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Seafood has many nutritional benefits ranging from the many and varied minerals and vitamins. A large percentage of children in my class have never tasted seafood or if they have it is most likely limited to fish fingers or breaded fish from packets. By teaching the nutritional benefits of seafood and providing the children with an opportunity to sample freshly prepared seafood it would be a great opportunity for families to reflect on the amount of seafood included in their weekly diets particularly fresh food rather than frozen processed versions. Teaching children about nutrition and unprocessed foods is essential for their future as they could potentially encourage parents to discuss nutrition at home. We have previously looked at the food pyramid at school and adding seafood to the pyramid will be a great way of opening a discussion with the class on the pyramid is simply a guide and that it is important for them to understand the importance of a varied diet.
It is a great idea to have children looking at food labels at home and bringing them to school for discussion as it will help them in understanding what is in the food they eat, how processed the food is, the additives etc. This is important as they can build their awareness on the need for a varied diet rich in certain nutrients such as omega 3 fatty acids found in fresh unprocessed salmon.
I agree that the use of the story of the Salmon of Knowledge to show the importance of salmon for good brain health through omega 3 fatty acids. This lesson put a new twist on the story and will be most likely how I introduce the topic of aquaculture in my classroom this year. By asking the children to recall the story it will be a great way of using a drama and storytelling lesson to link to a STEM and SPHE lesson.
Each of the ARC lessons are very useful in the classroom when teaching STEM and linking to other areas of the curriculum. Lesson 1 provides an overview of aquaculture, in addition it could be linked to a maths lesson in relation to the number of fish farms on Ireland through measure and algebra. Lesson 2 is particularly useful in our school at the moment as we have recently reviewed our healthy eating policy. It will be very useful when teaching about the importance of a varied diet with a focus on vitamins and minerals. Lesson 3 provides a fascinating insight into the types of jobs which are available as a result of aquaculture, from farming to net making to marine biology. The lesson also focuses on the importance on working outside and enjoying the freedom of nature while at sea. The fourth lesson is a useful tool for teaching the importance of sustainability and linking it to the current practices we have in school and our local community.
Our school is located in a beautiful area with the Galtee Mt’s in the distance. There a number of local environmental groups who the school has worked with to promote and encourage sustainable practices in the area. In our school we have a Green Schools committee and are now working to achieve a Bioversity flag. As part of this we have reviewed the types of plants on our school grounds. We identified the need for pollinator plants and vegetables in our school garden. In addition we have started to gather rain water from shoots to use in the warmer summer months to water our plants. We also work closely with Tidy Towns on various initiatives including a village clean up, Walk on Wednesdays and car pooling where possible. As part our healthy eating policy children are encouraged to use lunch boxes rather than tin foil or cellophane for sandwiches. The children are also asked to take all waste home to recycle or use as compost. Finally we have gone paperless as much as possible.
Thanks for posting this list Graínne, it was very helpful when I was reflecting on our own schools sustainability projects. The Energy Free 15 is a great idea and I will use this in our school from September.
I had not realised the importance of the Atlantic ocean particularly as it controls our climate, influenced by the Gulf Steam/North Atlantic Drift. I was aware that the Gulf Steam brought us warmer water in winter and cooler water in summer but I did not know that it ensures a mild climate for western Europe.
I found it useful to reflect on where aquaculture actually takes place in Ireland and I think it is interesting that it is generally in mountainous areas which are unsuitable for agriculture. The Atlantic is an ideal home for salmon, pacific rock oysters and blue mussels. The intertidal zone explanation is a useful resource when examining the influence of the tides.
The mapping lesson plan provides a very useful resource for teaching about our coastline and the inquiry based approach allows the children to lead in the development of the lesson by questioning the key features and locations of certain types of fish.
I enrolled in this course as I have limited prior knowledge on teaching aquaculture however so far I am delighted to see the vast amount of resources that are available. I enjoy teaching STEM and my previous focus has been on land and space so the water is the next obvious direction. Our school does not have a body of water in close proximity however over the last 4 years our students have voted for water-based school tours, so we are used to travelling to local facilities.
I found the BIM 2022-2026 Strategy: “Building Social License for Aquaculture” a useful material and resource for creating interesting teaching materials. I was delighted to see that ARC can visit schools, it is amazing resource and we will certainly be booking it for our school.
The Taste the Atlantic programme will fit very well without current school plan as we are revising our healthy eating policy while also introducing the Free School Meals programme. It would be a fantastic opportunity to encourage the students and whole school community to try seafood which they may not have been exposed to before.