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To involve my pupils in a creative project based on our local natural and scientific heritage, I would design an integrated arts activity that allows them to explore nature and science through different creative forms. We could begin with a local nature walk, where children sketch plants, insects, or historical features linked to our community’s scientific heritage. These sketches could inspire a collaborative mural celebrating local biodiversity.
In music, pupils could create simple soundscapes using instruments and natural objects (stones, sticks, water sounds) to represent pollinators, rivers, or seasonal changes. In drama, small groups could act out short scenes showing the story of local scientists, engineers, or natural cycles such as pollination. For creative writing, pupils might compose poems or short stories inspired by our surroundings, imagining the world from the perspective of a bee, tree, or inventor.
This approach combines creativity with heritage, helping pupils develop pride, curiosity, and connection.
I would begin by registering my garden with the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan through the official website and recording actions that support pollinators. These could include planting pollinator-friendly flowers, leaving areas of grass uncut to allow wildflowers to bloom, reducing pesticide use, and providing nesting habitats such as log piles and bare soil. Recording these steps highlights the practical ways my garden contributes to biodiversity and helps track progress nationally.
To extend this initiative, I would also register my school as a pollinator-friendly site. Actions could include planting a wildflower garden or pollinator bed in the school grounds, creating bug hotels, and introducing pollinator-friendly trees and shrubs. Teachers and pupils could get involved by monitoring pollinators, recording sightings, and integrating the topic into science and geography lessons. These activities would not only provide food and habitats for pollinators but also promote environmental awareness and responsibility among students.
To introduce the challenge, I would show images of the Drogheda suspension bridge and discuss how bridges are designed to be both strong and efficient. The class or whole school would then be tasked with designing and building a bridge that can span a set distance and hold weight, using limited materials such as lollipop sticks, string, and card. Children would begin by sketching their ideas, incorporating mathematical skills such as measurement, symmetry, and simple scale drawing. During construction, pupils would record lengths, angles, and quantities of materials used. Testing would involve placing weights gradually until the bridge collapsed, with results compared fairly across groups. Mathematical thinking is integrated at each stage: younger pupils might count blocks and compare lengths, while older pupils could calculate averages, ratios, and graph results. This real-world challenge develops problem-solving, resilience, and collaboration while applying maths meaningfully across class levels.
For young learners, a map-making lesson should be playful and grounded in familiar places. Begin by discussing what maps represent and showing simple examples (school grounds, classroom layout). Take students on a short walk around the school or a nearby playground, asking them to note landmarks like the entrance, trees and playground equipment. Back in class, let them draw their own “bird’s-eye view” map on paper with symbols for landmarks, and teach them to create a simple key.
Introduce online tools by projecting Google Maps or GeoHive, searching for the school and zooming in to show satellite and map views. Highlight how roads, fields and buildings look from above and discuss scale. To keep it safe, use the teacher’s account and avoid entering personal addresses. Challenge pupils to locate their town or a familiar landmark and compare the online map with their hand‑drawn versions. Integrating digital and hands‑on mapping reinforces spatial thinking and digital literacy.
In my classroom, STEM is embedded across all subjects—science, technology, engineering, art and maths. Children work in teams to tackle real problems; they brainstorm, design, test and refine solutions, developing resilience and celebrating iterative improvement. Collaboration and communication underpin every task, and digital tools are used naturally, not as add‑ons. We explore how science concepts influence everyday decisions and careers, and we emphasise creativity, ethics and social conscience alongside hard skills.
Hi Roisin. I’m the same, I use stem to naturally allow children with Autistm in SEN to practise the 21st century skills you mentioned through their natural love of stem.
This course has provided numerous suggestions that will help the teacher and the child with dyslexia and dyscalculia in a senior class achieve greater success in their work.
The SETT model is key for determining the most effective strategies to help this specific child achieve their full potential. The class teacher and SET will work together to determine the tasks and tools needed for the child to succeed.
The immersive reader helps children avoid the challenge of reading long passages to find information. Reading the text aloud to the child and helping them recognize key details will boost the child’s self-esteem.
The dictate feature in Microsoft Word can assist children in creating written work to enhance reading and comprehension skills.
Powerpoint Live offers a great opportunity for children to create and share presentations with their classmates and groups. Once more, the child will utilize the text supported by Immersive Reader and other sources to craft a presentation that is both insightful and imaginative, drawing on the facts they have acquired. Placing the child’s personal interest at the core of the lesson will make the topic engaging and exciting for the child.
The SETT model enables teachers to determine the most effective way to assist the child in maximizing the advantages of assistive technology. The collaboration for its creation should involve SET, class teacher, SNA if applicable, and parents. The focus should be on the child’s strengths and interests when identifying the supports, while also addressing the needs that must be met. A lot of the same information will be found in the student support that needs to be referenced for creating a SETT plan. The SETT plan will meet the specific needs of each child by focusing on details about the student, their environment, the tasks requiring assistance, and the tools for support.
Several of the mentioned tools provide great chances for students to easily access the necessary material.
Utilizing Microsoft Lens to take a picture of text on a subject of interest for a senior class student can greatly pique the child’s curiosity. They will have the opportunity to assume responsibility for the content and utilize tools to comprehend the text. The utilization of Immersive Reader will allow the student to listen to the content being read aloud. In my role as a SET, I can assist the child in gathering information on a topic they choose or one being studied by the class.
Afterwards, they can utilize the dictation feature in Word to reply to the text, sum up its contents, and develop their own project using the information they have collected. Children boost their confidence by sharing their discoveries with the rest of the class.
In addition, teachers desire to explore and uncover novel methods and materials. Teachers collaborate regularly with nearby education centers to bring innovative programs to their school. COSAN has the ability to help organize and support this in a positive way, while also acknowledging the importance of ongoing training and education.
The immersive reader tool appears to be an excellent resource that will enhance numerous lessons for certain students. The read aloud feature will help children struggling with reading and fluency to better access necessary information. Through the utilization of immersive reader, children can utilize their comprehension skills to understand text more quickly, despite any reading challenges they may face, enabling them to better connect with the content. Children will be able to join in whole class activities more and receive additional support from SEN on an individual basis.
Lens is an additional tool that enables students to have broader access to content by extracting information from various sources, enabling them to enhance their work and acquire more information through different methods.
Both of these materials can be utilized for a group activity. I would first give the child space to develop skills on their own with the SET.
