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How you would incorporate the needs of nocturnal species, especially those that rely on dark skies into school biodiversity plans.
• Light Pollution Audit: Conduct a lighting survey of the school grounds (as recommended in Module 3) and identify areas where outdoor lights could be dimmed, shielded, or switched to motion sensors.
• Habitat Creation: Install bat boxes, owl nest boxes, and moth-friendly wildflower beds. Bats in particular need tree cover and insect-rich areas; planting native trees and hedgerows can greatly help.
• Nocturnal Wildlife Zone: Designate a section of the school garden to remain dark at night, enhancing habitat quality for nocturnal invertebrates and mammals.
• Curriculum Integration: Include projects on nocturnal species’ adaptations (e.g., echolocation in bats, owl vision) using resources like the “Bat Moth Game” and the owl eye comparisons outlined in the module.
• Awareness Campaigns: Student council and Green schools committee could run awareness initiatives to educate the school community on how small lighting changes benefit wildlife, using findings from their own investigations to persuade others. They could link with local agencies and councillors to garner support.
Just on a side note, the apps Merlin, PlantNet and BirdNet are very useful for identifying birds and plants. Children can identify the birds by their song/call, so being able to see them is not necessary. It may allow children to identify night/evening/dawn birds from home safely.
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”
Songs & Rhymes
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
Geal, geal an réalta
Star Light, Start Bright
Oíche ChiúinPoems
The Moon by Robert Louis Stevenson
Wynken, Blynken and Nod by Eugene Field
The Owl and the Pussycat by Edward Lear
Queen of Night by Terry Webb Harshman
Silver by Walter de la Mare
Stardust by President Michael D. Higgins.
The Starlight Night by Gerard Manley Hopkins
Bright Star by John Keats
When You Are Old by W.B. Yeats
I saw the Land in the Evening by Emily Dickinson
To Night by Pesrcy Byshee Shelley
An Ghealach – Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill
Réalt Beag by Gabreil RosenstockThe Walker Book of Poetry for Children has many more, it is one of my favourites since childhood.
https://www.amazon.ie/Random-House-Book-Poetry-Children/dp/0394850106
Songs:
Seoithín Seó
Oíche – Clanad
Catch a falling Star – Perry Como
Over the Rainbow
Vincent (Starry Starry Night) – Don McLean
Yellow – Coldplay
Space Oddity – David Bowie
Moondance – Van Morrison
Dancing in the Moonlight – King Harvest
Blue Moon – Ella Fitzgerald
In the still of the Night – The Five Satins
Fly me to the Moon – Frank Sinatra
Starlight – Muse
Rewrite the Stars – from The Greatest ShowmanClassical Music
Moonlight Sonata – Beethoven
Nocturne – Chopin
Clair de Lune – DebussyArt
Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh
Starry Night over the Rhone by Vincent Van Gogh
The Boulevard Monmartre at Night by Camille Pissarro
Celtic-style spirals and knots inspired by the cosmos
Harry Clarke’s stained glass illustrations
Starry Night by Jean-Francois Millet
Nebra Sky DiscThe idea of interviewing older people in their families and communities is great, it might tie in nicely to grandparents day, or allow for some cross cultural comaparrisons. It would be nice to facilitate it in the school as well.
How Light Pollution Is Impacting My Local Area and How I Would Engage Learners
In an inner-city school light pollution is very evident. Streetlights remain on all night, and many residential and commercial properties use bright, unshielded outdoor lighting. As a result, most of the children have only ever seen a small fraction of the stars, and have little concept of just how bright a full moon can be.
To engage my pupils:
We would begin by discussing “What is light pollution?”, and exploring the different types of light pollution. We would use images and videos from darksky.ie and NASA’s Earth Observatory. We would also use the light pollution slider in Stellarium to demonstrate what we can see now, and what we could see with varying reductions in light pollution in our locality.
Students could explore light shielding techniques using a model streetscape with different light sources.
We would conduct a light audit of the school grounds, using student-made maps to identify light sources, and how much light pollution they are contributing to the locality. We would look at the type of light, the colour of the light, the function of the lights, and the duration of use. We’d investigate if our school’s lights are creating unnecessary light pollution. The students could identify where changes and improvements could be made. They could outline proposals for improvements, which the student council could present to the BOM. To build awareness in the school community, students could create posters or infographics explaining light pollution and ways to reduce it. We could use Canva for these. Also, the pupils could create videos for social media to share the effects that light pollution has on the locality.The visibilty of the Northern Lights has woken up quite a few adults to the effects of light pollution! Living in Cork city you could see nothing, but travelling to Elfordstown Earthstation 25 minutes drive away allowed for a very clear viewing. I couldn’t believe how many adults asked me how I saw it after seeing my photos online!!
Create a short teaching resource using Stellarium.
I absolutely love using Stellarium myself. I have used it in class using an Interactive Touchscreen, but would love to use it with the tablets outdoors with the children as the gyroscope and accelerometer in the devices make the app far more user friendly and easier for children. If the day and time were selected, they may even find the moon using the app.
The book “Zoo in the Sky: A book of Animal Constellations” by Jacqueline Mitton is lovely to tie in with using Stellarium on an Interactive Touchscreen with the class. The children loved reading the book, and then finding the constellation using the web version of Stellarium.
I would like to involve parents in using the app too, and could invite them in to learn from their children how to use the app, then to set a date to use the app. If doing this I would also work with the children on how to take a photograph at night using a mobile phone, they could then present to the parents on how to use their mobile devices or cameras for long exposure photography. The children could share their images in class and identify the constellation of their choice in the photograph.
We could also look at locally taken images of the Milky Way, once the concept of long exposure has been explored.
Sorry posted twice, as put in a reply by mistake first!
Construct a sundial in your immediate area or plan for your school grounds to see where a sundial could be placed.
I would like to see the sundial added to the school’s sensory garden as a permanent feature. We would choose a point where each child would stand to cast their shadow. Using a compass, they could mark North, East, South and West clearly. At set times throughout the day—perhaps hourly; different children would stand on the spot while others mark the tip of their shadow. We would write the time next to each mark and possibly decorate the points later. As the day progresses, the children would see the shadow move and shorten or lengthen, helping them visualise the sun’s movement in the sky. After connecting the shadow points, we would have our human sundial (I do love the one in Blackrock Castle).
As follow-up work, the class would explore patterns, compare the sundial’s time to that shown on clocks, and reflect on how weather or seasons might affect the sundial’s accuracy. We could even discuss what changes we’d expect to see in winter or during the solstices.
We would also explore the following cross curricular links:
Mathematics: We would record times accurately, estimate durations, and observe intervals. We would explore angles formed by the shadows, as well as the length of the shadows.
Geography: We would use a compass to orient our sundial along the North-South axis and discuss how the sun influences our surroundings and environment.
History: We would look at how ancient civilizations such as the Egyptians, Greeks, and Celts used sundials and other methods to tell time.
SPHE: encouraging cooperation, communication, and teamwork as the children plan, create, and reflect on the sundial together.
Visual Arts: the children could design and decorate the sundial using paint or natural materials. We could incorporate Celtic patterns or symbolic representations of time, the sun, or the seasons.
English: The children would reflect on their experiences in writing—through journal entries, stories, or procedural texts explaining how the sundial works. They could also give oral presentations to the class or even to younger pupils about the sundial and how to use it.I find Stellarium easiest to use on a mobile device, the app picks up your location and moves the sky image in accordance with how you move your phone/tablet.
Construct a sundial in your immediate area or plan for your school grounds to see where a sundial could be placed.
I would like to see the sundial added to the school’s sensory garden as a permanent feature. We would choose a point where each child would stand to cast their shadow. Using a compass, they could mark North, East, South and West clearly. At set times throughout the day—perhaps hourly; different children would stand on the spot while others mark the tip of their shadow. We would write the time next to each mark and possibly decorate the points later. As the day progresses, the children would see the shadow move and shorten or lengthen, helping them visualise the sun’s movement in the sky. After connecting the shadow points, we would have our human sundial (I do love the one in Blackrock Castle).
As follow-up work, the class would explore patterns, compare the sundial’s time to that shown on clocks, and reflect on how weather or seasons might affect the sundial’s accuracy. We could even discuss what changes we’d expect to see in winter or during the solstices.
We would also explore the following cross curricular links:
Mathematics: We would record times accurately, estimate durations, and observe intervals. We would explore angles formed by the shadows, as well as the length of the shadows.
Geography: We would use a compass to orient our sundial along the North-South axis and discuss how the sun influences our surroundings and environment.
History: We would look at how ancient civilizations such as the Egyptians, Greeks, and Celts used sundials and other methods to tell time.
SPHE: encouraging cooperation, communication, and teamwork as the children plan, create, and reflect on the sundial together.
Visual Arts: the children could design and decorate the sundial using paint or natural materials. We could incorporate Celtic patterns or symbolic representations of time, the sun, or the seasons.
English: The children would reflect on their experiences in writing—through journal entries, stories, or procedural texts explaining how the sundial works. They could also give oral presentations to the class or even to younger pupils about the sundial and how to use it.I just looked up “The things I love about trees” also, it looks like a beautiful book to use with infants. I love the continuity in your plan and the tangible evidence the children will have through the photos. It is great to be able to do it in the school grounds, and help the children to use their own environment.
