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We have been assigned a local park, Belgrave Park, as part of a Dublin City Council Initiative to get pupils interested in and active in taking care of the park. We have a very small school yard as our school is situated in a historical house and we do not have any garden or grass space. We have a few wooden boxes where flowers are grown.We have planted some trees and flowers in the park in the past, and our Coiste Glas have pickups bought to do a regular litter clean up there. We use the park as part of our school as the children (Rang 3-6) do a weekly athletics training session in the park, with an athletics coach.The younger children would use the playground regularly to exercise and when they bring their lunch, they are guided to dispose of any wrappings in the bin. There is a also a water fountain there so that they can fill their water bottles there. On the way back to the school, which is a 5-10 min walk, there are book exchange shelves, where children can take a book and leave a book and also a community noticeboard, where we post a copy of our school newsletter for the community to read. We would regularly read any community notices that would be interesting for the pupils e.g. dog grooming competition in the park or lost pets in the locality. There is a community committee in the locality and one of the members liaise with the school as he is on the Board of Management as a local community representative.
We frequently have items based on sustainability in our monthly newsletter e.g. a recent project on plastic items in our oceans.The children used recyclable plastic items to create their own sea creatures and fish animals.This was an Art and Craft competition for the whole school, with the parents invited to view the items created in the school hall. This was the theme for the Green Flag Initiative and we are on our 8th theme Marine Environment, which links in very appropriately with Aquaculture.
We have bicycle and scooter racks at the back of the school mounted on the wall to encourage less use of cars in travelling to school.There is a cycle lane outside the school and a bicycle rack for parents on the footpath.We do an annual survey in each class on modes of travel to school in graph form, to encourage children to take the fresh air options. We have done green sales /swaps of large and small items e.g. bicycles, camáns,musical instruments, garden swings, trampolines etc and we have a school whattsapp for parents and staff, if any surplus items need to be swapped or exchanged and it is used very often for this purpose. We return any disposible plastic bottles to our local shop at the top of the road and our secretary would fill a bag of refundable bottles in the office, if there are any special events being held in the school, to avoid them being put in the green recycling bin. We have a water tap on the ground floor where pupils can refill their water bottles during the school day and especially after sports. We also swap school jumpers and t-shirts, as they are laid out on tables, a few times every term so that pupils or parents can leave and take as they desire.
I agree with Paula that the Coiste Glas in schools is a very efficient vehicle to get the pupils in all classes interested and active in achieving sustainability.When there are 2 pupils from each class are picked every half term to perform specific duties e.g. checking the waste baskets to make sure waste is properly allocated to the correct bins, or making sure energy items are not left on power when not in use, or watering the plants with water from the rainfall barrel, or storing scooters and bikes on the wall racks behind the school, the pupils take their duties very seriously and they follow the good example of the older pupils.Pupil empowerment is the way forward with sustainability as it is the practical hands on approach.
This module is a highly interesting topic as the children are very interested in food and love to discuss their favorite food /meal/lunch. We have a little I Spy activity where we connect the 5 main parts of the food pyramid with items in their lunchboxes. This could be the starting point to instructing the children on the scientific/nutritional terms amino acids, omega 3, fish oil, vitamins A and D ans especially the importance of the 9 amino acids that the body can not produce but is found in seafood. When teaching this topic, it is important to emphasise that fish oil /omega 3 has been described by many scientists as “Brain food” as this will encourage the children to take these facts seriously.
I like slide 16 where all the various vitamins were listed and I think that basing an activity on this information would be very beneficial to the children e.g. matching fish food/ seafood with vitamins, comparing fresh food to frozen food in regard to vitamin content and percentages. This would be a great gathering evidence activity where the children could check items in shops or internet to verify these mathematical numbers. They could compile a fish / seafood pyramid noting the very best oily, fresh fish at the top to the battered fish / fish fingers at the bottom. I think that this would really drive home the benefits of consuming fresh locally caught fish /seafood at least twice a week. It would encourage children to be adventurous and when you eat fish/seafood as a child you will continue the habit as you grow older.
The facts about the amounts of fish consumed in other countries would be an interesting fact finding activity.It would be great to get a few enthusiastic children to act as “fish mongers” in order to convince the other children as to the great nutritional benefits of eating seafood. It would be very interesting for them to see that fish consumption has increased by 12 kg per person per year from 1970 (11 kg to 23 kg) but that we have to improve this as other countries are almost double this amount i.e. Japan 46.65 kg and Portugal at 55 kg.
The idea of a class quiz could be another way of kick starting the topic and it would be interesting to do a whole school survey to see if younger or older children eat more seafood. This could then be presented to the school Tionól and that could be a means of getting the children talking and discussing the facts and figures pertaining to the benefits of Seafood Nutrition. This could be further developed with the putting together of 10 Favourite Seafood Dishes/ Recipes.
I agree with Rachael and Jessica that the food pyramid is an ideal starting point to teach the importance of seafood nutrition, as the children are usually familiar with the food pyramid from an early age. The idea of using food packaging and cartons to investigate fish items for food nutrients and vitamins is a very good and worthwhile activity. These packages could be used for a wall collage with the various key words printed with it i.e. salmon, mussels, oysters, omega 3, fish protein, amino acids, vitamins A and D etc.
There are many excellent ARC resources available to teach this topic but I would use “All about climate” firstly with the you tube video on “Gulf Stream Explained “to give the background theoretical information on how the type of climate/ weather dictates where agriculture, aquaculture, vegetation, habitation etc. takes place. I would have one group of children listing these main facts using whiteboard and markers. A second group would zone in on Ireland and give a summary on the the climate / weather here and how it is suitable for all year round aquaculture. They would refer to weather maps and tidal charts.A third group would work on the activity worksheet on observing and investigating areas near the shore, and listing main natural features; fjords, estuaries, bays, harbours, islands etc.The pupils would use Google aerial maps as a main resource for this activity and they would list these features on a blank map of Ireland on interactive whiteboard. The fourth group would work on the 3 main types of fish farming giving details of mathematical facts /features, life cycles, careers employed in fish farming and would use diagrams and drawings to illustrate their findings.
Each group would report their findings/ facts to the class and afterwards to our weekly Tionól, which is divided in two 2; Junior Infants to Rang 2 and Rang 3 to Rang 6.This would be a further challenge to simplify the presentations for the younger pupils and to make them challenging and interesting for the older pupils.
I would follow up this activity with a few debates, with class divided 6 groups for and against motions based on Aquaculture.This would make the topic make it relevant to present day life challenges e.g climate change, lack of food supply, coastal pollution, sustainability etc.They would have to back up their arguments with actual facts learned from their own inquiries and presentations.They would score extra points if they could introduce further facts based on Aquaculture in Ireland in 2026.
I was interested in Diarmaid Beirne’s reflection as I also teach Rang 5. I was thinking that this topic would suit our Coiste Glas on a whole school basis as we have pupils from all classes gathering information and reporting back on topics like energy use and water conservation in the school. Your idea of a Stem Inquiry window with agreed criteria and goals is an ideal learning structure for pupils to develop critical thinking.
Aquaculture or fish farming is mainly situated on the North Atlantic Way Coastline and on the coast of County Down. As only 65 per cent of land in Ireland is suitable for Agriculture that leaves a 35 per cent that is unsuitable and therefore it is vital that we use our coastline to supplement it with fish farming. As we have a very extensive coastline, of 7,500km it is very important that we develop it to produce healthy food for sale and for consumption. The production of Atlantic Salmon, Pacific Rock Oysters and Blue Mussels are central to adding to the food supply and to the food choice as we move away from traditional meat consumption. This is vital both for local communities and also economically for the export market.
As our cities and the housing supply is under fierce pressure because of lack of supply, it is important that we are developing other communities in non city areas, where there is an abundance of land and space available. I am familiar with the area on the north western coast of Donegal, where people traditionally sold turf from local bogs to make a living as well as fishing too.Today, the fishing has decreased dramatically and fish farming is a very good alternative for those workers. The bogs can be developed and structured to build on where sites are available. Communities need to adapt and BIM and Aquaculture is the way forward and you do not need a lot of capital but you do need to inform local communities of the very positive benefits.
The first step is educating the next generation on Aquaculture and its benefits and in these two module I have learned of the excellent aids available to teach and to enable pupils to learn the facts on this subject.
I agree with Laura Brehon’s reflective piece where she emphasises the importance of Aquaculture for employment and local involvement, and also to support local businesses as these areas are not suitable for farming or industry, because of their remoteness and poor infrastructure. These areas where aquaculture is being developed could be vital to provide fresh produce to restaurants, shops and families too which would be very beneficial to both tourism and local development.
I believe that this topic of Aquaculture is a fascinating and very interesting topic for pupils of all ages.Firstly, we live on an island and when learning Geography, children learn that 18 counties have a coastline and many other counties have rivers or lakes. This has a very important role to play for all Irish people; holidays, pastimes, tourism, food supply, career choices, sustainability of marine life etc. Aquaculture has a long list of learning possibilities as it can be a controversial subject in some areas where local people oppose fish farming on their coasts, as they argue that it stops locals accessing beaches for swimming or water sports, and local people fear that it will cause pollution.On the other hand, we have to emphasise that fish, shellfish and seaweed is a very important part of our diet i.e. protein and fish oil, and that it is important that the supply is there for us to access. Healthcare professionals are advising us too that we have to reduce our consumption of meat and fish is a very good alternative.
Bord Iascaigh Mhara is the important link organisation which organises,trains, educates, informs, enables, sponsors and encourages the development of Aquaculture. It is vital that they plan ahead and focus on this industry to further develop it and also to induct a new and vibrant workforce to service the industry.
I agree with Jessica Mc Laughlin that this topic is very relevant to pupils in coastal counties such as Donegal and that inquiry based learning is very suitable for children to learn new facts and information on this very interesting topic.As a teacher in Dublin city, I see that many children spend holidays in coastal counties, such as Galway, Cork and Kerry.It would be very beneficial for them to be briefed on Aquaculture as they will definately witness these projects firsthand.As it happens, we go to Rós an Mhíl, in the Connemara Gaeltacht for a 3 day trip in Rang 5 to Coláiste Chamuis and we visited the new marina and fishing facilities there at the beginning of May this year.
It would be a very good idea to do a project with the children, in getting them to collect pisreoga, traditions and stories relating to the night, darkness and the other world. The children would benefit from information on other Gods of Death such as Hel (Norse), Hades (Greek), Pluto (Roman) agus Arawn( Celtic) and their association with Astronomy and the Dark Skies.
Death in Ireland would have been a very big occasion in communities which would be celebrated extensively and in various ways. There is a lot of material on this subject matter in the Dúchas.ie website and I think The Schools Collection, written by school children throughout Ireland in the 1930s would be very apt and interesting for the children.
We have Wake Games (170), Rites of Passage(573), Death(1076), Samhain (934) and Graveyards(2501) as stories, pisreoga and traditions to teach to the children.These are short paragraphs and very suitable for primary school children. As they are in both English and Irish, it is easy to have examples in both languages and have maybe a Writing Workshop for maybe 5 groups of children to discuss the various topics.
There is an interesting reference to traditions/pisreoga in the Death Section(1076), Eibhlín Ní Riain, Ballina, of the need for total silence during Wake time, even from the animals nearby, and milk churning was not allowed in case of making noise that would interfere with the silence need for the corpse.There is a little story there too of a little boy watching the sun moving slowly in sky and saying that he would like to get the sun moving as fast as he does when is doing his chores for a local woman, Nora Seán Liam. This can be found with the words starting “A ghrian, a ghrian, an raibh tú riamh ar aimsear?”
This collection is online and very accessible to the pupils and material can be printed too, to enable the children to read the material, rewrite any of it that they would like.They could organise the material in a Classbook Form or Wall Project Form and maybe present to another class/ school assembly around Halloween when darkness, death and dark skies would be very topical.
My favourite item from the long list of resources listed by participants is Patrick’s Starry Night tin foil painting lesson, based on the Van Gogh masterpiece,where children use cotton tips as opposed to a brush or hand to copy the lovely dark sky with its bright white and yellow on top of the dark cathedrals or castles.I think that that would capture the children’s imagination and it is also a very practical and enjoyable activity.
I think that the video from Dun Laoire/ Rathdown County Council , “What is biodiversity?” would be an excellent trigger or starting point for my 5th Class project on the subject of the impact which light pollution is having on biodiversity in our school area. We would also need to give a definition on what we understand with Light Pollution i.e. excessive artificial light which is not necessary or which is lit extensively, and which shortens the darkness of night.
I would show the video and then split the class in groups perhaps 4/5 groups to brainstorm on ideas they could carry out to do this project. We would need one group to list all the lights which are lit in the area and how long they are lit and whether they are the old yellow lights or the new blue led lights.
We would have the second group listing the main mammals in the school area e.g. foxes, cats, squirrels and what impact these excessive lights have on their habitats and foraging hours. The third group would list the birds in the school environment and especially the endangered birds on Bird Watch Ireland poster and also the robin, who is very negatively affected by Light Pollution in his early morning singing. The fourth group would list the invertebrates they can observe in the school area and how the lights/ lamps affect them.
The fifth group would explore how we could amend the lights / bulbs/ sensors to reduce Light Pollution. The account by Alyn Wallace on how the Welsh managed to reduce Light Pollution by changing to amber led lighting (2000-3500) from the blue led lighting, and the plantation of many trees for shielding from lights and thus managed to get 3 Dark Sky Accreditations for their conservation work would be very informative as a conclusion.This would show that action can be positive and very effective and worthwhile in the real world.
I would conclude by showing the class the many beautiful images that Alyn Wallace has photographed of The Northern Lights and Zodiac Lights etc. and these can be viewed in his video “The devastating impact of Light Pollution”.
I like the ideas of a polytunnel and hares corner that Caroline mentions in her post and they would be lovely ideas for our school biodiversity programme.I would love to develop a school pond for the enhancement of biodiversity in the school environment, as it would be magical for the children.
For the lesson on Light Pollution in the school area, which we would define using Google Maps. We would keep the area fairly restricted to enable a thorough examination of the different roads and street/road lighting, parks, schools and commercial properties with which the children are familiar with.The main emphasis would be our own school building, yard and footpaths and road adjacent to the school.
I would firstly help the children define what they understand as Light Pollution. Secondly, we would compile a list of the “main offenders” of Light Pollution; office buildings which are lit all night, multiple strong sensor lights in school yard or back/ front gardens, Neon lights on Commercial buildings such as cafes which are not switched off when businesses are closed, open street lighting which does not have shades to point light downwards, etc.
Thirdly, we would list the implications of such “over lighting”.These would include the inability to view the Dark Skies, interference with Natural Habitats and Nocturnal Animals, excessive cost and waste of electricity and the negative impact of bluer/led lighting on humans in their day /night routine and general wellbeing.
I would get a group to work on the development of the light bulb from the oil lamp in 1780 to the modern day led lighting, to ascertain what advantages/ disadvantages they all have in regard to Light Pollution. I would gather examples of same and light them in the darkened classroom to compare and contrast them and get the children to write a short report on their findings.
I would invite one or two public representatives to the school to show them the childrens’ findings and what changes they would like to see regarding |Light Pollution in the immediate area. We would also present the findings on the Light Pollution in our immediate school premises and yard to the school assembly, to teach the younger children the importance and the magic of the Dark Skies.