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I agree with you Hugh. The children need a deep understanding of the benefits of a healthy diet. Rather than just looking at a food pyramid once year, children should be encouraged to develop a consistent healthy diet that could be lifelong.
Thanks for your post Hannah. I agree with your suggestion regarding children involvement in tidy town initiatives. I’m my previous school the whole school went on a litter pick. The children were so surprised at the amount of rubbish that they collected. This is something that the children are likely to remember in the future and may positively influence how they care for their environment.
In my local area, sustainability is practiced through a variety of community initiatives such as local farmers’ markets, community gardens, recycling programs, and renewable energy projects like solar panel installations on public buildings. There is a growing emphasis on reducing single-use plastics, promoting cycling and walking over driving, and conserving green spaces. Schools are also becoming more involved, with many promoting eco-clubs, waste reduction programs, and environmental awareness campaigns.
To engage pupils in exploring sustainability further, I would adopt an inquiry-based and hands-on approach. For example, students could conduct audits of their own school’s energy use, waste production, or water consumption and propose actionable improvements. Local excursions to community gardens or recycling centers would help them see sustainability in action. I would also encourage them to create their own sustainability projects—whether a class garden, a clothing swap event, or a campaign to reduce plastic use in school.
Incorporating cross-curricular learning—linking sustainability to science, geography, and even art—makes the topic more relatable and dynamic. By encouraging curiosity, personal responsibility, and creative thinking, I aim to empower students to understand that their actions, even at a young age, contribute to the health of their community and the planet.
Hi Niamh, I really liked your idea relating to the cooking demo in your class. Aside from mainstream teaching, I run a Forest School in Tipperary. Many of the children love to cook outdoors and get a huge sense of accomplishment from cooking their own food. Cooking seafood over a fire is something that I would love to try in the near future.
Seafood is a rich and diverse food group that offers numerous nutritional benefits, including high-quality protein, essential omega-3 fatty acids (particularly EPA and DHA), vitamins such as B12 and D, and important minerals like iodine, selenium, and zinc. Regular consumption of seafood has been associated with improved heart health, brain development, and reduced inflammation. Understanding the nutritional profile of seafood is especially relevant in a time where dietary-related diseases and environmental concerns are growing.
In a classroom setting, this knowledge can be meaningfully integrated into subjects like SPHE, science and geography. Teaching our children about the health benefits of seafood provides a foundation for lifelong healthy eating habits. Lessons can include interactive components such as analyzing nutritional labels, comparing seafood to other protein sources, or exploring sustainable fishing practices and aquaculture. This approach would encourage critical thinking about food sources and nutrition.
Additionally, discussing cultural connections to seafood can promote inclusivity and global awareness. Many communities worldwide rely on seafood as a dietary staple, and highlighting this can broaden students’ perspectives. By incorporating seafood nutrition into the curriculum, we can inform the children about a vital food group while also empowering them to make informed, sustainable, and health-conscious food choices in their daily lives.
I agree with you Michaela that from an SSE perspective, ARC provides a clear pathway for schools to enhance STEM provision in a structured way. Integrating STEM into the classroom in a meaningful way needs to be structured so that the children can take full advantage of all the benefits it has to offer.
The online lessons and resources developed by The ARC offer a rich and practical framework for enhancing STEM education in classrooms. These resources emphasize inquiry-based learning, cross-disciplinary thinking, and real-world problem-solving—principles that are at the heart of the STEM Education Policy Statement (2017–2026). Reflecting on these materials, I see great potential to enrich my own teaching practices by adopting more student-led investigations, integrating data collection and analysis into lessons, and promoting collaborative learning environments where creativity and critical thinking thrive.
In particular, the ARC’s focus on active learning can support whole-school implementation through the School Self-Evaluation (SSE) process. By identifying STEM as a key area for development, schools can use SSE to set clear targets, collect evidence on student engagement and outcomes, and build a shared vision for interdisciplinary teaching. The ARC resources can scaffold this process, helping teachers across subjects to design coherent, engaging STEM experiences that align with national goals while meeting students’ diverse learning needs.
Ultimately, embedding ARC-inspired approaches into the SSE framework not only strengthens individual teaching but fosters a culture of innovation, reflection, and continuous improvement across the school. This aligns with the policy’s vision of nurturing scientifically literate, curious, and creative learners who are prepared to thrive in a rapidly evolving world.
I completely agree with you Cathriona. Tourism brings huge economic benefits to the west of Ireland. Many small towns and villages in the west would really struggle without the benefits that tourism brings. Aquaculture and the benefits that it brings need to be managed in a sustainable way so as to protect our environment as well as the economic benefits it brings.
The strategic location of aquaculture farms along Ireland’s coastline plays a vital role in both environmental and socio-economic contexts. Ireland’s temperate climate, mainly due to the north Atlantic drift offers ideal conditions for cultivating species such as salmon, mussels, and oysters. These aquaculture farms, often situated in rural and peripheral regions, provide more than just seafood—they serve as anchors of economic activity in communities that might otherwise struggle with unemployment and emigration.
Aquaculture offers sustainable employment opportunities, not only in farming operations but also in processing, transport, and equipment maintenance. This has a positive effect on local economies, stimulating small businesses and attracts tourists to remote parts of Ireland. Moreover, aquaculture promotes food security and exports, enhancing Ireland’s position in the global seafood market.
Reflecting on this, I believe aquaculture, if managed sustainably, has the potential to revitalize coastal communities. Tourists from all over the world can also come to Ireland and enjoy the abundance of sea food restaurants that we have to offer.
Hi Michelle, I agree with you that children in a landlocked counties would gain huge benefits from the ARC mobile classroom. Many of the children we teach have had very little real interaction with the beauty of our sea and ocean. Being informed about our marine life would help the children to appreciate the importance of conserving and caring for our environment as a whole.
Learning about Aquaculture and Social License would have a really positive impact on the children that I teach. The tools from this module could easily be used to teach children from juniors all the way to 6th class. The videos are very informative and the quizzes are very user friendly. I didn’t know anything about the ARC mobile classroom and I would be very interested in it visiting our school if possible.Teaching children about aquaculture would also highlight the importance of caring for the environment through recycling and deposing of our waste in the right way.
Some of the children we teach may identify potential career opportunities in fishing or aquaculture in general.The videos and tools from this module may inspire some of the children we teach to pursue careers in marine biology or marine research. Children from non coastal counties in Ireland may never have been exposed to any of this information but could learn a lot from these tools alone.Similar to many replies, I would also introduce my lesson on rockets using the book Aliens In Underpants Save the World. Children love this book and the illustrations are fantastic.
Designing a rocket can be difficult for small children but it can be very enjoyable. I would bring the children outside and show them how a Stomp Rocket works. The children will soon realize that the more force you put in the higher the rocket will go.I would also draw their attention to the fins on the rockets that are responsible for its stability.
A simple rocket can be made using a straw, string and a long balloon. The string is tied to something stable at both ends after the string is passed through the straw. The ballone is inflated and taped to the straw. The balloon can be decorated and fins can be added. When you let go of the balloon it will travel along the string.
Children can be asked to predict what might happen and test this experiment using more of less air.
Videos from NASA and Space X can be shown to the children in order to inspire their creative imaginations.This sounds like a good lesson Laura. I like that it promotes creative thinking and oral language development.
Hi David, I like your idea about setting up an Astronomy or Space Club. I have noticed more and more children have a great interest in space. I think that all the work Space X is doing recently has captured the childrens imagination.
Online Resources and Tools
The main online resource that I learned about in this module is Stellarium. In the senior end I have often used “Sky View” and the children found it very interesting. It introduces the children to the fact that the stars, planets etc are always there but we do not always see them. The children live to point the camera to the ground to see what stars and plants are underneath us.
Stellarium is a great step above the app the I usually use.
I love that you can change the dates so that you can see into the past and future. This option would be great for a history lesson in the Greeks for example.
In the coming year I can definitely see myself using Stellarium as a teaching tool. I also like that this app can be used without having to use a web browser as Internet connection can sometimes be an issue.
