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I love all of these ideas that link in with the night sky. I particularly like the lyrics to the Lisa O’ Neill song and such a lovely before bedtime song to sing with your children!
I would do the “Design your own dark sky place” activity with 5th Class.
Engage: I would show the class a picture or short video of a dark sky and a brightly lit city. I would ask “How does light affect what we can see in the night sky?”
Investigation: The pupils could ask questions aboutlight pollution and make predictions about which areas of our school would have the most light at night. They could investigate the school grounds, observe different lights and record their findings. afterwards they could analyse their results and discuss their findings.
Taking the next step: The pupils would use what they learned to design their own dark sky area in the school. They could draw/map out their ideas, such as using lights that point downwards or switching unnecessary lights off. They could then present their ideas and discuss how we could make the school better for people, biodiversity and the night sky.
There are some amazing ideas here, I really like the community link with this approach. The biodiversity garden is a fantastic idea and gives children hands-on experience and shows them practical ways to support biodiversity in the local area.
I would explore biodiversity and light pollution with 5th Class in a suburb in Dublin using the Curious Minds/ESERO Framework for Inquiry. To engage the pupils, I would start with a walk around the school grounds/local areas and ask the question “What living things can we find here?” Pupils could work in groups to record birds, insects, plants and other signs of biodiversity on a map. I would then introduce light pollution by asking “What happens to animals when it gets dark?”
Investigation could begin with a starter question such as “Does artificial light affect the biodiversity found in different areas?” Pupils could predict which areas would have more wildlife and compare a brightly lit area with a darker area. They could record their observations. We could focus on nocturnal species such as moths and bats and discuss how aritificial light may affect their behaviour.
In taking thenext step, pupils could map areas of light around Donnybrook and design ideas for making local spaces more biodiversity friendly, such as reducing unneccessary lighting or using donward facing lights.
Reflection: I would ask the pupils what surprised them about their investigation and findings about biodiversity andl light pollution in the local area. I would also ask them whether their predictions changed and what they could do differently in the future.I really like how this activity connects light pollution to a real issue in the children’s own community. The practical investigation would make the concept of light pollution easier for the children to understand. Designing a solution gives the children a chance to use creativity and problem-solving skills. I like the idea of prresenting their ideas to a councillor as it gives their learning a genuine purpose.
We don’t always take note of light pollution but it can have a huge impact on the sky in Dublin. Streetlights, buildings, traffic and advertisements make the sky much brighter meaning we can’t see the dark sky along with all of it’s stars and constellations. As mentioned in this module, it can also effect wildlife and the natural environment.
I would explore this topic with 5th Class using the Curious Minds/ESERO framework for inquiry. I would ask a starter question such as “Why can we see more stars in some places than others?” The pupils could also use Stellarium to compare the night sky in Dublin with a darker, rural location in Ireland. They would make predictions, explore the differences, record their observations and reflect on their findings.
I would also use darksky.ie to to help pupils learn more about light pollution in Ireland. As a citizen cience activity, pupils could take part in Globe at Night, making observations of the night sky and contributing their findings to a real scientific project. This could help the pupils see that their observations can be useful on a wider, real-life level.
To further learning, the pupils could work in groups to investiagte sources of unnecessary light aorund the school or local area and discuss possible solutions. They could create posters promoting darker skies to put up around the school.I really like this idea and will definitely be using it with 5th Class in September too. It is a very interactive way for the children to learn more about the moon.
Create a teaching resource using Stellarium
Lesson for 5th Class: A mission to explore the night sky using Stellarium or Worldwide Telesope
1. Engage:
I would begin by showing the class a view of the night sky using Stellarium. I would ask questions like “What can you see? What does it make you wonder about?”
I would allow the children to share ideas and questions. They could work in pairs to explore the night sky and find something that interests them, such as a planet, star or constellation.
2. Investigate:
Trigger question: “Does the night sky look the same throughout the year?”
Prediction: The pupils discuss and record what they think.
Conducting the investigation: Using Stellarium, the pupils explore the sky on two different dates, such as a night in winter and and a night in summer. They record/draw three different things that they notice.
Share results: Each pair shares their findings with the class. The will discuss and compare with their predictions.
3. Taking the next step:
Pupils could use what they have learned to explore the night sky from a different location such as Australia. What is different? What is the same?
4. Reflection:
What surprised you?
What did you discover?
Did your thinking change?
What would you like to investigate next?
If we could travel anywhere in space, what would you investigate?
I really like this idea for teaching gravity, it is very well structured and would definitely give the children a greater understanding. I partciularly like that the children can collaborate and be creative during this task encouraging lots of enjoyment while learning.
I would use the Curious Minds inquiry framework to encourage pupils to predict, explore, question and discover through practical investigation. I would begin by asking the class a trigger question “How did people used to tell the time in the past?” This would allow pupils to share their ideas and make predictions during a class discussion. The pupils could then observe images or videos of sundials used in the past. The pupils would then investigate shadows around the school grounds before working in groups to design and create their own sundial. Different roles would be assigned in each group so that pupils would work together to measure, investigate, record observations and track how the shadow changes throughout the day.
This activity links well with Dr Maeve Liston’s paper which highlights that STEM should be viewed as an integrated approach to learning rather than four separate subjects. A STEM classroom encourages pupils to solve real-world problems, collaborate, test ideas and reflect on their designs. The sundial activity incorporates science through investigating shadows and the Sun’s movement, mathematics through measuring and recording time, engineering through designing and improving the sundial, and technology through using tools such as a compass. As a teacher it is our role is to guide and support pupils while allowing them to take ownership of their learning through collaboration and problem-solving.