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How can we reduce our carbon footprint by looking at how we travel to and from school.
The amount of co2 being released is directly contributing to global warming and irregular weather events. This would be discussed with the pupils in advance of the lesson.
This is a particularly relevant area for our school population as we are a rural school roughly 5 km from the nearest town. We often have a congested car park and have to deal with poor access roads.
In this lesson each student will learn how to :
1. Survey the class/ school population re modes of transport to and from school.
2. Read the data and compile multiple sources.
3. Present data on a graph.
4. Analyse and comment on their findings.
I would get the children in my room to fill in the “My Carbon Footprint” questionnaire (withe parental permission) at the start of the process and also after we have made some changes.
The question would be posed to the group.”How can we reduce our carbon footprint in relation to school transport?”
Responses may include, ” car pooling, park and walk days, cycling, walking etc..”
In conjunction with our Green School we could then organise A green travel day where we can highlight the issues further.
Afterwards we could re visit the survey and re record our answers hopefully showing improvements and reductions in our carbon footprints.
Lesson extension= We could look at and possibly survey the school population on other aspects from survey such as litter, heating, food etc in an effort to further reduce our individual , class and whole school cabon footprints.
Hi Irene,
I really liked your research question regarding trees and their importance to us. I think you have really pitched it at the infant pupil’s level and your suggested ideas and lesson plan would be particularly relevant to our school as we have a rich selection of trees and ample grounds from which to work with.
Thank you v much,
Mark H
Hi Seán again,
I have to agree that its amazing in relation to the sheer number of satellites that pass over our heads and most of us are totally oblivious. The children will definitely enjoy learning about this .
Mark H
Hi Seán,
I couldn’t agree more re your comments on the power and impact of the Home video. Visual media has the ability to grab the attention of the pupils and bring home the seriousness of the situation we find ourselves in. However, I would show it is small segments over the course of a term.
Mark H
Hi Rachel. I thought you made some very good points re Activity 3. I liked the idea of no homework as an incentive for encouraging the reluctant artists.Great job.
Mark H
How can we reduce our carbon footprint by looking at how we travel to and from school.
The amount of co2 being released is directly contributing to global warming and irregular weather events. This would be discussed with the pupils in advance of the lesson.
This is a particularly relevant area for our school population as we are a rural school roughly 5 km from the nearest town. We often have a congested car park and have to deal with poor access roads.
For my lesson, I will have the students track rainfall in our area for a month. I would begin by discussing why rain is important in the locality and who would have a keen interest in how much rain will fall in the area.
We would discuss what we call people that measure it and why.
We would learn that meteorologists track rain for several big reasons that affect our daily lives and kit is very important for:
Water Management: Cities need to know if reservoirs are filling up or getting too low.
Farming: Farmers rely on rain tracking to know when to plant/harvest crops or take animals in or leave them out.
Tracking Climate Change: By looking at rain data over 30 years or more, scientists can see if an area is becoming a desert or experiencing heavier, more dangerous storms than it used to.
In this lesson each student will learn how to :
1. Survey the class/ school population re modes of transport to and from school.
2. Read the data and compile multiple sources.
3. Present data on a graph.
4. Analyse and comment on their findings.
I would get the children in my room to fill in the “My Carbon Footprint” questionnaire (withe parental permission) at the start of the process and also after we have made some changes.
The question would be posed to the group.”How can we reduce our carbon footprint in relation to school transport?”
Responses may include, ” car pooling, park and walk days, cycling, walking etc..”
In conjunction with our Green School we could then organise A green travel day where we can highlight the issues further.
Afterwards we could re visit the survey and re record our answers hopefully showing improvements and reductions in our carbon footprints.
Lesson extension= We could look at and possibly survey the school population on other aspects from survey such as litter, heating, food etc…
I decided to opt for option 1 here. I have downloaded the satellite tracker for my phone.
The 1st satellite it detected is the most well know I suppose The ISS. Interestingly, the only experience I have had with tracking satellites relates to when I purchased my robotic mower 2 years ago. The quality of the cut and how accurate it was depended on which satellites were currently overhead.
This was very interesting for me and definitely an adult learning opportunity. I remember showing this to the pupils at school at the time and the majority were thrilled. We spoke about sat nav, weather predictions, running watches and fitness trackers as these we all relavent to the children’s lives.
However, I digress. the ISS is habitable and they conduct advanced scientific research in micro gravity and test new experimental space technologies.
My app also detected a Starlink broadband satellite, One of the Copernicus satellites (Sentenil 3) . It also detected a weather satellite called Meteosat.
I found the Home video to be very interesting. It is beautifully shot and put together with real artistic craftsmanship. It is very comprehensive in how it details our short time on this planet we call home. I think the historical element would be very relevant for the children in my room, 3rd and 4th classes as they often struggle to really struggle to grasp the concept of time when we talk about 10 years ago, 100 years ago and even 1000 years ago. This certainly helps highlight how we as a race have adapted and harnessed our environments to our own advantage. Yes we are clever but it shows how by make the world bend to our will that we in turn have tipped the scale and thrown nature off balance.
In order to present this to my class I would have to break it into smaller sections and these would serve as great introductions to many SESE or STEM topics.
It highlights the many issues that face us yet it is not too pessimistic in its portrayal of our situation. I think Glenn Close does a terrific job with the narration and every word is measured, accurate and thought provoking.
I have to say the other videos were also excellent but in my opinion, probably more suited to the older classes or post primary levels. The video from 2020 was stark and upsetting particularly where it hightlighted the plight of the poor koalas and Australian marsupials. A necessary watch for older audiences all the same.
I enjoyed this module and i really feel it is something that will grab the attention on my 3rd and 4th classes upon return to school in the autumn.
The Paxi video is excellent. Maybe some of the older pupils might find it a bit babyish but with encouragement, I have no doubt that they would get on board and the content is most certainly at their level. This would be a super intro to the topic for the classes.
The Teal app is excellent and the informative video would serve as an excellent progression on the point of rising world temperatures. I know the children would relish the opportunity of researching independently from a verified source which is reasonably easy to interpret.
The aim of the lesson is for children to understand that the Earth needs to stay at the right temperature to keep plants, animals, and people healthy. They will learn that greenhouse gases act like a warm blanket around the Earth, helping to keep it warm, but that when the blanket becomes too thick, the Earth gets too hot. They will also begin to understand that everyone can help to look after our planet.
I would divide the children into group of 4 and assign each member a role etc.. taking into consideration the abilities and personalities of each group. Using resources provided we would carry out the experiments outlined in activity 3 to further understand the concept of global warming and climate change.
We could use the teal app to explore further what may happen in our future in best and worst case senarios.
To conclude i would ask the chn what can we do to make a difference….Turning off lights when they are not needed.Walking or cycling whenever possible.Planting and caring for trees or flowers.Avoiding wasting water.
Hi Mollie,
I enjoyed reading your post. You made some very good points and I think the idea of making Activity 2 a whole school initiative would be very beneficial and more meaningful. Incorporating it into weekly assemblies is also a great idea. I am always looking for more ways to make the area of STEM more relevant.
Mark H
Reading Liston got me to think more deeply about what STEM education looks like in reality. One of the main messages that I got was that we as educators need to look at this whole area, not as 4 separate subject areas but as a holistic process where there children are given real life problems where they will need to utilise all aspects of the STEM spectrum to reach their goals .
I hope that over the duration of this course I will get the know how to look at and utilise the area of STEM in a deep, connected and meaningful way in my classroom moving forward .
I completed activities 1 and 2 from the Weather and Climate resource and found them to be interesting and managable. The first activity clearly helped me see how to distinguish between both weather and climate. The digital content was appealing particularly for the middle children in the school and I know it would grab their attention.
I am pretty sure the children in my school would love this Activity 2 Weather Detectives as we regularly use our outdoors as an additional learning space. We are a small rural school with ample grounds and there would be endless places for them to set up their weather station. I found it to be is very enjoyable and easily adapted to 9 and 10 year olds as I currently teach 3rd and 4th class. This would be most beneficial if it was carried out over a longer timescale. It lends itself well to mathematics , data and graphing and the children would be very motivated have to deal with real life challenges and solutions.