Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Diarmuid, I think you have some wonderful ideas to use in the classroom and school. I love the idea of the swap shop especially among the older students who order a lot of clothing on cheap clothing apps that travel huge distances. It reminded me of a Halloween costume swap and a Christmas Jumper swap which were run and were very successful.
In the area where I live and work sustainability is practised in many ways. There is some awareness about the different initiatives but I think a lot more awareness is needed in the community. In schools we are very well catered for through initiatives like the Green Schools programme and Energy in Education which helps schools imlement energy saving practices.
Many of the community based sustainability initiatives are a collaboration between the local county council, the ATU, the business sector and local community groups.
The local town operates a Green Business Hub which advices local businesses in ways to reduce food waste and improve recycling, The town was awarded the Ireland’s cleanest town under the Irish Business Against Litter.
There are an increasing number of fast Electric Vehicle Chargers in car parks across the town.
There is a development plan in association with Failte Ireland to make sure the local tourism sector protects historical sites.
There is a Bidiversity Action Plan in the area which aims to build climate resilience and protect natural assets e.g. the local lake.
Clean Coasts work with local communities to help preserve at risk dunes and waterways awnd coastal areas. Aid the Ocean have helped clean previous dumping grounds close to rivers, lakes and the sea.
There are strong Tidy Town groups all around the county working in their local communities to make the most of the area.
I think one of the best initiatives was the charge put on plastic bags in shops and supermarkets. And more recently, the charge on plastic bottles and cans will go some way to reduce the impact on the environment through littering.
I think it is important for us to make the children aware of the small changes they can make in the classromm and around the school and encourage them to bring those habits home and influence those at home e.g. turning lights off when leaving a room, closing doors, switching electrical appliances off at the wall etc, organising a daily litter pick on the school grounds, keeping track of what is gathered, linking in with tidy town groups and encouraging children to participate where possible. Linking in with someone from the local council to look at ways at bringing awareness to the local river, lake and woods which are used by the local children aqnd their families.
Hi, I enjoyed reading your contribution and liked the idea of integrating a maths activity into your lesson through surveys. This is a very good idea. In the senior classes, the children could lokk at the nutritional values on seafood packages and figure out some work around number.
Seafood is a nutrient dense superfood that is packed with protein, vitamins, minerals and healthy fats. Seafood is one of the best sources of omega 3 fatty acids which is so important for brain development and a healthy heart. Salmon provides vitamin D and calcium essential for straong bones and shellfish for example, mussels is high in zinc, iron, selinium and vitamin B12. I was surprised by how much iron is found in mussels and oysters.
In class, I would elicit what seafoods the children know and have tried before. We might bring in some prepared saqmples of cooked fish and shellfish, having previously made sure there are no allergies to fish/shellfish.
We would look at the nutrients in fish to and find out how they help benefit our development, health and wellbeing.
Omega 3 Fatty Acids- help our brains think, learn and stay focused.
Protein- help our muscles grow and repair
Vitamin D and Calcium- important for strong bones, teeth and nails
Iron and vitamin B12- maintain healthy red blood cells, tarnsport oxygen around the body and boot energy,
We might take a trip to the local supermarket where there is a fish counter aor invite a fishmonger into the class.
They could design a meal using seafood as the main ingredient.I also think inviting in a guest speaker to talk about their role is a great way to engage the children. I will defintely look into this for the next school year. I wonder is it possible to organise a field trip to a working fish farm? Does anyone know if this is possible?
The ARC online lessons and resources developed by BIM are an excellent tool that I can see myself using with me senior class in the coming school year. The first video, What is Aquaculture?, gives a very good introduction and insight into how fish are farmed.
The second video, Nutrition of Seafood explains the benefits of eating seafood looking at the different minerals and nutrients in salmon, oysters and mussels and explaining how they benefit us.I liked how it included the Irish myth, The Salmon of Knowledge.
Examining the different jobs that are involved in fish farming is very interesting and might inspire some of the children to think of these as potential careers. And finally, looking at how important it is to protect the environment, looking at organic foods and sustainability in the final lesson is also very insightful.
I envisage that these resources will make STEM learning more interesting and relevant in the classroom. The lessons will encourage the children to investigate real life topics e.g. aquaculture, ecosystems, sustainability, food production and tourism through hands on activities, critical thinking and problem solving.
I would use these resources to promote curiosity, teamwork and inquiry based learning which are the key ams of STEM in our curriculum.
Regarding the School Self Evaluation process, teachers will be encouraged to work together to improve STEM teaching across the school. By looking at and reviewing our current teaching, sharing knowledge and ideas, monitoring the pupil engagement and learning outcomes we will identify our strengths and weaknesses.
I plan on sharing the videos and online resources with the teams in charge of STEM and with the senior class teachers in our school. We as a staff could look at and review our school plan to include topics such as Aquaculture which is very relevant to a school located in the NW of the country where there are 2-3 fsh farms/industries on our doorstep.Aquaculture is predominant in many coastal communities particularly along the northwest, west and southwest coast of Ireland. These are areas where due to it’s geography, it’s not very suitable for agriculture. Rocks dominate the landscape, soil quality is poor, there’s little shelter and infrastructure. However,aquaculture is best suited to the area between Donegal and Kerry due to the weathering of our coast creating sheltered bays, inlets, islands and Killery Fjord, giving ideal conditions for aquaculture.Salmon, mussels, oysters aqnd other seafood grow succcessfully in our clean, sheltered waters.Aquaculture also provides much needed employment in counties where employment opportunities can be limited.Opportunities in farming, processing, transport and in the spinoff economy e.g. shops, restaurants and other local businesses can help an area hold onto its young people and attract investment into the area.
I currently teach a senior class in an urban DEIS band 1 school in a coastal county and I have never taught about aquaculture which is bizarre.We have the perfect location and facilities to provide the children with concrete experiences in their own locality. Students will be able to connect science and geography to our coastal surroundings, take field trips to a mussel farm, oyster farm and seaweed industry which are all within 10km of their school. They will be able to connect the importance of aquaculture to the local economy, on employment and realising all the are employed through the aquaculture industry in the area. They will also come to understand how important it is to protect our coastal environments.
The ARC is a fabulous tool which enables all children whether they live in an urban/rural/coastal or inland location to access and learn about aquaculture in a fun and interactive way. Hopefully, it will continue to inspire and attract young people to consider a future in the aquaculture sector which is vital for its success.
Hi Claire, similiar experience here, teaching in a DEIS 1 school in a coastal town but the children would not have any experience or knowledge about aquaculture. We have a mussel farm, oyster farm and seaweed industry all within 10km of the school. It would be a fantastic opportunity to make use of these as they are on our doorstep.
Deirdre, I too will use the Teal tool with my class next year when investigating and predicting future temperatures and precipitation. I will also show the David Attenborough video Save Our Planet.
I think starting at looking what we can do in the classroom, school and home is a great place to begin. The children can make such small important changes to their own routines and bring them out into their homes and wider communities. We looked at ways we could save energy in the classrooms and school and came up with slogans and small tasks that the whole school could tackle every week e.g. lights off, board off when leaving the class room, last one out shut the door, open the door to let heat out, don’t be a drip-turn tap off fully.
Question- How have rising sea levels and erosion impacted the coastal towns and villages of our county? What effect will rising sea level have in the future?What can we do to lessen the imapct?
A report in the local paper predicted that 94 metres of land will be lost to the sea in the next 100 years.
I will use this newspaper heading as a trigger. As we live in a coastal county with many beaches and small towns and villages closeby, the children spend many days at the beaches or visiting the restaurants and ice cream shops. They are aware of some of the changes that have taken place to these places over the last couple of years as a result of storms, flooding and erosion, driven by climate change, which threatens to damage homes, ecosystems, and infrastructure.
We could use access a satellite image to see the coast as it is presently. The children could interview local officials, business owners and residents to find out what changes they have noticed and how they have impacted their lives over the years. We could look at reports in the archives of the local paper to see the impact of storms and flooding have caused over the years. We could compare photographs from past and present.
The children could predict how rise in sea levels, floods and erosion will impact the local beaches, businesses and amenities. We could build a 3d model of how a rise in sea levels would affect these villages.
I downloaded the Nose High Up in the Sky teacher guide and student workbook as I thought the children would love working through this resource. I also like the activities you mentioned in your post, what satellites can see and smelling the air. Very simple doable activities which the children will find fun and engaging. They are very easy to connect with the concept too. I will definitely use this resource next year.
I used the website satellite tracker3D.com to track some of the satellites over Ireland at the moment. I was fascinated to see so many satellites in the skies above us. The children would certainly enjoy this activity and learning more about satellites in general.
Some of the satellites are;
Starlink – 1741 satellite internet constellation project developed by Space X. It aims to provide high speed satellite internet access particularly to remote and underserved areas globally.
Object_L (6/13) space debris associated with the SL-8 rocket part of Russian Kosmos
Cosmos 972 (space debris)was a satellite launched by Soviet Union as part of Sputnik program in 1978
International Space Station- Earth Observatio
Oneweb-0537- broadband internet services
I agree with the point you made in your post Monica, small changes are a great place to begin. Turning off lights, closing doors to keep the heat in, turning down the heat in the classroom, composting, making sure we recycle and reuse when possible are effective changes we can make in the classroom which hopefully the children will bring out into their homes and influence others to make little changes too.