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Yes, I agree. I feel that keeping the question broad can show the children the scope for learning in so many areas. There is so much potential for children to work in smaller groups and combine results to look at the overall issues affecting climate change.
My climate research question is what effect does climate change have to our local environment?
The school I work in is in Shannon, Co. Clare. There is so much scope for research and learning in our area. Our local environment is so accessible for research. I could split the class and give each group more specific research to do. They could investigate the nearby water ways, rising water levels, rainfall, coastal erosion.They could research and investigate using weather instruments. We have opportunities to walk to the river Shannon and do regular tests in the water and of water rising. We could also check on habitats and local ecosystem.
I would teach the children to research by introducing them to the Climate detectives project. I would enter the class for this project.They would use the three phases: Identify climate problem, investigate (EO collection of data) and finally Share the results to make a difference. I would definitely use the film “Home” to get the children engaged in climate change. I would teach new words, terms and concepts that they may come across in their research. I would also complete some of the ESA activities such as “Earth under the lid” and “The ice is melting”. Before any of this would take place I would ensure children would have been familiar with STEM skills so they could apply these skills to their research.This app looks good too. I think the children would like to research more information about each satellite, what country it is from, who created it, what the mission is about etc. I did find it difficult to find a satellite tracker app which did not include subscriptions. A lot had ads included also.
I downloaded the Satellite tracker by ‘Star Walk’. I selected Dublin, Ireland as the location whereby the satellites passed. I selected Satellites Live. You could see a view of the next satellite to pass from space. You can drag the image of the satellite and look at it from 3-d perspective. You can see the the people on board and the countries they represent. You can also select a view whereby you can see your location and the satellites location.
ISIS 1: Norad ID 3669, passed by in 5:07
SL-16 R/B, Norad ID 19120, passed in 5:08
SL-16 R/B, Norad ID 20625, 5:08
COSMOS 1812, NORAD ID 17295 05:09
SL-14 R/B NORAD ID 19574, 05:11
This is an excellent app to track live coverage of apps, from space. It also shows images of the satellite to make it easier for children to visualise. It might be a good idea to teach children location co-ordinates in Geography. A lot of room for integration with maths and Geography.
I agree with Aoife. The Beauty of the world is incredibly illustrated in the film ‘Home’. It is powerful not only for the children but for the adults too. It is so important that we as adults/teachers teach our children why we must act now. The end of the film mentioned some of the fantastic programmes/actions being taken globally to slow down climate change. So there is hope.
The really enjoyed watching the film ‘Home’. The beautiful images of the world we live in, its forest, oceans, desserts and life species were very powerful at the beginning. The film began by showing climate change came about. It really explained how life exists and that life is dependant on the sun, the water, trees and the atmosphere around us. It was amazing to see how we as humans since our existence have made huge developments in farming, agriculture. However the film also showed that some of these developments are also detrimental to us. Examples such as farmers using pesticides and fertilisers have lowered soil quality. Its showed that mass meat production means more transportation to feed cattle, which in turn means more fuel is used. I could not believe that 40% of the world’s arable land has experienced long term damage and that 13m forests disappear each year. The facts outlined in the video towards the end were staggering.
I think I would probably integrate climate change into my geography/science lessons. I would probable get the children to watch this film ‘Home’. When teaching for eg. about the Water Cycle, I would give statements and questions to groups in the class and let them discuss the necessity of water for us. I would probably get them to research facts about water and climate change. They could then graph their findings. I would get each group to present their research and findings and present these finally to the whole school either orally or on poster formats in the school. There is so much scope for teaching climate change. I think it could be incorporated into a lot of curricular areas.I totally agree Fiona, the Paxi video is so inviting, colourful and children would be so engaged in this. It would be a great tool to use to instigate interest in a climate based lesson.
I know from experience in the past that children love watching videos which are colourful and involve cartoon type characters. The Paxi -The Greenhouse effect video is very engaging and I can see lots of learning benefits from it. I would use the framework from Curious Minds/ESERO involving the four step approach: Engage, Investigate, Next Steps, Reflect. There are lots of opportunities to plan various lessons on Climate change.
Engage: The video itself would be the trigger to get the children interested and engaged in the topic.
Investigate: The next step would be to investigate. I would probably get the children to investigate by doing an experiment for example to show the Greenhouse effect.
Next Step: Apply the learning from the experiment to the Earth. Look at date surrounding the Greenhouse gases and omissions. Compare increases in some gases, analyse and record data etc.
Reflection: Get the children to reflect on their findings, their experiment. I would also reflect on the learning and see if there was any room for improvement on the learning by changing elements of the lesson.
The tealtool.earth is a brilliant tool to analyse climate data, precipitation, wind speed, temperatures from around the world. It would be very beneficial in the upper classes of primary school to allow for discussion around climate, analyse data, compare data and work out calculations relating to climate.We have no weather station in our school but I will definitely try and set up. I will be in SET next year and I find those pupils struggling in maths need ample opportunities to work with a hands on approach, working with concrete materials. They need to see maths in the real world and STEM lessons allow for so much scope for developing other curricular areas and valuable skills.
I have read the paper ‘Unravelling Stem: Beyond the acronym of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics’(Liston 2018). Stem enables students to think critically. They have the opportunity through STEM to involve themselves in real-world learning experiences. It enables pupils to be creative, innovative and work together collobaratively to solve real world problems. There is such a scope for learning in so many subject areas, maths, science, geography, technology. Stem lessons also give pupils opportunities to learn and develop new skills for example estimating, analysing etc.
I have a Stem Box with many challenge cards in my classroom. I give the pupils opportunities to work in mixed ability groups to solve two challenges a month. They will bring in the bulk of the materials they need themselves and I will supply the rest. Children are so engaged in STEM lessons.
I have downloaded the Weather and climate resource.
Both activities 1 & 2 allow for collaborative work. Activity 1 allows for development of their oral language skills, categorising statements into weather or climate. Discussion is so important among peers. Activity 2 is so hands on, pupils taking measurements on weather. It allows for math skills development, collecting data and representing data, working out average temperature. The most interesting point here is that those children who do not enjoy maths as a subject might not even know they are developing their maths skills and end up enjoying it.