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I love this idea of using the Home video to carry out studies on different countries and the impact that climate change is having on them. I also really like the idea of showing the end of the video in particular so the children know there is still hope for slowing climate change and that every small bit that humans do, helps.
The video “Home” by Yann Arthus-Bertrand gives us a very detailed look at the earth’s state. It highlighted the connection between life around the earth and the impact we as humans are having on the planet. It helps to show us the extent of the degradation of the environment as a result of many human activities like pollution and deforestation. The video really shows the importance of us as humans taking responsibility for our planet and how we need to act now in order to preserve it for the future.
I think this video might be too long for the children to watch in its entirety but it would be good to use parts of it as a stimulus for discussion amongst the older classes. The children could come then up with ideas to lessen our impact on the environment in pairs or small groups. We could draw up a class contract to include ways which we as a class could contribute to protecting the environment during the school day. This activity could be extended as a homework activity and the children could design their own contract for use at home with their families.
I agree with your comment about the Teal tool Maurie. I love the fact that it leaves so much potential for the children to carry out their own research and to come up with their own conclusions about the remperature changes due to the effects of greenhouse gases.
As a teacher in a senior school, I think it would be great to begin this lesson by playing the PAXI video. The video could be used as a trigger for a discussion by the children in small groups about greenhouse gases. The children could then be given a mini whiteboard or sheet of paper to record any knowledge they might have about greenhouse gases. These could then be shared with the class by one chosen member of the group. Following that, we would have a whole-class discussion on how the temperatures are changing and the groups could be asked to predict future temperatures. I would then introduce the children to the TEAL tool and show them the function for showing temperature changes around the world in the last 70+ years. In their groups, the children could use the class iPads to research temperature change in a country or countries of their choice.
I agree Edwina, the videos will be very useful. When I have thought the topic of weather before, the children have found it difficult to grasp the difference between the concept of weather and that of climate. The videos will certainly help in doing this in future and will do so in a much more appealing way.
When I read the Unravelling STEM: Beyond the acronym of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths paper, I thought back to my days in Montessori College where I trained before completing the Post Grad. Everything Maria Montessori’s method advocated for has now become a central point for teachers in the primary school system. All of the materials developed for the Montessori method were hands on, practical and involved the concept of active learning.
The two resources mentioned; Nose up High in the Sky and Weather vs Climate follow this theory too and allow for an active approach to learning about the weather and climate.
Like the other participants in the course, I have taught the “topic” of weather every year in a different manner of ways but bar setting up a rain gauge one year, I have never explored it in a hands on way. We have a perfect area in our school to set one up and I have 6th class this coming September so it will be an ideal class to try it out with. The area is a sensory garden which includes a little outdoor classroom. The children are supervised at all times in this area and it is used across all of the classes in our senior school. The children would love to make their own rain gauges but we could also make anemometers and we have some thermometers already in the school which could be hung in the outdoor classroom.
