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Hi Valerie
Welcome to the course and I am glad that you loved the film Home. With many striking visuals it is great to engage the senior class pupils on the topic of climate change.
I also like how you plan to bring the children back to issues in their own local area and what changes they can make. While it is important to know the global effects of climate change, I think it is more important to show the children the changes they can make at home and in their own community and how to encourage others to make these changes too. This could also reduce the level of anxiety some children can have regarding climate change.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the videos and ideas for use in the classroom.
Hi Christina
Welcome to the course and thanks for sharing your thoughts on the film Home. I agree that you would have to ensure that this film is suitable for the class you have. You could also choose specific scenes or clips from the file to further support the topic you are covering in your class or cover it over a number of days as you have suggested.
Greta Thunberg’s Ted Talk is inspiring and filled with passion as you have said. Children in the senior classes may relate to her more and it will inform them and inspire them on how to reduce emissions and climate change. For younger pupils there is a Green Schools Book Club with a picture book called Greta and the Giants which is a lovely option to explore climate change. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the videos in this module.
Hi Nicole,
Welcome to the course. I hope you enjoy the different modules.
I agree that this resource could be used over several lessons across different curricular areas. As you have mentioned the vocabulary within the video and the resource would take time to fully grasp to engage fully with the activities such as Paxi video. I like how you plan to support this with vocabulary cards also. Children will become more confident in sharing their work and projects and will be able to use this new vocab in context as a result.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this task and I hope your students enjoy it next year.
Hi Michelle
Welcome to the course, I hope you enjoy the different modules.
I agree that the weather or climate lesson is very clear but also very effective to explore the children’s thinking regarding the difference between weather and climate. I also like your idea for the children to colour code the statements to show their learning.
A weather station is a fantastic resource in any school, I used to have a thermometer outside my classroom and children checked it daily, they were so engaged on the colder days to compare the temperature both inside and outside of the classroom. As you have mentioned they could then compare with the Met Eireann data to see how accurate they were. They could then use their own data to generate bar charts or trend graphs. It makes the process of creating and representing data more meaningful for the children. Thanks for sharing your ideas.
Hi Diarmaid,
Welcome to the course, I hope you are enjoying the different modules.
Light pollution can have a huge impact on biodiversity. As you have mentioned, nocturnal animals’ behaviours are impacted due to the light pollution. I think that your idea of night walks or star gazing events would increase the awareness of the importance of dark skies and the reduction of light both for the beauty of nature in star gazing but also to preserve the habitats and routines of these nocturnal animals.
Children could also get involved in the conservation groups to learn more from these groups but also how they can get involved themselves, even writing letters to local councillors regarding light pollution in their area. They could also look around their own school to see if any changes could reduce the light pollution too. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this module.
Hi Rachel,
Welcome to the course I hope you enjoy it.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the observation plan. I like how to are introducing the topic through the use of the picture book. Every class just love a picture book. It is a great way to introduce the topic and also to learn what the children know already. I also think it is a lovely opportunity to get the parents involved too and sending home links to relevant resources will be a great help to them also. I really like how you want to integrate it with Art to create the solar system. It is a great way to connect all their learning on the planets.
Hi Tanya,
Welcome to the course and thanks for sharing your thoughts and ideas for observing planets in the evening sky.
I like how you plan to support parents so they can engage in this task at home such as information sheet and star map. I also really like the idea of a sky journal or planet passport to record the children’s observations and learning.
Stellarium is a fantastic resource and you can show children where the planets will be in the evening sky. My own class used it this year and some were fascinated and used the site at home as well. I hope your class like it too.
Hi Rachel,
Welcome to the course. I hope you enjoy it.
Sundials allow for lots of cross curricular learning opportunities as you have mentioned. Exploring the ancient civilisations and how they used sundials would add to their learning and creating their own sundial. I also like how you are giving the children the responsibility of locating the ideal location for the sundial. This will allow for critical thinking and trial and error as they explore the different locations. Thanks for sharing your ideas for creating a sundial.
Hi Denis
Welcome to the course and thanks for sharing your thoughts on this module.
The Rainbow Spinner is a fantastic activity in the class, with senior classes you can explore using the compass to draw the circle with natural integration to Maths. The rainbow spinner would make the abstract ideas tangible as you have mentioned and then allow for the transfer of this knowledge when exploring prisms etc.
I agree that you must connect investigations such as STEM to real world contexts to ensure there is meaningful learning and real life connections for the pupils. And as you have said this will also inspire future engagement with STEM.
I hope you enjoy the course
Hi Helen,
Welcome to the course and I hope that you gets lots of activities to use with your 5th class next year.
Children at this age love to explore light and lenses such as the activities outlined in this module. As you have mentioned you can then make cross curricular links to history to explore the Great Telescope at Birr Castle. You can make real world connections to make the topic more meaningful for the pupils. My class also loved Stellarium this year, it was such a hit that some pupils then continued to explore it at home.
The Curious Minds is a fantastic framework to guide you in facilitating and supporting inquiry based learning for your pupils. As you have said it will encourage a variety of skills and allow the pupils to share their own thoughts, opinions and questions. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Hi Irene
Welcome to the course and thanks for sharing an overview of the EO Browsers. There are many learning opportunities that could be explored through the use of EO browser. While it is good to let them explore the browser initially and get used to the settings and features you could then give them specific topics to focus on such as the time lapse of a particular area – even the local area. As you have mentioned this will give students a dynamic and interactive learning experience that they can relate to if they explore their own local area.
Hi Amelia
Welcome to the course I hope you enjoy it and get lots of ideas for the young people you are working with.
A weather station does take organising and preparation to create the different instruments, but as the learners are taking ownership and developing these instruments themselves they are really engaged in the task. I like how you plan to put the weather station in the garden and allow those you work with to explain their work to others. This really supports the ownership of their learning also. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this.
Hi Ellen
Welcome to the course and thanks for sharing your thoughts on this module.
It is fascinating that you can watch the badgers on the cameras in the school ground. It is an ideal opportunity for the pupils to learn about the nocturnal animals and the importance of protecting the area for these animals and exploring the concept of light pollution also. Using real life examples such as the video would really spark curiosity and creativity in the pupils to come up with different ways to support these animals such as the bat boxes and badger houses that you have mentioned.
Hi Mairead
Welcome to the course and thanks for your comments on the activity in this module. I am glad that your own class will love this activity. It is a really practical task to explore the movement of the sun. I like how you plan to explore it over a number of days and compare the results, and planning for issues such as cloud cover on these days. Taking photographs at the exact same time each day could also support the pupils as they try to identify any changes or what has stayed the same.
I hope you enjoy the course.
Hi Rachel,
Welcome to the course, I hope you enjoy it.Thanks for your feedback on the video in this module. They can reflect the learning opportunities and enjoyment of the pupils that we can often miss out on noticing ourselves when teaching.
The Earth tube and planet tube is a fascinating activity for the pupils and I really like how you plan to decorate them with elements from the different planets. This will support the pupils creativity while also learning about the weight on different planets. As you have mentioned they do provide a very visual activity and meaningful link with science and also geography.
Thanks for sharing your ideas for the earth tube.
