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Hi Colin,
I like how you identified pupil voice as a part of using the topic of climate change to support School Self-Evaluation. Allowing the children to identify and reason how they can help to slow climate change brings further empathy and allows for different interpretations in how the school can both get involved and evaluate its current participation in climate change response.
Climate Change is steadily impacting my own local area, thus, I believe it is essential to educate children on its impact. Active work in the classroom helps the children to understand how little actions can go a long way to reduce climate change.
The three actions that I would do to make the world a better place and slow down climate change are as follows:
- Educate on not only the importance of sunscreen but the reasoning behind why we need it. For example, continuing heat waves due to climate change and how uv rays can damage our skin. A sunscreen checklist could be ticked off on hot days to make sure each child is wearing it and promote motivation to put it on on each sunny day.
- The effect of climate change on water shortages. In my own local area we have water stoppage hours during the night sometimes to conserve water. In terms of a class action, we could limit water usage in the bathroom through highlighting one pump of the tap only when washing our hands.
- Turning off lights when not in the bathroom / classroom to conserve energy. Highlight the importance of conserving energy so as not to waste fossil fuels that contribute to more climate change. Perhaps have a leader each week to turn off the lights everytime the class exits the room.
In terms of lesson planning, whilst explicitly teaching the harm of Climate Change would be used to introduce the lesson, I would then ensure them that the following activities can be used to limit it in our own classroom environment. Testing these 3 different activities would be introduced before drawing up future rotas and a classroom contact for Climate Change.
Furthermore, it’s important to look into a School Self-Evaluation first to reflect on what actions we are already taking as a school and to identify where we might need to contribute more to support making the world a better place through active citizenship.
After researching organisations that work with refugees in my own community, I found both an organisation and a tool site to support teaching and learning in correlation. MASI is an Irish organisation that supports refugees in Ireland. To introduce the topic into a primary classroom, Scoilnet also offers a UN supported toolkit which will enable teachers to properly educate on who refugees are and how we can support them as a community.
To support refugees, whole school fundraising events could firstly be created to support organisations such as MASI. For example, bake sales or a school performance to raise money.
Furthermore, holding a multicultural day within the school will allow children of all nationalities, regardless of whether they are of refugee status or not, to celebrate and teach about their culture to others. This will help to build connections between both the students and the school community as a whole.
The migration module can feed into the School Self-Evaluation at my school through firstly analysing our own school community and the nationalities we have. From there, one could identity whether we have embraced our multicultural climate yet and if not, what activities, such as a Multicultural Day or whole school lesson packs on migration, could be used to develop this understanding and appreciation as a school.<span class=”Apple-converted-space”> </span>
Hi Louise,
Your comment about the importance of teaching children that everyone is different is so valuable. Helping these young children to understand that not everyone has access to the same resources or emotional supports as them promotes empathy and a willingness to help others.
For my module 3 assignment I have chosen the Sustainable Development Goal of Zero Hunger. I have chosen this goal because I believe it is important for children to learn about the level of food poverty in the Global world, particularly at a time when hot school meals are being introduced into every school to combat this. Therefore, the children can begin to recognise that food poverty affects them or people around them, thus in local and global levels.
I would encourage my students to take action to support the Sustainable Development Goals in Ireland through whole school initiatives such as food banks, collections for St. Vincent de Paul or creating information posters / pictures to put around the school. In terms of the ESD, my objectives link with the aim to be locally relevant in terms of hunger, whilst also linking local to the national and global.
Global inequality can furthermore feed into my School Self-Evaluation through identifying the success of hot school meals to combat the zero hunger initiative. Furthermore, the goals previously mentioned can be analysed as part of the evaluation to explore whether our development targets are being hit within the school setting.
Hi Emily,
<p style=”text-align: left;”>I’ve observed the same issues play out during my own Aistear time. The children will tend to gravitate towards what they believe is a toy designed for only their gender. I agree that even from a young age these ideas stick with them in a negative fashion. Trying to encourage equal play for all can hopefully combat these stereotypes.</p>From my own teaching experience at infant level, I have already noticed how gender stereotypes are present in the classroom. For example, it affects which piece of stationary a child might choose, as they mention how there are ‘boy’ colours and ‘girl’ colours that they just select from. Furthermore, they tend to gravitate towards activities during Aistear that have a higher percentage of their own gender participating in, reinforcing the stereotypical idea of ‘girl toys’ and ‘boy toys’.
Development education methodologies can help to combat these stereotypes by educating children on gender equality. Exposing children to learning about both males and females in typical gender stereotype roles helps them to understand that they can be/ do whatever they want, regardless of whether they are a boy or girl. Moreover, learning about areas that are still developing in gender equality can help them to empathise and reflect on their own experiences and what they can achieve regardless of gender. School self evaluation can be conducted through hearing the children’s voice and identifying anywhere that gender stereotypes are prevalent within the school.
Hi Avril,
I enjoyed reading your post through the lens of an Educate Together school. Identifying how the development education lessons can integrate to broaden the curriculum through active work such as enquiry is also a great idea. Hearing what the child has prior knowledge of / wants to know helps to build a valuable lesson for all.
After reading The Role of Global Citizens in Today’s World (Ehigie, 2021), I recognise that Development Education is important because it emphasises our responsibility as a global citizen and how interconnected our world is.
In terms of how it can be taught in the classroom, I believe linking different cultures, climates and parts of the world through lessons, such as Geography or Religion, helps to promote a more global point of view for the children. Thus, promoting critical thinking and acknowledgment of the world.
Furthermore, Whole school initiatives such as a global/ culture day, green day and lesson resource packs would be made to encourage other staff members to take part in development education. A School Self Evaluation would be important before planning to see where we are already successful in providing development education, whilst also identifying which areas we could improve in, such as more whole school events or lesson focus points.
Hi Orla, I love your Space Week plan as it is very detailed. Also, I like how the start of the week explores the children’s own prior knowledge and enquiries before leading into the new learning.
For my assignment I would choose the Rockets activity, as I believe it would be a very engaging topic for the children to discuss about and make their own. I would start off by using the book ‘Aliens in Underpants Save the World’ as a stimulus. The children would then get to share what they know about rockets and link it to the story through guided questioning e.g. Why did the aliens use rockets? What do rockets do? This would be an effective way to integrate literacy with STEM through story and oral language. Following this, the children would then get the opportunity to make their own rockets. As this is based on an infant classroom, I would help them to make the mouse rockets, and we would explore how the mouse ‘rockets’ off into space. I would ask the children to share what they think is similiar about their rocket and the rockets in the storybook to consolidate their learning.
Hi Sean,
I liked your point about how curiosity is linked to scientific thinking. Promoting curiosity in activities, perhaps through questioning, is a great way to get children thinking and inquiring scientifically.
For my assignment I chose Hands-on classroom themed activities as an area for the focus of STEM in SSE. I believe that more practical, hands on activities allow for natural inquiry and discussion as the children work together.
For example, engaging in ESERO 11 What Clothes to Wear. The children would get the chance to discuss e.g. clothes and their material that is suitable for cold weather, and then make their own outfits using a range of materials for a teddy bear. This hands on activity promotes the use of science skills such as questioning, making and recording and communicating.
In terms of supporting a School Self Evaluation, evidence can be gathered through the activity to observe and identify if the children are experienced with types of activities, and if the Science Skill focus is being reached in the lesson as planned. This would help to highlight whether practical activities need to be a focus for support in my school.
Hi Sarah, I like your idea of using Van Goghs Starry Starry Night as a stimulus for learning about stars and what they look like. I think it’s a great way to integrate Visual Arts with Science and Mathematics, as the children connect ideas of colour and shape both in the painting and in everyday star patterns.
