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Our school is situated just a short distance from Lough Derg and I wanted to base a question around the locality and make it relevant for the children. My Research question for Climate Detectives is based around this: “What is the climate and environmental impact of water activities including luxury boating, transport, jet skiing, run off from farms/homes or pollution on Lough Derg?”
I ran the question through the Climate Detectives Research Question Template and it seems to fit. I would have the children brainstorm possible pollutants initially and come up with all the questions to answer in relation to this topic. What effects they think these have on the water? We may divide it into a few different focuses and have each group research a part of the question.
I would have the children collect water samples from the lake edge, near the harbour in Mountshannon & Whitegate and then at Killaloe and at quieter points on the lake and have them carry out experiments on water quality e.g. pH tests and repeat these. We would contact Clare County council environmental officer and ask of any concerns for the area. Perhaps we could help with cleanups if there are dump grounds identified. Monitor traffic on the lake at different points speak to Harbour Manager for details of numbers of boats etc. And look then at what we could do to raise awareness of protecting water quality for the area.
I agree the EO Browser would be a great resource for the classroom. Although it takes some getting used to , I could see the senior classes master it and use it for project works in Geography, this combined with the ESA resource ” From the Ground to the Sky” would work well together. Giving the children the chance to use investigative skills and work independently perhaps. I loved the fact you can save down your satellite images from the EO Browser and these could be used for comparisons over time or add to the childrens projects.
I studied the ESA resource “ From the Ground to the Sky “( as this was in slide 19). It is another super resource and very easy to use. The activities are about Matching Earth Landscapes from Different Perspectives. The children are introduced to the concept of remote observation of the Earth from space, emphasizing how different landscapes appear from the ground, from the International Space Station (ISS), and from Earth Observation satellites like Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2.
There are some lovely Photographs of landscapes taken from the ground, Photographs of the same landscapes taken from the ISS , Photographs of the same landscapes taken by Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 satellites. I would recommend also that the children have their Atlas at their side when doing this activity. The children can look at different landscapes including mountains, lakes, rivers, cities, islands, deserts. It has lovely activity sheet to go with activity and it allows for collaboration and lots of discussion with their classmates. Discussions on similarities and differences. The children become aware of Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2, missions that have been developed by ESA as part of the I would download photos relevant to Ireland and have the children find and locate different regions and discuss landscape, compare to other countries, photos from the past and satellite images.
The film “Home” by Yann Arthus-Bertrand is a powerful presentation of the earth and the tragic impact humans have had on it. It has visually stunning aerial shots that capture even the most remote corners of our planet. The documentary is a masterpiece, with its use of music and narration and every scene is thoughtfully crafted to portray the fragility of Earth.
Throughout the film, I couldn’t help feel lots of different emotions from sad to anger to amazment at its beauty. Planet Earth, our provider, has given us everything we need to survive, yet we have repaid it with exploitation and neglect. I would like to use snippets of this in the classroom and it should allow the children and I to reflect deeply on our own actions and the collective behaviour of us all either in our family or community. We could look to change habits in the school and begin to make a difference.
I went back through the module slides another time after watching this film and I took the “ How big is your environmental footprint?” questionnaire. I feel this could be a lovely resource to add to children’s research in the classroom on climate change. The Paris agreement synopsis also is a child friendly explanation of the climate action plan. The Climate Aid Video 2020 would be a great stimulus to start the discussion on Climate Change. I found the Greta Thunberg TED talk to be powerful and impactful and I think that he children in senior classes may relate to that given she is of that age group.
A key learning from the Home movie was “We are made of the Earth, and the Earth is made of us.”
I do think and its mentioned in an earlier post that eco-anxiety needs to be understood also and a lot of children are deeply effected by this topic. We should approach it from positive angle and look at what we/they can change or do.
Hi Carmel, I agree eco- anxiety is very much present in lots of children. Children can become very overwhelmed with the topic and focus on the problems that the earth are facing and even more because it feels like nothing changes quickly. Its a good idea to look at what the positives are and what progress each and everyone can make.
I agree also that initially I thought the lesson would need lots of explaining in terms of language and technical terminology and geared towards the senior level of the school. However the videos for explanations that accompanied Module 2 would help before starting the lesson.
Climate Reporters Activity 3 is a lovely activity for the senior classes. It is an example of inquiry based learning. As a pre-cursor to the lesson, I would recommend a lesson firstly on the specific technical language used e.g. Greenhouse Effect, Palaeoclimatologists, Global Warming. The videos linked in Module 2 for explaining Greenhouse Effect using the Paxi Video and global warming could be used also to explain in more detail before the activity. In this activity the children are required to investigate Climate scenarios and the increase of temperature causing climate change. Also, the children are to write predictions for 2050.
The TEAL tool is an amazing resource allowing a look at temperature, precipitation, wind etc over timelapse and predicting into future. Using this tool correctly may need some guidance initially, it took me a little time to understand the readings and choosing countries. I feel my class would enjoy exploring different countries and comparing. It would work well as a group project where the children choose different climates.
The link to Maths in the activities 1 & 2 is a great way to link to the new maths curriculum, problem solving and inquiry based learning at its best. There is also a strong link with communication skills and Oral Language, being able to explain and justify their inquiries. Collaborative work is encouraged throughout these activities also.
In Liston’s paper a reference is made to , “STEM education isn’t just one thing—it’s a range of strategies that help students to build understanding apply concepts and skills from different disciplines in contexts that make connections between school, community and work in order to solve meaningful problems (Gerlach 2012; Vasquez, Comer and Sneider 2013).”
STEM projects create the ideal scenario to encourage children’s skills in problem solving, critical thinking and in communicating skills and allowing them to create and understand how to create a better place to live.
The Activities 1 & 2 are ideal STEM activities creating inquiry-based learning and experiments. The children will use their creativity in their design for their weather station. Activity 1 is exploring the difference between weather v climate learning about climate zones. And Activity 2 – children are becoming weather detectives – learning how to record and graph plot results mathematically. Getting the children to reflect on where to place the thermometer, the time of day to record it, ensure that it is not tampered with. It allows the children to take responsibility for recording data and the opportunity to graph it mathematically. These are ideal STEM activities for class. The extension of this for children to understand what an increasing rise in temperature may mean for their lives and the world.
