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The film Home by Yann Arthus-Bertrand uses stunning aerial footage and clear narration to show how interconnected Earth’s ecosystems are and how human activity is rapidly altering them. It presents climate change facts through powerful visuals—melting ice caps, deforestation, desertification, and urban sprawl—making the science both accessible and emotionally impactful. In a primary classroom, I would introduce these facts by first showing short, age-appropriate clips that focus on positive actions and the beauty of our planet, ensuring pupils feel inspired rather than overwhelmed. We would discuss what they saw, using simple language to explain concepts like greenhouse gases, renewable energy, and protecting biodiversity. Activities could include mapping where different scenes were filmed, creating posters about helping the planet, or linking the images to local environmental actions. By focusing on both the challenges and the solutions, pupils can understand their role in protecting Earth and feel motivated to make a difference.
Using the Climate Detective Research Question Planner, my research question could be:
“How can we reduce traffic and car use in our town to improve air quality and make our streets safer?”
For a primary school context, I would engage students by connecting the topic to their daily experiences—such as walking or cycling to school, noticing traffic outside the gates, or talking about how cleaner air benefits their health. We could start with a simple traffic count activity outside the school to gather real data. Students could then interview family members about travel habits and brainstorm alternatives, like carpooling, walking buses, or cycling.To encourage participation, I would make it fun and hands-on: creating posters, holding “Walk to School” challenges, and tracking class participation on a big display board. Storytelling could also help—imagining the “life of a street” with fewer cars, more birds, and safe play areas. Linking the activity to real-world impact, such as sharing results with the town council, would help students feel their ideas matter.
By involving them in data collection, creative solutions, and community sharing, students would feel ownership of the project and see themselves as active “climate detectives” making their town a healthier, friendlier place.
Here are five satellites that have passed earth recently and what they are doing.
1. Starlink Satellites (SpaceX)
Frequent “satellite trains” seen streaking across Irish skies are Starlink satellites shortly after launch—traveling in clusters before spacing out in orbit. They form part of SpaceX’s megaconstellation delivering global broadband and are visible when they reflect sunlight at dusk or dawn.2. International Space Station (ISS)
The bright, fast-moving ISS often becomes visible for a few minutes when it flies above Ireland, especially shortly after dark astronomy.ieReddit. It’s a habitable laboratory orbiting Earth at ~414–437 km, conducting experiments and hosting astronauts.3. NOAA-15, NOAA-18, NOAA-19 (Weather Satellites)
These NOAA satellites pass overhead and transmit weather imagery that amateur radio enthusiasts in Ireland can tune into using SDR setups—capturing near real-time images, such as cloud cover and atmospheric data.4. EIRSAT-1 (Ireland’s First Satellite)
Launched December 1, 2023, this 2U CubeSat developed by UCD carries instruments like a gamma-ray detector, thermal surface experiments, and a novel magnetic attitude control system. It’s actively generating scientific data and orbiting in sun-synchronous orbit.5. NovaSAR-1 (SSTL)
Though not constantly overhead, this radar-imaging satellite recently completed just seven passes to produce an extremely detailed synthetic aperture radar map of Ireland—able to see through darkness and clouds.The “Climate Reporters” activity is an engaging way to help students connect scientific concepts with real-world issues. After watching the Paxi video on greenhouse gases, students gain a clear, age-appropriate understanding of how human activities contribute to climate change. Using the ESA tool to predict future temperatures adds a strong interactive element, allowing them to visualise data and trends, which supports inquiry-based learning.
With my class, I would use the activity as part of a larger project where students take on the role of journalists creating short news segments or articles about climate change impacts in their own community. This would develop not only their science understanding but also their communication and media literacy skills.
One improvement could be to integrate more local data alongside the global ESA projections, so students can directly relate climate impacts to their own environment. Additionally, a comparison between predicted and historical temperature data could deepen critical thinking. Adding a collaborative element—such as a class climate blog—would allow students to publish and share their reports more widely.
Overall, the activity is well-designed, and with a few enhancements to personalise the data and expand the creative output, it could be even more impactful.
ESA’s “Nose up high in the sky” is a wonderfully hands-on resource that encourages children to use their senses and simple instruments to measure wind, rain, and temperature, and to build a basic weather station . It combines geography, science, and maths—students must observe, record, interpret, and learn how satellites and instruments inform forecasts The “Weather vs Climate” module helps clarify the key differences: weather as day-to-day atmospheric conditions, climate as long-term patterns.
In class, these activities could used as a part of a project: setting up a school weather station. Challenges include sourcing equipment (thermometer, rain gauge, anemometer), ensuring accuracy, and ongoing maintenance. I’d approach it by seeking funding—perhaps via STEAM grants or engaging local meteorology services like Met Éireann—and ordering basic, durable instruments plus a sheltered data log. Students could take daily readings, graph trends, compare them to national data (e.g. from Met Éireann), and discuss differences between observed “weather” and long-term “climate.”
Through this they’d acquire scientific skills (data collection, graphing, interpretation), technological literacy, teamwork, and communication. Cross-curricular links abound: maths (statistics), geography (local weather patterns), literacy (report writing), ICT (data logging), and even art (weather diaries or visualisation). This project sparks curiosity and develops STEM skills.
