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Hi Caitriona,
Welcome to the course and it is great to hear your feedback on the ESA resources in this module. I agree that Activity 3 is more suited to a senior class and it is better to work through the series of lessons over time to allow for consolidation of learning as you do. As you have mentioned the activities allow for the development of collaboration, communication and scientific skills too.
It is interesting that the data centres are responsible for 23% of our energy consumption and you could also research the heat generated by these data centres also and if this could be used more efficiently. That would be a worthwhile and interesting extension activity. Thanks for sharing, I hope you enjoy the course.
Hi Siobhan
Welcome to the course and thanks for sharing your reflection on your own practice following Liston’s paper. It is important to reflect on what has been working well for you and participating in the STEPS Young Engineers programme would address many areas of STEM. This approach also works in addressing problems in the local area which makes connections to real life problems as outlined by Liston.
While we can focus on the areas of STEM, Liston’s paper, as you have outlined, wants us to focus on these areas in an integrated approach and it is something we can all work on going forward as this also links with the new STEM curriculum specification.
Thanks for sharing, I hope you enjoy the course.
Hi Emma,
Welcome to the course. It is great to hear your thoughts on the video and resources in this module. I like how you are planning for lots of discussion initially and guiding the discussion with the questions you have outlined.
I like how you are planning to further explore day and night through the torch activity and following up with an art based activity which is ideal for the 2nd class group. Thanks for sharing, I hope you enjoy the course.
Hi Laura,
Welcome to the course. Thanks for sharing your observation plan. I like how you are planning an active, hands on investigation for the class and creating an Autumn Skywatching Diary.
I think Stellarium would be a great resource to support the learners in observing the planets at home. Through exploring the night sky for their local area in Stellarium it would support their own exploration of Stellarium while also guiding their own observations and could be scaffolded with the questions you have outlined. Great ideas, thanks for sharing. I hope you enjoy the course.
Hi John,
Welcome to the course. It is great to hear your thoughts on the documentary Home. It has beautiful imagery and as you have mentioned it is inspiring and thought provoking.
I agree that choosing clips from the documentary to explore with the class might be the best approach. This would allow for lots of class discussion and critical thinking and would allow for consolidation of knowledge from the other activities and videos in the course.
I like how you are planning for a sustainability project to build on the positive actions they can take and empower the learners that they can take action in school and at home. Thanks for sharing, I hope you enjoy the course.
Hi Susanne,
Welcome to the course. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on Liston’s paper and the other activities and resources in this module. While we have a new curriculum specification, there are many playful approaches in the activities in this module which represent the new approaches in the specification that you have mentioned.
For younger learners you would need to modify the tasks to ensure they are fully engaged as you have mentioned and the discussion at the start with links to their own birthdays is effective in introducing this concept in a child friendly manner.
Teacher modelling and scaffolding would really support the learners when recording the weather through observations and data collection and as you have said there are many opportunities for skills development in this task.
I hope you enjoy the other modules in this course. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Síofra,
Welcome to the course. It is great to hear your thoughts on how to use this activity with a 2nd class group. I like how you plan to engage the learners initially with the odd one out activity and make links to history too.
I also like how you are planning for an engineering task in allowing the learners to choose the materials for their sun dial initially and I like how you have planned for critical thinking in discussing why a sundial might be less reliable in Ireland.
Great ideas, thanks for sharing. I hope you enjoy the other modules across this course.
Hi Jonathan
Welcome to the course, thanks for sharing your lesson idea on exploring maps with your class.
I like how you will explore the school grounds as this is familiar for younger learners but also gives them the opportunity to focus on observing the wildlife, trees and flowers in the school grounds.
I like how you have included some questioning to encourage critical thinking and also promoting action as they make the school grounds more friendly for wildlife. Learners can also consider how to further support biodiversity within the school.
Thanks for sharing, I hope you enjoy the course.
Hi Gillian,
Welcome to the course. It is great to hear that you think the activities in this module would work well with your class. I agree that a level of prior knowledge and vocabulary is necessary before introducing the Paxi video. This will allow the learners to engage fully with the content of the video.
I like how you are planning to use the video and the Teal tool to explore the concepts and then to focus on how the learners can take action. I agree that some content can cause a level of anxiety among the learners so it is important to promote positive action such as litter picking and more recycling as you have mentioned.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, I hope you enjoy the course.
Hi Sinead,
Welcome to the course. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on Liston’s paper and also on the activities in this module.
The activities allow for lots of discussion among the learners as you have mentioned, this can allow for critical thinking also as they explore the difference between weather and climate. Similarly, in the weather detectives there is an opportunity for skills development for both investigative work and also collaborating with their peers as you have said.
I like your plan for collaboration between classes also, an opportunity for both younger learners and older learners to work together and take ownership of their learning together.
Great ideas, thanks for sharing. I hope you enjoy the other courses in this module.
Hi Emer
Welcome to the course. It is great that you can pick and choose topics relevant to the class without the pressure of the text book for STEM. We can often be too reliant on these books and miss out on relevant learning opportunities from our own local area.
What a great opportunity to have chickens in the school, while it is very unfortunate that they were taken by a predator. It does create real-life problems for the learners to engage in and problem solve and it would also incorporate digital tools such as the cameras. Aside from the STEM learning, the chickens must provide for lots of hands on, meaningful learning about caring for the world around us. Amazing, thanks for sharing, I hope you enjoy the course.
Hi Elizabeth
Welcome to the course. Thanks for sharing your moon observation plan. It is important to plan for moon observations to identify the best times to observe the moon in the morning sky. This may address the misconception that the moon is only out at night. You should also consider how the learners will record their observations and compare them. This could be in little notebooks or even taking photographs. By using photographs you could also compare them to the different phases of the moon that you have mentioned.
Thanks for sharing, I hope you enjoy the course.
Hi Lyndsy
Welcome to the course and thanks for sharing your constellation art idea which sounds ideal for 2nd class. Showing the learners a video would be really engaging prior to the hands on activity and you could also consider using Stellarium to show the different constellations in the night sky as a follow up from the activity and asking the learners to identify the different constellations based on what they have learned from making them.
I hope you enjoy the other modules in this course.
Hi Sean
Welcome to the course. Thanks for sharing your lesson ideas for light pollution. I agree that with overly populated areas such as Dublin the wonder of the night sky can be sometimes lost and it is a loss of learning for the learners in that area also.
I think for the learners to experience the night sky you could consider photos of the night sky from rural areas and compare them to photos of the night sky in their own local area. This would allow for lots of discussion and critical thinking as to the difference between the two and then lead to a discussion light pollution. I like your idea of the Star Jar and how you can follow up on this with observing the lighting on the school grounds for further consolidation of the learning on light pollution. The learners may then recognise action they can take themselves at home to reduce light pollution.
Thanks for sharing, I hope you enjoy the course.
Hi Siobhan,
Welcome to the course. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the resource and video in this module.
The video is a great resource and as you have mentioned, it explains night and day in a very visual way. You could consider watching this prior to the day and night song and activity to consolidate their learning and then you could consider how to extend the learning on nocturnal animals with the ESERO 30 Day and Night activity. I hope you enjoy the other modules in this course.
