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Research Question: What impact does food miles have on climate change? Children could research what are food miles, where do we get most of our foods products from, are they essential or non essential products. The children could then do a tour of the local shops to source where some of our stable food products are originally coming from. They could assess the amount of airmiles that were used and the amount of carbon been released over a given period of time and the impact this has on the environment. They could also examine alternatives, what can we do to reduce our food miles? As well as the positive effects this will have on the environment. This could be followed on with an awareness campaign to shop local or maybe to grow your own if possible. I think this could be followed up with a whole school presentation whether with a group or the green school committee both are very beneficial as the children are talking to their peers.
I agree Breda, there are a number of ways to expand this research area. I think the green schools committee presenting at whole school assemblies is very useful as it is children talking to their peers.
Assignment 3 – ‘Nose High Up in The Sky’.
I download the teacher guide and pupil activities for the ESA Resource ‘Nose High Up in The Sky’. It really is a great resource, I fully intend on using throughout the next year. The resources will intrigue the children to explore the topic further while at the same time it’s very enjoyable. The first activity examining Earth from Space is a great way to spark interest & conversation at the start of a lesson, this can be done both as a whole class and within small groups leading back to a whole class discussion. The matching activity is a great follow on lesson and expands on the topic in further detail. The third lesson on the difference between satellite and a space station could lead to great project work particularly in older classes. All three resources will be very beneficial to enhance learning and curiosity in any senior class.Yes, I agree it is a very user friendly app, and with a bit of practice could bring many a lesson to life in the classroom.
Yann Arthus-Bertrand has created a beautiful depiction of how planet earth worked harmoniously with nature and unfortunately it also displays too accurately the account of the destruction man has had on our beautiful planet. An interesting point to note from the film is how little time it took mankind to meddle in nature, the world is in existence for billions of years and mankind only 200,000 years.
One could introduce the topic with a KWL chart with an older class. I think the video needs to be watched in sections with some questions for them to ponder on during each session. I think a timeline might help children put events into context.
To encourage the children that there is always hope it is important for them to see some clips of relevant environmental activists in particular Greta Thurnburg as she is young and children may relate well with her. There is a lot of scope with this topic to do whole school assemblies on environmental awareness & for introducing incentives to improve the local environment in the school. The message needs to be all the small changes can make an impact overall.I also agree with Christine on this issue, a balanced approach is certainly needed when dealing with children as climate change can be a very over whelming topic for young minds. The children need to know there is hope to make a difference in their generation.
I agree with Killian that the Teal tool is probably best used when children have access to it on classroom i-pads/chrome books so they can fully engage with the features of the tool.
The Paxi Video is a wonderful resource it is very child friendly & engaging and should help hook children on the topic and task at hand. A useful feature of the video is it can be made accessible for learners, with subtitles and the ability to re-watch this, it can also be used to assist children in reviewing their work.I think it would be beneficial to start a KWL chart at the start of the lesson and then show the video to stimulate the discussion further around this topic and to embrace the inquiry process. Pupils could work in groups and discuss a number of questions/ how they could make changes in their daily lives to address the issues raised, in the digital video. Pupils could consider transport, home, school and the community, comply a list of ways we can make positive changes. The TEAL tool could be introduced, explained & explored as a whole class on the interactive whiteboard before allowing the students time to explore the tool further using the class i-pads. A nice follow on activity from this is a Kahoot quiz to reaffirm the children’s new knowledge in the area. As a final activity we could discuss the limitations of the TEAL tool and discuss other factors that we may have to allow for when predicting climate change.
Setting up a weather station is a great idea, I agree with Orla idea of extending the idea to the wider community and involving the parents would make it a real world contribution.
While reviewing Liston’s paper it highlights the relevance of incorporating all STEM subjects together, this begins at the lesson planning stage. She mentions that STEM education isn’t just one thing, it’s a range of strategies that help students to build understanding apply concepts & skills from different disciplines in order to solve meaningful problems.
The ESA Nose up high in the sky resource was content rich and will be very useful in the year ahead it also integrates very well with literacy and numeracy and also enables the children to play an active, hands on role in their own learning.
Creating a weather station will certainly get any class excited, it allows for critical thinking and invites the children into the lesson whereby they play the leading role. They have ample opportunities to create, monitor, record and interpret results from the weather station. It is certainly the most effective way for children to learn.