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Sean, I love the idea of using shoeboxes to create the Dark Sky Places. It would really allow students to be creative and work collaboratively.
My lesson would be for children in 4th class and I would organise ‘Design Your Own Dark Sky Place’ as a group activity. Students would work collaboratively in small groups and each group would be given a role, such as local residents, stargazers or town planners. They would have a class discussion, sharing what is important to their role and then work collaboratively to design a dark sky park.
Each group will then draw a map of their park. They would include areas such as walking trails, picnic tables, car parks, and quiet stargazing spaces. We would also speak about the types of lighting that would be used and where they would be placed in order to reduce light pollution while at the same time, keeping people safe.
At the end of the lesson, each group would stand in front of the class to present their designs and share their ideas. Overall, this activity would use teamwork and creativity to help students learn about light pollution, protecting nature around us and the importance of dark skies.Lyndsy, I like how you mentioned making use of the Green School Committee in your school and allowing for them to work on Biodiversity as a project collaboratively.
A school survey is also a fantastic idea to allow for children to come up with their own solutions too.
In order to incorporate the needs of various nocturnal species into our school biodiversity plans, I would firstly ensure that lessons are carried out in each class to allow the students to become more aware of the nocturnal species in our community (from foxes to moths) and how and why it is our role to help to protect them.
One way in which my school biodiversity plan would protect these nocturnal species would be by reducing light pollution. Any outdoor lighting in our school building would be fitted with motion sensors where possible. LED lights of warm colours would also be used as it is less vibrant as bright lights. We would use as little artificial light as possible in order to expand biodiversity, reduce energy use and create a healthier environment for both wildlife and people. We would also ensure that there are areas of open spaces with bushes and hedgerows for foxes and badgers etc. to dwell on our school’s land and wildflowers or long grass for insects to thrive in. We would also work as a school to create some bug hotels and place them in the courtyard where they would stay safe from harm. We would also provide a bird bath for birds or other animals to use during the hot summer months. Wildlife corridors should remain dark so animals can move safely across the grounds.Lynsey you made some great points there about how wildlife rely on the natural life cycle for reproduction and how the amount of housing developments being built producing more and more light. I would also agree that places that we would’ve thought of as rural years ago are now being modernised with light pollution taking over.
I live in Killester in Dublin and Light pollution is definitely a huge problem. It is caused by streetlights, traffic lighting coming from businesses. As Killester is close enough to Dublin City, artificial lighting creates a bright night sky, making it extremely difficult to see stars. It can also disrupt local wildlife, including foxes, birds and insects. The light pollution may also interfere with people’s sleep patterns, and waste electricity.
In order engage the learners in my class, I would make use of inquiry based learning. The students would identify local sources of artificial light during a walk around the school community. We could measure light levels at different locations in the community using an app and compare the results. The students would do a project on the topic in pairs and research how light pollution may affect the health of human beings and animals living in our local area. In order to further engage my students, I would give them an engineering task in which they could try to come up with and draw some ideas of how to make this problem less affective e.g. sensors or other practical solutions.In Autumn, our class will observe the planets that can be seen in the evening sky. In September, we would go outside about 30 minutes after sunset. We will look towards the west to find the planet Venus. We may also find Mercury on the horizon. Later in the evening, we will look east to find Saturn. In October, we will observe Saturn again because it is at its brightest, making it easier to see. If we will a small telescope and hopefully we would spot the rings of Saturn. In November, we will look for Saturn in the southwest before it sets. If we did have a small telescope, we will also try to find Uranus. We will choose clear nights away from bright lights and record what we see by drawing pictures in our observing journals.
Evin, I think it’s a great idea to do a KWL about the moon with the children at the beginning at your lesson. Paxi is an amazing resource that I also hope to make use of too. I love the idea of observing the moon at different stages of the morning, moon and afternoon too.
Síofra, this lesson sounds like it would definitely engage the children. I love how it will get the children thinking about how people might have told the time before clocks and watches were invented. I love how the children will be active in their own learning when predicting where the shadow might appear next or how they get to work as engineers and design their own simple sundials.
One simple way in which my students will observe and record the positions of the sun during the day is by using chalk and shadows in the school yard. On a sunny day, I plan to place a traffic cone in an open area. Students will use chalk to trace the tip of the object’s shadow at regular intervals, for example every hour. They will then label each mark with the time and can also measure the length of the shadow. As the day progresses, students will notice that the shadow changes direction and length because the Sun appears to move across the sky. The children will observe that the shortest shadow usually occurs around midday when the Sun is highest. The students will record their observations in a table or draw a simple diagram showing the changing shadow positions. They will compare their results over several days and make note of where the sun rises and sets. This activity will definitely develop their scientific inquiry skills and expand their knowledge of how the position of the sun changes during the day.
Part One
The class level I have chosen is: Senior Infants.
The prompt for the lesson is: The Three Little Pigs
The materials needed are:
Our Maker Space Trolley which will include coloured paper, cardboard, lollipop sticks, match sticks, straw, recycle materials, sellotape, glue and scissors.
The Computational Thinking activity will go as follows:
-After listening to the story of ‘The Three Little Pigs’, the children will be encouraged to build a shelter for a small pig puppet. They will be given free reign of the Maker Space Trolley in groups to choose their materials and work in small groups to build their shelter.
-The teacher will then come around to each group with a hairdryer to represent the big bad wolf’s breath. She will see if ‘the wolf’ can knock down each groups creations.
Part Two
The article ‘The State of the Field of Computational Thinking in Early Childhood Education’ by Bers. Strawhacker and Sullivan (2022) is very interesting and highlights how significant Computational Thinking skills are in order to thrive in today’s world. Some of the key points include the importance of beginning to develop the CT skills of children from a very young age in order to help them to thrive in these areas later in life. It mentions how suitable tools must be designed to assist children in developing these skills before they are able to read or write. These tools must also cater for the short attention span of young children as well as their natural curiosity. Computation thinking in early childhood education is also related to early learning and development when children are learning early literacy and numeracy skills which can be further developed through exploring CT. Early educators can integrate CT into their teaching through interactive activities in the classroom as well as unplugged activities such as creating and exploring through STEM.
<div style=”box-sizing: border-box; color: #7f7f7f; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; background-color: #f6f6f6;”></div>This STEM lesson is designed for Senior Infant children (ages 5-6). It is a Science lesson under the strand of Living Things and the topic of Animals and their Babies. This lesson involves the children working both collaboratively and independently and it incorporates the use of technology in the form of the Interactive Whiteboard as well as an interactive game on the tablet. The children then must engage in a hand-on STEM learning experience where they make and design their own Paper Plate Puzzles.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yvIbCqQOqzoA4ZI_-Tue7D71hFIjFqO0FhniBkjGUR0/edit
Digital Technology can enhance student learning in many ways. It is clear that the use of technology makes lessons much more interesting and exciting for children as they can stimulate the interest of young minds. The ability to display photos, slideshows or videos on a certain topic at the beginning of a lesson give children a visual insight into the topic. This can lead to children engaging in computational thinking or can spark a conversation as the children can share their own thoughts and opinions afterwards. As a result, digital tools can help them to gain a better understanding of topics being taught.
There are also many apps can be used on tablets that allow for children to create videos or slideshows themselves on certain topics which is a fun and more effective way for children to complete project work in schools. This can be done individually, in pairs or as a group work project.
Digital technology can also be used as a means of assessment in the primary classroom. Games and tools such as Kahoot and Quizlet are fun and interactive methods of assessing the children’s’ knowledge when concluding a lesson. Children are motivated to try their best to recall facts that they have been learning on given topics.
Tools such as Seesaw and Class Dojo are great ways to reward children in an engaging and child-friendly way and this can therefore enhance student learning in many ways.
The SSE guidelines allow schools to highlight the school’s vision for the digital integration. It ensures that the whole school can be on the same wavelength when it comes to the importance of using digital technology in the classroom and it allows teachers to work collaboratively to identify how technology can be incorporated into subjects and other aspects of a child’s learning environment. The Digital Strategy supports, enhances and enriches the learning experience for both children and teachers through the use of technology.