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I enjoyed reading this and could imagine using it with my own class group. They are so led and said (through no fault of their own) by AI, Youtube videos and things they read online. I would hope it sparks some doubt in their minds to maybe not trust everything they read and see. Safety online is a big worry for parents too so maybe it would provoke some discussion at home.
I would plan this actitivity for 4th Class – they were the group that popped into my head on reading this.
Curriculum Area: Maths – Problem SolvingChildren will learn that AI can help solve maths problems, but they should always check the working and not just accept the answer.
AI Concept: AI can make mistakes, so it is important to check its answers.
Obair Bheirte Activity:
I would give the class three word problems. Before the lesson, I would ask AI to solve them and include one answer with a mistake in the working. In pairs, the children would solve the problems themselves and then compare their answers with the AI answers. Their task would be to decide if the AI was correct and explain why. If they found a mistake, they would correct it and discuss how they knew the AI was wrong.Critical Question:
Should we always trust an AI answer, even if it sounds confident, true and correct?Responsible Use:
AI can be a useful learning tool, but we should always use our own thinking and check the answer before believing it.Critical Thinking activity:
The children will explain their thinking to their partner and use maths language to justify their answers. I will encourage them to show their working and explain why the AI was correct or incorrect.Evidence of Learning:
I will collect the children’s work to see if they identified any mistakes and used their own mathematical reasoning to explain their answer. I will also ask them to write one sentence explaining why they think it is important to check AI’s work.I am already imagining my class using the shake method – fantastic! I am always looking for new activities to use in Data. The three skills mentioned at the end of your paragraph are all key to the future lives that our children will be living and most important. Promoting learning in new ways is always a hit!
The tutorial I used was the Flashing Heart. This would probably be a bit too juvenile for my class but I would love to bring the younger classes up to my classroom and give the older children the opportunity to teach the younger classes. They would love this and would have a great sense of achievement from the lesson. The smaller children in turn would leave the room feeling like they accomplished something and have a story to tell upon returning! It is short so would grab their attention without them getting bored. The finished product is aesthetically pleasing.
Having taught in my school for a number of years now it would be interesting to see who enjoys the challenge of computational thinking and who is challenged by the activity. I like that there is the option to make mistakes and correct them in coding, now referred to as ‘debugging’! I already have a science jigsaw on the heart which I would give to the older children to use and explore once the younger children have left and would further integrate the theme in Art later in the week.
Here is a link to my project: https://makecode.microbit.org/_V9Fi9K80P3y1
I found myself agreeing with all of your points Jennifer. We have our devices timetabled and it does take some planning to make sure I use them effectively. I also find the children prefer when I set them clear, defined tasks and when they is a goal at the end or a leaderboard etc.
I think we can sometimes fall into the trap of including STEAM in our planning and teaching as a ‘tick the box’ but not using it to our advantage or tweaking and suiting it to the needs of our children and school. I, for one, have fallen into the trap of feeling like I need our school’s Chrome books as part of a lesson in order to fit between the guidelines and the (almost stereotypical) norm. In the coming year I plan to record more examples of the work the children complete in subjects such as Gaeilge and SESE as well as Maths and Science. I will also include more computational thinking across other subjects.
A strength I have at present is allowing the children to have as many opportunities as possible to collaboratively and actively solve problems. This can, in the majority of cases, give the children more confidence in engaging with others and this is read in the learner experiences domain of the LAOS document. This year I have used these opportunities to provide me with assessment data which has complimented all teaching and learning in the room. This can be easily gathered and printed and stored. I’ve shown the children also and connected it to the Data strand of Maths which they found fascinating.
Climate change is affecting us all at the moment and it isn’t hard to gather evidence in order to explain this fact to the children. On a week in May this year, we had two outdoor activities in the one week. On Monday, all the children were shorts, T-shirts and sunscreen for the duration of their time outside. We finished off the activity with a meditation session. The children usually sit on the ground for this but couldn’t on that particular day as the ground was too hot. That same week, on the Thursday, we had hurling training outside – the wind was almost cutting their faces and many went inside to retrieve coats and scarves. This inconsistency with the weather is no doubt a new concept in the last few years. That and the number of storms, together with increased rainfall is astounding. Even as I sit here in my house in July, I can hear the heating clicking on as temperatures drop outside. It is imperative as we move forward in educating these children, that they know the causes of these drastic changes and how to form their life long response to that. We are lucky that our small community enables lots of children to walk and cycle to school. Many carpool also and the after school and breakfast club only use transport if it is absolutely necessary.
Our community has a large centre for refugees which is ideal in terms of comfort and space but in quite a rural setting. In 2022, before and after a large group had arrived, a group of men and women in the parish set about gathering all the items these people might possibly need from other willing parishioners. This group got stronger and stronger and began organising events in the area to help with integration. The local preschool set up a 2-day Easter camp for any potential children that may wish to enroll. There was a sports day also. In turn, a year later, there was a Ukrainian family fun day where all the local children and families were invited to the centre for a few hours of fun and games and to try out some Ukrainian food. My favourite project to date has been ‘This Place’ – a photography exhibition in the town showcasing refugees, their families and more importantly their story. Stories of love and loss that resonated with a lot of people proved to be very popular and the pictures taken were stark reminders of the lives they had left behind.
I think our children and school community already do a lot to help families that may be newly integrating. Offers of hurleys, helmets, school uniforms, soccer boots and jerseys are always circulating. Parents are amazing at including others in Whatsapp groups – this is ideal as google translate can be used and parents can digest information at their own pace. The fact that our Ukrainian children have all taken part in our Holy Communion ceremonies says a lot. They feel included and part of a huge day in the parish in our small community.
Very interesting to read from a city aspect. The traffic is a major cause for concern. We introduced a food growing corner just outside the classroom last year and the children really enjoyed the whole process.
Hi Catherine, it was so interesting to read about all that you have going on at your school and community. 40 nationalities must be such an asset to the school as the children and families must have so much to share and contribute to diverse learning.
I like the idea of introducing the children in our school to all the SDGs at a glance as many are interlinked with each other. It would be vital that they understood where the goals originated from and what the end result of the initiative is. The goal I would focus on is SDG4 placing a strong emphasis on the lifelong learning aspect. I would start by mentioning to the children that 262 million children did not attend school in 2017. I know among our children in our school that this statistic would be shocking and we would need to explain how lack of access to education is the major problem at play. While children may joke that they love having time off school and that a world where school didn’t exist would be great, the opposite is often true. Younger children are often not aware of how much a difference and contribution they can make to the world by receiving a good education and engaging in lifelong learning can make. While learning about the Greeks and Romans this year, we were able to explore the differences between the education and training males received as opposed to their female counterparts. There were some strong opinions and debates among the children. However, I don’t think the children related any of this to the modern world and the fact that some issues are ongoing. I would use the children’s interest in this past subject matter to springboard into some of the lessons centered around the SDGs.
I like the sound of the Dreamspace project. The children seem to be very active in the surveys and research and it would promote independence. Definitely one to look into
Development education has never been more important to me as a teacher than this year. Teaching in a very small country school for a number of years now, I have to admit I was somewhat blinkered into the comfort of our safe, stereotypical Irish environment. The introduction of many nationalities in the last year and a half has changed this somewhat and it is for the better. As these cultures have 100% integrated with us and our traditions, it is only fair that we make an effort as a staff and a school community to acknowledge some of theirs. It was shocking for us to realise that our Irish children were not aware of the term ‘human rights’. Things that they take for granted every day are not enjoyed and granted to all children. They were empowered by knowing that they are entitled to these rights. They were also saddened by the fact that some of their classmates had been denied these rights. Palestine has also been top of the children’s curiosity. While they were somewhat shielded from the true horror, they were still affected by the fact that while we were at school working everyday, there were some children fighting for their lives and living in terror. Next year we hope to carry on these new themes and hopefully this course will help me to do just that with more information and resources.
Great idea to introduce inter-cultural days Seán. We started this on a small scale this year and we all learned so much. Some holidays and celebrations can be very important to some cultures and can be bypassed (not intentionally) at school and can mean so much when they are celebrated
