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You’ve developed a really thoughtful and engaging plan around a topic that’s both relevant and visible to your students. Litter is something they can observe and act on directly, which makes this research question so powerful. I love how you’re using the Climate Detectives Planner to break the question down—it gives structure while still allowing for student inquiry.
Your idea of assigning group roles like data collectors and photographers is great for encouraging participation and giving students ownership of the project. It also promotes key skills like collaboration, communication, and responsibility. Bringing in cross-curricular links—like using graphs in Maths and reports in English—really helps reinforce learning in a meaningful context. Reaching out to the local council or Tidy Towns adds an authentic civic dimension that could inspire real change. Overall, this is an excellent way to empower students to see themselves as active contributors to both their school and wider community.
I would pose the question ‘What can our school do to help prevent climate change?’ to the class to discuss how we are contributing to the greenhouse effect and brainstorm ideas, initiatives and solutions to overcome this problem and raise awareness of climate change.
Our school is a Green School and works hard to fight against pollution, yet there is plenty of room for improvement.
Firstly, the children would think-pair-share about the main causes of climate change. In groups they would then draw a concept map to brainstorm ways in which our school community can overcome some of these problems. The class would then bring forward their ideas to the Green Schools Committee. A poster competition could be carried out in the school to raise awareness and teach the other classes about climate change and the causes. A timetable for litter picking could be introduced whereby each week a different class picks up the litter from around the school grounds/local area. Battery collections and recycle bin checks could also be undertaken.
The detectives will then reflect, review and evaluate the question posed and how effective their solutions were.I love your idea of using it to explore local rivers, as connecting satellite imagery to familiar places can really deepen students’ understanding. Comparing images over time encourages observation skills and critical thinking. Exploring major natural events through satellite data is also a great way to discuss environmental impact and climate change in a meaningful context. It’s a great idea for hands-on, real-world learning.
I used the Satellite Tracker App and found it fascinating! It was amazing to see all the satellites passing over Ireland. Here are five satellites that have recently passed over Ireland and what they do:
1.Starlink satellites – SpaceX’s internet-beaming constellation regularly appears as trains of lights at dawn or dusk over Ireland, delivering broadband globally but sometimes hampering astronomical observations
2.International Space Station (ISS) – A crewed orbital lab visible for a few minutes as it circles Earth at ~28,000 km/h, conducting microgravity research and space science .
3.EIRSAT 1 – Ireland’s first CubeSat, built by UCD and launched in Dec 2023. It tests gamma-ray and surface-coating sensors in low Earth orbit
4.Sentinel 1 – Part of ESA’s Copernicus programme, this radar-imaging satellite monitors land deformation, ice, natural disasters, and marine traffic
5.Meteosat 10 – A geostationary EUMETSAT weather satellite currently positioned over Europe, supplying cloud and rapid-scan imagery every 5–15 minutesAll these satellites were visibly seen on the app as well as their orbiting capacity and movement over Ireland and other countries.
Valerie, I like your idea of breaking the video into sections to prompt discussion and connect to prior knowledge, especially with older students who are ready to explore these deeper global challenges.
Your focus on linking global issues back to local action is so important. It not only makes the learning more relevant but also empowers students to feel they can make a difference. Encouraging collaboration through a Green School Committee or involving the parent association is a great way to build a wider community response and show students that climate action is a shared responsibility.
The video HOME is extremely powerful and eye-opening and would be worthwhile showing to the children to raise awareness. As it is quite long, specific clips could be shown to the children. Follow on activities such as a climate change poster competition could be held in the school with gripping slogans making other classes aware of the dangers and also initiatives such as tree planting and litter picking could be carried out. This would be fun for the children and also excellent for the environment at the same time.
The other videos in this module, for example the Ireland Climate Action Plan and also the Ted Talk would be very educational and beneficial for primary school classes. The children could do their own research and project work on Greta Thunberg and they could also calculate their carbon footprint by doing the questionnaire as part of computer/i-pad time or else as part of homework.Your plan to introduce climate change to young learners is engaging and well thought out. Using the Paxi video as a springboard is a great way to simplify complex ideas, and pairing it with the TEAL climate tool adds a valuable hands-on, inquiry-based element. I especially like how your plan encourages creativity through drawing, writing, and role-play—it caters to different learning styles and helps make the topic personally meaningful.
I think the activity 3 is a fantastic activity. I think that children would love the idea of being reporters and making both predictions and recordings. I think the activity as it stands would be best suited to senior classes but could be differentiated and made easier and more accessible for junior classes. I also think the children would really enjoy watching the PAXI video and learn a lot from it. It is a child-friendly, factual video in which children would be engaged and engrossed in and most children respond well to visuals. I think the use of video is effective as it grabs children’s attention and is a nice change from listening to teacher! The grid is a great way of integrating maths into the lesson and also the thought-provoking questions are great for oral language and literacy development. I also think the children would love predicting the temperatures in the future and providing their reasoning (this could also be a great debate topic)
I really like your ideas, especially the hands on weather station activities and encouraging student agency in how they present data. Sharing data with other classes or even schools globally is a great extension that adds relevance and a broader perspective. It would definitely help students grasp the difference between weather and climate in an engaging, real-world context.
Having carried out both the ‘Is it weather or Climate’ and ‘Weather Detectives’ Activities, I think that children of all ages would thoroughly enjoy them. I think Activity 1 is pitched perfectly for the younger and middle classes and can easily be made more challenging and detailed for the older classes. I think that Activity 2 is more difficult and would be better suited to more senior classes. I have 6th class for the upcoming academic year and will definitely use this resource. I think it is a great resource for pair/group work and encourages thought-provoking discussions about weather and climate. I also think it is a great way of integrating maths into SESE in a fun and active way by completing graphs and averages based on the weather. Overall, I feel that both of these activities and resources would be invaluable for the teaching and learning of weather and climate in the primary school and can be easily adapted to suit all class levels.