[Claire Kilfeather]

I tried the “Nose Up High up in the Sky” activities.
In a senior class I would assign each group a different activity within the weather station. I would have 2 groups per activity (i.e. 6 groups in total), measuring either: wind speed, air temperature or rain.
A selection of materials would be provided (as per the list in the PDF, as well as others) and the children would use a problem-solving approach in their groups to design their own equipment.
I feel that this would foster the STEM skills of planning and designing, creating/ building, testing and evaluating, redesigning/ improving and communicating.
I would have each group present their designs to the class.
I really like that this course has included practical lesson activities.
I will be creating a folder on our school digital “SharePoint” with the activities and highlighting it in our staff meeting, for use during science week/ engineers week/ maths week etc.

[Claire Kilfeather]

I totally agree Heather about finding the balance between educating and inducing anxiety! I definitely feel that ending on a positive note (e.g. recycling) is key.

[Claire Kilfeather]

I agree Sean about the video creating an emotional hook! It is exceptionally well done and really appeals to the viewer, creating a sense of individual responsibility.

[Claire Kilfeather]

I think the movie “Home” showcases how wonderful our planet is- I feel like it would be incredible on a big screen as it is very visual and cinematic! I think the children would love this visual element of it, and it would really draw them in.

However, as I mentioned in the previous module, I think a lot of climate change resources can be “heavy” or anxiety- inducing for young children.
I think I would use clips from the video as part of a carefully planned lesson, to allow for directed and hopeful discussions.

On a practical level, I think shorter clips would be easier for the children to focus and concentrate on.

I would also show the children (as part of a series of lessons) a section from the video about Greta Thunberg.
I have the book “Greta and the Giants” as part of our Green Schools library, which I am slowly trying to expand. The Green Schools committee in our school review titles from the library and post a “Book of the Month” on our Green Schools notice board. This is always a popular one! I think the children can relate to Greta and she really is an inspiring figure for hope around climate change.

[Claire Kilfeather]

Hi Ruth, I love your creative writing idea- often I do country projects about a country in general, but I really like this take on it around climate change impact in a particular country.

[Claire Kilfeather]

I totally agree Siofra about the potential for overwhelm, and that highlighting that there is hope is key.

[Claire Kilfeather]

I really liked the Paxi video on Greenhouse Gases. I find that many resources online around global warming can be a bit heavy or frightening for young children, but I think this one struck the perfect balance. The illustrations and analogies explained the concept in a really clear way, and I feel that the overall message was hopeful with simple ideas that the children can put in place.
I also like that the Paxi videos always include a summary at the end!!

I find Activity 3 has a lot in it, from calculations to reading comprehension. I think really it would depend on the ability level of the class.
I think it would be most useful in 5th or 6th class after a body of work in maths on data (graphs and averages), so that they would have a good conceptual understanding of what “mean” means!

I definitely feel they would need step-by-step guidance and support, even on a practical/ organisational level- navigating between the TEAL tool and their worksheets.
I would possibly do it as a whole class activity and get the children to create their own graphs as an independent activity.

[Claire Kilfeather]

I can totally relate to your points here Michael about Liston’s paper.

 

I tend to be guilty of labelling things as “STEM” but in reality I am just teaching separate subjects e.g. maths, science, and focusing on the content knowledge rather than developing STEM skills.

This is a refreshing approach, and one I will be bringing to my classroom in September.

[Claire Kilfeather]

I agree Jacqui about even small differences within the locality being a great way to spark the children’s interests, using towns/ villages nearby that are familiar to them.

[Claire Kilfeather]

I agree with the paper about how “Stem-mania” has gripped the world, and that nearly everything is labelled STEM these days. I like how it highlights meaningful ways of creating genuine STEM experiences for the children in our classrooms. I was fascinated by the in-depth exploration of a pen to illustrate the technology aspect of STEM, and can see how this could be applied in my classroom to virtually anything! It’s all about generating curiosity about how things work in my opinion, and this exploration described this perfectly!

For Activity 1, I really like how it begins by drawing on the pupils’ own experiences (i.e. their birthdays). I think starting with things that are familiar to them offers a great stepping stone upon which to build their learning. I also liked how there were extension opportunities provided for the 5th and 6th class.

For Activity 2, I like how the activity encourages the pupils to work scientifically by only changing one variable and keeping everything else constant, e.g. in same location, at same time etc. This provides opportunities for discussion around working scientifically.

The only think that I can think to adapt or change is that pupils could also use technology (e.g. ipads) to generate some of the graphs.

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