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Hi Michele, I like your practical idea of creating welcome packs, multilingual signs and digital storybooks. These activities would help newly arrived children feel included while giving pupils a meaningful role in welcoming others. Linking with local services and volunteer groups would also strengthen community partnerships and provide useful evidence for SSE through pupil voice and active citizenship.
There are several organisations supporting refugees and migrants in Longford, including Longford County Council’s Local Authority Integration Team, Longford Citizens Information Centre, Longford Women’s Link and Longford Community Resources CLG. These services provide information, advocacy, practical support and opportunities for social inclusion.
Our school could support refugees by creating a welcoming and inclusive environment where every child’s language, culture and identity are respected. Pupils could prepare welcome packs for new families, create multilingual signs, organise an intercultural day and collect useful school supplies in consultation with local organisations. Older pupils could research common myths about refugees and create posters or presentations that promote accurate information and empathy. This is important because negative perceptions of migrants and refugees are often reinforced through media messages.
Any classroom discussion should be handled sensitively, particularly where pupils have experienced migration, conflict or displacement. Children should be supported without being singled out, and a class agreement could help ensure respectful discussion.
Development Education could feed into SSE by examining how welcoming and inclusive the school is. Evidence could be gathered through pupil and parent surveys, classroom observations and a review of school resources and policies. Targets might include improving pupil voice, strengthening links with local support organisations and increasing intercultural activities across the school.
Hi Colin, I agree that a culturally diverse school provides a valuable opportunity to explore SDG 10 in a meaningful way. Using stories, music and art can help pupils appreciate different cultures, while kindness and anti-bullying projects encourage practical local action. I also like how you connect these activities with pupil voice, wellbeing and inclusion through SSE.
I would focus on SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production, particularly food waste. Children encounter this issue locally when uneaten lunches and food packaging are thrown away at school or at home. Globally, food waste is linked to the unequal use of land, water and other resources, while many children still experience hunger and poverty. The module highlights that inequality exists both locally and globally and requires a collective response through the Sustainable Development Goals.
I would begin with a pupil-led food-waste audit in which the class measures what is discarded over one week. Pupils could discuss the results, survey other classes and suggest practical actions such as smaller portions, reusable lunch containers, composting and a “zero-waste lunch” day. A student committee could create posters, speak at assembly and share ideas with families.
To support Priority Action Area 5, I would involve the wider community by working with the local authority, a community garden or a local environmental group. This reflects the strategy’s emphasis on cooperation between schools, communities, civil-society organisations and local authorities.
This project could feed into SSE by gathering baseline evidence, listening to pupil voice, setting a measurable waste-reduction target and reviewing progress each term. It would allow pupils to see that small, organised local actions can contribute to wider global change.
Hi Rose, I really liked your honest reflection and your classroom example from STEM lessons. Boys taking over practical tasks can easily affect girls’ confidence and participation. Your suggestions of rotating roles, reviewing classroom books and highlighting women in history and science are practical ways to challenge stereotypes and promote equality throughout the school.
Gender stereotypes can influence children from a very young age by shaping their interests, confidence and expectations. The module notes that stereotypes are often reinforced through toys, activities and messages such as telling boys not to cry, and that they can later affect children’s career and life choices.
One example I have seen is during playtime when some pupils said that football was “for boys” while caring for dolls was “for girls.” These comments may seem harmless, but they can discourage children from exploring activities they genuinely enjoy. I would use Development Education methodologies such as discussion, questioning, role-play and collaborative group work to challenge these assumptions. Pupils could examine pictures of people in different jobs, discuss whether interests belong to a particular gender and hear stories that present boys and girls in varied roles. The aim would be to create a safe space where children can question stereotypes and recognise that everyone should have equal choices and opportunities. This reflects the module’s focus on exploring whether boys and girls can enjoy the same things.
Development Education could also feed into SSE through pupil surveys, classroom observations and reviews of books, displays and school activities. The school could then set targets to improve representation, participation and equality.Hi Mallorie, I agree that Development Education helps children become informed, empathetic and responsible global citizens. Your idea of using discussions, stories and real-life topics across different subjects is a practical way to make learning meaningful. Collaborative planning would also help ensure that Development Education becomes a consistent, whole-school approach rather than a once-off activity.
Ehigie argues that global citizenship begins with recognising our shared humanity and understanding that issues such as poverty, racism and inequality affect us all. I found his idea of the “system of self” especially important: change begins when individuals reflect on their own attitudes and choices, then work with others to challenge injustice. He also presents education as essential for developing empathy, awareness and social responsibility.
Development Education is important because it helps pupils question stereotypes, consider different perspectives and understand the connection between local and global issues. It also gives children the confidence to believe that their actions can make a difference.
In my teaching, I would integrate Development Education across subjects. Pupils could explore migration in history and geography, equality in SPHE, climate change in science and global issues through English, art and drama. I would also encourage pupil-led projects based on solidarity rather than charity.
To involve colleagues, I would share resources and suggest whole-school themes. Development Education could support School Self-Evaluation through pupil surveys, teacher reflection and work samples, helping the school set targets for inclusion, pupil voice and global citizenship.Hi Michelle, I like the highlighting task because it gives 3rd class pupils a simple way to question whether an AI response is accurate or fair.
It supports age-appropriate AI literacy by showing that AI-generated text should be checked rather than automatically trusted.
One question pupils could explore is: “Whose experiences might be missing from this story?”
As a practical assessment idea, I would ask pupils to explain why they changed one sentence. Their reason would show whether they understood the issue of fairness or bias.
I would use the Gairdin Climate Zones unplugged activity with Stage 4 (5th/6th Class). The activity asks pupils to examine climate data and climatographs, identify similarities and group places according to climate patterns. Behind this, pupils are being introduced to the AI concept of clustering, where data with similar characteristics can be grouped together.
Lesson link here for anybody interested – https://gairdin.eu/climate-zones/unplugged
My curriculum area would be Social and Environmental Education – Geography. My learning intention would be: pupils will interpret climate data, identify patterns and use evidence to group locations with similar climatic characteristics. This fits well with Geography’s focus on exploring the natural environment and developing geographical investigation skills.
I would begin by giving groups a selection of climate graphs from different locations. Pupils would decide how to group them and explain the patterns they noticed. I would then introduce the idea that a computer can also analyse the data and form clusters based on similarities. The important discussion would be that the computer is finding patterns in the data provided; it does not automatically “understand” climate. This links closely with Module 5’s explanation of machine learning as identifying patterns from examples and then testing predictions.
My critical question would be: “Could the computer group a location incorrectly if it was given limited or incomplete climate data?”
A responsible-use consideration would be that pupils should not accept an AI output as automatically correct. We would compare the grouping with the original climate data and reliable Geography sources. To support critical thinking, pupils would complete the grouping themselves before seeing the computer’s result and then discuss any differences.
I would gather evidence of learning through pupils’ annotated climate graphs, their reasons for grouping locations and a short exit question: “Why might an AI system make an inaccurate prediction?”
Hi Lucy, I liked your idea of having pupils test and improve their aeroplane designs. That links the Minecraft activity clearly to the Energy and Forces objective, as pupils are not just building for appearance but thinking about how flight works.
Working in pairs also makes sense here because pupils can explain their design choices and solve problems together.
One practical suggestion might be to give pupils one focused question before they begin, such as “What change could you make to improve your aeroplane design?” They could then compare their first and final builds and explain what they changed and why.
I chose the Minecraft Education demo world Hour of AI: The First Night. I am not very familiar with Minecraft myself, so I found the structured nature of this world helpful. The aim is to survive the night by completing a series of tasks with the support of an AI Agent. The player has to train the Agent to help collect materials, make tools and build a shelter. The lesson introduces ideas such as classification, pattern recognition and checking AI outputs.
The lesson plan is designed for approximately 45–60 minutes and includes six main tasks: collecting wood, making tools, building a shelter, crafting a door, adding light and making a bed. The learning objectives include developing an understanding of AI, using computational thinking to identify rules and relationships, and learning to test and verify the Agent’s responses.
In terms of the Irish Primary Curriculum, I would link this most closely with STEM Education, particularly Technology and computational thinking. A possible Focus of Learning would be for pupils to use classification and pattern recognition, test a digital system and identify errors or unexpected results.
I would definitely slow the pace down and add regular discussion points. As I am not an experienced Minecraft user, I would probably try the lesson myself first and use the teacher resources closely. For my pupils, I would split the activity over more than one session and pause after each main task to discuss what the Agent learned, what went wrong and what had to be changed.
Hi Michelle, I liked how the daisies appear at random positions across the screen. It makes the game less predictable and means the player has to keep moving and reacting rather than just waiting in one place. I think this works really well with the timed catch-and-collect style and keeps the player engaged for the full 15 seconds.
The Science link could be strengthened by adding a second type of wildflower with a different sprite. Pupils could then learn to recognise two or three common flowers and perhaps receive different points for collecting each one.
One practical extension might be to ask pupils to create the additional flower sprites from photographs or observations made on the nature walk. They could then test each other’s games and see whether the flowers are recognisable without being told what they are. That could give you useful assessment evidence for both their observation skills and their game design.
I created a timed catch/collect game called Pollinator Patrol.
MakeCode Arcade link: https://makecode.com/_Hk0fgH9P9EfD
The main curriculum area I would link this game to is Science, particularly living things and the environment. My learning objective would be: Pupils will identify that pollinators depend on flowering plants for food and explain one way in which we can support pollinators in our local environment.
My game is set in a garden. The player controls a bee and must move around the screen collecting flowers before the timer runs out. Each flower collected adds to the player’s score. The aim is to collect as many flowers as possible within the set time. I would use the game as part of a wider STEM investigation into pollinators, rather than as a stand-alone coding activity. Pupils could research what pollinators need, design their own pollinator-friendly game environment and then test whether the game communicates its science message clearly to another group.
One computational-thinking process I used was debugging. While creating the game, I had to repeatedly test the code and check whether the sprites and scoring system behaved as I expected. When something did not work properly, I went back through the blocks, identified the problem and made changes before testing it again.
Hi Rebecca, I think this tutorial is a good way of introducing the idea of inputs and outputs because pupils can immediately see the connection between the button they press and the response from the microbit. It could also lead naturally into computational thinking by asking pupils to plan how they would represent additional emotions before changing the code.
To strengthen the integrated STEM element, I like the idea of a wellbeing device, but I would give the pupils a specific design problem, such as creating a device that allows someone to communicate how they are feeling without speaking. This would bring the engineering design and testing process more clearly into the activity.
A simple assessment idea would be to ask pupils to explain one input, the process in their code and the resulting output. This would give clear evidence of their understanding rather than just whether the code works.