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Hi Amanda, a great detailed lesson in tracking weather over a month and seeing if it rains the same amount every week. The what if.. scenarios are a great way to spark a discussion. Also the zip loc bag water cycle is another great suggestion by Una. Thanks for sharing.
Schools need to reduce their greenhouse gases emissions by 51% and they need to improve their energy efficiency by 50% by 2030 according to the School Sector Climate Action Mandate.
How much electricity does the school use? would be the research question I would you use with the class. I would start by discussing the appliances in our school that use electricity. We could also look at the energy efficiency label guide with ratings A to G. Children could look at our appliances in the school and /or online at different appliances eg fridge, kettle and search for energy efficient models and discuss the initial cost versus the running cost. They could present their model to the class, describing it and state why they chose it thus developing their language skills and raising environmental awareness.
Energy monitors could be appointed to log meter reading daily or weekly at the same time to check our electricity usage in the school. If it was measured before the campaign pupils could calculate how many kwh were saved. The sustainability energy authority of Ireland has good resources for this and for calculating the carbon footprint. An energy saving campaign could be run – with energy monitors checking rooms – close doors to keep in the heat, exclude draughts where possible, turn off lights, computers are on standby mode, turning down the temperature by 1 degree could save 10%!This lesson could be integrated across many subjects eg; History – how energy consumptions has changed, with Maths calculating energy consumption and graphs over time, Art- design a poster, SESE – light, heat and power sources.
I like you suggestion of comparing and contrasting satellite imagery taken from space with those taken from earth aswell. Also writing a list of pros and cons is a good way to further develop their critical thinking skills. Thanks for sharing.
I was amazed at the sheer number of satellites orbiting earth. It was not something I have ever considered before and I was certainly not aware of the many websites that provide us with this information. I think children would really enjoy tracking them in class. The satellites that have passed Ireland recently are
1. Sentinel 2B – an environmental European spacecraft that specialises in mapping land surfaces. It is very useful as it can detect pollution in our rivers, lakes and seas and it monitor forests and crops.
2.Cosmos 2428 is satellite operated by the Russians for defense.
3. The International Space Station which is the largest artificial satellite that orbits Earth. It’s main function is for science and engineering purposes and it completes around 16 orbits every single day.
4. NOAA 21 – This a a US weather and environmental satellite that monitors climate and weather.
5. Starlink satellites – provide high speed internet access to the world.
I too believe the video “Home” is thought provoking and inspiring. I liked your step by step approach to dealing with climate change by assessing their prior knowledge first. Then showing suitable age appropriate clips from the video and encouraging them to share their thoughts and feelings on which I believe is very important. Organising practical ways to make a difference such as recycling projects, creating posters and creating a list of positive things we can do are great suggestions for a lesson. Thanks.
I found the “Home” video to be powerful and insightful. The cinematography is beautiful with stunning aerial shots of forests, oceans, deserts, animals and cities. It shows how the earth has changed over time due to climate change, pollution, deforestation and biodiversity loss. I also liked how the narration was simple and clear so that is accessible for a lot of people and not laden down with too many scientific words. However, as the film is quite long I would not feel it would appeal to young children. The film conveys a strong message about protecting nature. I would instead show clips or images from it to show to a class to spark a discussion on how we can care for the earth. I would focus on simple, positive things we all can do like reducing waste, recycling, creating a bug hotel, planting flowers that encourage bees and saving energy by turning off lights etc. For older classes I would do a lesson on examining fast fashion and the devastation it causes to the ecosystem in areas like Bangladesh, India and Vietnam. Many discarded clothes are shipped off from wealthier regions to certain parts of Africa eg Ghana and Kenya and are dumped in landfills damaging the environment. I would link this with a lesson from the PLAN framework on climate justice- where countries least responsible for the climate crisis suffer the most from it. This lesson would integrate with SPHE too.
I really like the WWF Carbon Footprint calculator and I would encourage my class next year to use it at home too with their families. I think children would really like watching the Greta Thurnberg TED video. She is a great role model for children proving that everyone has a voice and she has proved that small actions can lead to big results.
I think the Paxi video is a great way to introduce the topic of greenhouse gases. It presents the informative in a fun and concise manner that is very engaging for children. It explains clearly what greenhouse gases are and how the greenhouse effect is important for plants, animals and humans as it keeps the earth warm. However, some human activities are changing the earths natural greenhouse effect causing the atmosphere to trap more heat resulting in a warmer Earth. I found the experiment “Keeping a lid on it” to be good and practical way to show children the greenhouse gases effect. Data can be tracked, analyzed and plotted on a graph developing their mathematical skills. I am looking forward to trying this experiment next year with my class.
I would also choose group work activities such as sorting friendly and unfriendly ways to help combat climate, prompting a good class discussion on what we are doing already and what we can improve on to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at home and in school. This activity could be integrated with art class eg designing posters or creating a school collage from recycled materials.
The Teal tool is a useful resource to explore and understand climate change further. It allows you to look at climate variables and predict future climate projections. First, I would model how this works on the interactive whiteboard and then the children in small groups could select different countries to interpret climate data from. This activity integrates ICT, Geography, Science, SPHE, Mathematical skills such as working out averages, plotting their results on bar graphs and allows them to work collaboratively together. They could then present their findings to the class which could inspire them to become more environmentally aware.
I really like your idea of presenting your suggestion list of how we can help to combat climate change at assembly. Each class in our school is responsible for presenting an assembly once throughout the year. It would be a great way of getting the message across to the whole school and even better delivered by the children. Thanks
I like your suggestion of adding more ICT to the lesson such as making a spreadsheet on excel to display results and creating bar charts etc. This is something that I did not think of. Also your idea of using a mentimeter is a very interesting one which I have not tried before. Thank you for sharing your ideas.
Dr. Maeve Liston’s article highlights that teaching STEM should be an integrated approach of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths. This inter disciplinary approach enhances critical thinking, builds collaborative skills, develops real world problem solving skills and fosters innovation. True STEM lessons use the Engineering Design Process. After reflecting upon my own STEM teaching this is an area that I have often overlooked in the past. I hope to incorporate more engineering design aspects into my lessons in the future.
I enjoyed activity one especially the starting point of discussing weather and birthdays. Getting children to compare the weather on their birthdays in groups to consolidate the idea that weather is ever changing is something which I hope to try next year with my class. I liked the extension activity of teaching climate zones for older classes- find a place that will not have the same weather as you. I found the ESA have useful links and videos to explain weather and climate. Categorising statements into weather or climate related is a great way for children to show their understanding while working collaboratively together. Children could keep weather journals and track local weather (precipitation, temperataure, cloud cover) over a week or a month and analyse and plot these results.
Activity two’s Weather detective lesson was easy to follow. I enjoyed looking into making an anemometer and I think it would be a fun, interactive lesson for my 4th class next year. It includes all the STEM subjects with an engineering design element. What would happen if the open ends of the cups are not facing the same direction? Testing also how changing the size of the cup affects performance. Other factors could be explored such as friction which could impact the ability of it to spin freely.