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I like the cross curricular ideas, especially the idea of getting the class to write persuasive pieces for their community to protect the night sky. This is a great way to link the community and school.
Songs/poems/art resources inspired by the night sky
Poems
Probably the most famous poem inspired by the night sky, and potentially overlooked because of its simplicity and notoriety, is Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Written by Jane Taylor in the 19th century, it was written as a lullaby. For young children this poem is a lovely resource to use as a trigger to engage their wonder. Why is it a lullaby? When do the stars come out? Why is it like a diamond? For older children, it can also be used. Did you know there are 4 more verses? The poem talks about people traveling at night. The poem can be used to explore why it is important to be able to see the stars in terms of travel. This can lead to discussions on light pollution. So this simple well known poem can be used to engage children to talk about the night sky.
Art
Van Gogh’s Starry Night is arguably the most well known piece of art on the night sky. It is set in the country side and the sky and stars are clearly visible. A contrasting painting to show children is The Boulevard Montmartre by Camille Pisarro. This painting shows the night sky above a well lit city. The stars are not visible. Comparing these two paintings is a great way to start a discussion and explore the impact of light pollution on the environment.
I like the idea of nature walks in our local area. We have a lovely park and woodland walk near us. However, to get to it we have to cross a busy road. I think being organised and working out the logistics of this would be worth it to get children to spend more time in nature and learn about biodiversity in their area.
How you would incorporate the needs of nocturnal species especially those that rely on dark skies into school biodiversity plans
First I would engage the children by showing them videos and pictures of nocturnal animals. I think the video in this module on the long eared bat is a great resource to use. This will get a discussion going on nocturnal species around us. What their needs are compared to animals that are out in the day and how we can adapt our school environment and biodiversity to help them.
We would then investigate our school grounds. In particular, we would focus on our new sensory garden, which is currently under development. While biodiversity has been a key feature of the garden, nocturnal animals have not been a consideration. We would discuss ways we can adapt the garden to the needs of nocturnal animals.
Currently, we are fortunate to have mature trees in the garden. These will be ideal for bats and moths in terms of a habit.
In order to improve the garden for nocturnal animals, we can look at including plants and flowers for nocturnal pollinators and to encourage insects.
Another aspect in our school grounds that impacts nocturnal animals are the security lights. These are sensory lights and are very bright blue lights. I would ask children to think of a way to change this so to minimise the impact on nocturnal animals.
Our school is in a rural area too. However, there has been a lot of building lately and this has hugely impacted on light pollution. It was interesting to look at the maps of Ireland between 1997 and 2015 to see the growth of light pollution. You could clearly see rural Ireland being impacted.
How is light pollution impacting on our area?
In our area over the last 5 years, 3 new housing estates have been built on our area. This has led to an increase in light pollution due to more street lighting in each estate. The type of street lights being used are LED blue lights. They are on from dusk to dawn, causing intrusion into houses, sky glow and glare.
This is having a huge impact on the environment and the people who live in these estates. The darkness that was once there is now gone. As a result, it is difficult to see the night sky. Animals in the locality have been impacted not only due to loss of habitat but also their nocturnal habits.
The intrusion of these lights into homes greatly impacts sleep cycles which in turn will impact overall health.
Bringing awareness of light pollution into the classroom will develop an understanding of the impact it has on both the environment and humans.
I would conduct a survey in the classroom around who has street lights outside their homes. We would discuss what the children observe about these lights. How many? How bright? What time they are on/off?
We would conduct an investigation into dark sky friendly lights. I would introduce the terms; unshielded, partially shielded and fully shielded. Using torches and cardboard to make light shields, we would investigate what works best. The goal would be to create a light that is not intrusive, only lights where it is supposed to and has a low light.
I think getting parents on board to learn about the night sky is important, as children are at home at this time. It would be a great way for children to show what they are learning at school and for parents to get involved.
Using Stellarium in the junior and senior infant classroom
To start I would pre teach the difference between day and night. We would talk about activities we do during the day and night. e.g. eating, playing, sleeping. I would ask them to think about differences in the sky during day time and night time. What can they see? (clouds, sun, moon, stars) How bright or dark is it?
I would then introduce them to Stellarium. I think this is a really exciting and engaging tool for young children. We would explore the night sky from different locations first. Next, we will focus on what they see at night. Stars. I will introduce constellations. I will use the constellation line function first to look at the different groups of stars. Then show them the ‘Greek’ version with the pictures. We will learn names of some of the constellations.
After, children will make their own constellation using tinfoil and string or they can copy one from the sky!
