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Hi Noelin
Welcome to the course and thanks for sharing your thoughts on Liston’s paper and how you have planned for STEM based activities in your own class. Bird Feeders were a great STEM project this year and it allowed for meaningful connections with real life problems. During the heavy snow in Cork in Jan 2025, I myself went looking for options on how to feed the birds around my house. And as you have mentioned there was lots of trial and error and decision making during the process.
It is important to teach the concepts of weather and climate and as you have mentioned to explore the definition of both prior to looking at climate zones around the world. I like how you are planning to measure the temperature across different seasons to allow for comparison of both.
Thanks for sharing, I hope you enjoy the course.
Hi Hazel,
Welcome to the course. Activity 1 offers an age appropriate explanation and lesson to discuss the difference between the concepts of weather and climate. While I think it is a great idea to explore the different climate zones around the world as you have outlined, I think the learners should have the knowledge of the different concepts prior to this and be able to make connections with their learning when exploring the climate zones. I agree that weather can influence daily life depending on the climate and we can see that with the heat wave at the moment and the impact of it.
I think measuring the temperature over 2 different seasons allows for lots of critical thinking and comparisons which would allow for lots of skills development also. I like how you are planning to integrate with maths in the creation of charts and graphs. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this module. I hope you enjoy the course.
Hi Aoife.
Welcome to the course. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the Paxi video. As you have mentioned, it is very engaging and informative for the learners. I think exploring the pupils’ prior knowledge is a great start to these lessons, to assess what they know already and address any misconceptions (if there is any). I agree that while the lesson is informative, some vocabulary should be taught prior to the lesson to ensure the learners can engage fully and as you have mentioned, activities and written tasks may have to be modified to suit the learners in your own class. It is great to engage the learners in peer and self assessment also to allow them autonomy over their learning. Thanks for sharing, I hope you enjoy the course.
Hi Laura,
Welcome to the course. Thanks for sharing your lesson idea using the Paxi video. I agree that it is important to review the learner’s prior knowledge as this can also give you the opportunity to address any misconceptions or also to reduce the anxiety around climate change and greenhouse gases.
The video is a great way to engage the learners as you have mentioned and I like how you are planning for project work on calculating average temperatures, the Teal tool would be a great resource for the learners to explore when focusing on future temperature changes also. Thanks for sharing, I hope you enjoy the course.
Hi Sharon,
Welcome to the course. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the documentary Home. It provides lots of powerful imagery which focus on a wide range of topics as you have outlined. You could consider choosing different clips from the documentary to focus on with your class and then working on the posters and art displays you have mentioned. I like how you are planning to explore ways the learners themselves can take action, beginning with the school and perhaps they can transfer this to home and their local community also.
I like how you are planning to explore it in history also, looking at the changes in cars, electricity and the impact it has had on Earth over time.
Thanks for sharing, I hope you enjoy the course.
Hi Donna,
Welcome to the course. Thanks for sharing your insight into Liston’s paper given your educational setting. I agree that learners with dyslexia are ‘think outside the box learners’ and this thematic approach allows them to explore all areas of STEM within project based thematic learning. This would allow for skills development such as collecting data, analysing and communicating results without the need for text based activities. It is great to hear how you will adapt the activities to suit the needs of your learners in a very practical way and you have also demonstrated inclusion through the use of technology which allows learners to share their thinking and knowledge. This is so informative and something we can all reflect on when working with learners with reading difficulties.
Thanks for sharing, I hope you enjoy the course.
Hi Irene
Welcome to the course. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the activities in this module.
When I had infants, it was the natural start to the day, news and discussing the weather and dressing the weather bear. You could also explore the weather in both Irish and English. As you have mentioned the weather detectives activity is great at helping the learners to discuss the weather every day. While the weather station might be a little difficult for the infants, you could model the different instruments over time and build up the vocabulary on the weather and focus on the weather chart every day. You could also give responsibility for some learners to update the chart after their observations too. I hope you enjoy the course.
Hi Carol,
Welcome to the course. What a lovely idea to use the school buddy system and drawing shadows to explore this concept initially. While the junior infants will learn about their shadow moving, the 6th class will get the opportunity to use this knowledge and apply it when they are making their own sundial.
The shadow activity, while very engaging, also allows for lots of discussion and critical thinking and as you have mentioned, the sundial would then be a very engaging project for the school. Thanks for sharing, I hope you enjoy the course.
Hi Grainne,
Welcome to the course. Thanks for sharing your lesson ideas on the sundial.
I like how you are planning to link with history initially and explore how ancient civilisations were able to tell the time. I also like how you are planning to bring your own sundial in for the learners to explore prior to making their own. Using the compass will allow for lots of skills development too.
It is a great idea to use stones to mark the time each day as other classes might benefit from this too. I hope you enjoy the other modules in this course.
Hi Emma,
Welcome to the course. Thanks for sharing your lesson idea on using Stellarium. Stellarium is a fantastic resource and as you have mentioned it allows the learners to explore the phases of the moon along with identifying constellations. I have used Stellarium with my class and I used it to guide their own observations at home. If planets were visible in the night sky, I would use Stellarium to show the class where in the night sky it would be. I also sent the link home to further support parents.
I like how you are planning to explore different constellations with the learners and you could follow up with tasks to build models of the constellations to further extend their learning.
Hi David,
Welcome to the course. Thanks for sharing your lesson ideas using the Globe at Night resource. I think that exploring general themes initially will give the learners a broad understanding of many themes when you can then focus on light pollution. As you have mentioned, if the learners have the background knowledge on light pollution, they can use this in a meaningful context when using the Globe at Night site and I like how you plan to record the data and take part in the project with an adult at home.Thanks for sharing, I hope you enjoy the course.
Hi Kathryn,
Welcome to the course. Thanks for sharing your ideas to support nocturnal species within your biodiversity plan.
I like your idea of a Moon Garden area, while it raises awareness of the nocturnal insects and how to support them, it also has an element of awareness of the dark skies that are needed for these insects. I also like how you are planning to use your dark sky audit and identify changes the learners can take ownership for such as the dark zone and bat boxes. It gives the opportunities for the learners to take action themselves and will be a very meaningful learning opportunity. Thanks for sharing, I hope you enjoy the course.
Hi Olivia
Welcome to the course. Thanks for sharing your lesson ideas that suit the learners in your school. I really like how you want to incorporate the family and make it accessible and inclusive for every learner. I really like how you have changed the observation tasks with simple questions and a simple checklist. We can often focus on bigger tasks which can make it overwhelming for some learners.
Thanks for sharing.
Hi Katie,
Welcome to the course. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the activities in this module.
Your plan for the sundial allows for lots of inquiry based learning, while the learners may have covered shadows and how they changed. They can make meaningful connections with their learning on this topic when creating the sundial. As you have mentioned this also links with history and how they told the time in ancient civilisations.
Reflection is also great to allow learners opportunity to recognise their learning and also what they can change if they were to repeat the task. I always try and allow time for reflection in STEM based activities.
I hope you enjoy the course.
Hi Niamh
Welcome to the course. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the sundial lesson. I like how you are engaging the learners with the video initially and then allowing them to choose a location in the school grounds prior to making their sundial. This allows for meaningful connections with the video and applying what they have learned from the video.
I also really like your plan to integrate it with Gaeilge and explore the meanings of words and phrases as Gaeilge, I actually hadn’t thought of the term taobh thiar before. Thanks for sharing!
I hope you enjoy the other modules in the course.
