[Michelle Mannix]

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

[Michelle Mannix]

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.

[Michelle Mannix]

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.

[Michelle Mannix]

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.

[Michelle Mannix]

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.

[Michelle Mannix]

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.

[Michelle Mannix]

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.

[Michelle Mannix]

Hi Alison,

Welcome to the course, I hope you enjoy it.

Thanks for sharing your ideas on exploring the movement of the sun with an infant class. I really like how you plan to develop their use of digital learning to document their learning and allow the children to make their own comparisons as they make their observations at different times of the day. As you have mentioned there are lots of opportunities for skills development in this activity across multiple areas of the curriculum.

[Michelle Mannix]

Hi Aoife,

Welcome to the course, I hope you enjoy it.

I really like how you plan to explore the sun dial in ancient civilisations initially for meaningful connections with the history of the sundial.

I think exploring shadows indoors initially will also develop their knowledge of the concept of shadows and then it can be explored with the sundial.  Children do love to be out and active as you have mentioned and exploring how the shadows change on the sundial will really support their learning and get them outside. Thanks for sharing your ideas for this activity.

[Michelle Mannix]

Hi Eleanor,

Welcome to the course, I hope you enjoy it.

It is important for the pupils to consider the environment in order to observe the night sky and identify the planets. This would allow for some critical thinking and problem solving prior to exploring the night sky.

It is a great idea for the children to research the planets and complete project work on them to further support their learning when they are observing the night sky. It is also a fantastic opportunity to develop the home school link and get parents involved in observing the night sky with their children as you have mentioned.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the activities in this module.

[Michelle Mannix]

Hi Robert,

Welcome to the course, I hope you enjoy it.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the resources in this module. Activity 3 supports the children to learn about climate projections. Thanks for sharing about the RTE resource from Gerald Fleming, this is definitely something I will look into for my own class for next year. It would be fascinating for the children to use the Teal tool and make comparisons with this work and as you have mentioned it would support the visual element of the learning. It would also develop their knowledge and understanding of climate change in the various activities.

[Michelle Mannix]

Hi Shaun

Welcome to the course and I am glad that you have found the many resources on Curious Minds and ESERO helpful. There is a fantastic bank of activities and resources in these sites that would support teachers at any level. They are also outlined using a framework for inquiry which supports child led investigations. I have found that I would plan for a specific task or outcome and then with the children’s own thoughts and questions it can go down a totally different track, but the children are more engaged as they are working towards solving their own question. There are endless opportunities for critical thinking and problem solving and more 21st century skills.

I hope you enjoy the other modules and the many resources across this course.

[Michelle Mannix]

Hi Emma,

Welcome to the course, I hope you enjoy it.

Using the local area is a great starting point for any class and as you have mentioned there are many online tools for the children to explore their local area in more detail such as Google Earth and Geo hive. Children can also track changes in their locality, such as changing in farming or landscape. Children can also look at the types of soil in an area to support farming as you have outlined. This is a great opportunity to connect with Science and Geography.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and how this could also be integrated into other subject areas.

[Michelle Mannix]

Hi Mary,

Welcome to the course and thanks for sharing your thoughts on the framework template from ESRO and how you could use it in the classroom. Inquiry based learning is a fantastic approach to allow the children to take ownership of their learning. They can ask the questions and work together on problem solving and critical thinking and as you have said it makes the lessons more engaging for the pupils and it can be adapted to suit learning across other curricular areas also.

I hope you enjoy the course.

[Michelle Mannix]

Hi Siobhan

Welcome to the course. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the satellite tracker app. Space is a fascinating topic for children and having taught infants to senior classes, this fascination works across all levels.

The app is ideal to see the different satellites that have passed over Ireland and children would love knowing what is passing over them and maybe researching about what each satellite is looking for in space. I was tracking the ISS with my class last year and we found a live webcam and we could see the earth below. We had great fun guessing where in the world they were judging by the terrain below and they almost had it right when we checked the map. My senior classes would have spent the afternoon tracking it. I hope your class will enjoy tracking the satellites in September.

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