Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
Hi Clodagh,
What a contrast for you between Donegal and Dublin. Sharing images or your own experience with your pupils would be really engaging for them and also would lead nicely into your idea for a project. The display would be a great example of their learning and would also add to the children’s understanding of light pollution across the world and will tie in with global citizenship as you have mentioned.
Hi Caroline,
Welcome to the course and thank you for sharing your thoughts on a sundial lesson within your own classroom context. I like your stimulus of a broken clock to encourage critical thinking initially. You have great ideas for the children in your class using the school yard, the classroom and also the added benefit of the woodwork teacher making a sundial also. Having one in the school yard would be beneficial for the school community.
I hope you enjoy the course.
Hi Niamh,
Welcome to the course and thank you for sharing your ideas on a lesson to understand the seasons. I like how you would introduce the topic specific vocabulary within the lesson and the children could then apply this vocabulary when carrying out the investigation themselves.
The activity also allows for discussion among the class on the seasons and the rotation of the Earth around the sun. I hope you enjoy the course.
Hi Conor,
Welcome to the course and thank you for sharing your ideas on observing the moon with your class. It is important to teach the phases of the moon first and also using relevant vocabulary with the class. When the class are observing the moon themselves it will give them an opportunity to use the vocabulary in a meaningful context.
I like your idea of getting the children to draw their observations and encourage them to note detail on shape and brightness. The chart in the classroom would also add to their understanding of the phases of the moon.
Hi Linda,
Welcome to the course, thanks for sharing your thoughts on the Paxi video.
This video would be a good visual stimulus as you have said and would allow for discussion on the greenhouse gas effect. Having a positive outlook allows for children to look at changes they can make so as not to create an anxiety around it. As you have said every little step will help.
I hope you enjoy the course and the many resources that can be used in the classroom.
Hi Alan,
Welcome to the course and thank you for sharing your thoughts on this module.
I am glad that you have enjoyed the supporting videos in the course. There are many great videos and resources across the course that can be used in the classroom.
The weather and climate resource allows for lots of discussion and to get a clear understanding of the difference between weather and climate. Having a weather station would make connections between the classroom and real life and also gives the opportunity to record real life data that could be used in maths.
Hi David,
I really like your idea regarding the piseógs of the night. The Dúchas Schools Collection is be a great starting point to source stories from your own local area. While they might not be specifically about the night, it might be a great introduction to stories and folklore. And I agree, the handwriting is just beautiful in this collection.
It is also an ideal link to History to explore stories from the lives of others, pupils could ask older relatives and I also like how you could use this project to explore folklore from other cultures also..
Hi Fiona,
I really like your idea of taking photos at night without a flash and comparing the rural and urban photos in the classroom. It is a great example of using the world around us while also making connections with the concept of light pollution. It also encourages the pupils to look at their own local area and the sources of light and what changes could be made.
Hi Victoria,
Thank you for sharing your ideas on using this resource in the classroom. The photos in this resource allow for lots of discussion and critical thinking. It is also an ideal opportunity to integrate with Geography.
I like your idea to take photographs around the school from a different perspective and encourage the children to become active in their own learning.
I hope you have enjoyed the course.
Hi Marian,
Welcome to the course and thank you for sharing your thoughts on Liston’s paper. It sounds like you have a very good approach to project learning in your class which would incorporate STEM based activities too.
The weather station activity would be great in every classroom, allowing the children to build their own instruments so that they could record real life data and also learning about meteorological concepts as you have mentioned. I hope you enjoy the course.
Hi Caitriona,
Welcome to the course and thank you for sharing your thoughts on the Teal tool and the map work in it. I agree that there would need to be some work on topic specific vocabulary initially and then the pupils could use this vocab in a meaningful context while using the tool.
There are many resources across this module and you can easily adapt them or change them to suit the many learners in your classroom. You could also use some resources to provide a challenge for others.
Hi Mary,
The Folklore collection is a fabulous resource and also asking older members of the school community to come in and share their own weather lore with the children is a lovely idea to bring History to life in the classroom. I agree with David, that by not sharing these stories they could get lost.
Hi Stephanie,
Thanks for sharing your own experiences of the night sky. Living in rural France must have been great to really experience the night sky. Having grown up in a rural area myself, I began to appreciate the night sky when I moved to urban areas for work.
I like how to want to assess the children’s prior knowledge of pollution and to also introduce the concept of light pollution. I also really like your idea to create a model streetscape where the children can determine for themselves how to reduce light pollution.
I hope you enjoy the course.
Hi Aaron,
Welcome to the course and thank you for sharing your ideas for observing the moon in the classroom.
It is important to explicitly teach about the phases of the moon first and introduce the topic specific language. In this way when children do get to observe the moon they can use this topic specific vocab in a meaningful context and can apply their learning.
I like the idea of a moon journal to record their observations over time. I hope you enjoy the course.
Hi Stephanie,
Welcome to the course and thank you for sharing your ideas on a sun dial as a classroom activity. Through linking the sun dial with history and maths as you have mentioned, the pupils be creating meaningful connections between the subject areas.
Through exploring the materials, the pupils can then develop these connections and apply them to real life by constructing a sundial. There are many opportunities for skills development such as measuring skills that you have outlined.
I hope you enjoy the course.
