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The impacts of climate change are becoming increasingly evident. Some of these include increased Rainfall and Flooding, There has been a noticeable rise in the frequency and intensity of heavy rainfall and weather warnings. This affects communities, disrupts transportation, and school days have been lost as a result of this. Rising Sea Levels have also lead to Coastal areas in particular experiencing storm surges. This threatens homes, and local economies reliant on tourism and fishing.
The following are some ways that school could help tackle climate change.
Lesson Plans: Develop lesson plans that incorporate these actions into the curriculum. For example, a science lesson on the greenhouse effect can be followed up by a project on energy conservation.
Projects and Challenges: Launch school-wide projects such as a “Reduce Waste Week” or an “Energy Saving Month,” where classes compete to see who can reduce their waste or energy consumption the most.
By integrating these actions into the school, children will not only learn about climate change but also feel empowered to make a positive impact on their local environment and the world.Supporting refugees and welcoming them into the community can be a transformative experience for both the refugees and the local population. Our school took in a large amount of Ukrainian pupils at the time of the outbreak of the war and these were the things that worked.
Before the Ukrainian children arrived into the school we taught children about the impact of the outbreak of the war in Ukraine in an age appropriate manner. We decorated the windows of our class with Ukraine flags to ensure the children felt welcome. We explained that these children would have very little English and would not be in school uniforms etc. It was lovely to see the way in which the children responded and there was an outpouring of support and empathy across the school.
There are also several local organisations who are involved in supporting refugees in the local community. The local international resource centre, and HSE social inclusion put on a training day for teachers called Understanding the needs of those seeking international Protection in Ireland in the education system which was very helpful and informative.
The buddy system is a great idea to allow children to settle into the school while also teaching children about empathy.
I think SDG 13 on climate action is one that not only would pupils be interested in because of the impacts on climate change on a local and a global level but they may also have some awareness of that could be built on from Junior Infants up.
Community Involvement would Encourage students to participate in local environmental initiatives such as tree planting, community clean-ups, and advocacy campaigns. This year we took part in the “Trees on the land” initiative whose aim is to plant young native trees in the 32 counties. Each child in the school planted a tree each and by the end of the day over 400 hawthorn trees were planted. Tidy towns also linked in with us for this campaign and some local businesses and it really got the kids involved in a hands on way. A local business also donated their empty cans and bottle to our deposit return scheme fundraiser.The deposit return scheme has been very effective to promote recycling and create links with the local community.
Gender stereotypes are already in action in children when they come into primary school and start from a very young age. This can influence their behaviour and academic choices the whole way through their education. I often see examples of this in school life for e.g boys wanting the ball on the yard to play soccer and girls bring out their notepads to draw etc. I believe that alot of this is down to the natural order of life and it will be hard to change however I do believe that as teachers we can do our bit by teaching about gender stereotyping.
I think we can Introduce students to diverse role models through stories, showcasing female scientists and men artistic professions to challenge the traditional gender roles. I would also always try to promote mixed-gender collaborative learning with rotating roles in group projects to ensure all children experience different aspects of tasks.Development Education is very important for a variety of reasons-It helps children understand global issues such as poverty, inequality, climate change, and human rights. This awareness develops a childs’ global awareness. DE promotes critical thinking by encouraging children to analyse and question global issues and how the local and international community are so interconnected.
For me most importantly DE promotes empathy by shining a light on the lives and difficulties of people in different parts of the world and creates a culture of wanting to help those less fortunate. When children are introduced to these issues at a young age they are more likely to become active citizens who engage with democratic ways and advocate for social justice.
I would try to incorporate DE in lots of different ways across different curricular areas- E.G Geography, History, Science, SPHE, English and Visual Art are areas which you can cover DE in. I also think that DE lends itself very well to collaborative learning and project based work.Completely agree about celebration and recognition and tolerance around differences are the best starting point for young children.
This forum has been very informative for planning space week in school.
Here are some ideas I will be using going forward.
Using the song Twinkle Twinkle Little Star-What are stars? What do stars do? Why do we call some people Superstars? How
many stars do we think are in the night sky? Why can we see lots of
stars some nights and very few on other nights?Have the children work in pairs and close their eyes. They take turns to pretend that their partner is an alien who has landed here to find out more about humans. They have to ask each other what the physical
appearance of an alien looks like. What size are you? What colour are you? Do you have arms/legs/eyes? Allow the children to then sketch their version of what their alien will look like.
Give each group different coloured tubs of Play-Doh, matchsticks, pipe cleaners and create their own alien.
As an extension use the models for number work, classifying and sorting.The ESA Kids website is a fun resource to stimulate your students’ curiosity about space in the classroom. There are several ways in which this could be used in the classroom.
I would take the children on a virtual tour of space with ESA Kids’ and explore the planets, and have a look at the rockets the astronauts use. The website has a wide range of downloadable activities and worksheets. These can be used for individual or group projects, letting your students explore concepts like building a model rocket.
One of the fantastic things about The ESA Kids website is that it is available in multiple languages. This allows students with different cultural backgrounds or language skills to participate and learn at their own pace. I will definitely be sharing this with my colleagues as we have a high proportion of EAL learners.
The Milo and Marvin cartoons are also fantastic and are something I can see myself using over and over again. They require only a few items for each experiment and explain the scientific process involved in a very effective age appropriate manner.To introduce a lesson I would read Aliens love Underpants with the class.
After this We would talk about the aliens in the story and what you think an alien would look like. I would encourage children to be very creative here by asking them questions such as “How many legs does the alien have?” and “What colour is the aliens body?’
I would pass out modelling clay to each group- different colours placed at each table and ask the children to make their own alien/martian.
To conclude this lesson the children would come up to the front of the class and show off their alien and the other children would say something they liked about the alien. The children would then be asked to find one other person who had the same colour or features and we would talk about the similarities and differences reminding children that we are all unique.
