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Research question: How plants grow and survive in different areas- Does climate change affect plant life.
The children could research what helps plants to grow and flourish. They could research what plants would grow best in our immediate environment of the school grounds/ compare with plants that can grow in different countries and environments.
The children could also research areas where Climate change has caused damage to plant life and hampered growth.Plant some plants in different areas of the school- e.g. near the road with all the traffic/leave some rubbish on top of some plants/ shaded areas/ sunny areas/ in the field etc.
Water all plants at the same time and give a similar amount of water and observe how the plants thrive in each of the designated areas. Observe whether pollution and areas of high footfall with less minibeasts produce a different level of growth.
The “Nose High up in the Sky” resources will be a great asset when teaching about weather and climate. The clearly laid out activities and instructions will result in structured lessons but also with lots of hands on activities that will enhance the children’s learning. I think we take it for granted that children in 5th or 6th class know the appropriate vocabulary and can observe weather and describe it appropriately. Building the weather station would really bring this topic to life and could be shared with the whole school. The children could do forecasts and video themselves and perhaps share their videos with the whole school in the mornings.
Lovely idea to link it in with Grandparent’s day and discuss how weather forecasting has changed over the years. Also Grandparent’s weather lore and proverbs would make a lovely discussion point.
Home is a very powerful documentary which I believe would really hit home with the children about human activity having an impact on our environment. It emphasises how living a more sustainable life can have a huge positive effect on our planet. I would like to link this video with a project I carried out last year and plan to carry out again this year. It is on living a more sustainable life. We took our local town and sketched it and made our town in 3d using recycled materials. We then researched how to live a more sustainable life. We then added those elements to our sketches and 3d structures. The children then also did a whole class multiplayer project building their sustainable version of our town in Minecraft. This video would be great to watch during the research phase of our project.
This activity would be a great addition to learning about Climate and Climate change.
I would go over vocabulary and prior knowledge before starting. The videos are very informative and do so much explaining for you. In using the tool, I would firstly use it as a whole class investigation and use the interactive whiteboard as it is quite tricky. The children could then work in groups on their devices. We are a very multinational school so it might be an idea to work on a number of different countries and then to present their findings to other classes and involve the Green Schools Committee in their work. The children who originate from different countries other than Ireland would find it very interesting to learn about their country. We can then discuss our results and how we think we could encourage changes in behaviours to help.Great idea to get the Green School Committee involved. They will be passionate about it and help to promote it school-wide!
Claire,
I love your idea about having buddies with the ASD class to get them involved also. I will definitely look into this too!
STEM in my classroom is evolving from what 20 odd years ago when I started teaching when I would have taught it as a very stand alone area. I now try to investigate a topic over a number of weeks throughout a number of subject areas. Weather and Climate was part of our curriculum this year in 5th class. I have gotten so many great ideas from the module and by completing the activities which will be very useful. It is vital to get the children actively learning and making a weather station and observing the weather in real time will really bring this topic to life for them. Also getting the whole school involved in such a project would be very beneficial. We could also get our Green Schools committee involved in helping with constructing our weather station and helping to record readings. I also like to use Minecraft to build and explore ideas and possible future inventions which will help with protecting our environment. This might be an idea to expand on the learning from the activities.
Part 1
Based on: The Billy Goats Gruff
Resources:
Lego blocks/ duplo
Paper
Cards of different widths
Different sized duplo blocks with a printed/ drawn on face of a goat- 3 goats and one troll- Small Baby Gruff, Medium Mammy Gruff and Large Daddy Gruff and the Troll
The children are encouraged to build two pillars using the lego and then to construct their bridge using the paper and card. They will then test them out for the different goats to see which will hold the goats and save them from the Troll.
Part 2
The article was very interesting. Children in early education are naturally curious and pick up new concepts easily. They are also generally exposed to some sort of technology early in their development. However, it seems the research is still in its infancy and requires more time to make firm conclusions to any benefits/ disadvantages of computation thinking being taught in early educational settings.
In my opinion early educators are teaching computational thinking organically on a daily basis. Things such as following instructions in the correct order when completing tasks or thinking about conditional statements such as it is raining, we should wear our coats. Through Aistear they might be problem solving in their Small World or construction play- such as building using blocks.
Teaching computation thinking at an early age helps children to become better critical thinkers which is a huge benefit to them in their later lives.
Early educators have so many opportunities to promote computational thinking throughout the day. From unplugged STEAM activities based on stories or topics they are covering to using technology to compliment what they are learning. Simple coding games such as Daisy Dinosaur could even be introduced. Other great resources to suit all ages are the Sphero Indie and Beebots. The children can be introduced to simple coding using these resources and then they can build on the knowledge as they progress through school.
Great little game with such a simple idea of being rewarded for picking up litter. Bring the idea to life and if presented to a class by a child could open the door for lots of discussion on responsible litter disposal/ recycling etc. Well done!
https://makecode.com/_AF2aUUdav91h
Princess Planet- Protecting the Planet from Pollution
Player: Princess Planet
Location: Earth’s atmosphere
Enemy: Pollution (in the shape of a grey cloud)
Food: Stars
The game can be tied to the topic of The Environment.
The main character Princess Planet is trying to escape from the enemy pollution. She gains points by collecting stars.
It lightly ties in with the topic of the Environment and we would have covered a good bit on what pollution is and how to create a more sustainable world through using renewable resources, recycling and cleaning up our planet. We also integrated this topic this year with our literacy where we studied a beach clean up in India and the effect it had on the ecosystem.
Using the idea of a superhero character in a game would really bring the topic to life. They could come up with lots of ideas such as a beach scene with rubbish as the enemy and fish as the food; a town with smog as the enemy and apples (or some organic food) as the food…etc. etc…
How can digital tools create engaging and interactive learning experiences?
- Digital tools can bring topics to life for the children. In a world where children are growing up with technology at their fingertips, they are far more likely to become more engaged using digital tools as it is what they have become accustomed to. When students are more engage, they will in turn retain information better. Different learning styles can also be easily be accommodated using digital tools. Children can be allowed the freedom to work at their own pace.
Apply School Self-Evaluation Guidelines to improve your teaching.
- Firstly a focus would need to be established for Self evaluation- digital tool/ year group etc.. Surveys of all stakeholders should be carried out at this stage. Then evidence needs to be gathered. This would lead into the Digital plan being drawn up/ updated for the relevant focus. Once the plan is in action, it will need monitoring and evaluated and appropriate changes discussed and implemented if necessary. Using the SSE Guidelines will help to establish where we have strengths and weaknesses that need to be addressed and worked with.
How does developing your use of digital technology impact your school?
- I saw first hand how me developing my use of digital technology had a huge impact on my school this year. I undertook quite a bit of work with Dream Space this year. Through the Dream Space Ambassador programme, we set up a Digital Mentor team of students who taught coding to other classes (children and teachers) within the school. They also took on the responsibility of helping out with all things IT within the school from IPAD management to promoting Internet Safety day. As a result of me developing my use of digital technology, we had students in both 5th and 6th classes coding in Micro:bit, Minecraft Education and Make code Arcade. I also set up a coding club one evening a week for all 5th and 6th class students. I hope to use the digital mentors next year to spread more coding activities in the lower end of the school. We are also working on more integration of IT within all subject areas- the mentors will also help me with this in working with those classes. I gained a post this year in IT and have been working on our Digital Learning Plan with a team. For teachers who are not so confident with IT, it has been great to offer mentors to help set them up.
During the 2023-2026 period, schools have the autonomy to choose the focus of their School Self-Evaluation (SSE). Align your SSE with the Digital Strategy for Schools to 2027 for best practices.
- The Digital Strategy for schools aligned with our SSE will help inform and guide us to what are the best practices to choose to suit our school. It will guide us how to set up instruction and integrate it seamlessly within the curriculum. It will help us to prioritise digital learning when planning our professional development. Ultimately it will help us to decide what will provide the best outcomes for our students.
