[Catriona Cunniffe]

I looked up the poem by President Michael D Higgins’ “Stardust”. I think it was printed in a Christmas card from Aras an Uachtarain one year. If there is one time of the year that resonates with Dark Sky it is Christmas as we think of the Star of Bethlehem and of course the magic of the Winter Solstice at Newgrange.

‘It is of stardust we are moulded by vapours and fragments from the making of galaxies. We are the broken bits of our cosmos moved by traces of embedded memory.’

These lines stand out for me from Michael D’s poem. The juxtaposition of our immediate, small and sometimes very messy lives against the hugeness of universal space is palpable and very profound in these words.

Shakespeare more than any other writer captures that sense of the profound mystery of life I feel looking up into the night sky. Romeo and Juliet is a story of the foolish love of youth and these lines tell of the innocence and overwhelming power of first love as Juliet fawns about Romeo in stellar terms.

 

“turn him into stars and form a constellation in his image. His face will make the heavens so beautiful that the world will fall in love with the night and forget about the garish sun.”

― William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

 

Nighthawks on the other hand depicts the alienation of life in a large city and the anxiety of urban living as the American Dream takes on faustian and nightmarish proportions in Hopper’s painting. The loneliness and futility of the brightly lit room throwing stark and cold white light into the night expresses the concept of light pollution before it was ever a thing.  Big city lights.  No stars to guide anyone home in the sky above.

Edward Hopper: Nighthawks 1942

 

 

And finally as I think about our own culture and one of the most awesome and beautiful love songs of our time also has a Dark Sky theme. Rainy Night in Soho. I like this version recorded for a Christmas TV special in Campbell’s Tavern, Cloghanover a lovely country pub near Headford where on a clear winter’s night you can see all the stars you like in the sky above. Enjoy.

[Catriona Cunniffe]

Hi Andrea. I think you love your music. I would only add one song to your list. Song to the Moon from the opera Rusalka by Dvorak. Sublime. https://youtu.be/oMGC362KszY?si=3iDQd0bAVjgWcX9O

[Catriona Cunniffe]

Brilliant ideas there Annette. I might be using a couple of them myself. It’s very important that the links to home are reinforced in order to promote lifestyle changes to enhance biodiversity and the dark sky culture. Thanks for pointing that out.

[Catriona Cunniffe]

How you would engage your learners to explore biodiversity in your local area and the possible impacts of light pollution on local biodiversity.

·       Explore different habitats (wetlands, woodlands and bogland) and learn about ecosystem services and how important the natural world is for the human species

Learn about threats to biodiversity such as changes in land and sea use, pollution and invasive alien species.
Learn about threatened Irish species (birds such as corncrakes, lapwing and puffins) and the importance of pollinator species such as dandelions for our many native bees.
Learn to identify species of plant and insects using charts, swatches and apps such as obsidentify (when other methods fail). Do a bioblitz!
Have nice experiences of connecting with nature more often.
Learn about nocturnal animals such as bats and their adaptations and how they are affected by light pollution
A really impactful way I think to show how artificial light affects nocturnal creatures is putting out a moth trap. Not only is it a brilliant introduction to the study of herpetofauna but it shows how vulnerable moths (and their predators) are to light pollution.

[Catriona Cunniffe]

Is’nt the night sky just fascinating Michelle! I’m sure you must remember the mystery and awe inspired in you as a child gazing up a huge, infinity of twinkling stars on a clear winters night. If we could manage to even share a little bit of that with the children we teach it would be fantastic.

[Catriona Cunniffe]

The school I teach in is on Clare Island which luckily for us has very few negative impacts regarding light pollution. Indeed while not part of Mayo Dark Sky Park, the island has in the past hosted dark sky events and the community have an interest in promoting the island as a dark sky destination.

We have already had a dark sky information seminar in the school where the children learned about using a Sky quality meter and about how darkness is measured (magnitudes per square arc second). However that said there are still basic modifications that need to happen before the island can be a dark sky destination in its own right.

Unlike Wild Nephin National Park at Ballycroy, there is light pollution from domestic homes and farmyards, and while there is not a lot traffic, it is nonetheless a residential area. Street lighting and security lighting (yes there is a security light at the school) needs to be modified. There is also a lot of lighting around the pier area.

 

Having already visited Wild Nephin and engaged in really great activities such as pond dipping for newts and other water-life as well as exploring live trapping, I think the children would be naturally curious to learn more aboutanother aspect of the park, the Dark Skies Project. We could possibly organise a visit from a dark sky expert from Wild Nephin over the winter. This would be a really good stimulation for further exploration and would also add momentum to the dark sky project on the island.

[Catriona Cunniffe]

Observing Plan for September-October-November-December
5th September
Venus
5% lit waxing crescent moon
Telescope? No

8th September
Saturn
In opposition
Telescope? No

18th September
Full Super Moon
19:54
Telescope? No

21st September 2024
Neptune
In opposition
Telescope? Yes

23rd September 2024
Equinox
Everywhere

17th October
Full Super Moon
19:54
Telescope? No

21st October
Oronoid Meteor shower peaks
In the night sky
Telescope? Maybe, because of the moon phase conditions are not very favourable

17th November
Uranus
In opposition
Telescope? Yes

All of November and December
Peliades ‘Seven Sisters’
In the constellation of Taurus
Telescope? No. Binoculars will be enough

7th December
Jupiter
In opposition
Telescope? No

[Catriona Cunniffe]

Hi Brendan, I too have noticed a lot of children with SEN particularly dyslexia have difficulty with time, reading the time, telling the time and understanding the concept of time in general. So experiences such as going back to ancient methods of timekeeping using sundials, water clocks and sand timers really help get the message across.

[Catriona Cunniffe]

I have reviewed the paper Unravelling STEM: Beyond the acronym of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (Liston 2018) and I agree that STEM education from an early age is crucially important for the learning and formation of future minds. I also agree that technology and innovation is an important part of the structure of an effective STEM lesson. I would add that art and creativity is as crucial to an effective STEM lesson and that the best ideas and innovation come out of creativity and play and looking at whatever the project is from a fun and playful perspective. As Special Education teacher in my school I would use the activity of how to construct a sundial to explain the concept of time and time passing. In the past I have taken 2nd class out into the yard to make sundials from their shadows as described.

However with the rain the chalk was soon washed away. It might be better to construct a cardboard sundial that the children can make for themselves. It’s actually fascinating that you can tell the time with your shadow isn’t it? And that time is basically measured by the movement of our planet around the sun. Consider Newgrange. Time is about light and shadow essentially. According to Scientific American official time is based on cesium. One second is 9,192,631,770 oscillations of the light emitted as cesium moves between two particular states. Amazing.

 

Anyway I made a rough cardboard sundial:

[Catriona Cunniffe]

I have reviewed the paper Unravelling STEM: Beyond the acronym of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (Liston 2018) and I agree that STEM education from an early age is crucially important for the learning and formation of future minds. I also agree that technology and innovation is an important part of the structure of an effective STEM lesson. I would add that art and creativity is as crucial to an effective STEM lesson and that the best ideas and innovation come out of creativity and play and looking at whatever the project is from a fun and playful perspective. As Special Education teacher in my school I would use the activity of how to construct a sundial to explain the concept of time and time passing. In the past I have taken 2nd class out into the yard to make sundials from their shadows as described.

However with the rain the chalk was soon washed away. It might be better to construct a cardboard sundial that the children can make for themselves. It’s actually fascinating that you can tell the time with your shadow isn’t it? And that time is basically measured by the movement of our planet around the sun. Consider Newgrange. Time is about light and shadow essentially. According to Scientific American official time is based on cesium. One second is 9,192,631,770 oscillations of the light emitted as cesium moves between two particular states. Amazing.

 

Anyway I made a rough cardboard sundial:

[Catriona Cunniffe]

I have reviewed the paper Unravelling STEM: Beyond the acronym of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (Liston 2018) and I agree that STEM education from an early age is crucially important for the learning and formation of future minds. I also agree that technology and innovation is an important part of the structure of an effective STEM lesson. I would add that art and creativity is as crucial to an effective STEM lesson and that the best ideas and innovation come out of creativity and play and looking at whatever the project is from a fun and playful perspective. As Special Education teacher in my school I would use the activity of how to construct a sundial to explain the concept of time and time passing. In the past I have taken 2nd class out into the yard to make sundials from their shadows as described.

However with the rain the chalk was soon washed away. It might be better to construct a cardboard sundial that the children can make for themselves. It’s actually fascinating that you can tell the time with your shadow isn’t it? And that time is basically measured by the movement of our planet around the sun. Consider Newgrange. Time is about light and shadow essentially. According to Scientific American official time is based on cesium. One second is 9,192,631,770 oscillations of the light emitted as cesium moves between two particular states. Amazing.

 

Anyway I made a rough cardboard sundial:

[Catriona Cunniffe]

I have reviewed the paper Unravelling STEM: Beyond the acronym of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (Liston 2018) and I agree that STEM education from an early age is crucially important for the learning and formation of future minds. I also agree that technology and innovation is an important part of the structure of an effective STEM lesson. I would add that art and creativity is as crucial to an effective STEM lesson and that the best ideas and innovation come out of creativity and play and looking at whatever the project is from a fun and playful perspective. As Special Education teacher in my school I would use the activity of how to construct a sundial to explain the concept of time and time passing. In the past I have taken 2nd class out into the yard to make sundials from their shadows as described.

However with the rain the chalk was soon washed away. It might be better to construct a cardboard sundial that the children can make for themselves. It’s actually fascinating that you can tell the time with your shadow isn’t it? And that time is basically measured by the movement of our planet around the sun. Consider Newgrange. Time is about light and shadow essentially. According to Scientific American official time is based on cesium. One second is 9,192,631,770 oscillations of the light emitted as cesium moves between two particular states. Amazing.

 

Anyway I made a rough cardboard sundial:

[Catriona Cunniffe]

I have reviewed the paper Unravelling STEM: Beyond the acronym of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (Liston 2018) and I agree that STEM education from an early age is crucially important for the learning and formation of future minds. I also agree that technology and innovation is an important part of the structure of an effective STEM lesson. I would add that art and creativity is as crucial to an effective STEM lesson and that the best ideas and innovation come out of creativity and play and looking at whatever the project is from a fun and playful perspective. As Special Education teacher in my school I would use the activity of how to construct a sundial to explain the concept of time and time passing. In the past I have taken 2nd class out into the yard to make sundials from their shadows as described.

However with the rain the chalk was soon washed away. It might be better to construct a cardboard sundial that the children can make for themselves. It’s actually fascinating that you can tell the time with your shadow isn’t it? And that time is basically measured by the movement of our planet around the sun. Consider Newgrange. Time is about light and shadow essentially. According to Scientific American official time is based on cesium. One second is 9,192,631,770 oscillations of the light emitted as cesium moves between two particular states. Amazing.

 

Anyway I made a rough cardboard sundial:

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