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That is a very nice selection of poems on the night sky. I like how the variety can be explored. Some are bright and positive while others are more gloomy in their nature. It presents a lot of opportunity for exploring vocab, mood and imagery in English. Yeats would be my favourite too!
Describe how you could implement a version of ‘Design your own Dark Sky place’ in your school/ classroom?
• Firstly we should decide as class where we plan on locating our Dark Sky park. For the sake of this example I’m going to choose the National Park which is within walking distance of the school and where we visit regularly.
• I would get the learners to brainstorm the stakeholders and create a list of them.
• I would divide the class into small groups, each representing a stakeholder and get them to brainstorm the needs and concerns of each stakeholder and the report back to class.
• Review our lessons on light pollution and discuss in groups again how each stakeholder is affected by the light pollution.
• Discuss in groups what lighting is essential in the park and why? How can we minimise the effects of the necessary lighting.
• Design a map of the area highlighting the amenities we would include for each stakeholder group. Have each group reflect on ho well or not the design works for the stakeholders they represent.
• Make any necessary changes.
• To conclude I would have the learners design a brochure highlighting the amenities in our dark sky place and the measures we have taken to reduce light pollution.I like the idea of creating posters to raise awareness. It’s always a fun activity and they could be displayed in the school and in the local community to help raise awareness of the topic.
How would you engage your learners to explore biodiversity in your local area and the possible impacts of light pollution on local biodiversity?
The next 2 years will be ideal in our school to engage further in exploring biodiversity in the local area. We are working again on the theme of biodiversity for our Green flag renewal. We are very fortunate in our location, in that we have two 3rd campuses who are very engaged in the Green flag programme and we often work with them on projects. Last year we helped with a Bioblitz on one campus and with the 2nd campus we agreed to take swift boxes they funded as we had more appropriate location for them on our grounds. I therefore don’t see too many issues explore the biodiversity in our local area as it is something we already do on a regular basis.
I feel the new topic of light pollution is one that has not been explored or addressed in our community, but I feel from previous experience engagement will be good and there will be a willingness to seek solutions. This collaborative approach to improving the local environment means the learners often experience success in their ventures, we always have willing hands to help in the community. This I feel is very important, as so much to do with climate change and pollution of all sorts can be disheartening, the learners need some positive results to keep them engaged.
The practical aspect of what we would do then:
• Conduct a bioblitz of the school grounds and create a biodiversity map.
• Learn about light pollution, what is it, what are the effects of it on biodiversity in our area and what can we do?
• Survey school grounds and home and areas in the local community.
• Look at what needs to be improved and explore solutions.
• Draft emails to relevant individuals who can affect change or who can help us too affect change.
• Following changes , conduct a 2nd bioblitz the following year and note any changes.I love how you have highlighted the importance of including families and the wider community in addressing the issue of light pollution. It is so important that children see that what they learn in school can be brought home and is relevant in real life too.
A reflective piece on how light pollution is impacting your local area and how you would engage your learners to explore this.
• Thankfully we live on the west coast of the country and haven’t been affected as severely by light pollution as some areas. However in recent years, developments such as floodlighting, growth in population, increased housing developments have all added to the light pollution in our area. It seems it would be a good idea to address these issues now before they worsen.
• To engage the learners, I would first explore light sources, natural and man-made and discuss which are necessary and which are not. We would look at causes and consequences of light pollution and discuss why it is important to minimise it. We are currently working on the theme of Biodiversity again for our green flag renewal and I think this would be a very interesting topic to explore on a local and global level.
• Having had our discussions on light pollution we would look closely at our school first to see are there sources of light pollution there and what can we do to address them. Next we would look at our homes and do the same, are there issues we can address at home, switching off lights not in use, using energy efficient lights. Finally we could look at our locality and see are there issues that can be resolved locally, making sure pitch floodlights are only used when needed.
• This I feel would be a project we could run and monitor over the two years of the Green Schools programme.Excellent idea, good to know of those two exciting occurances too. I might also look at the moon in September, as you said it’s all the more exciting when you have learned about the moon, its phases and the significance of a partial eclipse and supermoon.
1. Create a short teaching resource using Stellarium/ WorldWide Telescope
I would use Stellarium to enhance a unit of work on constellation. I think it is a brilliant app for encouraging a link with home too.
• I would start with my History lesson and learning about the stories behind the constellations. Using the Stellarium –web app in class we would first look at what constellations can be seen. Looking at November 1st Hercules should be visible so a great place to start.
• I chose November to start as the sky will be dark at a reasonable time (18.50) to allow children to view the constellation is real life at home if they wish. To this end I would encourage parents to download the free Stellarium app and assign optional homework as taking a picture of the constellation is the night sky and posting to Seesaw (weather dependant obviously). I have seen in the past how apps like this, that allow for further learning at home encourage greater learning for the children. I have used Merlin (bird sound identification app) and plantnet (flora and fauna and leaf identification app) to this end before and the enthusiasm from the children at what they can discover at home is super. I would imagine the same would be true for this app.
• The fact that in school we can use the app to see what will be visible that evening means that the children will be well prepared to go home and use the app for themselves if they choose.I really like all the integration ideas in this lesson plan. A great way to cover many aspects of the curriculum through one topic. Also I think the children will benefit from a more indepth exploration of the topic.
Gravity/Weight – Assemble an Earth Tube and one other planet tube – decorate in a suitable manner
This lesson really appealed to me for a number of reasons.
Firstly, I teach a 3rd and 4th class split so any lesson that’s integrates more than one subject is great as it can be challenging to cover the curriculum otherwise. This lesson links art, maths (weight) and science,
This activity is very suitable for the age group I teach and I feel they would be able to carry out the activity well in small groups.
The weight tubes are a great concrete method of explaining an abstract concept of weight/ mass and their differences and also the differences with other planets.
I like the idea that at the end of the lesson I can display the tubes in the classroom for the children to handle and explore over time.
I think this type of weighing lesson (weighing the sand or rice) with a purpose is great for this age level and more relevant than only weighing a variety of objects as we would usually do for maths.
Overall, I feel it is a lesson I will do with my class in the upcoming year, they will enjoy it and learn from it. Because so many skills and areas of the curriculum are explored, I feel every child will enjoy the lesson and experience success.
Of course the fact that will have to collect crisp tubes will also appeal greatly!