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I love the idea of taking the children on more nature walks around the school grounds for them to observe nature around them and learn what they are trying to protect and why.
The research question I have chosen is how has the average temperature and rainfall changed over the past 50 years in Co. Wicklow? As my school is based in Co. Wicklow it is relevant to the pupils. I would engage them in recording rainfall and temperature over a period of time and have them graph their results – this would link well with Data in Maths. Looking at Met Eireann data would allow the children to research using reliable sites. From this we could begin a discussion on how the changes will impact our daily lives and the lives of those around us. This could also be used to look at the changes and adaptations of the animals, plants and insects in our locality. Using the local area for research will help to connect the children further to their environment and allow for a meaningful discussion on what they can do to make a positive difference in their own locality – litter picks, water butts, growing more trees for shelter and habitats, growing their own food, conserving water, walking to school etc. I would use aspects of the Climate Detective framework as it is a very useful document with effective resources to incorporate into lessons. Looking at the data for the temperature and rainfall over 50 years would allow for teaching of the difference between climate and weather in a very clear way.
Thanks Irene, it’s amazing to see how many satellites are passing over us at any time. Being able to use these websites to explain to the children the purposes of these satellites is great – not saying they are “up there” without being able to explain their purposes. This is a resource I can see myself using with the children during ipad or laptop time.
I have chosen to look at From the ground and from the sky – Analysing and understanding images of planet earth taken from space | Teach with space PR10 resource.The activity pack says that this lesson will take approximately 45 minutes with 15 minutes teacher preparation necessary. I think it would take a lot longer and could be a stimulus to a science and geography project linked to Climate Change and perhaps as part of a Green School activity. I feel that the lesson would be best suited to the senior classes.
Using the photos of earth taken from the ISS would be a good stimulus for a discussion on why we need space travel at all and what information we can glean from having a bird’s eye view of anything. Having photos that have been taken by different astronauts at different times of day, looking at different parts of the earth would be useful for discussion the orbit of the earth and seasons.
Using the photos provided would allow for lots of language and discussion, pair work, group work and observational skills development. Having the answer key is hugely helpful as teachers are very busy and without that would have to look for all that information in the photos leading to more preparation time and the likelihood that it wouldn’t be used. This activity could also be linked in to atlas work, using map to discover mountains, rivers, deserts of the world.
Having looked at the photos in the first activity and having the pupils look for those places in the atlas, then using the satellite photos to look at those places again would change the discussion. Once they had time to examine both sets of photos and come to conclusions about the value of these sets of photos to geographers and scientists I would explain that they have matching pairs, the same location from earth and space and ask them to try to match them.
I feel this would be a very useful activity for 5th or 6th class when learning about many of the strands of Geography and Science including in science Energy and Forces (planet Earth in space) and Environmental awareness and care (environmental responsibility and stewardship/ sustainability) and in Geography Natural environments (weather, climate and atmosphere and environmental awareness and care (caring for environments)
I feel I would use it with senior classes but doubt I would use it with 8 or 9 year olds. I like the idea of printing and laminating them so that they would be available for use in the future.I agree Aisling – it is so important to be mindful of how this message can be heard by the children and how it could add to their anxiety. They really need to feel that they can make a change and not to be left feeling helpless. I would only use snippets of the movies and speeches to try to ensure that the very scary information was not shoved at them. I think using stills is a great way to do that. I agree with you that explaining what they can do – like recycling, reusing, upcycling and making posters to share the message- is a great way to empower them.
I found the Climate Aid 2020 video which was narrated by David Attenborough to be very stark and honestly a little scary. There is no way I would show that to children as I feel it would cause great anxiety. The Home video narrated by Glenn Close was very long and would be quite lofty to show to children. I would clip out small parts and show it to them. The imagery and music were both beautifully done in this movie and Glenn Close did a superb job narrating it. I found the piece about Dubai having year round sun and no solar panels to be quite disturbing but would use this clip as a discussion point on what could be done. The Colorado river no longer reaching the sea would also make for a very interesting discussion. I did like the way the film ended with some positive messages such as 13% of the Earth now being covered by national parks. I liked how it was suggested that we become responsible consumers – this would be a great stimulus for a discussion on fast fashion and being consumers. I really liked the phrase “It’s not important what is gone but what remains” reminding us that we need to protect what is still here. The video of Greta Thunberg’s speech is very powerful – for children to hear another child speak is very helpful is letting them see we can all play a part in protecting the earth and that we do not need to feel powerless – we all have a job to do and we can all play our part. I would take small parts of each of these videos and ensure that the discussion would be directed to what they can do – children need to be empowered as they are the future of this planet. Giving them the vocabulary, the knowledge and the inspiration is what I feel my role is.
I agree that activity 3 would be too advanced for the junior classes. I feel that it would be more suited to the senior classes – particularly 5th and 6th class.
As I mentioned in Module 1, I had already looked at activity 3 and felt that it would be a great resource to use when teaching the report writing genre in English. Adapting the worksheet may be an option in order to make it user friendly for putting together a report at the end of the research. I would also link the use of digital technologies to this piece of work and have the children use child friendly search engines to find more information about climate change to add statistics to their report. I do feel that it is important not to overwhelm children with the doom and gloom of climate change as they need to feel empowered and feel that they can make a difference. We certainly do not want to add anxiety to their lives. The PAXI video would be a really useful piece to share with the class and to use for discussion about the topic for the report writing. After watching it might be useful to compile all the relevant information onto a flipchart or poster for the children to refer to during the drafting of their own report. There is some language in the video which would need to either be pre-taught or explained after the video to ensure that the children understood what it meant.
I would also like to incorporate more inquiry based learning into my class and like you, feel that these ESA lessons would be a good starting point. Getting them to think critically is key to their development as learners and moving away from teachers having all the answers is definitely an important aspect of this.
I love the idea of keeping a running record of the rainfall, temperature and wind speed through the seasons. This would link to Maths (capacity, data, measures), Science (experiments) and geography (weather). In the senior classes it would be possible for them to take responsibility for measuring, recording and sharing the information with the whole school. Over a period of time it would be possible for the children to make inferences based on observations over a number of years. Perhaps it could be a project for the Green School Committee as part of a Green Flag project/ renewal. This would foster many skills including problem solving, critical thinking, collaboration and communication and digital literacy. I loved the youtube videos and could certainly see myself incorporating them into my lessons. The ESA lesson 1 – Is it weather or climate is a resource I could definitely see myself using to explain the difference between weather and climate. The Climate reporters lesson (3) could definitely be linked to English and the report writing genre. While the assignment asked me to look at and complete the worksheets for activity1 and 2 I found myself drawn to activity 3 which I feel would be particularly useful in my class setting. As we usually complete the Globe Air Quality project between September and November each year this would be a lesson which would link well.