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Hi Nicole,
Welcome to the course and thanks for sharing your thoughts on Liston’s paper. I agree that it is important to ensure you have meaningful connections and learning opportunities to enhance STEM.
I love tracing shadows with the children in the yard to track the movement of the sun and the change in shadows. It is an ideal opportunity for younger learners and also to reinforce the movement of the sun in different seasons for older classes. I think photos would be great to encourage a digital aspect and to allow for comparisons in more detail also.
Hi Lora,
Welcome to the course and thanks for sharing your ideas on creating maps in the classroom.
I think it is important to explore the children’s own knowledge of maps first as you have mentioned and even to have maps of parks, towns, shopping centres etc for them to explore initially before they develop their own map.
I really like how you plan to team up with the older pupils to explore maps and even to allow multiple means to create maps such as lego or on paper. So many meaningful learning opportunities for the pupils.
I hope you enjoy the course.
Hi Diarmaid
Welcome to the course and thank you for sharing your thoughts on the film Home and other videos for use in the classroom. I agree that the imagery in the video is striking and depending on your own class group you can choose different clips to show in the class. The film could also be used to evoke empathy as you have said and encourage the pupils to come up with small changes they can make and encourage others to make and the importance of the combination of small changes to combat climate change.
Hi Louise,
Welcome to the course and thanks for sharing your ideas on the Paxi video from this module. I also like how you plan to differentiate the lesson for younger learners and to allow them to respond more creatively through making posters for reducing emissions. As you have said it will keep the message of climate action strong and clear. It is also a great way to explore the different approaches we can take ourselves and that every step taken counts. This may reduce the anxiety that children may have regarding climate change.
Hi Olive,
Welcome to the course and thank you for sharing your thoughts on exploring the night sky.
As you have mentioned, a clear night is essential to ensure there is limited cloud cover along with ensuring you are in a good location to explore the night sky.
Some planets will be quite visible to the naked eye depending on the time of year. Some planets may appear as a bright star, so it is important to know the location of the planets in the night sky prior to heading out. Stellarium is a fantastic resource which can show you where the planets will be in the night sky, you could explore this with the children prior to the activity.
Hi Colin,
Welcome to the course and thanks for sharing your ideas from this module.
I like how you plan to explore the weather in different curricular areas such as collecting data in maths and creating a weather and climate bulletin for the school to support and develop literacy.
As you have said there are many opportunities for skills development across these activities also to support STEM
Hi Elaine
Welcome to the course and thanks for sharing your ideas from this module.
I really like how you want to create a weather club in your school. This will allow children to take ownership of their learning and to share their information and data with others. I think that the weather is always topical but also with people such as Alan from Carlow weather, he is sharing his knowledge with everyone through social media, there seems to be more opportunities to explore weather and create weather instruments in the classroom now to link in with showing their work on Seesaw or other platforms.
It would be great to record data for a particular month this year and a different month next year, allowing for change of season also. This will also allow for comparison of data. There are so many meaningful learning opportunities within this idea. Thanks for sharing
Hi Tara,
Welcome to the course and thanks for sharing the ideas from module one.
Discussing weather proverbs and weather lore is always a big hit in my classroom. Encouraging the children to ask older relatives for their own weather proverbs and then creating posters to match. It is interesting the different weather proverbs from area to area.
I also agree with you regarding the weather station and the children gathering their own data as it allows the children to have ownership of both the data and their learning in how they present it. I always try to use real life data with the class to support engagement. By having their own weather station, there are lots of opportunities to record data and compare it to that of Met Eireann or even another school as you have mentioned.
I hope you enjoy the course
Hi Joan.
Welcome to the course and thanks for sharing your own thoughts for this module. I agree that STEM is best approach through inquiry based learning and allowing the pupils to ask and, more importantly, try and solve their own questions through investigations and active learning. As you have mentioned, using IT such as ipads allows the pupils to conduct their own research and come up with their own ideas to support critical thinking and creativity.
I hope you enjoy the course.
Hi Danielle
Welcome to the course and thank you for sharing your thoughts on Liston’s paper. This paper encourages us all to think about a holistic approach to STEM in our classrooms. I like how you outlined exploring solar panels in the classroom with lots of opportunity for STEM based activities. The STEPS to Engineering challenge for 3rd & 4th classes also encourages children to reflect on their community and what they could design and create to help their community. Having completed that with my class, I saw the true benefits of this approach and how it can be developed further with future topics.
Hi Mona,
Welcome to the course and thanks for sharing your ideas on creating a sundial.
I like how you plan to explore the concept through the use of shadows initially, this will help the children to understand how the sun travels across the sky and the different sizes of shadows during the day. The children will then have greater knowledge of how the sun dial will work when it comes to creating their own. I also like how you plan to integrate the sundial with aspects of history. It is an ideal opportunity to make meaningful cross curricular links.
I hope you enjoy the course.
Hi Gráinne,
Welcome to the course and thank you for sharing your thoughts on the sun dial activity from this module.
I like how you plan to integrate it across other subject areas as it is an ideal opportunity to make meaningful connections and links with the sundial and aspects of history. It is also great how you plan to develop the sun dial but also encourage the whole school to benefit from it and learn from the sun dial that the 6th class will create. Also a fantastic opportunity for the children to be proud of their work as the whole school benefit from it.
Hi Sarah
Welcome to the course and thank you for sharing your thoughts on Module One.
I like your idea to complete a sky diary with the class. Taking photos at the same spot each time will also give children the opportunity to compare photos and the location of the sun. I also like how you plan to explore the shadows across the day also. It is an ideal opportunity for the children to become involved in recreating the same pose across the day to track the changes.
I hope you enjoy the course.
Hi Patricia,
What a great opportunity for the children to work with a biodiversity expert. In my own school we have a heritage in schools expert who comes in to all classes and focuses on different activities depending on the season, bird watching, pond dipping in Lough Gur, trees and wildflowers. Like in your own school it is a great day for everyone.
Hi Jacinta,
I agree that we would have to watch all the videos ourselves and choose relevant sections or videos to the class which would support the pupils in their learning. There is a level of eco-anxiety in some children and it is important to maintain a positive outlook and acknowledge the smaller changes they themselves can make in school, at home and in the local community.
