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Hi Kathy
Welcome to the course. Thanks for sharing your plan to observe the sun’s movement in the sky. It is a great activity to get your learners outside and observing and noting specific details such as the sun’s location in relation to landmarks. You have mentioned using a compass and could consider naming the landmarks relative to their location such as the big tree in the east. Parents could also download a compass on their phone or device to help their child with this activity at home. I agree that a human sun dial would also be a great activity on the yard. I hope you enjoy the course.
Hi Brian
Welcome to the course. It is great to hear your feedback on the resources in this module. They do allow for a mixture of creativity, outdoor learning and science inquiry which is a great approach to engage all learners in our classrooms.
I agree that the learners would enjoy the activity to compare their ‘weight’ on Earth and on Mars which would also integrate well with Maths. I hope you enjoy the other modules and find the resources beneficial.
Hi Cian
It is important to elicit what the learners know about Climate Change as this may influence the clips or extracts from Home that you could show the pupils. I agree that it is important to highlight to the learners that they themselves could be active participants in change as you have said. A larger project could involve collaboration with other classes in the school to promote this also.
Hi Miriam.
Welcome to the course. Thanks for sharing your plan to observe the sun’s movement in the sky. It is a great idea to use the CCTV footage for sunrise and sunset to ensure continuity and also allows the pupils to use familiar landmarks to note the changes in the position of the sun. Similarly you could also screenshot the footage to have pictures for the pupils to compare. I also like how you plan to develop links with home in supporting observations of the sun at home and the template you have suggested will help this too.
Thanks for sharing, I hope you enjoy the course.
Hi John.
Welcome to the course. Thanks for sharing the examples of cross curricular lessons for STEM.
However, you are reminded that the purpose of this assignment was to explore and reflect on the activities outlined in this module. Have you explored the Weather and Climate resource? Is there any activities you have listed that could be further explored within the topic of weather and climate? Perhaps you could revisit this resource and ensure that your post aligns with the assignment for this module.
Hi John
Thanks for sharing your research question. However, this assignment is to outline a plan of how you would explore this research question with the class and plan for activities to engage your class in this research project. Perhaps you could revisit your post and ensure it aligns with the assignment for this module.
While there are lots of examples of plants blooming earlier each year, you could consider how to explore this with your pupils relevant to their local area. The Climate Detective Project runs over a short time frame, so you should also ensure your research question is achievable. The Climate Detective Research question planner may help with this.
Hi Anita
Thanks for your feedback on this module. You are very fortunate to have lots of opportunities to explore biodiversity in the local area of your school. I am also going to get my class involved in the Birdwatch Ireland’s Garden Bird Survey, I think it would be engaging and an example of real-life citizen science for the class. I also will be integrating it with maths to ensure connections and purposeful use of maths in light of the new curriculum.
Hi Orla.
Thanks for sharing your feedback on this course. It is a wonderful idea to try and get the whole school involved in exploring the heritage of your local area. Some classes may focus on different aspects or areas as you have mentioned and there are many great learning opportunities as classes can share their learning. There are so many opportunities for skills development in this approach.
Hi Orla.
Welcome to the course. What a great idea to explore the different bridges in your local area from both the past and the present. Going on a trail in the local area will also give pupils to explore local bridges from an engineering perspective. Having visited Carrick-a-Rede Bridge myself, I only think of it from the fear perspective rather than the engineering and on reflection it would be a good activity in the classroom to create a similar bridge. I also like how you are planning for collaboration with the whole school to share their knowledge and learning.
As you have mentioned, there are lots of opportunities for meaningful and purposeful integration with maths to explore 2D shapes, 3D shapes, lines and angles. It will allow the pupils to use these maths skills with links to real-life. Thanks for sharing, I hope you enjoy the course.
Hi Siobhan
Welcome to the course and thanks for sharing your thoughts and reflection on your own practice and the paper from Liston.
As teachers we can all focus on the science experiments as our STEM but as you have said STEM is a holistic and integrated approach to incorporate all areas to make it interconnected. It is great to hear how you will apply this to your own teaching such as exploring solar panels for renewable energy which will be a good starting point for you. I hope you enjoy the other modules in this course.
Hi Deirdre
Welcome to the course. I am fascinated to hear all about the different projects and initiatives you have engaged in. I had applied to do training and receive a 3D printer but was put on the waitlist. Reading your post has increased my interest in this area. The use of the 3D printer is STEM at its best, problem solving in real-life scenarios and then actually developing and creating a solution too.
There are so many initiatives that we can get involved in as teachers such as Science Blast, Junior Entrepreneur, STEPs as you have mentioned and each has their own approach but I agree that the ESERO and Curious Minds framework has it all in one and it can be adapted as needed for other curricular areas.
Thanks for sharing your own experience and your feedback on this module. I hope you enjoy the other modules in this course.
Hi Patricia
Welcome to the course, thanks for sharing your lesson idea on map making.
I agree that it is best to explore familiar areas first such as the classroom as you have mentioned. This allows the learners to apply skills such as developing the use of symbols or keys and cardinal points for direction.
I also like how you plan to develop these skills on paper initially before the digital tools. The learners could then apply what they know about symbols etc to the digital maps. As you have said it is a great opportunity to mix the graphicacy skills of geography with digital skills and creativity in one lesson.
Hi Sarah
Welcome to the course. I actually covered the phases of the moon with my own 5th & 6th class last year and I think it is a great topic for the senior class pupils. They can learn about the phases of the moon and apply this learning through the observations. I also got my class to create their own 3D model to explore the phases of the moon and what they created was amazing. As you have said these activities allow for a calm, hands on way to connect science, creativity and the wonder of the natural world. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Helena
Welcome to the course. What a great resource of a sundial to have in the local area of your school and it would be a fantastic opportunity to develop the learners knowledge about the sundial and make meaningful links to their own local area.
I also really like how you can use the local sundial as a resource for local history through interviewing the older members of the local community. It would strengthen the knowledge and connections of learning for those in your class.
Thanks for sharing the lovely ideas in this post, I hope you enjoy the course.
Hi Susie
Welcome to the course. Stellarium is a great resource to explore the night sky. I like how you plan to observe the moon. I saw in Module 1 that you have an infants class and Stellarium could help to show the pupils how the moon changes. You could also consider linking with the calendar of the moon to allow for observation of the moon during the day and allow the pupils to make connections with what they have seen and learned about the moon on Stellarium and observing the moon themselves. It will also help to address the misconception that the moon is only out at night.
