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I really like this research question. It has huge scope for exploration and investigation and would get the children thinking personally about their daily actions.
My research question would be how extreme weather events linked to climate change are contributing to soil erosion and can plants help stop this ?
I would begin by explaining to the children what soil erosion is.It is what happens when the Earth is saturated with water and cannot absorb anymore. I would show pictures of soil erosion and explain – it cost the world billions of dollars every year. It Causes pollutants in our water supply and it is a big problem in the world at the moment. I would ask the children do they think the extreme weather events that are linked to climate change that are occurring around the world ..flooding etc. may be contributing to this?I would then explain to the children that we are going to do an experiment, to see can plants help stop soil erosion. I would divide the class into four groups and show them the step-by-step experiment that we are going to do. This is an experiment that I came across on a website called science buddies.The children will have some foil trays . In three of the trays we will plant seeds in the other three trays there will be no seeds just earth. They will follow the step-by-step experiment where they will water carefully all of the trays over a couple of weeks and then at the end of the experiment they will open the tray and simulate a hill by just placing it gently on a container and then see do the plants help stop soil erosion . They will compare the data from the trays with no plants to the trays that do have plants. I will get the children to measure and analyse the data and record it and see how this could be applied in real world situations. I found this research question and experiment quite a nice and easy one to do within the classroom setting. It does not require a lot of materials and highlights the fact that soil erosion is such a huge problem globally that is being affected by climate change.
<p style=”text-align: center;”>I agree Grainne , this resource allows for huge cross curricular links and could lend itself to a thematic approach in teaching.</p>
Module 4-I downloaded the teacher resource activity guide for nose up high in the sky. I thoroughly enjoyed exploring the activities in this resource pack.Exploring and exposing the children to the weather Proverbs has huge educational benefits. The one I suppose I am most familiar with is -red sky at night sailors delight red sky in the morning sailors warning. I think the children will gain huge benefits from working in small groups discussing an assigned proverb and then reporting back to the class what the proverb means. A task like this has huge cross curricular links and would be fully supportive of the PLC. opportunities for oral language ,communication comprehension skills and teamwork could all be linked to this activity. In activity 2-sensing the weather the children will learn how to use their senses to predict the weather and understand that scientists would need scientific tools to provide accurate and reliable weather forecasts. I thoroughly enjoyed this activity as as very often if not daily I lookat the sky to see what the weather will be like and use my own senses. As we are aware, our weather is very unpredictable in Ireland. I thoroughly enjoyed this activity and the children could write and draw about what their weather forecast is using their senses. In the last activity building your own weather station I really enjoyed these activities.I think the children would enjoy these activities very much so. I think the class could be broken up into groups one group using the thermometer to measure the weather one could create the anemometer and one group could do the rain gauge. The weather station could be used on a weekly basis over time and children could keep their own weather diary to record measurements. I think the children will find it very interesting to compare their home-made instruments to store bought instruments to see the difference in measurements. This last activity brings the first two activities together and has huge stem and cross curricular links.
I agree Jane we need to be mindful and sensitive to showing what is she appropriate content and differentiate accordingly.
The video Home is a powerful video with beautiful imagery that strongly gets across the message that we need to focus not on what’s gone but what remains.Over half our forest still remain in the world. It highlights the fact that there are extremes in the world we live in. The video home highlights the fact that there are over 1 billion people starving in the world while the rest are overfed. It highlights the fact that we as humans are depleting what nature gives us.The imagery in this video is absolutely breathtaking and is definitely suitable for senior classes. I think I would begin by having a brainstorming whole class discussion about climate change ..try and elicit from the children what their understanding is and what they feel is happening in the world right now.We would then watch the video and afterwards I would get the children into small groups to discuss what they have seen and to try and focus more on the positive that was mentioned in the video to focus on what still remains not gone and what we can do to help slow climate change. Again even with a senior class, I think as young children the focus should be what they can do in their immediate environment. Turning off the tap ,reducing water consumption ,turning off the light switch ,turning off the television, walk to school or cycle to school ,recycle …all of these are within the grasp of even the youngest child. I think it’s very important that This will be the focus for young children.If they could grasp that the small things they do every day at school and at home will have an impact and help stabilise climate change. I would possibly briefly show the Greta Thornberg video just so that they can see young people have a voice and have the power to influence and change actions. However again I think the primary focus should be on what can we do every day small things to make a change. A follow-up activity might be trying the experiment that’s listed in module two ..the ice is melting.
I agree Fiona the temperature predicting tool is definitely something that is suited to the senior classes. The paxi video is excellent for the younger children and if they learned the basics about what they can do to help reduce carbon dioxide emissions I think it’s a lesson well taught!
Activity three involves predicting future temperatures which involves greenhouse gases. As I teach the younger children I would begin by having a whole class discussion on their understanding of what exactly a gas is. Is it something we can see? Is it something we can feel? Can we smell it? Can we touch it? do they know the names of any gases I would ask the children do they know the name of the gas that we all breathe in every day? Oxygen and when we breathe out, exhale ,do they know the name of the gas that we exhale ..carbon dioxide. I will continue then by saying we’re going to learn about carbon dioxide and that it’s making our planet a little too warm and this is not a good thing. It is happening too fast and we’re going to learn why. I would show the paxi video. I think this video is excellent especially for the younger children. It shows the natural greenhouse effect and how humans are contributing to the greenhouse effect and making the planet much warmer at a much faster pace. It also shows the children what we can do to help reduce the carbon dioxide being released into the air. I feel the temperature predicting ,the analysis of data, the comparison of data would be a little out of reach for the younger children. We might then get into small groups and talk about what we can do to help reduce carbon dioxide. Small things like walking to school, turn off the tap, save energy recycle turn off the television when it’s not being used are all extremely practical things that even a small child can learn and implement. I would encourage the children to draw the way that they think they could help reduce carbon oxide being released into the air once completed I would encourage the groups to report back to the class, show their drawings and reflect on what we have learned.
I agree with Grainne also having the weather station in a central location in the school with the green schools committee in charge is a great idea. The committee could report back to classes and show them how the weather station works.
Reading through the paper unravelling stem it is evident – barriers are removed and each subject area is intertwined. I found this very interesting as the paper clearly states that critical thinking and active learning are key components of stem education.Teaching children how to think and not what to think is a key component of stem education.Stem education in my classroom tries to embrace what has been said in this paper ..getting the children to plan, explore ,reflect.. how to make it better if it doesn’t go right,working in groups work as a team are all key components of stem education.
On review of the resources I found them to be of excellent benefit and something that I would definitely incorporate in my teaching. The weather station is a fantastic idea and I think to have it as somebody said at the front of the school is brilliant.To just realise the explanation – weather is a short time it’s what it looks like today but climate is over a long period of time measuring data .Just such a fantastic way to explain to especially small children the difference between weather and climate .Also the practical steps of using a thermometer correctly that it needs to be in a shaded area well ventilated area to give it about five minutes outside to adjust to the temperature.It’s something that can be done on a daily basis a weekly basis and a fantastic opportunity to incorporate all aspects of stem education It is something I will definitely use in the next year
I agree also Grainne and I think having the Green schools committee in charge of the weather station is a great idea!
Reading through the paper unravelling stem it is evident – barriers are removed and each subject area is intertwined. I found this very interesting as the paper clearly states that critical thinking and active learning are key components of stem education.Teaching children how to think and not what to think is a key component of stem education.Stem education in my classroom tries to embrace what has been said in this paper ..getting the children to plan, explore ,reflect.. how to make it better if it doesn’t go right,working in groups work as a team are all key components of stem educatio.
On review of the resources I found the to be of excellent benefit and something that I would definitely incorporate in my teaching. The weather station is a fantastic idea and I think to have it as somebody said at the front of the school is brilliant.To just realise the explanation – weather is a short time you .. it’s the way the day is today but climate is over a long period of time measuring data .Just such a fantastic way to explain to especially small children the difference between weather and climate .Also the practical steps of using a thermometer correctly that it needs to be in a shaded area well ventilated area give it about five minutes outside to adjust to the temperature.don’t It’s something that can be done on a daily basis a weekly basis and a fantastic opportunity to incorporate all aspects of stem education It is something I will definitely use in the next year
Margaret the alka seltzer idea is a great one to show to the class. Also for space week we let the younger children watch the rocket launchers the senior classes made in the yard! They had super fun both senior side and junior side comparing each other’s work!
For this module I would engage with the aspect of Rockets. I love the lesson rocket mice. I teach senior infants and I know they would love this lesson.
Firstly I would engage the children by showing them a clip of real rockets. I would ask them what do they think makes them go up? And down? We will talk again about these questions when we build our own rockets.
We would then follow the steps to make a cone shape.. chatting about other shapes we know about thus integrating maths. We would decorate our cones and then pop it on top of our bottle . We would then hit the sides and launch our rocket into the air!
I would then discuss again with the children what makes our rocket fly and come down? Could we make it go higher or slower? How is our rocket different to a real rocket ?
We would look at the science behind this .. that there is air in the bottle and when you press the bottle the pressure increases sending the rocket flying into the air.
I would conclude by asking the children to work in pairs and discuss is there any where else they can think of this happening at home or out and about and share their thoughts with the class. This is a great experiment for Space week also, engaging hands on and fun!
