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This would be a very topical and worthwhile study, Triona. I liked your suggestion of giving the students agency to carry out the investigation themselves.
Using the Climate detectives research question planner and following lots of class discussion using the prompts provided, I would pose the following question to the children in my class – ‘How does increased rainfall affect the growth of algae in the lakes of Killarney?’ This is a very relevant environmental and climate related topic in our area.
Once the question has been set, we would set about planning how we are going to investigate it. What materials will we need? Where and when will we carry out the investigation? How will the data be recorded, analysed and presented?
Following the planning stage we would move onto the actual investigation. We would need to record the weather over a period of time. We would need to visit the site on a few occasions – before and after rain to take samples of the water which we would analyse back at school for colour, smell and obvious presence of algae. We would check satellite images of the location and discuss what can be seen.
Analysed data would be recorded, conclusions drawn and future actions explored.
I also enjoyed using the EO browser and exploring it. It would be fun to use in the classroom with the children during iPad time, combining Science and IT.
I downloaded the Satellite Tracker app and enjoyed learning how to use it, seeing the satellites that are currently visible over Ireland and tracking them. These are 5 satellites that will pass over Ireland in the coming hours:
1. Cosmos2219: Launched from Kazakhstan in 1992. It’s used for surveillance and military observations.
2. USA81: A US Air Force signals intelligence satellite, launched in 1192 and used for surveillance and military observations.
3. Intercosmos 25: a Soviet satellite launched on December 18, 1991, to study the interaction of artificial electron and plasma beams with the Earth’s ionosphere and magnetosphere.
4. CSS: China Space Station (CSS), also known as Tiangong. The station is designed to facilitate various scientific experiments in areas like space medicine, astronomy, and technology development.
5. Aqua: Aqua is a major international Earth Science satellite mission centered at NASA. Launched on May 4, 2002, the satellite has six different Earth-observing instruments on board and is named for the large amount of information it collects about water in the Earth system.The movie Home was stark and hard hitting on many levels and I think it would invoke some great discussions among pupils in the senior classes in particular.
Some of the statistics given were shocking, such as, the number of cars in LA is equal to the number of inhabitants. There are 900 million vehicles in the world today, so if every town/city in every country took on the LA model we’d have another 7 billion in circulation!
The movie stated that by the end of the century, due to excessive mining, we will have depleted the world of its natural resources – the very resources we use to heat our home and fuel our cars today. A statistic I’ve heard before but really hit me watching the movie was that 20% of Earth’s population consume 80% of the resources.
Some of the most frightening scenes showed how fish stocks are depleting and that fish is the staple diet of 1 in 5 humans.
There is a lot of work to be done to slow down climate change but if ever anyone needed motivation to do their part, watching this movie would spur them on.I too thought the Carbon footprint questionaire was very interesting. After taking it I was given a score of 9.4 tonnes which is slightly higher than the Irish national footprint of 8.8 tonnes. I can identify some easy changes I can make to reduce my score in the future.
Activity 3: Climate Reporters
This is a great group work activity where the children will discuss and predict the effect global warming will have on our planet in the future. The Paxi video is a lovely way to open the lesson, explaining what can be a complex topic, in a child friendly way.
In planning this lesson for 2nd / 3rd class I’d be aware that 2050 will seem like a long way off to an 8 or 9 year old and it could be hard for them to relate current human behaviours to results that far into the future. However, the activity and subsequent sharing of information and group discussion, should give them food for thought and help them to reflect on the causes and effects of Climate change, Greenhouse gases and the Greenhouse effect. It should help them realise that current human behaviours are causing global warming and climate change but that there is something we can do now to slow this effect down and awareness is the first step in achieving this.I also agree that the Paxi video is a great, child friendly resource, that explains the Greenhouse effect simply and effectively.
Activity 1: Is it weather or climate?
This is such a lovely lesson which I think would work very well in 2nd/3rd Class. It would help to clarify the difference between weather and climate in the children’s minds. I like the idea of jogging their memories as to what the weather was like on their last birthday, especially where a few children had birthdays in the same month – they would see quite quickly that weather is ever changing and cannot be generalised by month or time of year! Classifying the statements into the Weather and Climate categories is a simple and effective pair activity. The children are then asked to write a simple sentence summing up what the terms Weather and Climate mean, it’s easy to check for understanding here – weather should imply ‘short term’ (hours or days) and climate ‘ long term’ (years). Finally, there is a nice discussion idea to conclude the lesson with.Setting up weather stations is a lovely idea and would be a great whole school activity for Science week.
Consider how many Songs / Poems /Art can you think of to connect us with the Night Sky? For example: Look up President Michael D Higgins’ “Stardust”
This was such a fun activity and I hadn’t realised how many of the songs, poems & art pieces I love are connected to the Night Sky until I started to really think about it. The list of possible inclusions is endless, but I’ve compiled a list of favourites here.
Songs:
“Counting Stars” by OneRepublic
“Rewrite The Stars” by Zac Efron And Zendaya
“All Of The Stars” by Ed Sheeran
“A Sky Full Of Stars” by Coldplay
“City Of Stars” by Ryan Gosling And Emma StonePoems:
A Night-Piece by William Wordsworth
Ah, Moon–and Star! by Emily Dickinson
Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art by John Keats
Sonnet 14 by William Shakespeare
Stars Over the Dordogne by Sylvia PlathArt pieces:
Starry Night Over the Rhone by Vincent Van Gogh, 1888
The Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh, 1889
The Great Comet of 1680 Over Rotterdam by Lieve Verschuier, 1680
The Meteor of 1860, Frederic Edwin Church, 1860
The Flight into Egypt by Adam Elsheimer, 1609I hadn’t heard President Michael D Higgins poem ‘Stardust’ before today. It’s such a lovely & lasting tribute to his wife Sabina & her mother Mary.
Some lovely ideas in this module on how to introduce the idea of biodiversity to children and then to encourage them to explore the plants & animals (especially the mammals, birds & invertebrates) inhabiting the local area.
I would encourage the children to go to their garden or local area at night with their parents and record what species they see on a sheet. I would also ask them to leave a light in a window and record what insects are attracted to it.
Then in class we would discuss the results, chart them and explore the following in relation to the possible impacts light pollution might be having on local biodiversity:
1. Was it bright or dark outside their particular home?
2. What colour were the streetlights?
3. How well could they themselves see in the dark?
4. Would they expect to see more or less in a different area?We would then record the results of the biodiversity identified on the biodiveristyireland.ie website.
Detail how light pollution is impacting your local area and how you would engage your learners to explore this.
Living & teaching in Kerry has made me very aware of how privileged I am to be close to an International Dark Sky Reserves area. It has been proven that light pollution can have adverse effects on the environment, our health, biodiversity, and our climate (through energy waste). As such it is an objective of the Kerry Co. Council Development Plan (2022-2028), where resources allow, to replace the public lighting system throughout Kerry with a more energy efficient, money saving, dark-sky compliant lighting system.
There are many things we as individuals can also do at home to help reduce light pollution and preserve our dark skies. To engage the children I teach in supporting this I would ask them to carry out a Light Pollution survey, asking their relatives and neighbours to consider what extent they believe the following contribute to light waste, i.e., street lights, traffic headlights, residential outdoor / security lights, lights from local businesses, public buildings, sports grounds & car parks. This will inform the pupils and the general public of what is deemed to be problematic and where improvements could be made.
The students would then explore ways in which light pollution could be decreased. The following questions would be asked:
1. Are all the lights useful? Do they have a clear purpose?
2. Are lighting shields beings used?
3. Are the lights brighter than necessary?
4. Are direct lights used only where needed?
5. Are warm tones being used rather than blue tones?Making the children aware of issues surrounding light pollution and what steps can be taken to help manage it will help to preserve our dark skies for generations to come.
3-D Constellation Art
I think this activity would be lovely to do with 3rd/4th Class pupils to support their learning about the major stars in constellations. It would be a 2 lesson activity at least where the research would be done first and then the students would complete a 3-D model of a constellation of their choosing.
1. To begin, as a class we would conduct research using the Stellarium software on the school iPads. Ask the students if they know the names of any constellations or stars. Write a list on the board. If they have trouble listing constellations, ask them to list their zodiac signs. Spend time discovering the different constellations on the app.
2. Students draw a map of their chosen constellation.
3. Tape the drawn constellation onto a small corkboard.
4. Push white pinboard pins through the “star” points on the template. Carefully remove the paper template.
5. Tie one end of some white embroidery thread around one pin/star at the outside edge of the constellation and loop it around each pin/star in the constellation. Tie the thread off around the last pin.
6. Label the board with the constellation name.Students can review each other’s and try to find the different constellations on Stellarium.
Gravity/Weight – Assemble an Earth Tube and one other planet tube – decorate in a suitable manner.
Constructing Planet tubes is a lovely activity where children experience how the force of gravity varies around the solar system by feeling how the weight of a familiar object (a tube of crisps) would change on different planets. The activity provides many cross curricular opportunities in Maths, Science & Art.
Earth is represented by a full unopened 200g tube of crisps. If doing this as a whole class activity I would assign one of the other 7 planets to each child (or group of children). For the purpose of this activity I have chosen to use Mercury for comparison purposes with Earth.
1. Label the full, unopened can of crisps ‘Earth’.
2. Fill the other empty tube with a mass of 48g of rice. Seal the lid securely using tape and label ’Mercury’.
3. Decorate each tube to indicate the planet it represents – Earth & Mercury.
4. Research & add interesting facts about the planet to the tube.
5. Children can then lift the tubes to feel how heavy a tube of crisps would feel on Earth vs Mercury;They can compare the planets and reflect about how heavy they would feel on different planets too.
