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This is a lovely plan Colette. I particularly like the idea of building a zipline and writing a procedure based on it and the ideas for composing music and exploring sounds.
How lucky are you Fiona to have such a local role model! Children are generally very interested in space and astronauts but the prospect of being able to connect with an astronaut who will have a connection to their place will add a whole extra dimension to the project.
I have spent ages trying to think of a bridge or engineering feature in my area and have been unable to think of one. We are very close to a bog and I considered basing my design and make project on it – designing a walkway or a tractor perhaps. But then I remembered the mines. We are very close to a working mine and many of the children would have at least one immediate or extended family member working there. So I have decided to base my design and make project on it. Currently I am teaching Infants but I am planning this project for senior classes.
First we would discuss why the mines exist. What is in the ground that people want to use and what do they want to use it for? Then we would identify the problem as being that people want to get a metal from the ground and how are they going to do it. In groups we would brainstorm the different problems that they might identify. These could be:
– Digging the hole
– Finding the metal
– Getting the metal out of the ground
– People getting under the ground
– People being safe while they are under the ground
– People getting in and out of the mine
– Getting the metal out of the mine
Still working in groups the children would then identify a solution to one of these problems. This might include:
– Designing a shaft
– Designing a buggy or tractor
– Designing a digger
– Designing safety clothes – helmets, jackets, trousers
– Designing a series of roads to get around under the ground
– Designing an electric circuit to get light and power under the ground
The children would then select one of the solutions and working individually, in pairs or groups design their solution, identifying the materials that they would use before building their prototype.
The final step would be testing to see how well their invention solved the problem they had identified. Their projects would be put on display in a way that replicates the mine and other classes would be invited to come to visit.
I feel that this project would not be complete if we did not address the environmental and social impact of mining in the past, and continuing in many places around the world today. Obviously, in light of the connections to the mine, this would have to be done sensitively. But it could also be done taking a “identify the problem, find the solution” approach. In this way the project would extend beyond designing and making but would also explore History, SPHE and Environmental Care.Emily, you are so lucky to have such a resource on your doorstep. While my school is within walking distance of a bog I have been unable to think of any manmade structure that is near us. I love the fact that you can integrate all of the individual STEM skills with the addition of History and Visual Arts. The children would really enjoy this activity and, while I am sure that it would take some time to complete, they would be fully engaged and active at every stage.
It took me a while to register my garden for the All Ireland Pollinator Plan but I managed do it in the end. I was interested to discover that my local Tidy Towns committee has also registered on the site. I had seen evidence of the work they’ve been doing around the town but I had never given any thought to the fact that they had actually had to register what they were doing! I am glad to feel now that I am, in some small way, contributing to their work. I was already leaving areas of my garden to grow wild and after committing to “No Mow May” I have continued to leave areas of my lawn to grow. Now that I have registered, and armed with some of the knowledge that I gained on this module, I committed to leaving my lawn to grow as a short flowering meadow and only cut it once a month. I will also have to rethink where I am letting the grass grow long – it might not be getting enough sun so I might have to find a more appropriate area. However, I have no doubt that I will find the information I need on the vast number of the resources that are available on the website. I took a lot of care this year when I was planting my patio tubs to select bee friendly plants but I was delighted to discover that I am already providing the pollinators with “food” – honeysuckle, ivy and crab apples already grow and are well established in the garden not to mention the dandelions, buttercups and clover that are in the lawn!
Having successfully registered my own garden I am confident that I will be able to register the school. If we can identify an area in the school that can be left to grow wild, committing to “No Mow May” and allowing an area of lawn to become a short flowering meadow that would be a big improvement. I have already looked at the pollinator plan map and there is actually no individual or group registered with the plan in the area where our school is. By raising awareness with the children and getting them interested in something as simple as “No Mow May” or creating a short flowering meadow in the school we would be creating awareness and spreading the word in the local community. After completing this Module I now realise that, as the video on the pollinator plan website stated, it’s not about one person doing a big thing but about lots of people doing little things.I am very jealous of both of you Fiona & Emily because you both seem to have arrived at a place where I would love our school to be! We also have a garden but I am not sure that it actually contributes a whole lot to the biodiversity of the school. The garden is quite shaded as there are trees in the middle of it that cast quite a long shadow. In the past we tried growing vegetables but they didn’t do very well for this reason. One of the teachers in the school developed a vegetable patch in another area of the school this year and they seemed to have better results. We tried to plant for the senses – plants with colour, texture, smells and that were safe to eat – but overall they didn’t do very well either – probably too much shade again so it’s back to the drawing board. We have developed a more formal garden in another area in the past year so the hope is that the planting here will encourage pollinators. I have tried to introduce “No Mow May” or to leave areas of grass uncut for periods of time but I am fighting a loosing battle with a very diligent caretaker!! I might be able to convert him to the shorter meadow idea and leave a patch that will be mowed only once a month. We have a hedge around the field but this is quite a distance from the school and yard. As a result, while I have often tried hanging bird feeders on the classroom windows the most frequent visitors are crows. I think they are too far from shelter for smaller birds.
I have made a note of the two books that your propose using as stimulus Barbara – I don’t think that I am familiar with them. I also like the idea of making a 3D plan or map of the classroom. Thanks!!
I also like the idea of using clear sheets so that the children can layer their maps and work collaboratively.
I really loved the ideas for hands on map making. Young children often find it very difficult to get the idea of how they are going to represent something on their map and the examples on the Garden Map Challenge of comparing how we see a tree and how a bird flying across the sky would see a tree was very practical. We have a small garden area attached to the school yard that would be a very suitable area for being mapped by young children in Junior/Senior Infants. Firstly, it has a fence around it so the children will have a very definite area to map. Secondly it has a path that goes around the garden so the children will have a very clear beginning and end. As a stimulus and a means of introducing the idea of a map I would use the story of “What the Ladybird Heard” which features two thieves who have a map of the farm and have come to steal the farmer’s prize cow. In this way we can discuss what a map is and what it is used for. The focus of our map making activity will be a senses walk around the garden. We will follow the path around the garden and concentrate on what we can see, hear, smell and touch in the garden as we go. After the walk we will discuss the things we saw, what we heard, what things we smelt and what surfaces did we feel. I would envisage that this work would need to be done prior to making the map. When we come to making the maps the children would be free to make many decisions about their own individual map. They can choose their materials – grass, fallen leaves and/or twigs, pebbles or stones from the school grounds and field. They can also decide what they want to show on the map. For example, one child might decide that they only want to represent what they saw in the garden while another child might want to show examples of each. Or the children might decide to work in groups of four allowing someone to take responsibility for representing each sense explored on the walk. The only restrictions the cartographers will face will be ones of size and space – the children will be given a space on the yard marked out with PE markers to build their maps in. On completion the children will show and explain their maps to their 6th class buddies. We would then use the I-pads to take a photograph of each map before tidying everything away. As a follow up on another day we could access the school on google maps and look at the garden. The children could then compare the pictures of their maps with this.
Having engaged with this module and considered the STEM Education policy statement together with Liston’s paper Unravelling STEM… (Liston 2018) I have become more mindful of the need of being more explicit in my approach. In the past I would often ask the Junior or Senior Infant children to build a truck or a tractor using Mobilo. They would then get an opportunity to test them in the corridor – seeing how well their vehicles will travel with one push. We often consider questions such as how far they went; whether they travelled in a straight line; why they turned around/stopped/fell apart. I now see the possibility for expanding this activity further so that it more accurately embraces the elements of STEM. I propose using the Curious Minds Framework and introducing a simplified engineering design process to create a more structured approach to the activity. The tractor in our farm set is broken so we will challenge ourselves to build a new tractor using Mobilo. We will look at the tractor as well as cars and trucks we have at school and pictures of other tractors. We will imagine, plan and design our new tractor. We will build it and then test it in the corridor. As a result we might have to change elements of our tractor. We will be looking at Science – Forces – we will push our tractor to make it go. The tractor will be a piece of Technology that we needed and built for our farm. Mathematics helped us decide which Mobilo shapes were best suited to the task in hand and also helped us to analyse our results. We were working as Engineers to bring all these elements together. The children will be exploring, thinking and communicating while the activity will be playful.
