Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
My local town encourages locals to meet up on a Sunday morning to litter pick for an hour. It is a wonderful way of keeping the area tidy and litter under control. The tidy towns committee do tremendous work at planting beautiful flowers and wild flowers all around the town. They carefully and lovingly planted some beautiful flowers boxes outside my school. Our school engages with a litter picking initiative, “Picker Pals”. The children learn the tools in creating a better environment for our shared future. The men’s shed in my area kindly made planters, bird boxes and a bug hotel for our school. The children engaged with jobs, such as, weeding the beds to get them ready for planting. Our task is to try encourage more bees into our school garden.
My school is a green school. We received our most recent flag in May for the project Travel-Global Citizenship. This is my school’s 9th Green Flag. The work undertaken by the teachers and pupils has positively influenced our school community. It is an all-inclusive approach that helps children understand the importance of environmental issues and teaches them to be more mindful in their personal and home lives. We engage with WOW (Walk on Wednesday) whereby pupils, parents and teachers walk to school.
At the beginning of the school year I go through class jobs with my class. A few to mention are, light monitors, bin monitors and floor monitors. They understand what goes into compost, recycling and landfill. Light monitors ensure we turn off lights when leaving the classroom. It gives children ownership and a role.
I agree Michelle that is important to teach children children about sustainability from an early age. They will continue these practices throughout primary school and at home.
Hi Orla,
I definitely agree that you would have to break it up into a few lessons. A nice way to introduce the topic is through the Salmon of Knowledge.
Module four provided great detail of the significance of seafood in our diet. Seafood falls under the protein layer on the food pyramid. Protein a key component of my dinner and everything else centers around it. I eat salmon once a week but I will definitely look at supermarket labels to ensure the salmon I buy is fresh, locally grown and sustainable. Fish and shellfish are a super source of protein. I didn’t know that the 9 amino acids that cannot be produced by our bodies are found in seafood. It was noted in the slides that seafood are “complete proteins”. Consuming seafood helps with making up the structure of our hair, skin and nails and hormone regulation. There are so many vitamins and minerals that are already present in seafood. Shellfish contains high levels of iron which our bodies need for growth and development. Mackeral and salmon contain vitamin D. Omega 3 is found in salmon. The knowledge shared will impact my teaching of the food pyramid. This can then feed into teaching children about aquaculture. The Eye Spy in a supermarket activity is wonderful and so fitting. It would encourage the children to go shopping with their parents. The children could explain the sustainable labels to their parents which would encourage them to buy seafood that is fresh, locally grown and sustainable.
The online ARC lessons and resources are very informative, interesting and most of all child friendly. I enjoy teaching children about elements of agriculture in History and Geography. I feel that this online course has taught me so much about aquaculture and sustainability and the importance of informing and teaching our students about it. Aquaculture is a way of life for those living on the coast. It is a means of employment and keeps those communities going. The lessons and resources produced by ARC can be integrated into my teaching practices in alignment with STEM education policy statement and the School Self Evaluation Process. Using these lessons enables myself to foster STEM skills among my students, such as, creative problem solving skills, questioning, exploring, collaborating with others and innovating, designing and making. Each lesson connects with skills associated with Mathematics, Science and Engineering. It also feeds into many other subjects across the primary curriculum. Sustainability lesson links with science and the green schools initiative. Nutrition links with SPHE, History and Science. Employment links with Geography and could be linked with English and Irish. I will definitely use these lesson with my class. I will employ elements of STEM to enhance learning. The children will learn about aquaculture and jobs associated with this ever growing industry. I will inform staff members about these online lessons and how STEM education can utilised through engagement with ARC lesson material. We could then discuss areas of STEM that need improvement and set targets for future planning.
Having engaged with all online lessons one that came to mind was nutrition. It is lovely how reference was made to the salmon of knowledge a story which we can all relate to from our childhood days to the here and now. They really knew the nutritional value of salmon. It might encourage children to try fish dishes when they know it is very good for them.
I think anytime we talk about our climate from now on we will refer to it as our “Goldilocks climate”. However, I don’t know if many farmers would agree with the term as our last few summers haven’t been that favourable especially here in the West of Ireland.
Aquaculture farming is the main type of farming along the west coast of Ireland. It is a prime location as well as its land features and access to ports and harbours make it essential for aquaculture production. Areas on the west coast are benefiting from our temperate climate which was wittingly referred to as a “Goldilocks climate”. We get a good mix of different weather conditions which makes it just right for fish farmers.
Areas on the west coast are rural areas. The population in these areas may be small. However, aquaculture farming brings about employment in all shapes and forms. Some roles within the industry include, fish farmers, farm managers, shipping transport, processing, marine biologists and scientists. It is a sector that is increasingly growing here in Ireland. It provides stable employment for locals and employees might relocate to the area. Those working in the industry gain knowledge in marine science/biology. It brings people to the area which in turn will bring business to these small communities.
Module one was very informative with engaging material and information pertaining to aquaculture in Ireland. The tools and resources aligned with module one will help teach students about Aquaculture and Social Licence. It is important to introduce the term Aquaculture – the farming of plants of animals in water. The children would enjoy learning about the life cycles of Atlantic salmon, Blue Mussels and rock oysters. We could then further learning by looking at ecosystems and the inputs, processes and outputs associated with fish farming in Ireland.
BIM Social Licence have established wonderful projects one in particular being the ARC (Aquaculture Remote Classroom). The mobile classroom travels to schools around the country to raise awareness about aquaculture. It algins with the primary school curriculum and provides a cinematic experience for students which is a world away from your typical classroom set up. Students are engaged from the outset and the day comprises of interactive, fun-filled activities associated with Aquaculture. It is lovely to see it cater for both primary and secondary schools as it gives an insight into careers in the marine industry. It is a wonderful initiative and is positively impacting the learning of children nationwide. I am not surprised that it is in high demand but I am delighted to avail of the online lessons that are very child-friendly. Additionally, Taste the Atlantic and the Young Chef Ambassador programme are wonderful programmes that are supported by the BIM. The videos detailed the hard work and skills associated with careers in this growing industry.
