life and biodiversity.
To teach children about the affect of light pollution on local biodiversity we could as a school do an audit of the lights in the locality and check and see if we can make it more compliant and respectful for local biodiversity.
I love this idea of comparing the night sky in two differing areas namely rural and urban great visual for the children to engage with.
Detail how light pollution is impacting your local area and how you would engage your learners to explore this.
Light pollution is impacting our world in such a detrimental manner and this module highlighted this fact. I think we need to help our pupils become aware of light pollution and how it is having such a negative impact on our environment and on ourselves. I think it would be beneficial to include The Green School Committee helped by the local Tidy Towns in conducting a simple audit of the outdoor lights in and around the school and the locality. I must be honest light pollution is something I never really thought about until I started this course.
Motion sensor lighting is a good option it can switch on if and when needed. It could be solar charged as well. It is very easy to see the impact of light pollution, a simple drive at night and you will be blinded by the glares of the oncoming car bulbs. I find them very disorientating and was happy to hear that some countries are seeking to ban these new car bulbs. I can only imagine how harsh the glare of them are impacting on local wildlife and nature. I would show my class the shocking slide “The Background Growth Of Light In Ireland”. This is a stark visual and one that makes us stop, think and realise the affects of light pollution not only on our environment and wildlife but also on ourselves going forward.
I love this Thank you for sharing the Nasa
Moon Guide with dates will be so helpful next term.
Create a short teaching resource using Stellarium/ WorldWide Telescope
Stellarium and The Word Wide Telescope are two super resources that could be used in any classroom. I intend to use Stellarium next term to help the children engage with the night sky and all it has to offer. The class will help me set up Stellarium we will pick our location together and discover what we might hope to see using Stellarium (The Moon, The North Star, The ISS) I think it would be so interesting for the children to see the night sky above our school and locality. It is often very hard to see the night sky due to street lights and other forms of light disturbances. I would give the children a Night Sky Notebook and encourage them to go outside at home when it is dark with an adult to see what is visible above their heads in the night sky. The notebook could be used to jot down what they saw. Last year in my school there was great excitement and buzz when the Northern Lights became visible. These are two great resources that I will use going forward.
Create a short teaching resource using Stellarium/ WorldWide Telescope
Stellarium and The Word Wide Telescope are two super resources that could be used in any classroom. I intend to use Stellarium next term to help the children engage with the night sky and all it has to offer. The class will help me set up Stellarium we will pick our location together and discover what we might hope to see using Stellarium (The Moon, The North Star, The ISS) I think it would be so interesting for the children to see the night sky above our school and locality. It is often very hard to see the night sky due to street lights and other forms of light disturbances. I would give the children a Night Sky Notebook and encourage them to go outside at home when it is dark with an adult to see what is visible above their heads in the night sky. The notebook could be used to jot down what they saw. Last year in my school there was great excitement and buzz when the Northern Lights became visible. These are two great resources that I will use going forward.
Construct a sundial in your immediate area or plan for your school grounds to see where a sundial could be placed
Stem in my classroom can look very busy noisy and fun. I think that going forward I will make use of the ESERO framework as an opening to a lesson. It will be a great segway into a lesson or topic and a great way of getting the children to think.
If I was to construct a sundial with my group in 2nd class I would begin by exploring Shadows – I would ask questions such as Has anyone made Shadow Shapes on walls before? I would read a book about Shadows called What Makes a Shadow by Clyde Robert Bulla. After the introduction the class could go to the yard and explore shadows and shadow casts. I would use a cone as a focal point of reference and the class could note and mark where the shadow of the cone falls at various points during the school day.
The next step in the lesson would be to introduce Sundials and their uses. In class we could use the Ipads to look up about the world’s largest sundial Samrat Yantra. Explore the civilisations throughout history who used Sundials etc. WE would then design our own sundials and once happy with the finished ones we would decide on a safe and suitable location in the yard to place them.