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Some really interesting ideas presented here, James. Art is so individual and everyone’s interpretation is unique. There is so much scope for creativity when it comes to looking and responding to the night sky through song, poetry and artwork.
Consider how many Songs / Poems /Art can you think of to connect us with the Night Sky?
Providing children the opportunity to make connections with the Dark Skies through the use of Art, song and poetry is extremely important and gives children a pathway to show appreciation for the world around them in an artistic way. It also allows them to look and interpret how others view the world and the beauty that is in it. Some of the songs and poems that I have provided below exhibit this appreciation and consider elements of the dark skies that may not be previously considered or appreciated. This thematic approach gives children the opportunity to make sense of the dark skies in a number of ways and it is certainly the approach that I will take with my own class when I teach this extremely versatile topic.
Module 5 looks at how to make learners critically think about the night sky. This is important for children when they begin to look at art, songs and poetry that relate to the dark skies because they can relate their feelings to the feelings of others and how it is similar and/or different.
Art: Looking and responding to Art is a vital part of the Visual Arts curriculum so providing opportunities for children to discuss and debate art elements based on the night sky is crucial and it is something that I will certainly implement with my own class. I would consider art by Henri Matisse and John Rienpenhoff because their art is unique and contrasting from each other which further develops the concept that a person’s depiction of the night sky is individual.
Poetry: Poetry can be interpreted in many different ways so if I was doing this with my class, I would put them into groups so come up with the own interpretation of the poem so show the individually in it.
‘Recipe for a night sky’ by Kate Williams
‘The Night Sky by Val Harris
Song: I would get the children to consider their favourite line of the song of the part that stood out to them the most and to vocalise why it was their favourite. This oral language activity helps the children to further develop the message that the songwriter was getting across. I would use songs that the children may be familiar with for this activity to further develop an interest and stimulate their critical thinking.
‘A sky full of stars’ by Coldplay
‘Counting Stars’ by One Republic
‘All of the stars’ by Ed Sheeran
‘Half the world away’ by Aurora (inspired by the night sky)
Brilliant ideas presented here, Brendan.
Setting up a webcam to see what biodiversity exists in the school area at night would really stimulate the pupils to take more care of the environment around them so that the local ecosystems can thrive. This is something that I would consider for my own class when I begin teaching this concept.
How you would engage your learners to explore biodiversity in your local area and the possible impacts of light pollution on local biodiversity?
Biodiversity is an incredibly important aspect of learning for the children that we teach, especially those who live in built up areas such as Dublin where they are not always naturally exposed to its elements on a daily basis. Creating opportunities for children to explore biodiversity in their local area is vital to help children to foster their curiosity in the ecosystems that live all around them.
Module 4 outlines ways of exposing children to biodiversity in the local area with the use of a bug hunt to showcase the invertebrates that are present in the school grounds and the importance of their conservation. In my own classroom, I would begin by ensuring that the children understand what ‘biodiversity’ is. The useful clip about ‘what is biodiversity’ is a child-friendly way to start that process effectively. When the children are comfortable with the important vocabulary surrounding biodiversity, I would take the children on a nature hunt to explore their natural surroundings in their local area. I would use the local park for this because there is ample opportunity to see small plants and animals that inhabit it. I would encourage the children to take photos and videos using ICT to further develop their understanding and interest. The ‘identify a bug’ website that we looked at in Module 4 would be extremely useful here. https://www.buglife.org.uk/bugs/identify-a-bug/. I would then bring them back on a different day to see what has changed from the previous experience. I would then use a jigsaw approach to get the children to research their favourite plant or animal and they will teach their peers the new learning and bring it all together to find out more about the biodiversity in their local area.
In conjunction with this, I would develop a ‘garden restaurant’ for birds in the local area as outlined by Laois County Council ‘gardens for biodiversity’ booklet. https://laois.ie/wp-content/uploads/Garden-Wildlife-Booklet-WEB-17MB.pdf . This would be a very useful way of exploring biodiversity and would ask the children to take responsibility for the birds in their local area. Our school is in the process of constructing a sensory garden so I feel like it would be a nice addition.
To link biodiversity with light pollution, I would encourage the children to consider the impact of light pollution on biodiversity. The children will look at how nocturnal animals may be impacted negatively from light pollution and the knock-on effect that this has on the plants that rely on animals to survive. The children could design and make leaflets to give out to the local Councillors and community that outlines the negative impact that light pollution has on biodiversity and solutions to its negative impact.
How you would engage your learners to explore biodiversity in your local area and the possible impacts of light pollution on local biodiversity?
Biodiversity is an incredibly important aspect of learning for the children that we teach, especially those who live in built up areas such as Dublin where they are not always naturally exposed to its elements on a daily basis. Creating opportunities for children to explore biodiversity in their local area is vital to help children to foster their curiosity in the ecosystems that live all around them.
It is important that children gain in depth knowledge surrounding the meaning of biodiversity and its importance. I would begin with this when teaching this concept so that children can gain more knowledge to be proactive in their approach to conserving biodiversity in their local area. The useful clip about ‘what is biodiversity’ is a child-friendly way to start that process effectively to stimulate interest.
Our school is in the process of setting up a sensory garden so the approaches taken by Laois County Council in the ‘Gardening for Biodiversity’ is something that i would seek to utilise with my own class to help the children to explore the biodiversity in the local area with the use of the wildflowers that expose the children to the invertebrate that will inhibit it. I would go on a nature hunt and let the children discover new plants and animals. I would encourage the children to take pictures to note what they have seen and see how this compares with a second nature hunt on a different day. The identify a bug website that we looked at in Module 4 would be extremely useful to let the children explore the animals that share the world around them. https://www.buglife.org.uk/bugs/identify-a-bug/ . I would use a project based approach to learn about the new plants and animals that they have discovered. The children will present their findings to the class using a jigsaw approach. This jigsaw approach means that all children have access to the learn and can share their findings with others.
The child-friendly ‘garden restaurant’ for birds is definitely something that I would like to do with my own class because it will ask the children to take ownership over the conservation of the biodiversity that live in our local surroundings. https://laois.ie/wp-content/uploads/Garden-Wildlife-Booklet-WEB-17MB.pdf.
To further develop and link the possible impact of light pollution on local biodiversity, I would revisit light pollution and what it is using videos and ideas presented in module 2. I would then get the children into groups to consider how light pollution may impact on animals that rely on the dark sky. The children would consider the possible impact that this may have for the animal and use their prior knowledge to come up with ways of reducing its negative impact. I would also use the useful resource to help the children to consider how plant life may be effected as a result of light pollution due to the decreased numbers of nocturnal animals. This will expose children to the knock-on effect of light pollution in biodiversity. This would enable them to promote environmentally friendly lighting techniques at home, at school, and in the local area.
I think it’s very important to help children to see all of the external factors that need to be considered so focusing on the negative economic, health and environmental factors as well as the detrimental impact on the night sky is very important to highlight to help the children to get the full picture.
Detail how light pollution is impacting your local area and how you would engage your learners to explore this
Light pollution has has a very detrimental impact on the local environment in Dublin. Dublin has artificial light emissions close to seven times higher than any other county in Ireland. It is important that we make children aware of the impact that this has on the dark skies.
The children will be given a photo stimulus that depict Drumcondra 100 years ago and Drumcondra today. The children will compare and contrast the difference between the two photos and the negative impact of light pollution today in comparison with 100 years ago. The children will come up with the possible reasons for this.
The children will look at the useful video that describes light pollution and the four categories of light pollution. The children will study the map of Drumcondra using the pollution map resource https://www.lightpollutionmap.info/#zoom=4.00&lat=45.8720&lon=14.5470&state=eyJiYXNlbWFwIjoiTGF5ZXJCaW5nUm9hZCIsIm92ZXJsYXkiOiJ3YV8yMDE1Iiwib3ZlcmxheWNvbG9yIjpmYWxzZSwib3ZlcmxheW9wYWNpdHkiOjYwLCJmZWF0dXJlc29wYWNpdHkiOjg1fQ== to highlight the areas of Drumcondra that contribute to light pollution the most. This has very useful links with the Geography curriculum in terms of the children’s map skills using their local area. I really like the activity in this module that asks the pupils to consider where light is actually needed in their local area and where it is not as beneficial. The children could rank the most important uses of light in their area and the least important so help them to consider ways of diminishing its harmful effect on the dark skies.
To follow on from this, the children may construct a letter to Dublin City council outlining the negative impact that light pollution has on the dark sky and the children will outline effective ways of reducing light pollution in the local Drumcondra area. The children will also design posters that can be put up in the local area and schools to inform people and children about the detrimental effects of light pollution and the ways that light pollution can be decreased in the local area and at home in order to protect he night sky. In this way, the children can highlight the important of the night sky and use their initiate to make changes in their local community. This integrates with SPHE in terms of the children’s global citizenship and the importance of caring for the environment around them.
I really like the idea of the shapes game at the end of the lesson because it’s an exciting and fun way of consolidating the learning process. I will definitely use this idea in the future.
The Moon phases
I have acquired many useful resources from this module that help children to depict and understand the various moon phases. As a stimulus to this lesson, I would ask the children for their prior knowledge of the moon in groups. We would record this information on a whole class concept map. I would provide the children with a photo stimulus and they would look at a full moon and depict their understand and possible misconception of what it is. The children will draw pictures and cut out various moon shapes that they recall and this will be the trigger to begin the learning process focusing in the moon phases. With older classes I would focus and watch videos on the more advanced terminology (New Moon, Waning Crescent, Waxing Crescent, First Quarter, Waxing Gibbous, Full Moon, Waning Gibbous and Last Quarter). This can be adapted and changed as outlined in the Paxi videos to suit a younger age group. When the children have an understanding of this, I would conduct a matching activity to match the moon phases to their cut out pieces of paper to help them to visualise the moon phases more clearly and to also note any Misconceptions that they still may have before moving on.
To follow on from this and to further enhance the learning process, I would use the ESERO 62 activity outlined in Module 2 which Ellis the children to visualise and further explore the reasons for the appearance of the moon at various stages.
With my class, I would conduct the morning moon phase activity during the month of October in 2024. The third quarter moon phase is the most appropriate moon phase to observe in the morning and this can be seen on 24/10/2024 based on the time and date moon phase website resource https://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/custom.html?year=2024&country=32&cdt=1&typ=0&display=3&df=1
I would also use the observation log to ask the children to record the moon phase on carefully chosen dates to consolidate the learning at the end of the learning process.
I look forward to using these activities and useful website resources in my classroom because they can be used at various learning levels and adapted to support the learning needs of all children.
This is a lovely lesson and could be adapted to suit all age groups. Going to visit a sun dial in the park is a great stimulus and will provide plenty of opportunity for discussion to further their understanding of how a sundial works before they make their own.
Night and Day
I would begin with a trigger for this lesson. I would provide a world clock on the board with different time zones (link to Mathematics curriculum) that depict various times of the day and night. The children will be provided with a world map and they will match the time zone with the country. I would ask the children to look at the countries and depict whether it is night or day at that time. This will help the children to understand that at any given time it is night in some countries when it is day in other countries. I would chose the countries very carefully for this activity. The children will then come up with possible reasons why this is the case. I will put all of the possible reasons on the board using a whole class concept map and will help to see any common misconceptions that the children have about night and day.
The children will also come up with possible questions that they may have in groups and we will write them on the board.
Using the useful materials as outlined in the videos provided, I would turn off the lights in the classroom and get a classroom globe. One child will point a flashlight towards one part of the globe. The children will observe the countries that receive the most amount of light. The children will observe as the globe is rotated (turning on its asis) and will take note of the changes and how this relates to the initial photo stimulus of the various time zones all over the world. This will be an important visual description to see what the earth is doing in space (turning on its axis) to depict day and night all over the world. It shows how the earth blocks the some countries from reaching the sun which creates night.
The children will go back to the initial questions that they had before completing the activity and come up with answers for their questions based on the visual representations. This will inform the inquiry based learning process that is highlighted in the very useful Curious Minds / ESRO framework for inquiry in action.
I would then use the useful Paxi day and night video or a similar video to further develop the visual representation required to explain day and night https://youtu.be/MtRzy2TJAOQ?si=nepDR4zWFVbyz1UQ
This lesson can be extended to further develop the children understanding of seasons and the amount of daytime that we get during different seasons of the year and the reasons for this.
Many of the activities that have been outlined in Module 1 can be interlinked to help children to make sense of the earth’s rotation. These lesson’s would best suit older classes but can be adapted to suit the learning needs of younger children in a more age appropriate way.
