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I like the idea of connecting art/stories/poems/music the STEM activities as it can show that people have been looking at the night sky for a long time.
I would give the children the opportunity to come up with as many songs/poems/stories as they can (e.g. Goodnight Moon storybook, A Sky Full of Stars by Coldplay, Faster Faster Little Bat etc.)
We would look at artwork inspired by the night sky as collected by Dark Sky International https://darksky.org/news/7-pieces-of-art-inspired-by-the-night-sky/
We would look at a book released last year that is a compilation of poems by children in Gaza about the moon and how everyone is connected looking at the same moon.
https://www.handsupproject.org/shop/moon-tell-me-truth
We would then create our own Moon/Stars/Night Sky poem or copy song lyrics and decorate it with illustrations. These could be displayed in the corridor or school hall with information about Dark Skies for other children to also engage with.
I really like the idea of doing this around Halloween or Samhain festivals as it ties in with other folklore and traditions. It’d be a great collection to have on record too.
I like your idea of mapping the light sources around the school and the different types of lights used. So lucky to have St. Anne’s on your doorstep to refer to and to show biodiversity in everyday life.
We have carried out a lot of work in the school trying to support pollinators and make our school grounds and garden more bee and butterfly friendly but have overlooked the night pollinators.
After completing the lessons on light pollution we would explore some of the 1,500 species of moths in Ireland and how we can add to our garden to support the important pollinating they carry out.
We could use a motion detector camera in the garden to see what night visitors we already have and with the support of the Green Schools Committee we could create a ‘moon garden’ in our pollinator-friendly area. Identifying areas that could be left for caterpillars to grow would also be helpful.
We could carry out an audit on our school gardens to identify what trees we have growing and check them against the list of caterpillar friendly trees provided by pollinators.ie
https://pollinators.ie/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/AIPP-Nocturnal-Guide-2023-WEB.pdf
I like your idea of creating light shielding models using different light sources. I can see this being a really engaging activity with lots of different solutions and ideas that the children could explore.
1. Detail how light pollution is impacting your local area and how you would engage your learners to explore this.
I live and teach in an urban area which has a lot of new infrastructure and building work and has experienced a huge jump in population in the last 100 years.
Lesson plan 5th and 6th class
Firstly, I would show the children a range of public lighting and see if they can recognise any of the types and lighting and types of locations.
I would give each pair a copy of a map of Ireland and a satellite image of Ireland at night. Each pair would have to identify 3-5 areas of high light pollution and 3 darker areas. We would discuss their ideas on why this might be.
To extend the activity we would compare current google map images of the area to those some from the Norman Ashe collection to see how lighting has changed and what impact that might have on human wellbeing and biodiversity in the area.
Finally, pros and cons of public lighting can be listed and ideas for making it more environmentally friendly.
I really like the practical idea of using a torch. Also, bringing the supermoon into the lesson is a great idea as there is usually some media coverage you could also look at.
Create a short teaching resource using Stellarium
Firstly, I would demonstrate how to find the website, the basic navigation tools and how to find our location. The the class would log on and I would give them some time to try zooming in/out etc. before asking them to explore the night sky to find out answers to questions such as:
1. What planets will be visible tonight?
2. What planets would be visible today if we could see them?
3. Can you find Polaris and what direction is it in?
4. Can you find any artificial satellites and what are their names?
5. Can you find 3 constellations and what are they called?
5. What did the night sky look like on your birthday?
I would then ask the class to suggest challenges for each other to find locations in the night sky.
It would also be helpful to go outside during the week before the activity to use the school compasses to find North and revise cardinal directions before the lesson.
I really like the idea of using storytime to continue the theme of sun and shadows. This sounds like a really nice activity for senior infants and one they would enjoy talking about and participating in.
1. Gravity/Weight – Planetary picnic
This activity, provided by the Ogden Trust, is similarly to other weight activities I have tried before but the hands-on and visual elements of this practical activity make it really appealing. The resources, crips tubes and rice are readily available and familiar to all the children which is also a good starting point. It can also readily be integrated into other curricular areas, particularly maths, as it ties in well with the measures strand in the senior classes.
I would group the children and ask each group to make the tube for a planet – as outlined in the instructions. Using the weight chart, displayed on the whiteboard, I would ask them to weigh different amounts of rice/sand using a choice of weighing instruments at the front of the classroom. Once completed each child would get to feel the differences between the tubes. We could scramble them and see if they can order them by weight.
I would add maths problems using the weight of other common objects of the children’s suggestions and ask them to calculate the gravitational field strength of other planets to provide more inquiry-led aspects to the activity which is in line with Liston’s (2018) recommendations in Unravelling STEM: Beyond the acronym of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.
I like the idea of harvesting rainwater as it’s not that difficult or expensive to set up. This is definitely something my school could do too.
How could our school reduce our use of non-renewable energy and become a greener school? (5th-6th class project)
Firstly, explore non-renewable and renewable sources of energy and research where Ireland gets its energy from. Then, establish where our school gets its heating/electricity from and what uses power within our school (we have a large gas boiler room and a large fuse board and meters that the class could have a look at. Next, we can gather data and information. We could borrow energy made by Codema from our local library and explore how many kWh certain electrical items are using (e.g. the interactive board, laminator, photocopiers). We could calculate the cost by finding out how much the school are paying per kWh. We could explore lots of options for cutting down heating and electrical use such as reducing heat loss, turning off devices during break time etc. and compare to see have we saved any energy use through our interventions. Finally, we could present our research and findings to the school during assembly and create a display area focussing on green energy and energy use reduction for the school to use.
I really like the idea of applying the browser to real-world situations. Looking up desertification and rainforest loss would be a great extension to some STEM activities.
I downloaded the Satellite tracker app but found it difficult to find past activity rather than future sightings so I also used the in-th-sky.org website.
1. Terra: A satellite the size of a school bus that carries 5 instruments that take measurements of Earth activity. One instrument (Mopitt – Measurement of Pollution in the Troposphere) focuses on carbon monoxide levels, sources and movement which is important in seeing the effects of human activity on the enviroment.
2. Suomi NPP – A polar-orbiting satellite that is used to gather information for weather and climate and ozone levels.
3. Starlink – 2268 – One of numerous Starlink satellites to pass near Dublin. SpaceX owned satellite used for communications.
4. ISS – International Space Station – Collaborative space station of 5 different space agencies used to gather data to further information and scientific knowledge of space and earth.
5. Aura – monitoring ozone levels and collecting solar radiation data using the OMI – Ozone Monitoring Instrument.
I found this activity interesting but it’s a lesson that would be suited to older classes or groups of students that needed extension work or projects.