Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Hello Muireann,
I think water conservation would be a great topic to conduct a research project on with primary school students. It is a tangible topic for younger students to understand and one where they can be take individual action.
Jack
Research Question: What effect does increased/decreased rainfall have on plants/crops in our school garden?
I would start by revising what we have previously discussed on weather vs climate and the data collected on rainfall from our gauge over the past months. I feel like this research project would be best undertaken in spring when plants are growing again.
I think the effects of excessive rainfall and lack of rainfall would be best investigated in a controlled experiment in the classroom window where three sets of plants are watered differently, amounts recorded and effects on growth observed.
In terms of phase 3 of making a difference I would get the class to present the idea of their research, results and projected future volatility of precipitation in Ireland to other classes in the school using a google slides presentation. Working in groups, it would give the students a great opportunity to share their work and I’ve found that students enjoy the opportunity to be experts for other children.
I found the idea of huge numbers of satellites orbiting simultaneously very interesting and downloaded the Satellite Tracker App.
The ISS: The International Space Station is home to astronauts conducting various low gravity experiments. The experimentation is used for ‘advancing technologies such as robots, computers, health monitors, life support systems, and more for both space and ground applications’.The ISS is currently home to an extra two astronauts who are ‘stuck’ after issues with their Starliner spacecraft.
CSS: This is a chinese operated space station with a similar function as the ISS. It is described as ‘provide opportunities for space-based experiments and a platform for building capacity for scientific and technological innovation’.
QUESS: The Quess satellite is operated by China’s Academy of Sciences is designed to test quantum communications.
SL-14 R/B: I found this passing of this satellite interesting as it was launched by the USSR and ceased to function in 2017.
Genesis I/II: These satellites were launched by a private american firm to test the viability of inflatable space structures.
ALOS: The Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS-1) was a Japanese Earth-imaging satellite from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. The satellite contained three sensors that were used for cartography and disaster monitoring of Asia and the Pacific Ocean, something that is require more than ever with increased weather volatility due to climate change.
Hello Ailbhe,
I agree that the video is too long to show younger primary students as attention would certainly drift, I would be interested to see how a senior class would interact if shown it over a number of days as the panoramic images are as you say breathtaking.
Jack
Home by Yann Arthus Bertrand started with the very powerful idea of everything being linked and requiring balance to support life. I really enjoyed the description of trees as a ‘perfect living structure’ and then to outline later how they provide a canopy of life to three quarters of earth’s biodiversity. ‘Dubai is like the new beacon for all the world’s money’, I would contend it’s more a beacon for greed. As someone who briefly lived in the UAE and struggled to accept the wastefulness visible daily I have strong views with on desert cities portraying themselves as utopias. I found the fact of fish being the staple diet of one in five humans very interesting and concerning due to the degradation of our marine life. The reasons for optimism outlined at the conclusion proved more depressing given that the documentary was released 15 years ago and despite international agreements and increased media coverage we have yet to change course. I also found the Climate Aid Video very provocative and thought the images of protesters being treated with force would lead to discussions on climate action.
Activity 3 gives huge scope for lessons at different age groups from simple awareness with younger classes to more substantial project work with a senior class. The Paxi video would be suitable for younger classes along with similar videos on the Dr. Binocs channel on youtube. My senior infant class last year loved to watch the animated explainers. The teal tool would certainly be more useful with older classes where I might show the idea of changing temperature colours to 1st Class as a discussion point to imagining our future climate. In terms of ideas of how I would teach the topic to 1st class this year, I think I’d use an image of an actual garden greenhouse to spark the discussion; What is this called? Why is it called a greenhouse? Have you ever been inside one? How do you think it works? This primer would hopefully engage the students and help to ensure that all fully understand the metaphor of the the greenhouse effect.
Hello Orla & Una,
I also agree that using a current news item is a fantastic way of engaging older students to the debate on climate action. It has thankfully become a more regular topic in the media and it would be brilliant to imagine older primary students offering informed opinions to their parents and families.
Hello Martina, I really like the idea of have the weather station strategically positioned so that the whole-school can become engaged in activities as weather is a topic that all students can engage with at different levels. Also I agree that an older paired class can be hugely beneficial to the success of the data gathering and interpreting.
Liston’s paper ‘Unravelling STEM: Beyond the acronym of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics’ prompts us to reflect the differences between labelled STEM activities and truly incorporated STEM activities. I found the explanation of technology very informative and there are lots of opportunities to link inquiry based STEM activities with the problem solving focus of the new maths curriculum.
The ‘Nose Up High in the Sky’ and ‘Weather vs Climate’ resources are excellent and I’ll definitely use the ideas with my first class this year. I really like the idea of collecting data on the weather across the year and have seen other participants mentioning ‘weather watchers’ as part of the classroom jobs rotation; I think this is a brilliant idea. I also like the idea of pairing with an older class who could use the data collected to calculate averages and plot graphs which we could discuss. Discussion around summer holidays could be very useful for looking at weather vs climate.