[Ellen Greene]

2. Create a short teaching resource using Stellarium/ WorldWide Telescope

Discover the Night Sky with Stellarium
W.A.L.T.:
Use Stellarium to explore stars, planets, and constellations—just like a real astronomer!
Activity Instructions:
1. Open Stellarium and set your location to where you live.
2. Change the time and date to see how the sky changes.
3. Look for:
o Three constellations you can see tonight.
o Any planets that are bright in the sky.
o Any rings around planets which may be visible.
o The Moon—what shape is it today?
Fun Challenge:
Travel back in time to July 20, 1969—the night of the first Moon landing. What did the sky look like then? What planets or stars were visible?
Show What You Learned:
Make a simple poster or short slideshow showing your favourite discoveries. Include drawings or screenshots from Stellarium and a few fun facts!
Want More Adventure?
Try WorldWide Telescope to fly through space and visit planets, galaxies, or even zoom in on the Moon!
Skills:
Observing, asking questions, using technology, and learning about the amazing universe above us!

[Ellen Greene]

I think my students would love using Skyview and Stellarium. Children love learning about space and the planets and this activity you’ve described would be a nice homework activity, particularly in the dark winter months.

[Ellen Greene]

Hi Eleanor, I agree that this is a lovely hands on activity and touches many different subject strands beyond STEAM such as construction in art, etc. I like your tie to Ancient Egypt too. Great idea!

[Ellen Greene]

3. Plan how your students could “observe and record the positions of the sun when rising and setting and at different times of the day”

I teach eleven-year-old students in Dublin. They could observe and record the Sun’s position by choosing an open space in the school yard—ideally where tall buildings or trees don’t block the view of the east and west (which is more difficult than you’d think). They can use google maps or a compass to note east, north, south and west directions. Each morning, students can photograph the rising sun when it meets the horizon and mark the position of the rising and setting Sun using chalk on the ground, or note landmarks (e.g. “Sun rose to the left of the old laundrette chimney”). During the day, they can record the Sun’s height and direction at regular intervals, like 8.30am, 11am, and 2pm, using shadow sticks and measuring/ perhaps sketching with chalk shadow lengths/ shapes. Keeping a daily log over a few weeks will show the changes in the position of the Sun. If trees block views, students can rotate observation spots or collaborate with another class in a nearby school with better visibility to compare findings. The use of I.T. could also be helpful and we could tune into live cameras on our eastern coast, for example Seapoint to see the position of the sun in the morning. This activity would be nice to do in winter as the children may be at school at sunrise. Alternatively the students could do this as a home project and could take photos to show the varying locations of the sun’s position. Within the classroom we could also mark the shadows angles during the day.

[Ellen Greene]

• How I would incorporate the needs of nocturnal species, especially those that rely on dark skies into school biodiversity plans:
• I would incorporate the needs of nocturnal species by first identifying with my students and or staff what species are in our locality. Following this we could brainstorm what would be helpful for the nocturnal animals. Ask students is there something we can introduce or something we can do / change to benefit our local species.
• I could give the students ideas of bat boxes or badger houses (I’ve done this before with some of the green schools committee). Perhaps the children could design a home for the badgers/ bats, etc.and we could discuss about dark skies.
• There were plenty of informative videos in module 4 about the effect of light pollution which we could watch to spring children’s creativity/  into play. They may come up with some suggestions as to how to help our local species.
• After deciding on what to do for our school plan we can reflect and see is it being beneficial.
• There are cameras around my school and we have seen badgers digging holes under our school on video footage. This was a great way to spark students curiosity and engagement.

[Ellen Greene]

<p style=”text-align: left;”>I like how being in an urban area presents opportunities to make use of the space/ environment we have. There are so many good ideas there of things we can do to work on biodiversity and the effect of light in city spaces with students.</p>

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