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Hi John,
I agree with you that the question posed should be simple- this would allow the children take ownership over the investigation and they can pursue different avenues of enquiry as they see fit, based on interest and access to information.
I also think that the work involved would be very beneficial if the information can be collected and analysed over the course of a year for it to be most effective.
How does climate change affect the local river water?
I would preface this investigation by eliciting prior knowledge about climate vs weather from the children. I would encourage a discussion about the different negative impacts mankind has on climate and how the overall climate change has impacted us. I would show images of the local river high tide of old and in recent times. I would also discuss local flooding and the negative impacts we have witnessed in recent years. Through Local Ground Level observations and Satellite observations (EO Browser) the children can compare the high tide/ low tide level, water quality/colour, wildlife presence, etc. using research sites like: RTE archives, Cork Beo, Duchas, The Examiner, Ordinal Survey archives accessed in local library. Also collecting data through observation, graphs, tallies, and photographs.
From there I would like for the children to see the correlation between green house gas levels rising, continued rise in ice melts, global temperature changes, etc. From there I would like to make the issue of climate change relevant to their everyday lives, and an action plan to be suggested to make the change for the better, including students, parents, teachers, local business, councillors, TD’s and companies in the locality. Brainstorm ideas and suggestions from the children.
Hi Louise,
It sounds like the use of the EO browser would be very engaging to children to be able to see their locality at different times of the year. They might be interested in seeing what their local area looked like during the Beast from the East compared to a sunny day in July! It also seems like a great tool to initiate a discussion about climate change or melting ice in Greenland or raising sea levels in low lying areas.
I used a satellite tracker to identify and research 5 satellites that have passed over/close to Ireland in orbit in recent times. The website I used was https://satellitetracker3d.com/track and these are the satellites I observed.
1. Starlink 3791: Launched from Cape Canaveral by SpaceX. Its purpose is communications and it was launched in April 2022 with a 4 year data expectancy. It is commercially owned and it is non polar in orbit. It is still operational.
2. OneWeb0424: Launched in Dec 2021 from Kazakhstan Baikonur Cosmodrome, it is a functional satellite owned by the UK. Its purpose is to provide global internet access using low orbit satellite.
3. TIROS 6: TIROS stands for Television and Infra-Red Observation Satellite. The space agency that was gathering the information was NASA agus its main mission was cloud imagery. It was launched in 1962 with an expected end of life (EOL) in 1963.
4. Fast 1 USA 222: FASTRAC—short for Formation Autonomy Spacecraft with Thrust, Relnav, Attitude and Crosslink—was developed by grad students and undergrads at the University of Texas, Austin. FASTRAC consists of two satellites, each about the size of two car tires, that will separate from each other in orbit to demonstrate communication and coordination capabilities.
5. CentiSpace-1 S6: Country of origin for this satellite is China and it was launched in 2022 by a Beijing company called Future Navigation and is still operational. Its mission is part of the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) to collect data regarding location, time and speed.Hi Eoghan,
I like your suggestion of a climate change poster competition. It could be done in conjunction with a collective effort to promote walking or cycling to school where possible, or car pooling to reduce the carbon footprint. Going on a nature walk, planting trees and picking litter are also great ideas to increase awareness and gratitude of their immediate environment.
Home was a hard hitting, stunning depiction of what humans are doing to the planet. It was particularly interesting throughout the video where comparisons are made between the minority rich who are in control of the majority of the resources, in countries where there is mass poverty and starvation. The video, while important for us to know, is potentially scary for children, so I would be careful what clips I would be sharing with a class. I would focus on the video from about 1hr15min onwards where it shows the statistics (eg 20% of the planet’s population used 80% of its resources, more money spent on military resources than aid, etc.). I would use it to elicit empathy and sympathy in the children.
I think I would like to use Greta Thunberg as a positive example of using their voices to encourage government and local politicians to advocate for the sustainability of their planet, the home of future generations.
Hi Karen,
I like the idea of showing the children images of car exhausts, factory smoke and cow methane have a negative impact on the world. It could also be an opportunity to discuss how there was even a time in history where polystyrene containers were used commonly and could have been seen to be better for the environment as it would save paper/cutting down trees! It would give the children hope that it’s not all doom and gloom and that every little change matters and we can rectify the mistakes of the past and keeping the global warming effect to a minimum.
Activity 3, A Climate Reporter, is a very interesting activity for children, particularly in the older classes to complete. It will show that they have a grasp on the green house effect and that they will be able to see the cause and effect of our actions regarding reducing fossil fuel consumption and therefore reduced impact on the planet. The TEAL tool as a predictor of the impact humanity might have on the sea levels rising and the melting of the ice in Greenland is impactful. The Paxi video is a clear and concise clip which would be perfect for use in a classroom. While Paxi explained the importance of using solar and wind power to reduce the need of fossil fuels, these are out of children’s hands. At the same time, he also offered a more attainable measure that children could do themselves, by recycling everything that is possible. With the Return facility of returning bottles for money in almost every large shopping centre in the country and widespread recycling, the children can be empowered to make a difference, no matter how small the gesture. They then could be encouraged to take more action themselves, but writing letters to local councilors and politicians to bring global warming issues to the fore.
Hi Michelle,
I also agree that the children in a science class benefit from being able to apply their learning in a hands on activities as it solidifies their learning and allows them to bring their learning to real life settings. By making a weather station in class, it might encourage them to do the same at home and become more aware of how to dress appropriately to the weather and become a conscious global citizen. This also ties into the article by Maeve Liston encouraging the use of all elements of STEM where they can apply their maths and science from the classroom to engineer solutions to everyday issues and use technology affectively!
In this module I can see the benefit of introducing proverbs regarding the weather to elicit prior knowledge from the children and also applying new learning to commonly heard phrases- potentially that have been taken for granted and not considered.
I work in a Gaelscoil and I would like to extend the lesson to include Seanfhocail “is maith an scéalaí an aimsir” (time will tell) and “Ní hé lá na báistí ná lá na bpáistí” (a rainy day isn’t a good day for children to play). These two phrases have links to weather.
I think it would be a good activity to create their own weather monitoring equipment, from the pdf Nose up high in the sky, to allow them to take ownership over the activity. I also really enjoyed the video clip from the BBC explaining the high/ low pressures and the fronts. This is beneficial as it shows their learning in an everyday setting.
Regarding the difference between weather and climate, it was interesting to see the connection between the globe and the amount of sunlight the areas get to make a clear distinction as the areas closer to the equator will naturally be exposed to more sunlight than the polar regions. This doesn’t change like the everyday weather does.
You have given a great list of songs, poems and paintings in your post. I found myself going down a rabbit hole after reading that you searched art based on the night sky- I myself found Turner ‘Fishermen at Sea’ a surprising example of the moonlight highlighting the fishing boat- again potentially using it as a starter question about the need for clear skies in nautical navigation. Then as a contrast Edward Hopper ‘Nighthawks’ highlights the light pollution in urban settings with the bright- almost day light- shining out from the café onto the streets and into the night.
Prepare a school project to collect Piseógs/Traditions/Stories of
the Night.
I would introduce this theme in the month of October- on the build up to Halloween and as the days are beginning to get shorter and the dark skies of night are seen sooner in the evening.
I would pose the trigger question: what traditions do your family have for Halloween? From there I would collect the information from the children and create a poll of how many children share the same traditions and how many differ. This would then lead on to talking about ‘new traditions’ and ‘old traditions’. I would make a Venn Diagram about traditions that are done during the day light or during night time. I would then model using the website dúchas.ie to look at the collections of traditions collected from schoolchildren between 1937 – 1939 (more specifically Bailiúchán na Scol).
I would engage the pupils by collecting stories from their families and making link to the locality where possible i.e. including landmarks/ castles/ fairy forts/ liosanna/ standing stones. I would also ask the children to interview older members of their families about what games/ traditions they had at Halloween.
I would then make the link between preserving the night’s sky and the continuation of traditions/ folklore in the local area. Long ago people sat around a fireside and shared stories, we still sit under the same sky- lets try and preserve it by focusing on light pollution and minding local biodiversity for future generations.
These stories/ traditions/ practices would be collected and displayed around the school through a variety of displays on the build up to Halloween.
Hi Clodagh, I agree with you when you suggested focusing on a specific animal to encourage maximum engagement from the students. The bat is a very interesting animal, and as they are more closely related to humans than mice, they are even more relatable. The bat/moth game seems like a fun activity and also could spark a discussion about diversity and inclusion among the children themselves. The link with light pollution and the impact it has on bats is important and drawing the children’s attention to the repurposing of vacant houses as artificial hibernation sites for bats could encourage their awareness of their local environment.
How you would engage your learners to explore biodiversity in your local area and the possible impacts of light pollution on local biodiversity.
To introduce the concept of biodiversity I would engage the children to complete a KWL chart about what they already know about the flora and fauna of their own immediate environment. I would hope to gather all of the prior knowledge from the children and combine the information into a shared mind map, subcategorising items into insects, birds, amphibians, mammals, their habitats and their impact on us. I would like to make the links between the need for clean water, pollinators and wild flowers, and the mutualism/ symbiosis needed to sustain native wildlife and human kind. Showing the interconnectivity between nature and people and how as soon as one link is missing, the whole system falls apart. I would encourage the students to make a birds eye view of the school, and by using a key and symbols, detail the types of plants and animals seen in their immediate environment. Along with the wildlife and plants, I would also like for the students to make note of artificial lights in the locality. They would be encouraged to predict the impact light pollution has on the animals around them. Light pollution plays a huge role in the health of an ecosystem. Insects mistake artificial light for the moon, gathering in large numbers, ready to be predated upon. Bats circadian rhythms are thrown out due to light spillage from houses with open curtains. Birds like owls have less foraging time due to late emergence. Taking this into consideration, I would like to make the children aware of the larger impact the small changes can make and to allow them to become global citizens while minding their own space on the planet.
Hi Emer,
I found it interesting to hear that you noticed a visible difference in the night sky between Dublin and Galway. I liked the suggestion of allowing the children to use the websites to encourage them to look at constellations as some stars might be visible to them, but others might not be as clear with the influence of light pollution.
