[Louise Ring]

Hi Aoife,

You have listed some lovely poems, songs and paintings based on the night sky theme and I love that you have included history, drama, PE and Gaeilge too. I also like to plan thematically as it really helps the children to make a deeper connection to the topic across curricular subjects.

[Louise Ring]

Design a Dark Sky Park

I would have previously done work on Dark Skies using the frameworks on Light Pollution and The Past, Present and Future of Dark Skies. I would use elements from the lesson plan “Design Your Own Dark Sky Park” from Curious Minds (formerly Discover Primary Science and Maths).

Trigger questions:

• Why are dark sky parks special?
• What can we see in the sky on a clear night? – Use Stellarium as a resource.

Wondering

• Who would visit a Dark Sky Place?
• Who would benefit from a Dark Sky Place? – Make a list of people/animals.
• What kind of animals live in a Dark Sky Park? (Module 4 – diurnal/nocturnal animals)
• How can we assess the quality of a dark sky park? (Module 3)
• What kind of lighting could be dark-sky-friendly? (Module 3)

Then show the children a *map of Ireland at night and ask them to identify another area in Ireland that would be suitable for a Dark Sky Park. We would compare it to the other dark sky parks in Mayo and Kerry. Once the area is selected, use lightpollutionmap.info to zoom in on the area and pinpoint a location.

*(Ref: Photo of Ireland at night taken in 2010 by ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli – https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/space-missions/astronaut-paolo-nespolis-earth-images-from-the-iss)

Explore
Identify the interested parties and examine the design from their point of view.

• Planners
• Visitors
• Conservation Rangers
• Local residents
• Wildlife
• Scientists – experts on astronomy/zoology

Divide the class into groups and assign a role to each, considering their needs, interests, and concerns. Once all this information has been compiled, move onto the next step of designing the park. Assign different tasks to each group.

Make

• Create a map of a dark sky park to identify and display good viewing areas for dark sky observations.
• Create information sheets on the nocturnal wildlife species present in the Dark Sky Park.
• Design a visitors’ brochure highlighting the best things to see in the night sky from your dark sky park.
• Write an equipment list required for stargazing.
• Write information to help local residents improve their lighting.

Once complete, each group will present to the class.

[Louise Ring]

Hi Katie,

I love the idea of using Seesaw to capture and record their observations on the nature walk. They could also use it for the homework activity, as it would be a great link between home and school. I love the Gaeilge aspect too — we’re not a Gaelscoil, but it would be a great opportunity for the children to learn the animal and plant names as Gaeilge.

[Louise Ring]

How you would incorporate the needs of nocturnal species, especially those that rely on dark skies into school biodiversity plans?

To date, much of the focus of biodiversity in our school has been on diurnal species. Five years ago, with the help of a local community gardening group, we planted a wildflower meadow at the front of our school using locally sourced wildflower seeds. Since then, the children have had a great opportunity to observe daytime visitors to it, during spring and summer (e.g. bees, hoverflies, butterflies, birds, etc.). To be honest, nocturnal animals have been somewhat neglected in our biodiversity plan, so this is a great opportunity to focus on them now!
A nice starter would be ‘Animals of the World’ from Esero 30, to introduce diurnal and nocturnal animals. I would discuss what ‘nocturnal’ means and why animals are active at night rather than during the day (i.e. avoiding predators/competition, temperature, food availability).
The children would then follow up with a lighting survey of the school grounds, similar to the one on light pollution in the previous module, to assess whether our school is welcoming to nocturnal animals. I would make use of trail cameras, which will be essential in identifying nighttime visitors to the grounds.
I would then focus on nocturnal animals found in Ireland (hedgehogs, foxes, badgers, bats, owls) and ask the children to think of ways we could encourage some of them to visit our school, perhaps focusing on one particular animal, e.g. a bat or hedgehog.
Following on from learning about nocturnal animals, the children will complete a biodiversity survey of the school grounds and see what changes we can make, e.g. by increasing wild areas, reducing light pollution etc.
They could then design a habitat for the animals, such as a bat box or a hedgehog house (a pile of logs, leaves, moss, etc.).
I would then invite an expert from the local branch of BirdWatch Ireland or Hedgehog Rescue Dublin for an educational visit.

[Louise Ring]

Hi Lyndsy,

I like your idea of the children observing the night sky, it should provoke some interesting questions from them, particularly in areas where light pollution limits their views. I found it startling that 50% of people in Ireland can no longer see the Milky Way. Hopefully, this activity will spark curiosity in the children when they realise what they are missing and may encourage families to visit the one of Ireland’s Dark Sky parks, I know that I will be planning a trip there soon!

[Louise Ring]

Detail how light pollution is impacting your local area and how you would engage your learners to explore this.

Our school is located in a seaside town, which is close to Dublin. While the area is not affected by light pollution to the same extent as the city (ref: lightpollutionmap.info), sky glow is visible on approach to the town, particularly on cloudy nights. However, there are areas along the coast which are not as impacted by light pollution. This creates a perfect opportunity for the children to compare and contrast light pollution in different areas. Initially, the pupils would create surveys to investigate sources of light pollution (e.g. street lighting, traffic lights, residential outdoor lights, lighting from shops, sports grounds, car parks, etc.). In pairs or small groups, they would be assigned an area in the town and would then conduct surveys after sunset. This would include areas along the coast that are less impacted by light pollution. They would then report their findings in class and compare the results.

The pupils could also carry out a survey of the school building and grounds and create bird’s-eye maps of the locations of the lights. As the children would not be in school after dark, I would provide them with photos/videos/drone footage of the school after dark so they can examine them for light pollution.

Things to consider when conducting the survey:

Is there lighting bordering the outside of the school grounds?
What is the number, type and purpose of the lights?
Are the lights shielded?
Are the lights in the school grounds on a timer or switched on from dusk to dawn?

They could also follow up with suggestions for reducing light pollution on the school grounds. In addition, they could write to the local council to see if steps are being taken to reduce light pollution and increase protections for wildlife in the local area.

[Louise Ring]

Plan to observe the Moon – which phase of the Moon is best for observing in the morning from school? What dates will that be?

I usually do this as a homework activity in the winter months, usually in November/December or January/February as it gets dark early. The children have a moon flip book to observe and record the moon over a set period. They record the shape of the moon as well as the date/time and weather conditions. It doesn’t matter where we start in the moon cycle, in fact, it is better not to start on a new moon as the children get very disheartened when they do not see anything.
I always stress the importance of only recording their observations, as there is a temptation to look up the moon phases on the internet, usually with the help of parents! I want them to observe it without any external knowledge or expectations, just like the early astronomers. Once the children start recording the moon each night, they are very excited and surprised to see it in the daytime too!

The best time for observing the moon in the morning is just after a full moon during the waning gibbous phase. It is visible in the western sky, and is clearly visible on a clear bright morning. It is a good opportunity to observe and record the moon during school hours.

I used timeanddate.com and catalina.lpl.arizona.edu to look up the moon calendar for November 2026:

https://www.timeanddate.com/moon/ireland/dublin?month=11&year=2026
https://catalina.lpl.arizona.edu/moon-phases/month/2026-11

I looked up the moon calendar for November and the waning gibbous phase in November is from the 25 to the 30 of November 2026.

 

[Louise Ring]

Hi Eileen,

I love your activity for observing the planets in autumn. I have always done a moon observation activity with the junior classes. However, now that I have an older class this year, I would like to extend it further with planet observations. You have also provided a very detailed observation task sheet that’s easy to follow, I will definitely use it in the classroom this autumn.

[Louise Ring]

Hi Yvonne,

I also chose Day and Night for my assignment as it is a concept that children already have a basic understanding of when they come into school, however, there is so much scope to develop it further, from junior infants all the way up to sixth class. I too liked the Day and Night activity with the orange from the ESERO 30 lesson activities, as it clearly demonstrates how day and night occur in different parts of the world at the same time. I love your idea of using a shaded area in the outdoor environment to investigate light and develop the children’s science vocabulary. I think that this would be particularly well suited to junior/senior infants.

[Louise Ring]

I chose to do activities from Esero 30 Day and Night in the World, as I was particularly struck by the research in the US showing that while older elementary students understand that the earth rotates on its axis, they may not connect this knowledge to day/night (Source: Slide 26 from Module 1 – Our Earth in Space). While day/night and the seasons may seem like basic concepts, they are, in fact, much more complex than they appear and require detailed teaching in order to prevent any misconceptions.

I would first start with a Trigger question, e.g. What is day? What is night? Where does the sun go when it gets dark?

I would show the video on Earthrise and ask the children to wonder and ask questions.

I would then follow up with a practical activity to demonstrate day and night in the yard or halla.

I would start by marking a large circle on the ground with tape or chalk, about 4–5 metres in diameter – this represents Earth’s orbit path.

• One pupil is chosen as the sun and stands in the centre
• All the other pupils represent the earth
• Each pupil stands in the circle at arm’s length from each other, facing the sun (the pupil in the centre)
• The pupils slowly turn full circle on the spot keeping their arms out. When they are facing the fun it is day and when they their backs are to the sun it is night.

Extension activities:

• This time the pupils will call out the different times of day as they turn, e.g. ‘the sun is rising’ as they turn towards the sound, ‘now it’s midday’, ‘now it’s sunset’ as they turn away from the fun and finally ‘now it’s night’.
• While rotating on the spot, pupils walk slowly around the path marked on the ground, to show that the earth orbits the sun (a year) while also rotating on its axis (a day).

I would follow on with some nice activities from the Esero 30, in particular, Children in the World and Day and Night in the World to further develop the concept of night and day.

[Louise Ring]

Liston’s paper on STEM in the classroom has really given me a lot to think about as I was not aware of how important the engineering part of STEM is and how it should take centre stage in all STEM activities. When researching activities for STEM, Liston asks us reflect and ensure that the characteristics are truly STEM and to use the Engineering Design Process in activities and lessons. All in all, this will really help to inform my practice in the future as it will help to focus my planning to ensure that the characteristics of STEM listed in the paper are not neglected.

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