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Hi Eimear,
Welcome to the course and it is great to hear your feedback on the Paxi video. The video does explore the concepts in a child-friendly and engaging way. The Teal tool is a great resource and I like how you are planning to make it more relevant to the learners’ own lives such as the links to farming. Farming and the current weather is very topical these days and this would make the learning about greenhouse gases and future temperatures more meaningful as you have said. Thanks for sharing your lesson ideas.
I hope you enjoy the other modules in this course.
Hi Siobhan
Welcome to the course. Thanks for sharing your reflection on your own STEM teaching and learning in light of Liston’s paper. Hands-on learning experiences give the learners the opportunity to explore and make connections with the world around them through problem solving and inquiry based learning.
Adding more local elements to the activities in this module would support and enhance the learning as it allows for real life connections. I think that keeping a weather record in the school allows for lots of real life connections and gives the learners ownership of the learning as they record the weather each day.
Great to hear these activities will fit in with your approaches in your classroom. I hope you enjoy the other modules in this course.
Hi Sarah,
Welcome to the course. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the documentary Home. It does have beautiful imagery and gives the learners a visual understanding of the impact on the planet too.
I agree that short clips would work best as you can choose the clips relevant and appropriate for your own class. I like how you are planning for lots of discussion following the clips and encouraging the learners to make connections with their own experience. Following this with a variety of actions they can take promotes the positive choices we all can make to protect the environment, as you have outlined.
Many thanks for sharing, I hope you enjoyed the course.
Hi Aine,
Welcome to the course. Thanks for sharing your reflection on your own STEM teaching and learning in light of Liston’s paper. In the infants classroom it is very much based on a playful pedagogy which would address all the areas of STEM. It is great that in the new STEM specifications the important of playful learning is across all stages.
I really like your idea to extend the learning about weather and climate and look at predicting the weather in different countries based on their climate. This is a very playful and engaging approach to work on these concepts.
Using a weather station is a great whole school approach and would allow different classes to record the data each month which would give them ownership of their learning and I like how you plan to share the results around the school using different graphs and charts. Great ideas, thanks for sharing. I hope you enjoy the course.
Hi Teresa,
Welcome to the course. Thanks for sharing your reflection on teaching STEM in light of reading Liston’s paper. This paper encourages more problem solving and discussion among the learners which also allows for critical thinking.
It is great to hear that you would use the resources in the classroom. There are very practical and engaging for the learners. Setting up a weather station and making weather instruments is engaging for the learners and would allow them to take ownership of their learning while also developing different skills. I like how you have outlined all the different curricular areas this could also integrate with such as the weather journal.
Great ideas, thanks for sharing. I hope you enjoy the course.
Hi Caitriona
Well done on completing all the modules in the course and thank you for your contributions across the course too. It is great to hear your feedback on the different resources across the modules too.
Thanks for research question above, it is very clear and allows for the learners to take ownership of the research and as you have mentioned it would allow for some ideas to be put into practice which is very engaging for the learners also. It would also consolidate learning on the environment and biodiversity and as you have said it would be practical and positive and something the learners can see making a difference.
Thanks for sharing, I hope you have enjoyed the course.
Hi Michael,
Welcome to the course and thank you for your contributions across the other modules.
It is great to hear you enjoyed the documentary Home. I agree that it presents serious environmental issues but also has a hopeful message for those watching it. I like how you plan to explore the facts presented in the documentary relevant to an Irish context which would ensure it is relatable for the learners. I like your extension activity Fact or Question which would build on their learning and as you have mentioned help the learners to think about personal responsibility too.
Thanks for sharing, I hope you enjoy the other modules in the course.
Hi Áine
Welcome to the course. Thanks for sharing your reflection on how you could use the Nose Up High in the Sky resource with a junior class.
It is a lovely idea to incorporate the weather through the different senses into the daily routine. As you have mentioned there is lots of vocabulary in this resource which may be too complex for infants but this is also something that could be developed when part of the daily routine. Introducing new words and phrases and encouraging the learners to practice using them.
I also really like your playful learning approaches such as the space role play area. As you have mentioned this is a developmentally appropriate approach when learning about space. Thanks for sharing these great ideas for the infant classes. I hope you enjoy the course.
Hi Brian,
Welcome to the course and thanks for sharing your lesson ideas on map making.I like how you are planning to explore the local park initially while on a walk and then the learners can create their own maps based on the important features they saw. I like how you will progress the learning to explore the park from an aerial perspective and introduce this concept to the learners.
As you have said, this allows for lots of interaction with the environment, develop graphicacy skills and allow for playful and sensory interaction with the area. Thanks for sharing, I hope you enjoy the course.
Hi Irene
Welcome to the course. It was great to hear your thoughts on the Curious Minds framework in Module 1. Starting with a map of the local bog would be very engaging, as you have mentioned, this is an area that the learners are familiar with. This would be ideal to eplore the locations of birds and plants in the bogs through the pins on Google Maps.
I like how you have considered multiple ways for the learners to show their learning whether to draw a map using pictures or create one with natural materials when they are creating their own maps of the school grounds. It would be a lovely explorative lesson in senior infants.
Thanks for sharing, I hope you enjoy the course.
Hi Edel,
Welcome to the course. I love the picture book Rosie’s walk and this would be a very engaging introduction to map making in a junior class. This is a lovely introduction to maps and exploring what the learners know about maps.
I like how you plan to explore when the learners use maps and incorporate play based learning such as treasure maps. You could also consider having maps of Dublin Zoo on the board or have copies for the learners to explore too.
These are great introductions to and time to explore maps which will then help as they create their own maps. Creating a map of a familiar place would also be very engaging as they choose their own symbols and key.
Thanks for sharing, I hope you enjoy the course.
Hi Michael
Welcome to the course. Thanks for your feedback on activity 3 in this module. The Paxi video does allow for the introduction of the concept of greenhouse gases and it is great to hear that this would be accessible for the learners in your classroom.
I agree that there can be a level of anxiety around climate change and that the learners should focus on positive actions. I like how you are planning to have concrete examples of actions the learners can take such as litter picking as part of the lesson. This would encourage them to take action beyond the class and school also.
Many thanks for sharing, I hope you enjoy the other modules in this course.
Hi Alison
Welcome to the course and thanks for your contributions across the other modules.
It is great to hear your feedback on the Nose High Up in the Sky resource. It is very engaging and practical and encourages the learners to be involved and take ownership in their learning. I agree that there are great visuals in the resource which allow for lots of discussion and critical thinking and as you have said, give the learners the opportunity to share their thinking rather than receiving the information.
This activity also allows for meaningful connections with other subject areas such as those you mentioned. It also allows for using digital tools as part of the learning which is engaging for the learners too. Many thanks for sharing, I hope you enjoy the course.
Hi Leanne,
Welcome to the course and thanks for your contributions in the other modules.
It is great to hear your feedback on the resource, it is very practical and gives a solid development of knowledge within the lesson, starting with the sensory as you have mentioned.
The weather tools allow for the learners to create and compile their own data and to present it in many graphs and charts. As you have said it gives the option to calculate averages also. I also agree that it allows the learners to take ownership of their learning in gathering their own data.
Many thanks for sharing, I hope you enjoy the course.
Hi Aisling,
Welcome to the course. It is great to hear your thoughts on Home, it is very interesting but the striking images can be upsetting as we see the damage that has been done to the planet.
I agree that there are multiple opportunities for discussion on topics in the video especially the difference between carbon emissions between Ireland and developing countries. I also agree that choosing different clips that are relevant and will engage the learners in our class is necessary and to focus on postiive actions that we can make too such as those you have outlined.
Many thanks for sharing, I hope you enjoy the other modules in the course.
