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Watching the ARC videos, it struck me how in our classrooms, we tend to focus on ‘urban versus rural’ topics in Geography. What this really translates into, is Industrial versus Agricultural. There is little to no mention made of the role of Aquaculture in Ireland in school textbooks. Given the fact that Ireland has signed up to the UN Development Sustainable Goals, how committed we are to improving our green credentials and how there is a greater emphasis on healthier eating, it is quite shocking how little classroom time is spent looking at the key part Aquaculture plays in realising all of these goals . This is something that could be considered in an SSE. Do we need to broaden the scope of our definitions and in doing so better highlight the growing impact of Aquaculture around our coast.
The online lessons are visually stunning and illustrate how Science, Technology and Engineering are being used within the industry. I really enjoyed learning about the different jobs available and I think the children would be fascinated to learn about them.
What I garnered from this module, is that, aquaculture is more suited to locations which are unsuitable for agriculture. Predominantly, these are areas running along the west coast of Ireland. The deep Atlantic waters along the west coast with its breakwaters of archipelagos, islands and peninsulas provide shelter for successful aquaculture, be it Salmon farming, Pacific Rock oysters or Blue Mussels. Historically, Donegal, Mayo and Kerry would have had high levels of emigration. Investment in both Aquaculture and in digital technology has made doing business in these areas more attractive and more profitable. Investment in this area has also resulted in the development of new career paths. – Qualified sea-divers are needed to maintain these farms. This along with more modern boat fishing, has lead to improved employment prospects for local people. The cumulative effect of aquaculture farms to a community is sizeable. Employees in these industries require accommodation, food, entertainment, possibly access to education, if they have families. All of which helps the local economy.
It was a joy to watch these videos. I found the content enlightening and educational! I was unfamiliar with some of the terms – abalone. I was surprised not to see mention of Dublin Bay prawns listed amongst species that we farm. Living in a small coastal town on the East Coast where I would be more familiar with dredging, the BIM Social Licence Projects appear to elevate the produce and expand the commercial opportunities in what typically might have been perceived as quite a traditional industry.
The content could be linked to a number of the subjects on the Curriculum – SPHE/Geography, in the jobs that we do. The young Chef Ambassador Programme demonstrates how culinary students deepen their knowledge around produce and producers. Their enthusiasm was palpable, offering an insight into why we should be proud of our local seafood produce. Additionally it might encourage children to sample seafood that they might not have otherwise. In Literacy/Art, the children could design a brochure for a Seafood Festival along the Wild Atlantic Way. Younger children could also collect data and graph who has sampled the different seafoods. It is a topic that lends itself to many subjects.
I would love the mobile ARC to visit our school. I imagine the whole school would come to a standstill just watching its installation, workshop not withstanding!
I have to agree, I think the planet song is fantastic learning tool. I listened to it and found myself humming along while learning facts that I was unaware of. In my experience younger children in general love songs.
As per a number of the participants, the sun and shadow activity set would also really appeal to my second class. I think that the basic plant pot and bamboo stick would be more age appropriate than the sundial used in the video. I would link it to Maths and Time as a fun activity. Time is a very abstract concept and one which frequently challenges children. Active learning helps translates abstract into actual. This activity necessitates the children using the shadows to mark the time on the ground. I would differentiate the activity by getting different ability groups to record time by hour, half hour and quarter hour. So over the course of a day, the first group could create a sundial and place markers to show time on the hour. Another group would record shadows on the half hour and finally the children who are most confident reading time would be charged with marking quarter hours by using the markers already placed on the ground. I would ask the children to observe or count how many stones was there between one hour and the next, and compare the terms used in class on the clock – four parts representing an hour, each stone representing a quarter. It is a different way of reinforcing mathematically language around this area. While there a loads of wonderful online resources and games for teaching time, this is a great alternative that places the children literally in the middle of the picture.
One of my favourite lessons this year that I had with my class was a Science/Art lesson during Science week integrating Forces and Construction. The children brought in various cartons and boxes made from card. We also had matchsticks, string and wooden ice cream sticks.
We initially looked at famous bridges around the world and observed their design and shape and structure and what we liked about them.
I then set the children a challenge to construct a bridge which could support a toy car. We looked at the pictures for inspiration, then in groups the children firstly made a plan to design their bridge. Once they had shown me their outline, each group then took a turn selecting from our resources box what they needed for their build. From there they were free to examine, experiment, add, remove, embellish and let their imaginations run free. I moved between groups posing questions and marvelled at how different each bridge was. There was lots of giggling when we testes the cars. We wondered aloud how we could make the bridges stronger where necessary and why some designs were more successful than others. We concluded by inviting our ‘buddy class’ in to share in the wonderful work.
What an incredible feat. I would love to be a fly on the wall in your class were your nephew ever to visit or do a zoom call. I wonder what questions they might ask?
Hi my name is Darerca. I teach Second Class. I love the questions and comments that STEM subjects generate amongst my pupils. My favourite thing to do is to stand back, observe and listen to how the children approach a project/challenge. It can be like observing adults in children!
My favourite Space fact, that it is infinite.
I am less well versed in teaching infants so look forward to upskilling and building ideas for Aistear, down the line!