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The module gave me a much better understanding of Aquaculture, considering the history of Aquaculture and the industry, as it is today in Ireland. The resources shared within the module are very classroom friendly and will greatly assist the teaching and learning.
The videos were very informative and the social license projects would greatly motivate the pupils in their learning and understanding of aquaculture, from the nutrition of seafood, the benefits to the local community from aquaculture and the importance of ensuring sustainable seafood, in Ireland. I enjoyed following the story of the young chefs as they visited producers and were able to see the origins of the food, that they will bring to plate.
Taste the Atlantic, A Seafood Journey allows the children to connect with the Wild Atlantic, developing a sense of place, making connections with the sea, food and place.
I have been fortunate to have seen the ARC classroom in live action and can truly say that it is most definitely one of the best experiences a pupil will have. It is wonderfully creative, immersive and greatly engages the pupils in every possible way in their learning.Hi Catriona,
I think this would be a great theme of work for the children. They would be active in their learning and would find this work engaging and fun. Their environment would provide so many exciting triggers for learning and extension of this work. The Green School Work would integrate wonderfully with this too.
How does the use of Solar Energy Benefit Planet Earth, in addressing Climate Change, looking at our own school?
The children would complete a mind map regarding sources of energy, what we use to heat our homes, how we power our school, our towns, cities, places of work. Where do we find energy sources? Considering the benefits or harm that these different sources of energy have with regard to Planet Earth and Climate Change.
We would make use of digital videos to support our learning, resources from SFI, National Geographic, Scoilnet Weather Satellites and our local county council environmental office, with visitors from relevant agencies.
Our school has recently installed solar panels. We could gather, collate and present data from the panels and consider our research question, regarding savings, or not, to our current school year, comparing this to costs of prior academic years. These findings could help support how Solar Energy benefits our school financially, along with the environmental gains, that the pupils would consider.
Pupils would be encouraged through their research to look at the benefits of using solar energy for our planet, whilst considering the environmental impact of other forms of energy, on both our planet, our climate, animals and humans.
Pupils can make use of digital technology to research and to present their research work, sharing this with each other and with the school community.Hi Evelyn,
I think it is a great resource, it is very well planned and would engage the pupils greatly. There are many opportunities for integration with mathematics, visual art and as you say languages too.
Your idea of interviewing grandparents to see what weather sayings they may have, or to make this part of Grandparents day would enhance the work greatly.
Nose High Up in the Sky
The resource is structured around 3 activities: Taking about the weather, sensing the weather and building your weather station,
Talking about the weather – a task suitable for 8 to 10 year olds and inclusive of all pupils
Pupils can learn how to use their senses and appropriate instruments to describe and measure weather conditions, use of literacy and proverbs relating to weather can be included, with Irish language seanfhocail integration too.
Pupils can also work collaboratively designing and constructing a weather station.
Pupil worksheets support the planning and recording of this work.
Pupils can construct an anemometer, learn how to measure air temperature and measure rain fall, also.
This work can enable pupils to complete their weather station.
This learning could include digital videos to support their learning, fill in gaps in their knowledge and extend their learning, by investigating the use of satellites to support weather forecasting.
This work would also work as a trigger for the topic of Climate Change in class.
The resource has numerous links to ESA digital resources, relating to space projects and how we monitor the weather from space. I feel the children would greatly enjoy this work, it is fun, collaborative and active. We can make use of our environment and make wonderful connections with home, with our work. Pupils could share their learning with other classes, through digital project work and by presenting their findings and learning, at a whole school assembly.Hi Jamie,
I think you are right that we must be mindful as to the content shown to the younger children, with many images, as you said difficult to watch for adults. However, the message of ensuring our shores and beaches are kept clean and that we are mindful of caring for every creature, is one that could be taught in all classrooms. The material certainly hit home with me, to ensure that as teachers we can encourage children to think about what we can do locally, in our classrooms and our homes, encouraging Climate Champions in our classrooms.
Climate Aid Video 2000 was powerful and emotive. This shows climate change and the reality of how animals and humans are suffering in so many places on Earth, there is no place that is not feeling the strain of climate change, some much more than others.
The Ted Talk Video with Greta Thunberg is inspirational, she is a leader in our world, at such a young age, she has awoken many to the message of what is happening, how we must act now and what we must do immediately.
Home, is a sobering piece, it tells the reality of what we have done to the place we call home and how we must do better. How we live our lives on this planet must, as the film tells us, be based on moderation, intelligence and sharing. The narrator tells us that there is no time for pessimism. The hope of our human creativity and how we need to stop drilling the earth and look to the sky for solutions, looking at what we can do now, was greatly inspiring. It is a beautiful, stark piece.
In the classroom I would be mindful as to what and how much I would show of the above digital videos, however there are parts of each that would benefit the children and inspire talk and discussion, around this subject matter and what we can do locally and individually.Hi Katie,
I think the idea of a Kahoot is super, having pupils create their own Kahoot, to peer assess would be fun too. Another I have seen used is Menti-Meter, to share ideas in class, it is very visual and would provide great opportunities to share ideas at the beginning of the lesson, perhaps on what each child took from the video or ways we can make small changes to address the concerns highlighted in the video too.
The Paxi Video was very bright, engaging and would motivate pupils in their learning. The video is colourful and vibrant and can be made accessible for learners, with subtitles and the ability to re-watch this, to review their work. The video could be used at the beginning of learning to stimulate a discussion around this topic and to embrace the inquiry process. Working collaboratively the pupils could consider how they could make changes in their daily lives to address the issues raised, in the digital video. Pupils could consider transport, home, school and the community, looking at ways we can make positive changes.
The Teal Tool was very visual and would engage pupils, in looking and investigating the site. However, I felt the exercise, in completing the data table would only possibly be suited to sixth class, when looking at averages and the mean of particular months and years. This table could be simplified by looking at yearly averages and finding the average over ten years, for senior classes.Hi Eileen,
I think the paper considers how pupils can see science all around them, in the real world and the practical implications of science, in their lives. The paper considered how science integrates with so many curricular areas, from mathematics, to literacy and construction in visual arts. The paper considered how science and engineering can support the development of critical thinkers, problem solving skills and creativity with our students, encouraging the development of 21st century skills.
I enjoyed the first module and particularly, the support of many fun and engaging digital resources.I would begin by working on the topic of weather and climate with the pupils, to ensure their understanding of these concepts, using digital videos. I would make use of the equipment within our school, revising how the thermometers work and how we shall read our temperature and record this daily. We will also construct the rain gauge and anemometer
With regards to creating a met station in our school environment we shall follow the guidance as to where we shall place the thermometer, the rain gauge and the anemometer. Our school yard is a place of play and activity, therefore we could overcome this challenge by choosing wisely, and place our met station near our vegetable garden. We could share the responsibilities and fun of this work with other classes, over the period of a term, this could provide opportunities for group work, peer and active learning, making wonderful use of our learning environment. We could also engage with our Green School Committee in this work.
Opportunities for integration would include, visual art work with construction of the equipment, Mathematics with data, number, directed numbers and Irish, with weather vocabulary and Irish Sayings, History with interviewing grandparents about weather long ago. Music with weather songs and Literacy with Climate Reports. The school community could be involved through interviews, both recorded and live. We have many families who work in the area of farming and science, who could share their knowledge with our class and school. The paper addresses the need to look at creative thinking opportunities for our pupils, to consider everyday science for our students and the excellent example of the pen, in how a simple object entails a great deal of engineering.I would begin by working on the topic of weather and climate with the pupils, to ensure their understanding of these concepts, using digital videos. I would make use of the equipment within our school, revising how the thermometers work and how we shall read our temperature and record this daily. We will also construct the rain gauge and anemometer
With regards to creating a met station in our school environment we shall follow the guidance as to where we shall place the thermometer, the rain gauge and the anemometer. Our school yard is a place of play and activity, therefore we could overcome this challenge by choosing wisely, and place our met station near our vegetable garden. We could share the responsibilities and fun of this work with other classes, over the period of a term, this could provide opportunities for group work, peer and active learning, making wonderful use of our learning environment. We could also engage with our Green School Committee in this work.
Opportunities for integration would include, visual art work with construction of the equipment, Mathematics with data, number, directed numbers and Irish, with weather vocabulary and Irish Sayings, History with interviewing grandparents about weather long ago. Music with weather songs and Literacy with Climate Reports. The school community could be involved through interviews, both recorded and live. We have many families who work in the area of farming and science, who could share their knowledge with our class and school. The paper addresses the need to look at creative thinking opportunities for our pupils, to consider everyday science for our students and the excellent example of the pen, in how a simple object entails a great deal of engineering.Task 1
Prompt for a Computational Thinking activity for class Junior Infants to 2nd class
Movie – “Up”
Create, plan and design a parachute to float over the waterfall.
Resources required: various materials, paper, string, cardboard box constructed to hold Lego figure, pen, pencil, colouring equipment, cardboard, pins, clips, whiteboard, planning, design and reflection documents. Digital resources to document work.
Task 2
“The state of the field of computational thinking in early childhood education”
The document was very insightful and interesting and considered many aspects to supporting children as they learn, play and develop computer and CT skills, attitudes and abilities. The document considered the whole community, from family, school and places of learning in our world, the third teacher. Consideration of engagement, play, creativity and age appropriate resources were noted. The importance of Digital Citizenship was considered with screen time, along with the importance of social time, with children working together. The work looked at how computational thinking integrates with each curricular area. The document suggested numerous resources both online and unplugged and highlighted how computational thinking is being addressed in different countries.
Support for families, schools and teacher’s professional development was highlighted, with consideration in relation to access and equity for our children highlighted as an area of importance for policy makers to address.
The report concludes with considering key takeaways for policy makers in that the early years are critical in development when it comes to fostering CT and computer science education, how children can master key skills and how there is a growing need to incorporate some form of computer science or CT into their curricula and early years’ levels of education. This is highlighted within the review which requires policy makers to ensure that tailored professional development and support is critical in integrating CT into our teaching and learning, along with support and resources to allow for family engagement, in supporting the learning of our children.
https://makecode.com/_d8wKWsYgjAKV
Location: New York
Main Character: Dandy
Enemy: Monster
Food: Hot Dog
The idea behind this work would come from prior class work and it would integrate the curricular areas of Geography, History and Literacy, Science and visual artwork. The game has a setting of New York as the class would be learning about the city of New York and America, considering the structure of the city, places, events, culture, food, music and sports. This would involve pair project work, completing an unplugged project together on this Geography work.
Our work would provide opportunities for Story boarding to plan and prepare for literacy and narrative writing. This work would allow for story development and character creation, with our main character, the monster and the hot dog.
Our work would integrate Science and the creation, design and construction of tower blocks, to test the strength of materials used and to provide for visual art opportunities.
