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I agree Aisling that by planting more trees we can cool air temperature, offer shade and encourage wildlife. This is particularly important as we begin to experience more and more heatwaves. In built up areas of cities and towns these can have devasting consequences for young and old alike and tree planting is a achievable part of the solution.
Storm Éowyn, which hit Ireland in January of this year, was one of the most vivid examples of climate change for our children in schools, bringing damaging winds, heavy rain, coastal flooding and power outages, some of which lasted for weeks on end depending where you were in the country. They had days off for safety and this is something that rarely happened in the past. This highlighted the serious impactful nature of climate change for our children and families.
Though climate change is unequal worldwide with some of the poorest people on the planet suffering its effects the most, we can use our experience of storms and coastal flooding to springboard that conversation in our classrooms. Though children may be often overwhelmed when considering the role they can play to reduce climate change, small positive and actionable steps help reduce anxiety in young children and they can see that they, in a small way, can have a big impact.
Three ways we can help are: the reduction of waste in our immediate school environment, including water conservation, planting a wildflower garden to attract bees and insects for pollination and or trees to reduce CO2 emissions and shopping locally when possible to mitigate the effects of emissions also.
We recently have had a new build and the amount of waste meant a huge impact on landfill. Prior to the move teachers and students undertook to reduce, reuse and recycle as much as possible by reusing, donating and recycling ie games and books to local charities, paper waste separated and recycled and shelving and storage units that could not be reused in the new building were donated to other members of the school community. Children become satisfied that they are taking positive steps to be part of the solution.
For SSE staff and management need to reflect on how they can have a meaningful impact in the day to day life of the school. We should target specific areas for improvement like specific green schools initiatives. As a school in receipt of Hot Lunches we see first hand a lot of waste. I think Food and Biodiversity is a natural progression and we should consider ways to grow our own and reduce waste. 25% of the world’s freshwater supply is used to grow food that is never eaten which is a shocking statistic. The water used to produce the food wasted could be used by 9 billion people at around 200 litres per person per day. Children begin see by not wasting food, how this has a direct impact on this statistic and they are tackling the problem directly.I love the idea of a community group growing food together to support newcomers, where people can relax and share stories and build friendships. as one of the videos relate knowing each other is the best way for inclusion to occur. The fact that the community garden can supply some produce to the school lunch programme demonstrates SDG 12 on a local level. Well done!
Cultúr Migrant Centre is a regional community organisation working with migrants, asylum seekers and refugees, focusing on the promotion of equal rights and improving the empowerment, participation and self determination of ethnic minorities. Based in Navan, Co Meath Cultúr was established in 2004 with the main purpose of promoting a multicultural Meath and facilitating the smooth integration of migrants who have chosen to live in this country into Irish society. It is a voluntary organisation that celebrates cultural diversity through education, sport, music and drama.
Cultúr brings people from different backgrounds and walks of life together. Members and volunteers join their time and efforts in order to provide advocacy and information to migrants through the Migrant Rights Initiative. They also teach an English Class. They help facilitate integration through cultural and sporting activities. They promote intercultural awareness through anti-racism and intercultural training. They also enable inter-agency involvement with migrant communities.
As a large urban school we have many children who are refugees and migrants and the topic would have to be broached sensitively and with empathy. I think the lesson outlined in this module are a great place to start. As a class we could contact Cultúr and ask how our school could welcome migrants to our locality. We could host a welcome event for recent Syranian refugees who have arrived to our school and host an intercultural afternoon in class or whole school where families are invited to share their food, history and culture.
Children could ask to sponsor a recently arrived family by donating clothes, toys, books and money. This is a great practical support from Rania’s video ”Who Do You Think I Am?” They can befriend children in the family and help them learn English during afterschool homework or chess clubs.
The lessons and outreach to community based organisations links effectively with School Self Evaluation, promoting inclusion and wellbeing for all involved.
I like the idea of an audit of school transport. To support climate action our local school has many walk to school days where families make a big effort to leave the car at home. This is a pragmatic way of reducing a carbon footprint and helps children take action on a local level to counteract the effects of climate change.
I would choose Sustainable Development Goal 2, Zero Hunger to work with my class. First we would explore the nature and definition of what Hunger means to them and use pictures, stories, or short videos to illustrate hunger and its impact on people around the world. Hunger in Gaza is in the news at the moment and we would link it to our history module of the Great Famine.
Its important to make the topic relatable and connect it to their lives by questioning have the ever felt hungry and asking what kids of food help us to stay healthy and strong? We would link these discussions to the schools Healthy Eating policy and SPHE programme.
We would look for examples of food shortage in the community for example the local food bank or the St Vincent de Paul and how these charities work to highlight food shortage locally.
On a local level we could grow a class garden like vegetables and herbs and share harvest with a food bank. In cities and large towns these are now common and it would be good for children to contribute. In our school we could also keep chickens and donate eggs. Children could also be taught how to use produce to make simple meals. I would ask the children to keep a food waste diary and to record in it how much food they waste or throw out in a week to understand to value of food and the impact of waste. Teaching cooking skills would also reduce waste. We could do a food collection drive where the children could collect non perishable items and donate to a local charity. We could also encourage awareness throughout the school by creating posters for display ‘’How to stop Hunger’’
For SSE these efforts can be linked to our whole school approach with classes and teacher sharing ideas and resources on how they can contribute to eliminating hunger locally and globally.I too was struck by the negative stereotyping of men in Emma Watson speech and that they have been excluded from feminist discourse. Her formal invitation to men shows a willingness to balance the discussion and could be a useful strategy in a classroom dominant with male voices. I hope that boys would actively used feminist to describe themselves and see that they are not the problem but part of the solution to gaining equality for all.
Gender stereotyping is an inherent part of society. As parents and teachers of young children we have the opportunity to challenge these stereotypes daily in the classroom. As a teacher in the senior end of the school, I have seen the usual ‘’ boys are better at football’’ ‘’boys are loud’’ and ‘’girls are neat and organised and better at handwriting.’’ Though for many children gender stereotyping biases are not immediately obvious as children have had many lessons on likes and dislikes, have had opportunities to challenge stereotypes and have explored how gender roles lead to types of jobs they could have as adults. I believe they often know the right answers to the questions around gender. But sometimes these rote answers may mask deeply ingrained beliefs on gender roles and that is why we must continue to use varied examples and methodologies within Plan International Ireland(and others) in the classroom to break down these gender stereotypes.
We can challenge stereotypes this way:
By giving the children opportunities to see men and women working in different roles.
Give them chances to question stereotype scenarios around inclusivity through art, SPHE and drama.
Help build empathy for the effects of inequality in other countries and cultures by discussing fairness.
Give opportunities for the children to question leaders in the school at assembly and make posters for display to educate others in the school community.
For SSE it is useful to first question students on their biases and during Croke Park to evaluate teacher practices in the area of Gender studies in individual classrooms. Teachers then establish a set of lessons/ resources that could be used at specified periods throughout the year and highlight work done on the topic at assemblies.Hi Orlaith,
I really liked your idea of the penpal exchange as a way to better understand and develop empathy with children in other regions.
Eric Ehigie’s paper “The Role of Global Citizens in Today’s World”, is a thought provoking, offering personal insight of the immigrant in Ireland, of the past and the present. As a nation we have been used to emigration, through famine times and the economic migration of the eighties and now we have experienced immigration in the last 30 years to our shores. We see the effects of the changes in his personal experience and that of the generation before him.
Also, through his use of quotations from Marx and King how the idea that we ‘’are all cut from the same cloth’’ and how powerful this message should be to those who chose to actively deny that solidarity to others. In speaking of Daniel O Connell Ehigie highlights this message that the oppression of one is a repression of all.
Therefore Development Education is vital to address the inequality of people in the world around us. I would begin address DE throughout the SESE programme to highlight inequalities around the world. I have in the past used Action Aid resources while teaching about famine and poverty globally, while also using The Irish Famine resources to highlight the social, economic and political failures of the past that led to this part of our history.
Social justice issues can be addressed through the SPHE curriculum. The children could debate topics and through Drama activities investigate them further.
As a school community, using topical issues or concerns from news items, these could be addressed at assemblies through story and songs. Class levels could study countries that have humanitarian need and present posters with simple steps to address inequality by linking the individual to the global, that is, highlighting manageable steps we can take to work to eliminate climate change for the benefit of others not just ourselves, ways to address gender inequality or ways to protect the human rights of others.SSE
DE can be addressed by firstly surveying student knowledge on what it is and to see how aware they are of global issues. As teachers we can look at our teaching and learning environment and assess how we can better promote the values of DE in the classroom ie fairness and equality and climate action. The whole school can review how we support sustainability in the classroom and school environs.I really appreciate that you have kept your investigation question local as I agree that the children will really engage at a high level with a topic close to them. Inviting Speakers in is a great way to achieve this.
Climate Detective Question: How has climate change impacted the water quality in our rivers?
Having watched the Olympics recently, I was concerned for the marathon swimmers and triathletes when it was announced of their inability to practice in the Seine prior to their events. A quick search revealed high levels of bacteria were found present in the river even after Paris undertook an ambitious improvement plan costing 1.4 billion to ensure that some swimming could happen in this iconic venue. Considering how water quality is closely linked to the weather I think this could be an interesting way to engage students being a climate detective and a great stimulus for a series of lessons.
We could begin with water quality tests and experiments as our school is close to a major river and samples could be taken and observed if not tested. They can then study the small living creatures in water and see them under a microscope if not visible to the naked eye. We can look at the sources of pollution in the rivers and examine what we can do to improve that and then what are the weather events that impact on rivers and lakes predominately. They could use the TEAL tool to get precipitation and sun values and predictions as heavy rains and waste water work to runoff and flow into the river resulting in elevated bacteria levels while warm temperatures and the suns ultraviolet rays can kill germs and lower bacteria levels.
I agree with Louise finding information on the app was difficult. I downloaded 2 apps and still had to google the information. I assumed that would be within the app. Navigation within took some time but was worth it: manipulating the globe and seeing satellite proximity and passes would be great for children to explore and I think senior classes would enjoy.
I downloaded the satellite tracker app on my phone and I didn’t find it easy to navigate at first. Then I googled what each one does.
ISS – International Space station, permits long term exploration and scientific research, four times larger than previous version.
Adeos II – ocean observation, land observation, precipitation, atmospheric chemistry.
Cosmos 2219 – was a Russian ELINT (Electronic and Signals Intelligence) satellite launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome aboard a Zenit 2 rocket.
SAOCOM 1-B Hydrology and land observation, substantial contribution to surveillance and emergency management.
USA 81 – was a US air force signals intelligence satellite.
I agree with Cian and Evan in exploring the targets for Ireland under the Paris Agreement. Some Nationwide programmes on RTE have been very informative on how farmers are changing they way they farm to align with these goals and they children could watch these clips also as a stimulus for the lesson.
