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Hi Valerie, I think including first hand accounts from parents and grandparents is a great idea that would really engage the children.
I think a good research question for a class would be to study rainfall readings in our locality over the last 100 years. It fits the theme, is focused on a single issue, is not too broad or narrow, it is clear and concise, the data would need to be researched and the finding displays appropriately to make them clear, and it is feasible.
Met Eireann has a useful tool where it allows you to access all the historical data from a local weather station going back over the last 100 years. It is important to show that research like this must be taken over a long period of time to show trends.
I would engage the class by starting with a discussion, gauging what the class have already learned and know about climate change, and making a KWL or mind map to represent this. I would also embrace the design and make aspect of the STEM curriculum, and have our students become engineers, designing their own rain gauges and taking readings over the course of a week. We could discuss the readings to find out why a week is not enough to give a broad picture of climate change, and discuss what they think an appropriate time period is.
I think that having done this ground work, and having their own data collection to compare, the children would be excited to become part of the project, to see the changes for themselves in rainfall amounts in our area.Hi Mona I agree I can’t believe there are so many – I was amazed that while I browsed other replies on the forum, no-one else had listed the same satellites as I had, there were enough for us all to have unique ones!
At first I thought I was doing something wrong, as I thought I was searching over a longer period of time – I had no idea so many satellites could be above us at a time!
– Transit 5E -3 – This was a type of experimental space vessel used to test out various new materials and systems and how they held up in space.
– Starlink 3624 – Beam high speed internet around the globe.
– SL 16 R/B is a ‘dead’ satellite – it no longer serves a purpose, but is still tracked to prevent collisions with other satellites.
– CentiSpace-1 S6 This satellite enhances global navigation systems used for things like GPS systems so that they are accurate down to the nearest centimetre.
– Propcube 3 This is a tiny satellite that studies the Earth’s upper atmosphere.While I could not load the EO browser, I was able to quickly find lots of other options- I used In-the-sky.org and found it very easy to navigate, and very addictive!
Hi Michael,
I agree keeping the attitude positive and focusing on the impact our children can have on the climate crisis, and looking at solutions is the approach we should take to teaching our children about the climate crisis.
I loved the film ‘Home’ in this module, I will be watching it with my family for our next movie night. It was visually stunning, and left me with a true appreciation of what we are trying to save by taking actions to reduce our carbon footprints. I loved the way it showed all the beauty and wonder of Earth right from its formation and through time, and then juxtaposed this with facts, figures and pictures depicting the effects of climate change. I thought the hopeful way it ended, with steps that are being made to challenge climate change and positive impacts people can have on the climate crisis, made it a wonderful film to show young people, as it is very inspiring, and would not leave the very sensitive or anxious children in the class upset. Children should be left feeling inspired and motivated by lessons on climate change, not upset and fearful.
In contrast, I found the Climate Aid film had a big impact on me personally, and while I believe it is a very important message and this topic should make us uncomfortable and leave us thinking, I believe that the third and fourth class children would be upset by it rather than inspired, and that is not the approach I would want to take.
I think that the Greta Thunberg speech is also a great tool to use with children – when we speak about climate change we talk about cars, fuels, emissions, and many other topics that seem like they are ‘adult’ duties and responsibilities. Showing Greta Thunberg’s speech and speaking about her impact and influence during this climate crisis puts children in a powerful position of influence and helps them recognise their vital role in tackling climate change.Hi Ellen, yes I agree on needing differentiation for this activity, sentence starters would be a big help to some of my students of different abilities.
I had a look at the activity ‘Climate Reporters’, and thought about how I would use it in my class. I would do this lesson as a cross curricular activity while my class is learning about report writing during English. My class would start by watching the paxi video on climate change, to make sure they understood the topic. I’d expect the class would have a good grasp on what climate is and how it is changing having looked at the first two activities. I would then do the activity ‘Climate reporters. I would begin by using the opening paragraph as a prompt for a discussion, then have the children work in pairs or small groups to research the worksheet answers using TEAL. We would finish by having each group report back to the class. As a follow on activity I would have the children use the work sheet to create a short report of their own on climate, using the tools and templates they have learned. It provides a great real world application to genre writing, and a cross curricular link to Stem.
I agree John, trying to explain the importance of scale to a class as they create yet another favourite animal or hobby graph can be challenging, I agree that data they have gathered themselves, especially over a period of time, would mean the children are much more engaged in the lesson, and the real world application of what they are learning will help them see the value in the graph they are making.
I completed the worksheets on the ESA resources for activities one and two after I had read Unravelling STEM, and what I liked most was the way both activities provided clear, easy to follow and carry out lessons that easily led themselves to a cross curricular approach, as emphasised in Liston’s paper.
Activity 1 would make a wonderful jumping off point to climate vs weather with my class next year, and with its easy links to the language curriculum, I would expand the lesson by having each group of two come up with statements of their own, that they could present to the rest of the group and have them again sort into climate or weather, and spark some discussion and debate, and develop critical thinking skills.
Activity two would make a lovely project for the class to follow on from activity one – Collecting temperatures and using them to make graphs as part of a data and averages lesson would again fulfil the cross curricular link as well as showing the very real world practical applications of STEM, another thing Liston points out the importance of. I could be further built on by embracing our make and design aspects of the STEM curriculum, repeating the lesson with home made rain gauges.
One thing I would have to adapt for my class is the need for differentiated activities for children of different abilities – I would have to create differentiated worksheets for some.This is a fantastic idea CJ, I can only imagine how amazing this would look when completed – my school has used the bottle caps to create a mural and it is looks , so I think surrounding it with a living wall would be a great idea. I think children really nowadays have very little idea about our native species – I admit I would need to do a lot of research myself! But a project like this would make them unforgettable.
• Describe how you would involve your pupils in an art, music drama or creative writing project based around your local natural or scientific heritage
I would combine art and creative writing with a scientific exploration of the minibeast community found in the local park near my school.
First I would look at the heritage council tutorial ‘Let’s hunt for bugs’ a very simple but easily followed tutorial on using pitfall traps to catch and examine bugs. Creating these traps could make a wonderful design and make challenge of it’s own.
Next I would have the children return to class to use their bugs as inspiration for an art project – they could be done through whatever medium fits into your art planning for the year, paint, drawing, clay or even construction. This could also be linked to the lessons from module 1 on lenses, which had the children look at the uses of lenses and how they worked by using them to study minibeasts or plants.
Finally I would read the poem ‘Lady bug says…’ from Scholastic Teachables, and use it as inspiration to write a poem about their own minibeast, and of course, hold a bug releasing ceremony!• Using the suspension bridge in Birr Castle Demesne or a bridge in your local area as inspiration, describe how you would plan a class or whole school challenge to design and make a bridge. How would you integrate mathematical thinking and incorporate the maths skills appropriate to your class level.
I would use the ESERO lesson provided to help me plan this lesson, as I found it to be well thought out, and clear and easy to follow.
I would start with a class discussion on bridges. We would discuss what bridges are, where you find them, and what they are used for. We would talk about bridges the children have seen or heard about. I think the children would really enjoy the video of the farmer who built his own bridge for his cows, and maybe direct their though to uses for bridges that they hadn’t considered. I would then introduce the Suspension bridge at Birr castle and show the children how it works, and talk about the planning and designing that went into building it, and have them evaluate the design.
Next we would test out some bridge shapes using paper as outlined in the lesson. I would start with a simple suggestion (a poor one) and ask the class to work on groups to see if they can improve on my efforts, encouraging them to plan and evaluate their efforts.
I would then introduce the idea that we could build our own bridges. The children would work in small groups, referring back to our earlier discussion on what important things they need to plan for in their planning stages – where will it be used, what will it be used for, what materials they have to create it, how it will be evaluated, and set our criteria. I would then allow the children time to gather materials, before having a Making lesson in class where they build what they have planned.
Finally we would evaluate our designs, incorporating a lot of mathematical thinking into our questioning – Could it support enough weight? Was it long enough? Was it high enough to allow clearance? What angles do we see – and what kinds of angles were most/least effective? Was it build according to plan or did you have to adapt as you went – and if so what changes did you have to make and why? What would you do differently if you were to do the project again, and what did it teach you?
The ESERO lesson also gives lots of lovely follow up activities to incorporate ICT, citizen science and topics such as environmental impact, which would be a great way to take an even more cross curricular approach to the topic.Hi Mary,
I live close to this aquaduct and often visit it on walks with my family, my children love standing on the canal bank looking down at the river flowing underneath, but I don’t think I’ve ever stopped to really wonder at the feat of engineering it is! It’s a fantastic idea for a lesson and I’d imagine it the kind of lesson where a lot of fun laughter and chaos would accompany the learning, the best kind.
Hi Katelyn, I had been using google images for this, but was not always confident I was correct. This Nature at your doorstep tool feels much more reliable – while throwing things into an image search is always easy, the Lef identification app feels much more reliable, it would be a great tool for the children.