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I am definitely going to look more into Decarbonising Zones in Meath, it sounds very interesting and I dont know much about it.
<span style=”font-weight: 400;”>Sustainability is becoming increasingly important in our school and local communities. In Meath, I can see sustainability being practised through recycling, reducing waste, encouraging reusable bottles and lunchboxes, local clean-ups and greater awareness of reducing energy use. It’s a topic we cover with every class every year in my school. This module helped me to think about sustainability as more than simply recycling. It involves using resources responsibly so that they remain available for future generations and considering the environmental, social and economic aspects of our choices.</span>
<span style=”font-weight: 400;”>The children could carry out a simple sustainability audit, looking at areas such as waste, recycling, energy use, food waste and single-use plastics. They could do it with their own class, and also ask other classes. From this, the class could identify one or two realistic changes that we could make and monitor our progress over a number of weeks.</span>
<span style=”font-weight: 400;”>I would want pupils to feel that sustainability is something they can actively participate in, rather than simply a topic they learn about. Small, achievable changes within their classroom, school and homes could help children understand that their everyday choices can make a difference.</span>
That is something I didn’t think about before but is very true, that we need to acknowledge that some families might have different beliefs and diets with food because of their culture or religion!
<span style=”font-weight: 400;”>Healthy eating and nutrition are topics that link naturally with both SPHE and Science. The module gave me a better understanding of the nutritional benefits of seafood and its place within a balanced diet. I found the information on Omega-3, iron and Vitamin D particularly useful. And our school are going to make a special effort to promote healthy eating this year as we noticed standards had slipped last year.</span>
<span style=”font-weight: 400;”>I would use this knowledge alongside the Food Pyramid when discussing balanced diets and the different nutrients our bodies need. I also really liked the “Eye Spy in the Supermarket” activity. Children could examine food labels and packaging and learn how to identify Irish, locally produced and sustainable seafood. This would make the learning practical and relevant to their everyday lives.</span>
<span style=”font-weight: 400;”>I think it is important when teaching nutrition not to label individual foods simply as “good” or “bad”, but instead to encourage children to understand the importance of variety and balance. Pupils could work in groups to design a balanced mea, or create a healthy-eating poster or digital presentation. </span>
<span style=”font-weight: 400;”>I found the ARC online lessons and resources very useful as they showed me how aquaculture can be used to teach STEM in a practical and cross-curricular way. It can be incorporated across different areas of the primary curriculum, with opportunities for investigation, problem-solving, designing, making and using mathematical skills, which are all very relevant in the new curriculum being rolled out at the minute. </span>
<span style=”font-weight: 400;”>In my own classroom of 4th class, I could have used the ARC resources as the basis for group projects where pupils investigate aquaculture in Ireland. We did lots of group orjects and they loved them. Children could research different species, explore how and where they are farmed, investigate careers within the industry and use digital tools to present their findings. This would encourage collaboration, creativity, critical thinking and problem-solving while giving the children a real-life Irish context for their STEM learning.</span>
<span style=”font-weight: 400;”>Staff could review how STEM is currently being taught across the school and identify opportunities for a more consistent, cross-curricular approach. The ARC resources could be shared amongst teachers and used across senior classes. </span>
Thats so great that you had the ARC team visit you. Especially with your school being on the islands, it is so relevant to your children. It sounds like something they will remember forever.
The children would definitely learn more and remember more if they found out themselves about the farms using the geographical skills, rather than being told as you said. The inquiry based learning is so beneficial and hands on and all the children will love it!
I learned a lot about the aquaculture farms and the role they have to help the communities they are in on the coast.
Last year, we visited Bundoran twice on holidays. The first time was during peak tourist season, but the second time if was off season and it was sad to see how quiet the town was. I’m sure it has a huge impact on the job availability and the local community. I researched there, and there are some nearby shellfish farms like Mullaghmore Sea farm and other oyster farms in Donegal. This shows that the aquaculture and farms aren’t just about food production, but they also provide employment, and supports local businesses all year around. The jobs could be directly involved in the fishing, but also the spin off jobs like maintenance, transport etc. I also remember how clear the water was on the Atlantic coast, and it makes sense that the west would be good and suited to the sustainable aquaculture.
True, in all my time teaching in Meath I have never heard a child mention a profession of working with fish or by the sea. How lovely it would be to encourage it!
Yes, a great point about the real world topics. This seems to be at the forefront of the new curriculum also from what I gathered at the training.
That’s very interesting that your children might not know much about the nearby oyster farm. Although, we live near a huge castle, and I doubt many of the children in my school know much about it or its history either. A trip to the oyster farm wouold be lovely for ye!
<span style=”font-weight: 400;”>I have a four year old myself who is very interested in Sea Life. During a recent holiday in Spiddal, he spent all his time with buckets on the rocks collecting crabs. He was very disappointed to realise that he couldnt bring them home as they needed the sea water. However we made a detour on the way home and bought a tank and crabs that were suitable for it…. We later bought a bioorb for them, and now our tank has shrimp, tetra and a bottom feeder fish. </span>
<span style=”font-weight: 400;”>So even though we dont live beside the sea, I know from experience you dont need to to have a huge interest. My son would love the resources the ARC provide and I’m sure lots of the other children in my school would too. They learn so much more when they can see and interact in real time.</span>
<span style=”font-weight: 400;”>Going in to teach Senior Infants, I now feel like I don;t need to rely on the life cycle of the fish and I could even try showing the life cycle of a salmon too!</span>