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Hi Patrice
Welcome to the course. I really like your investigation for Climate Detectives. I like how you are keeping it specific to the school grounds and allowing the learners ownership in carrying out their own observations and predicting what they can plant to entice more insects and protect the local biodiversity of their school.
I like how you are planning for multiple ways for the learners to present their observations and learning and focusing on different areas in the school such as poly tunnel, flower beds and wild areas and they could look at the observations from each area and allow for discussion on what plants are attracting insects and how to use this information in developing the specific area they are assigned to.
As you have said, this climate detectives research question allows the learners to explore the full process of a scientific investigation. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Laura,
Welcome to the course. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the documentary Home. I agree that the footage used in this documentary is stunning and is a very visual teaching resource.
For the younger classes, it is important to focus on the actions they can take themselves and even incorporating it into the classroom routine such as turning lights off when leaving the room. I like how you are planning to link aspects of the video with practical tasks for the infants such as litter picking and planting their own flowers and vegetables. Hands on tasks like these and linking them to the video will introduce the actions they can take and as you have said it will empower the class to consider actions they can take, this could be at home and even their community.
Hi Barbara
Welcome to the course. It is great to hear your feedback on the activities in this module.
I agree that there are lots of opportunities to develop topic specific vocabulary but also gives the learners the opportunity to use this vocab in discussions and tasks and when sharing their learning. I like the weather or climate resource as it explores both concepts in a relatable manner and explores the differences between the two, there can be many misconceptions about the difference between climate and weather and as you have mentioned the worksheet for this task consolidates their learning and could allow for some assessment also.
Thanks for sharing, I hope you enjoy the other modules in this course.
Hi Claire.
Welcome to the course and thanks for sharing your thoughts on the Paxi video. I agree that some resources and videos online on the topic of global warming can be a bit heavy and can cause some anxiety in children. However, the Paxi video, as you have mentioned, strikes the perfect balance in outlining the concept in a child-friendly manner.
The Teal tool is a great resource to explore and I agree, having senior classes myself, that the learners using it themselves would depend on the class. It might work as a demonstration or teacher exploring the tool initially on the smart board before the learners work independently. I also agree that it is a fantastic opportunity to integrate with maths and using real life data. Thanks for sharing, I hope you enjoy the course.
Hi Shannon
Welcome to the course. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the activities from this module. Activity 1 explores the concepts of weather and climate and explains the difference in a very child-centered way and as you have mentioned it is effective in helping pupils understand these concepts.
I like how you plan to explore these activities in an integrated manner with science and geography. I like how you are considering the digital tools that could be used also to enhance the learning and getting the learners to display their learning in a presentation. You could also consider links to Gaeilge and real life data in maths to further build on this project. I hope you enjoy the other modules in the course.
Hi Louise
Welcome to the course. I agree that online data sets can provide meaningful learning opportunities to apply maths skills in real life contexts. I like how you are considering the data sets to use such as Met Eireann records and make it relevant to the learners to further engage them. As you have mentioned there are lots of opportunities to explore maths topics within data such as averages and comparing trends. Comparing trends allows for lots of critical thinking also as you have mentioned.
Thanks for sharing, I hope you enjoy the course.
Hi Órla,
Welcome to the course and thanks for sharing your comprehensive planet explorers plan. I like how you are planning for both the learners own observations and using digital tools to build on and support their learning.
I really like your idea of a Planet Passport for the learners to record their observations and learning and giving them options as to how they can record their learning. I also really like how you will use Stellarium to guide their observations at home. Such a great idea to make stargazing imaginative and achievable as you have mentioned.
Hi David,
Welcome to the course. Thanks for sharing your lesson idea to explore biodiversity and nocturnal animals with your class. I like how you are planning to explore the local area with the class initially and identify birds, trees etc. You could also consider checklists which include nocturnal animals to see if this sparks curiosity and allows for some critical thinking, The ESERO resource 30, Day and Night has lovely images to sort for day and night time animals which might also work for your lesson.
I think using photos to explore light pollution is a great focus for the infant classes as it helps to engage and create curiosity too. I like how you are planning for the infants to make posters too to turn off lights when not needed to encourage these young learners to take action.
Hi Laura
Welcome to the course. Thanks for your feedback on the activity in this module. I agree that climate change can be a challenging topic and can cause some anxiety among some learners in our classes. However, the Paxi video explores this concept in simple and age-appropriate way as you have mentioned.
I like how you are planning to use this activity in an integrated approach across the areas of SESE, SPHE and Maths. This would make meaningful connections of the knowledge across the different curricular areas and as toy have said to make connections between global environmental issues to their own everyday lives. I always encourage my learners to think about actions they can do themselves whether in school, at home or in their local communities to reduce carbon footprint so I like how you are going to promote sustainable practices in the school through presentations. This is very engaging and could involve the whole school if they share their work with other classes.
Thanks for sharing, I hope you enjoy the course.
Hi Niall
Welcome to the course. It is great to hear your feedback on activity 3 in this module.
The Paxi video is very engaging and has age-appropriate content to support learners and allow for discussion and critical thinking. As you have mentioned it allows for the learners to reflect on actions they can take such as cycling or walking to school.
The Teal tool is a great resource to explore in the classroom and make links between the content of the Paxi video on greenhouse gases and the future global temperatures and as you have said it allows for critical thinking on human actions and more opportunities to reflect on actions they can take.
Thanks for sharing, I hope you enjoy the course.
Hi Caitriona
Welcome to the course, thanks for sharing your feedback on the resources in this module.
I agree that these activities are addressing all the areas of STEM in a practical way with connections to real life. As you have mentioned, activity 2 allows for collection of data such as temperature, wind or cloud cover and this can be respresented in different forms of data in maths and this could also be presented using digital tools also.
It is great to hear that this module has given you ideas for teaching this topic next year. I hope you enjoy the other modules in this course.
Hi Claire,
Welcome to the course. It is great to hear that you enjoyed the activities in this module.
Activity 1 explores the concepts of weather and climate in an engaging way and as you have mentioned there is lots of opportunity to make connections between the weather and how it impacts our daily lives.
Activity 2 allows for lots of skills development and playful learning approaches. I like how you are planning to integrate with maths to record the data and share it using simple graphs. You could consider recording the data for two weeks in term 1 and two weeks in term 2 for comparison too.
Thanks for sharing, I hope you enjoy the course.
Hi Aisling
Welcome to the course. I like how you are planning to engage the learners as moon detectives. This might take some planning to ensure the moon is visible in the morning sky and you could check the lunar calendar on timeanddate.com to check for your local area.
Stellarium would be a lovely idea for the learners to plan their observations at home and even discuss the changes in the moon, introducing the phases of the moon. I like how you are planning to continue these observations at home too.
Thanks for sharing, I hope you enjoy the other modules.
Hi Laura,
Welcome to the course. To ensure the moon is visible in the morning time it is important to check the lunar calendar, I use timeanddate.com to find out the best time usually in the Waning Crescent.
I like how you are planning to observe the moon over a number of days and record the observations using multiple means. Photographs will also allow for comparisons of observations. As you have mentioned, it does allow for skills development along with collaboration and developing curiosity about the moon and space.
Thanks for sharing, I hope you enjoy the course.
Hi Ciaran
Welcome to the course. It is a great idea to begin with the video to explore the concepts of mass, weight and gravity. This will give the learners background information before they begin to great the Earth tube.
Creating different tubes will allow for hands on comparison of the mass of each object on different planets. They could decorate the tube to represent the planet they have chosen too.
I really like you extension activity to ensure playful learning opportunities to further explore the concept of mass and gravity. Thanks for sharing, I hope you enjoy the course.
