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Research Question: How is climate change impacting on our local river?
We have a river 200 meters from our school. It is a small river but is 10 km approximately from the sea. I feel that we do not value its importance in our village. We have often done litter picks in the village but we do not focus too much on how our actions are impacting the river. I think the opportunity to appreciate our local river has finally arrived.
This assignment would be catered to the middle- senior end of the school. One of the children’s parents is a fisherman and I feel it would be interesting to invite him into the school to see how our river has changed in the last 30 years. It would be essential for the children to brainstorm before his visit. It would also be important that we visit the river and observe it for its colour, flow, fish, plants, ecology and biodiversity.
We would also assess the amount of litter in it, litter bins near the river and how empty or full they are on different days. I would hope that this assignment would take place over 2 seasons.
Really interesting research question. Minibeasts is a project that I am sure that children would love and be very engaged in.
I have downloaded and read the teacher guide and pupil activities for the ESA resource “Nose up in the Sky”. It is a very useful and comprehensive tool for teaching resource and will be very helpful in the coming year.
I really liked the additional resources at the end of Nose High in the sky- children love to know what people do in their jobs every day. They like to know the routine and I feel that the ‘Astronaut’s Logbook’ really gives children an insight into the life of an astronaut. It is also child friendly.
On a personal level, I feel that a lot of teachers may find the thought of space and satellites a little beyond them. Many teachers do not go far beyond teaching and identifying planets. I feel ‘Nose High Up in the Sky’ is very user friendly. It explains simply how children can learn more about satellites, how we can track them and the International Space Station, and how students can identify locations from both space and Earth.
I also downloaded the ISS Detector app. Children love the flight radar app and I feel this is also really interesting, if not a little addictive!!!
I agree Colin, it is very user friendly and gives children the opportunity to see the world and space much more closely. Ideal for the middle to senior classroom environment.
The video ‘Home’ by Yann Arthus-Bertran is a powerful documentary which focuses on the impact our human activities are having on our planet. The film highlights the dire problem that we are facing, of climate change and exposes the sad story of how the earth’s animals and humans are threatened on our planet. The film strives to send the message to us that we need to stop, take care of our planet and do all we can to fight against climate change. We must listen to the urgent warnings about climate change to protect future generations.The amazing images and video footage at the beginning of the video is jaw dropping. It gives lots of facts, such as informing us about the earth existing for 4 billion years with humans only existing 200,000 years ago. I do think that only sections of this video should be shown to students.
I would introduce the remarkable child activist, Greta Thunberg. I would tell the students how we all can help save our planet. I have gathered some children’s’ books about Greta Thunberg, such as Our House Is on Fire: Greta Thunberg’s Call to Save the Planet, Greta and the Giants and Greta Thunberg. These books would be given to children to read in groups before I would play some short pieces from Greta’s powerful TED talk.
I would arrange the children in groups and encourage discussion about the video. I would get them to use the carbon footprint calculator to calculate their own carbon footprint. I would get the children to design posters from scenes in the video that inspired them. I would then get the children to put questions together that they may have from the video/ TED talk. We would discuss these, use IPADS to find answers to our questions. I would invite a local environmentalist into the classroom and hope that he/she may answer any other unanswered questions the children may have from the lesson.
I agree Áine, focusing on the positive aspects of this video is the best approach when watching this with students. It is essential that we draw from the positive changes that we can make to keep our world spectacular.
I really like the Paxi video-it is simple and child friendly. I love the animation and how simply it is explained. It was suggested in the posts, to do a kahoot prior to this lesson, which is something I would definitely do. I like how the video educates children as to how they can help, make a difference, and basically, how humans need to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide that we produce. `
I would introduce the Teal Tool only to senior classes. I do find it very interesting but I think it would be very challenging for younger students. I would divide the children into groups and assign a country to each group asking them to investigate the varying temperature changes.
I often read the posts and recommendations that fellow teachers input here, before I plan one of these lessons as there are so many great ideas to inspire me. I too believe in the pre-teaching of key vocabulary and technical language, such as Greenhouse Effect and Global Warming, It is also worthy to note the possibility of anxiety among students. It is important that they are informed, about our world and that it is in danger, but equally important that they know there is always hope and that there are things we can do to save it.
I reviewed the article ‘Unravelling STEM: Beyond the acronym of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics’, it encourages a very positive hands-on approach for children. Active learning is evident throughout this process. I think this is a very enjoyable and interactive module.
The video links and worksheets definitely assist with the teaching of this lesson. I did this course last year and it inspired me to create a weather station with my 3rd class. The children totally immersed themselves into it. We set it up in the garden of the school so that it could be accessed freely with supervision and would be less likely to be interfered with. It was also a great area for children to visit on a movement break and each morning the children would ask to visit it to assess the weather.
We had a school thermometer, and we made a rain gauge. However, this year I want the older students in the school to make an anemometer and record the findings. Would it be interesting to buy an anemometer, which, I have found, are available from abcschoolsupplies.ie for E35 approximately and comparing the results in both?
I really like the activity ‘Earth Under the lid- Understanding the greenhouse effect from the ESA and ESERO. The teacher guide and worksheets are very user friendly, interactive and easy to use. The guide for teachers is super.
Orla, I really like your plan for the year ahead. Starting with the basics of teaching the difference between weather and climate is a good place to begin. I also love the invitation to parents and the wider community to become involved in the project. It sounds like a very positive whole school and community project.