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Its great how you mange to get so many starting points for classroom activities just from one person. I think this integrated approach is starting to fade out in our schools as the publishers push more and more prescriptive work books with little or no connection to our particular settings. Love to see the project work approach return more widely.
Research a famous scientist or engineer associated with your local area and describe how you would use that person as inspiration for classroom science investigations
In our town Skibbereen there is a commemorative plaque on a wall which marks the building as the birthplace of the Clerke sisters. I would use a visit to this as a starting point to learn about one of these amazing women Agnes Mary Clerke ( 1842-1907).
Her father was a bank manager in the town and she and her sister and brother were home-schooled. Agnes had an interest in astronomy like her father and using his telescope she was able to provide a time service for the town before it was even connected to the rest of Ireland by railway.
She was an extraordinary woman and went on to become the foremost science writer of her day and a distinguished astronomer.
She spent time in Birr castle and documented ‘how Lord Rosse’s 72 inch speculum metal reflector revolutionized the study of nebulae’.
As a woman she was initially barred from the Royal Astronomical Society but gained honorary membership in 1903.
A crater on the moon was called after her Lunar Crater Clerke.
In 2023 Met Eireann called the first storm of the year Storm Agnes after her.In 1885 she wrote A Popular History of Astronomy During the Nineteenth Century. This book has never been out of print and is still on reading lists in some universities.
There are so many stepping stones into science investigations from her life. Astronomy, weather, moon crater, time, and telescopes to name a few. The local historical society have had a number of talks on her life and they would be a great resource to tap into. I’m sure they would do a school visit which would inspire the pupils also.
I really like the idea of a ‘whole school bridge expo’. These joint approaches through out the school create real buzz and learning from each other. It also creates a nice way for teachers to learn from and support each other.
Research engineering in your local area and describe how you would use a local building, structure or other engineering feature as inspiration for a classroom or outdoor design and make project.
This project would be aimed at first/second class.
Prompt
The Uillinn Art Centre in Skibbereen is a purpose built building. It was somewhat controversial when completed due to it being about 20 meters tall and clad in Corton Steel giving it a striking reddish brown appearance which resembles rust. We would do a field trip and explore the building both inside and out. Take photos, do drawings, investigate the Corten Steel etc
Wondering
Do you like it? What makes it so different from the other buildings? Does it stand out /blend in? Why might the architect have used that steel? Could there be another reason other than colour? Doe sit protect the building in anyway? What else could have been used? How would it look with just glass/bricks? What effect might that have on being inside the building?
Exploring
As a class group we would research Corten Steel and why it is used in buildings (protects the steel under from further corrosion, no need to paint, striking appearance).
Small groups would then be asked to think about other materials that could have been used and what might happen them over time, slate/wood/blocks anything they can think of. Each group would present to rest of class.
Making
The design task would be make a miniature Uillinn with lego and clad it in materials available , card, paper, cloth, tinfoil, greaseproof , stone, grass, bamboo etc.
The material most stick and no piece of lego can be seen.Using some of the identification tools and resources outlined in this module identify some species of plants or animals in your own local environment and record them with the National Biodiversity Data Centre and then outline how you would get your class involved in citizen science projects.
I love the array of tools highlighted in this module. I have Zoe Devlin’s wild flower book but I decided to use the website to compare ease of use. I found it very easy and I think one I would use in school on the whiteboard. I have 2 other books to recommend which I get a lot of use of in school. A Beginner’s Guide to Irelands Wildflowers and A Beginner’s Guide to Irelands Seashore. Both by Sherkin Island Marine Station. They are a great size for field trips. They cover all the species in our area, so getting a book specific to your area makes things easier!
I found the following flowers and confirmed on the website, selfheal, common knapweed, musk mallow , and ox eye daisy. When I tried to input on the Biodiversity data centre they didn’t come up. Maybe it seems it is just certain wildflowers they are tracking, which I hadn’t realized. You would need to be very familiar with the process (which I wasn’t ) before doing in school. It’s a confusing enough site I think, I’ll have to study it more!
In terms of getting a class involved in citizen science I think with a younger class which I work with I may not use the data centre site initially.
I would do as a class project recording and displaying in class. The scientific approach of observe, wondering predicting, recording etc would be at the core.Recently from the Biodiversity In Schools website we bought a set of Outdoor Wildlife Signs, Bugs. (Expensive but well worth it). We have these attached to the yard perimeter. I would use these as a prompt. Do you think we have any of these in our garden area, which ones, how big are they in real life, how might we find them etc. I would proceed through the steps of planning, observing, evaluating and do a survey.
We have a number of sets of the bug catchers, and magnifying glasses etc. (Cork County library had a set of these on loan this year as well as a bat kit ! Others probably do also. You just booked it and then you had it for 2 weeks.)
I think after doing this type of activity once with a class both the adults and pupils get better and more confident in taking it on. You could move to other themes, flowers, jellyfish, birds etc. Citizen scientists evolving, you would then hope.Anna
Anna I love the use of the copy. With all the apps and website and google lens etc it such a lovely but highly affective way of giving children ownership of the world around them, go out , look around, draw what you see, learn the name and write something about it. And the lovely thing they have it as a reference all year! It is a strong memory from my own schooling!
For younger classes describe how you would plan and conduct a lesson on map making and explain how you might incorporate some online tools such as google maps or geodrive.
The class I would have in mind is Senior Infants. To plan I would use the Curious Minds framework. I think that prompt, wondering, exploring, making and evaluating strategy will be so useful in many activities. The online tool would be google maps. My focus would be getting the pupils to identify with the river which is near us and learn about the biodiversity of the area.
Prompt The heritage in school little video would be a lovely prompt for Senior Infants. It’s a class of boys and seeing a peer is always a way into an activity. Also the fact that he uses lego ( one of their favourite toys) would be an immediate buy in.
WonderingDo we have a river in Skibbereen? Where is it? Who has been? What might it look like? Who might live there? Could we find it, would we need a map, what might we see?
ExploringI would elicit the use of google maps here and do more wondering. Lets find our town, maybe find our school, now what should we be looking for to see if we have a river, what colour on google maps do you think etc. Could you draw a river ect use something else to look like a river ( engineering /art link for another day, making bridges etc)
Before we go out to explore outside I would do a planning element.
Planning How will we know how to get there, should we draw it on the way with arrows ect who wants to do that. What else could we add to our getting there map. We will past the church and playground, should we take phots, draw them who want to do that etc.
When we find the river what will we do ect.
ExploringI would have the pupils in groups of their choice with each group knowing there role.
One to map how to get there, one to record the building s we see on the way, one to represent the river with whatever choice they make, one to notice and represent the flowers / animals.
So 4 groups with specifi jobs. Two adults.
Making I would encourage the pupils to do what they can as we are out and about to also to remember we can add on return to school so if you need more materials or things printed etc.
Evaluating We would make a display including all our elements. Talk about if we like, what we could do next time, can we swap groups , could we look other things up on google maps . We would invite our partner class 4th to see our map and discuss with them.I think this sounds like a wonderful project. You would be exposing the children to so many different types of enquiry and thinking not to mind the variety of data representation they would see.
I also love the topic, we all love a good old weather discussion. The historical aspect of it gives a lovely springboard to discussion with older people at home and climate change of course.
I think it’s interesting that’s Mary’s experience in a special school setting where pupils learn best when
They can touch,experiment and see things happening for themselves
Is really the essence of the methodology for the STEM curriculum.
As an aside I visted Birr Castle as I was in the area and discovered a native of my town Agnes Mary Clerke born in 1842 had a connection there. On subsequent investigation, she was an extraordinary woman. Definitely a prompt for our senior classes for STEM projects.
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<li style=”box-sizing: inherit; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: 0px 0px; list-style: disc;”>Describe how you could apply some of the concepts and skills you have learned in this module to your own teaching practice in line with the STEM Education policy statementI am moving back to some class teaching after a number of years in a support role SET. I think the Curious Minds / ESERO framework for Inquiry is something that will definitely help me to apply some of the concepts outlined in this module as core to STEM teaching.
The whole Engage section allows for meaningful and integrated learning. The prompt allows a stimulus from the children’s everyday life. For example a post summer discussion on swimming at the beach and when is the best time. The eliciting of waves / tides as playing a part.
Again the section on wondering allows children come up with their questions ,theories encouraging the sense of agency . Can you remember when you went, what did you notice about swimming, deep water shallow etc.
The exploring section allows you reflect on activities to engage the children, water play, spilling water, measuring how far it travels etc. The inclusion prompt again allows the teacher reflect on the meaningful participation of everyone.
I think that whole framework , the investigation, taking the next step and reflection is an ideal way to guide teachers in implementing the STEM curriculum . It is something I look forward to using in Sept with Senior Infants and our first topic will be waves and tides.