[Edwina Cahill]

I found the information presented in module three very interesting. It really brought about the stark reality of climate change. I think the Home video might prove difficult for students, I would build up to it with some lessons where we had a talk and discussion on the main points of it. I think I would choose to show clips from the video of the main points instead of showing the video in full. I found the statements presented effective and I think they could be developed further with the children. Also, the Ted talk from Greta Humburg was thought provoking, it is very relatable for children, as she is similar in age and it really shows what a difference one person can make. I think, it would help to make the children feel empowered them where they feel that they can make a positive impact. This can be achieved with simple activities in the home, like turning off lights when not needed, recycling in the home and planting trees. I think the footprint calculator would be a good activity that the children might enjoy, and they could perhaps pass on some of the ideas and tips from the video to their families at home.

[Edwina Cahill]

Activity 3: Climate reporters provide a variety of resources that make predicting temperature change engaging and exciting. There is a lot to explore in this topic and many skills to be drawn on as a class. To begin with, I would play the Paxi video as a visual and relatable starter for the topic. This would help the students familiarise themselves with the greenhouse effect while providing a simple and clear explanation of the greenhouse effect with lots of clear imagery. I also appreciated how the video ended with a positive outlook on how we can change our actions to help reduce the effect.

I would use the temperature predictor tool to show students how temperatures can increase in our local area and the factors considered when predicting future temperatures. I really enjoyed this task and believe it would make for an extremely engaging group project for senior classes.

[Edwina Cahill]

You have given a great variety of activities, which has really got me thinking for my own classroom come September. I love the idea of integrating real-life challenges that require students to apply knowledge from various disciplines to find creative solutions. Through robotics projects, scientific experiments, coding activities, and engineering design challenges, students develop not only subject-specific skills but also essential competencies such as collaboration, communication, and adaptability. By embracing the holistic approach advocated in Liston’s paper, it allows for the creation of a  dynamic learning environment that prepares students to tackle complex problems and thrive in an increasingly interconnected world.

[Edwina Cahill]

I found so many resources in module one very helpful, and I will certainly be using them in my teaching next year, they offer great opportunities for children to advance their stem skills.

I found the videos that were provided, particularly useful when explaining the difference between weather and climate, very age-appropriate and user-friendly, and I think they would really appeal to primary school aged children.

The ESA Nose up high in the sky resource is a great programme of work that could be used over the course of a few weeks. It not only incorporates developing the children’s stem skills, but also integrates with literacy, numeracy active and practical learning. It provides the children with many opportunities to get outside to create and record and interpret results from the weather station. I think creating the weather station is very appealing and the children would get great enjoyment from it, whilst learning at the same time.

Activity two – Weather Detectives

I really liked this resource because it allowed the children to get outdoors. It is great that they can come up with their own weather devices by making them themselves from every day materials. It also allows them to get outdoors checking the rain,gauge, the wind speed and also the temperature using a thermometer.

 

Overall, I think the activities provided in module one have a great scope to be differentiated and altered slightly to suit many age groups. They not only provide opportunities for children to improve their stem skills also skills such as investigating monitoring, analysing recording, interpreting, which is very important, especially for the older classes.

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