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Describe how you could implement a version of “Design Your own Dark Sky place” in your school/classroom?
To bring a dark sky place to life, I would challenge the students to design a “Dark Sky Zone” right inside our own classroom.
First, we could transform a corner of our classroom into an indoor dark sky sanctuary. The children can create a dark canopy using black fabric, hanging their 3D straw models of constellations underneath. We can use a projector or the Stellarium app on a tablet to display the night sky on the ceiling, creating a quiet space where students can read about space and stars.
Second, the children could act as “town planners” to design a miniature, dark-sky-friendly cardboard town. They will design tiny streetlights out of paper cups and straws, learning how to add “shields” to the lights so they only shine downwards, keeping the miniature sky dark.
I think that these activities are a good way to make learning about light conservation highly visual and fun!
Hi Ciara,
I really love your ideas here. Getting the children to investigate around their school grounds first to see what the biodiversity is like in different areas and then discussing why some areas might have more than others is an excellent way to get the children thinking critically about their school environment. I also like your idea of exploring the different areas in your school that are brightly lit and coming up with ideas with your class as to how you could change these to support the wildlife in your area.
How you would incorporate the needs of nocturnal species, especially those that rely on dark skies into school biodiversity plans?
To support nocturnal species in our school biodiversity plan, we need to look closely at our own school grounds. Because we are surrounded by beautiful lakes and forests, we have a rich population of local bats, moths, and owls that desperately need dark skies to survive.
First, we can run a “lighting audit” of the school. The students can investigate our outdoor security lights and help us make a plan to ensure they face downwards, have protective shields, or are put on motion sensors so they aren’t shining into the sky all night.
Second, we can plant a night-pollinator garden. By planting night-scented flowers like honeysuckle, jasmine, and evening primrose, we will attract moths and other night insects. This creates a fantastic feeding ground for our local Cavan bats.Finally, we can build and install bat boxes in the quietest, darkest corners of our school hedgerows, safely away from any bright windows or security lights.
By making these simple changes, our school grounds can become a safe, dark haven that connects beautifully with the wider natural lake environment around us.
Hi Emma, I love your idea of the children building their own dark sky using lego! Lego is such a fantastic tool for children to build on and consolidate their learning. I will definitely do this activity!
Detail how light pollution is impacting your local area and how you would engage your learners to explore this.
To explore light pollution, I would start a class discussion by asking: “What does the night sky look like from your bedroom window?” Children can draw this and describe it to their partner. Because our school is in a town, this activity should immediately highlight the difference between what children living in the town see compared to the children living in rural areas. The students living in the town centre will most likely describe the orange glow from streetlights, while those out in rural lake areas will describe seeing a sky full of bright stars.
To investigate this, for homework on a clear night, students will step outside and look for a recognisable constellation, like the Plough. We will have already looked at constellations. Using a simple star-count method, town students will count how many stars they can see within that shape, while rural students do the exact same. I would encourage parental involvement with this activity.
In school, we will compare our numbers and plot them on a local map. This visual data will spark a discussion on why the numbers are so different and how artificial light “spills” into the sky. We will also discuss the local environmental impact: how light pollution disrupts nocturnal wildlife around our Cavan lakes, like bats, moths, and nesting birds who need true darkness to hunt and sleep.
To finish, students can work in groups to design “dark-sky friendly” lighting ideas for the town, such as shield caps that direct streetlights downward.
Hi Jennifer, I love your idea of introducing this lesson using a picture book. Picture books are so effective in the junior classes. I also love that this activity would span across most of the year and it’s not just a one and done kind of lesson.
Select from one of the activities in the Framework for Inquiry:
Seeing Stars – Looking at the Plough
To get the children excited, I would start by asking if they have ever spotted a giant saucepan in the night sky. I’ll show them a picture of the Plough and explain that while these stars look flat and close together to us, they are actually at completely different distances in deep space.To prove this, we will build a 3D model. I will group students of mixed ability. I teach Senior Infants and 1st class so I would have a mix of each in both. First, students will stick a map of the Plough onto black card and poke holes to mark the star positions. Next, they will measure and cut plastic straws to different lengths, which represent how far each star is from Earth. We will stand the straws up with blu-tack and top them with yellow plasticine “stars.” Duhbe, the furthest star, goes flat on the card, while Mizar, the closest, gets the tallest straw.
Finally, students will stick their card under their desks. Looking straight up from underneath, they will see the familiar shape of the Plough. But when they look from the side, they will see the true 3D depths.
This hands-on lesson is a fantastic, simple way to bring astronomy to life, helping children visualise 3D perspective in a very memorable way.
Hi Jennifer, I like your idea of the children continuing this work at home which promotes parental involvement. I could have included this in my activity too, the children observing the sunrise and sunset at home and perhaps using a compass for this. This allows for comparing results over time to that the sun doesn’t always rise and set in the exact same spot!
I also love that you mentioned telling your students not to look directly at the sun!- Plan how your students could “observe and record the positions of the sun when rising and setting and at different times of the day”
An activity that I could see being very effective for children observing and recording the sun’s path would be using an object to track shadows. In pairs or small groups, children could pick an object, for example a stick, a toy etc. The children would set up their object in an open, sunny area of the schoolyard. The children would then measure and mark the tip of the shadow with chalk or they could use something from the classroom such as a cube or a colour. They would repeat this at regular intervals, maybe 9am, 11am, 1pm and 3pm. The children should notice that the shadow is longest in the morning/evening and shortest at noon, moving in an arc opposite the Sun.