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How amazing it must have been to grow up on Inis Mor, the culture and heritage of the island is palpable once there. I imagine that aquaculture is somehow running through your veins and I am quite sure that the children in your classrooms very much benefit from this.
Learning about the nutrition of seafood has made me reflect on how this topic could be brought to life in the classroom. Before looking into it in more detail, I think many children, and perhaps adults too, do not always realise the nutritional benefits of seafood and the important role it can play as part of a healthy diet. This would be a great topic to explore through Science, SPHE and even Maths, where children could investigate food labels, compare nutrients and learn about making healthy choices. Our school is fortunate to have a kitchen, and I think this could provide a fantastic opportunity for a practical learning experience, such as cooking or tasting fish dishes with the children. However, it would be essential to check for any allergies or dietary requirements beforehand and ensure all safety measures are followed. A hands-on activity like this could help children develop a better understanding of where food comes from and encourage them to try new foods in a positive way. It would also be a lovely opportunity to link learning to Ireland’s coastal environment and aquaculture industry. Overall, I think teaching children about seafood nutrition could be engaging, practical and a great way to promote healthy eating habits while developing important life skills.
I really like the way you have highlighted the child-led nature of these resources, especially in an Autism class where following a child’s interests can be such a powerful way of encouraging engagement and learning. Giving children the opportunity to explore areas they are curious about can really support confidence, communication and independence. I agree that the ARC lessons lend themselves so well to cross-curricular learning, as there are links to Science, Geography, English, Maths and digital learning. I also think the focus on problem-solving, collaboration and critical thinking fits perfectly with STEM education. From an SSE perspective, these resources could provide a great opportunity for staff to work together and set meaningful goals that develop STEM skills across the whole school.
The ARC online lessons have given me plenty of ideas that I can bring straight into my classroom. I like that they are practical, engaging and based on real-life situations, making STEM learning feel meaningful rather than something separate from everyday teaching. The lessons encourage children to ask questions, investigate, predict and solve problems, all of which are key skills highlighted in the STEM Education Policy Statement. I can see lots of opportunities to link these resources with Science, Maths, Geography and even English through discussion, report writing and project work. Our pupils have access to Chromebooks, so they could research marine life, create presentations, design posters or work together on digital projects based on aquaculture and sustainability. I also think these resources would support our School Self-Evaluation process if we chose STEM as a focus. Teachers could work together to plan engaging STEM experiences across different class levels, share ideas and build pupils’ confidence in problem-solving and critical thinking. Because the lessons are based on Irish examples, they also help children make connections with their own communities and environment. Overall, I think the ARC resources are a great way of making STEM learning enjoyable, relevant and accessible while encouraging curiosity, teamwork and creativity across the whole school.
I absolutely agree that environmental responsibility has a huge role to play aquaculture. The future of civilization depends on the environment and if we do not mind that the world itself will be in jeopardy.
Before learning about aquaculture in Ireland, I had never really stopped to think about the role it plays in our coastal communities. Ireland has such a strong connection to the sea, yet many of us know very little about the industries that operate along our coastline. There is actually an oyster farm near where I live, and I honestly don’t think many people in the area even know it exists. This really made me reflect on how important it is to raise awareness of local industries and the contribution they make. Aquaculture can provide employment, support families and bring economic benefits to coastal communities through areas such as transport, processing and the service industry. While we might not have lovely fish restaurants or a strong seafood tourism scene in our area, there are still ways that local businesses and services can benefit from these industries. I think aquaculture also provides a great opportunity for communities and schools to learn more about sustainability, our marine environment and the resources that are right on our doorstep. It is a reminder that sometimes the things happening quietly in our own locality can have a much bigger impact than we realise.
Learning about the Board Iascaigh Mhara (BIM) aquaculture resources and the idea of social licence has made me think differently about how these topics could be explored in the classroom. They provide a great way of linking Science, Geography and SPHE while encouraging children to think about sustainability, food production and caring for the environment. One thing that really struck me is how little many of us know about the aquaculture industry, even when it is right on our doorstep. Our school is located close to an oyster farm, yet I honestly don’t think many people in the school community, adults included, even know it exists or understand what happens there. That in itself shows the value of these resources. They could help children become more aware of their own local area and the industries that support it. I also like that the resources encourage discussion and show that there are often different opinions about issues such as aquaculture. Children can learn that it is okay to ask questions, listen to different viewpoints and make informed decisions based on facts. I think these lessons would be engaging because they are rooted in real life and local places. They would help pupils develop a greater appreciation for their community, while also building their understanding of sustainability and Ireland’s rich marine environment.
Hi Jane, I can relate to this. A lot of our students would come from less fortunate backgrounds and although we live relatively close to the shore and an oyster farm, our children would have zero knowledge of their local environment. This course is an excellent starting point for me as a teacher to embrace what is around us and harness the learning for our children. I believe connecting ourselves to our environment is the only way future for us and we have to educate and inspire the children in our care to do the same.
I had completely overlooked our school and focused on our area in my response. The Green Schools in an incredible initiative that is fighting in fit in our school also.
The three pillars of sustainable development are environmental, social and economic. I am going to look at how sustainability is practiced in my local area based on these three areas. Environmental: Renewable energy In my area there is a large solar farm. It was constructed last year in the hills behind the village. It is used to provide energy to the grid, there was some concern over the felling of an amount of trees for this project. There is an area that had previously been zoned for recreational school use but after flooding last year the council decided that it would be best left as a conservation area and a flood plain. There are a number of waster management companies in the area and we are all encouraged to reduce, reuse and recycle. Social:There is a very strong sense of community in this area and St Vicent de Paul ensures that free counselling is available. There are a number of community groups that address social inequalities and promote integration among cultures. Our schools and our community provide culture days to give people of every origin a chance to showcase their heritage, Ireland included. At the end of August there will be a Fair Day to promote the history or Irish culture in the area. Economic: Examples of economic sustainability would be supporting practices of fair trade, job creation, economic diversification and financial inclusion. While most of these would be driven at a council or government level examples of this in our area would be the common practice of local businesses to engage with the Back to Work Enterprise Allowance scheme and the Community Employment scheme. A way to engage our students in these sustainability initiatives would be first to build an awareness of them with the children, bring them on some field trips and also ask some guest speakers into our school.
Caoimhe, I agree that knowing where our food comes is so important. I am very aware in the supermarket these days and looking at labels more than ever. This can only be a good thing.
The nutrition of seafood would be a weighty topic to cover in any classroom so I think it would be best broken up into a few lessons. I would start with a lesson on the nutrition of seafood by exploring the story ‘The Salmon of Knowledge’. Seems the older generations an in innate understanding of the nutrition of salmon without any of the science. In the next lesson I would start with a brief introduction about what seafood is (fish, shellfish & crustaceans). I would outline the importance of seafood in our diet. I would go on to explore proteins, how they are the building blocks that help us repair and grow tissues. Seafood is a very good source of protein. I would then move on to exploring good fats or omega-3s and how they are important for brain and heart health. Seafood is a great source of omega-3s. I would outline the benefits of eating seafood regularly, brian health, heart health and the benefits to muscles and bones. I think it would be important at this stage to have some fun in the lesson, such as did you know an octopus has three hearts and blue blood? Starfish can regenerate lost arms, clownfish can change their gender, jellyfish have been around for 500 million years and as Gaeilge are called ‘smugairle róin’ – seal snot!
The lessons and resources developed for the ARC are absolutely wonderful. The two Áine’s and the Professor make the lessons very engaging. The lessons are also modern, which is so important if you are presenting to young children. They can only too easily tune out to a presentation if it does not grab their attention. I think the ‘Aquaculture and the Community’ resource would definitely be one I would use in the classroom. You could ask each child to make a list of all the jobs related to aquaculture mentioned in the video clip. You could then ask each child to chose a profession from the list and research it, the children would be able to do this on ipads which would fit nicely into our Digital Literacy Plan. It would also be something that could be explored in a wider context slotting into our STEM Education Policy. As we live close to the coast it may be possible to arrange a couple of guest speakers. I think that this would be a great activity to promote awareness of aquaculture among the children and direct and indirect impact it has/could have on their lives.
There is an oyster farm a few miles from where I live and back in the dark ages, when I was young, this oyster farm was a great place for the young lads of the day to get a part time job. I’m sure it was tough work but back then it was deemed more suitable for the stronger amongst us. My brother enjoyed his time working there. Not only providing income to those working there, aquaculture would also stimulate local economies by generating income and increasing demand for the local goods and services. It would also provide a very specific skill development to those working in the aquaculture farms.
I thought the map work activity was very useful and I would like to tie this in with a potential trip to our local oyster farm (although I wonder if health and safety would disallow this). It would be interesting to learn how many of the children in the class know that there is such a thing as an oyster farm not to mind one on our doorstep.
