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I share the same experience working in a midlands DEIS 1 school where some children have never experienced the coastline. To bring that experience to them with the ARC would be an amazing experience for them and would be a great way to introduce students to Aquaculture.
As I will be moving to the 5th and 6th class band next year in a DEIS band 1 school in the midlands I think the tools introduced in this first module are excellent resources for our children. As they are not exposed to the sea and some may never have experienced even a visit to the coastline. The ARC looks like an amazing resource for children to capture their interest in a multi-sensory environment. Integrating tools like videos, visuals, and hands-on experiences into lessons on Aquaculture and Social License can deeply enhance student engagement and understanding. The videos are short and interesting which is important when trying to keep the child’s attention. These tools promote inquiry-based learning, enabling students to analyze real world issues. By giving children the opportunity to exam tools related to Aquaculture and Social license it provides them with an opportunity to view the world around them.
What a lovely project to focus on the school’s own history. To be able to talk to past pupils as old as 99yrs is amazing both for the children and past pupils. There is so much that they can tell us about our past and the fact that they are still living gives us a true meaning and connection to the past. Having the children record the events in a book will be treasured for many years to come.
Creative Writing and Art Project
1. Introduction to William Parsons and the Birr Telescope: – I would start by introducing students to William Parsons and his contributions to astronomy with the construction of the Birr Telescope. – Discuss the significance of the telescope in advancing our understanding of the universe.
2. Creative Writing: – I would encourage students to imagine themselves as astronomers or engineers working with William Parsons on the Birr Telescope. – Have students write short stories or journal entries detailing their experiences, discoveries, and challenges while working on the telescope. – Ask students to incorporate scientific concepts they’ve learned into their narratives, such as descriptions of celestial objects or explanations of telescope mechanics.
3. Art: – I would invite students to create artistic representations of astronomical phenomena observed through the Birr Telescope, such as galaxies, nebulae, or star clusters. – Provide a variety of art materials for students to use, such as paints, pastels etc. – Encourage students to be creative and use their imagination to depict the wonders of the universe as seen through the lens of the Birr Telescope.
4. Integration of Music and Drama: – I would organise a class presentation where students can showcase their creative writing pieces while incorporating music and drama elements. – Students can narrate their stories or journal entries while background music sets the mood, and classmates act out scenes related to the Birr Telescope and astronomy. – Encourage collaboration and creativity among students to bring the project to life through a multi-sensory experience.
By combining creative writing, art, music, and drama in a project inspired by the local natural and scientific heritage of Birr, students can explore their imagination, deepen their understanding of astronomy, and appreciate the legacy of William Parsons in a unique and engaging way.Hi Shaun, you are so lucky to have a old mill near you to inspire the children. These are very old and unique structures and it would make a great stem project with links to history, art, geography, maths and science and there are lots of stories based around mills too.
Module 4
Research engineering in your local area and describe how you would use a local building, structure or other engineering feature as inspiration for a classroom or outdoor design and make project
Prompt
We are very lucky to have on our door step in our locality bog lands full of many wind turbines. These turbines provide renewable energy sources with energy sold to the national grid. The owners are always very keen to have school group’s visit and pupils can learn about the workings of such turbines. The surrounding areas are rich in bio diversity also as they are located on bog lands. This outing makes a great place to explore local flora and fauna too. (Display photos to pupils)
Below is a lesson plan to design and make a Wind Turbine (inspired by our local wind turbines)
Equipment you will need:
Coloured card
Glue
Push pin
Cardboard tube
Sticky tack
Step 1
Get a piece of coloured card and a piece of patterned paper. The coloured card can be any measurement, try 10cmX10cm first and then you can go bigger or smaller once you get used to making them.
Step 2
Fold the square along the diagonal to make an X across the middle. Make a cut from each corner two-thirds of the way towards the middle. If you are using a 10cmX10cm square cut 4cm in from the edge
Step 3
Use a push pin to make a hole in the middle of the square. Use a cork mat or sticky tack to avoid making a mark on furniture. Make a hole close to the edge in the right-hand corner of each quarter of the piece of card. To make each blade, place the pin through the corner hole and then bring it towards the middle. Repeat to make each blade of the windmill. Repeat until all 4 blades are done.
Step 4
Finally, attach the windmill to the cardboard tube using the push pin. Use a bit of glue if it needs strengthening, but be careful not to stick the card to the stick as this will prevent your windmill from spinning around. Note: Depending on the type of cardboard tube that you have, you may need to add some cardboard to the base to help the windmill to stand.
Conclusion
Student Reflection
– What went well?
– What would you do differently?
– Did you enjoy?
– What was the most challenging part?Fiona, thank you for these lovely resources which I will definitely use and are great tools for identification and recording data.
Outline how you would use some of the course resources to conduct a seasonal biodiversity project to run throughout the school year. What resources and recording sheets would you need? How often would you bring learning outdoors? How would you integrate other subject areas?
I would focus on our native trees
During term one I would take the children outdoors to observe and examine how the trees and their leave change colour. We would collect, identify, sort, classify and record the types of leaves using the record sheets from the national tress website. We would discuss how trees begin and grow through seed dispersal.
As a follow up art activity, the children can make leaf rubbings, paintings of autumn trees.In the second term we would return outdoors to observe the trees in Winter. I would bring to their attention why some trees are bare and why others are not for example fir trees/Christmas trees. Back in the classroom we can further discuss deciduous and evergreen trees and look at pictures on the internet, discuss their shape and size linking into maths the children can draw their Christmas tree and make stick trees.
During the last term we would visit the same trees again to observe the buds appearing and discuss what is happening with the new growth. Later we would revisit to collect and record the new green leaves using our record sheets. Back in the classroom the children can sort, classify and match to our autumn leaves. For a follow up activity, they can paint a summer tress with blossoms or make a colourful collage tree.
This is a good idea to start locally when introducing maps especially for younger children. The use of iPads and digital technologies is another great way to extend the lesson and capture their interest.
Creating a biodiversity map using layers
Explore
Watch a video about Biodiversity in Ireland, such as ‘This is Ireland’ produced by the Irish Forum on Natural Capital for the National Biodiversity Conference in 2019 to start a discussion about Irish Biodiversity and the work of scientists in monitoring and protecting it. Take a look at some online maps such as Geohive (see list of maps provided). Learners can try turning on and off layers to see what information they can find about their local area, including rivers and catchment areas.
Plan
Ask learners to think about their local environment. Without looking at a paper or online map what features do they think will be important to include in their map? Begin with an ideas session, where learners select a local study area, which will be mapped. Base maps for the area could be found online or in class atlases. If looking online, a good place to start is google maps, or search for images of maps of your local area. You may need to select the image search function on your online search tool. Once the study area has been selected, learners should consider what layers they will need to produce from under the ground upwards. Chose layers to be included based on available resources and ease of measurement. Examples could include: Rock Type – online maps of geology are available from Google Maps or Geohive. Substrate – what type of surface is on the ground? (clay/ soil/ leaf litter/ sand) Water Sources (is there a stream/ river/ lake or coastal area) Vegetation – ground level Vegetation – 1 metre in height Vegetation – over 1 metre in height Animals Human developments Birds Flight paths (examples of free flight tracking applications include Flightradar24) Cloud type on the day (a field guide to clouds that can be purchased from the Field Studies Council or downloaded from an app store if you have access to a smart device with a camera) Light intensity (using a light meter app)
Make
Working in pairs or small groups outside, learners will produce a paper map of their layer within the study area. Each pair/group should be working from the same base map. A compass should be used to mark in north, and the length and width of the area should also be marked. Once groups are happy with their maps, they can transfer the details to an acetate sheet using markers. Once the sheets have dried, the learners should present their layer to the class and explain how it was created and what it shows. Once the learners have had time to observe and examine each layer, the layers can be combined to show all the trophic levels and non-living factors. Use a combination of layers to show just the rock type and vegetation, or birds observed and the human development. Images of layers can be placed on display within the school or on the school website.
Evaluate
Were you happy with your map layer? Was it easy to gather the information you needed? Was it easy to plot the information on your map? What was difficult about drawing your map layer?
Were the class able to draw conclusion about the local area by combining the map layers. e.g. did the type of land use affect the number of birds seen? Compare your maps to old paper maps of the local area, or online mapping toolsI would totally agree Laura and I will also be using this great resource: Curious minds ESERO framework because of its structured and comprehensive lesson plans.
Make your own telescope 3rd/4th class
Introduction
Prompt: I would read this information about telescopes and show pictures of different telescopes. Then watch the video on the birr castle telescope.
A telescope is an instrument that enables you to see distant objects in greater detail. The word telescope comes from the Greek. It means ‘far-seeing’. A tele scope contains at least two lenses. The telescope was invented in 1608. We don’t know exactly who made the first telescope. It was either Zacharias Jansen or Johannes Lipperhey. They both lived in the city of Middelburg in the Netherlands. The telescope was seen as a useful instrument in wartime to be able to see your enemy while he was still a long way away. Galileo Galilei was the first person to use a telescope to look into space. He discovered that the Moon has craters and that Saturn has rings. He also proved that the Earth is not at the center of the universe
Wondering
I would organize the children into pairs. Each pair of children thinks about drawing the design for their telescope. What requirements does a telescope need to meet? Discuss the requirements: a telescope must allow you to see a distant object in more detail (it needs one or more lenses) you must be able to focus a telescope (it must be adjustable) the telescope needs to be sturdy.
Exploring
Each child then makes his or her own telescope. Help the children as they draw the design for their telescope. When all the drawings are completed, encourage the children to show them to rest of the class. Discuss them together and provide comments. Can anything be improved? Allow time for children to make improvements where necessary. Make sure they do not spend so much time on their drawing that there is no time left for the actual construction of their telescope. Check that any adapted design drawings are satisfactory. Hand out the materials for making the telescopes. Help the children where necessary as they make their telescopes.
The children can discuss the answers. When the children look through their telescope, they see objects in more detail. The telescope contains two convex lenses, so the image they see will be upside down. If necessary the children can make improvements to their telescope so it works betterKatie, this is a fun and durable plan for space week with good cross curricular links. I love that you included drama and PE into your lessons. The children would really have an interesting learning experience during space week.
DESIGN AND MAKE A PAPER ROCKET Suggested Class Level Middle and Senior
Introduction Discussion and background information with whole class Real rockets get their energy from burning fuels emitting gases from the back of them, which send them forwards. Moving air can move many things. A light breeze can move leaves on trees, while a hurricane can cause great damage to buildings and even blow ships onto rocks. Electricity is made on wind farms from moving air. Sailing ships rely on moving air to drive them.
Trigger questions What is the hardest part about going into space?). Why is this? How does something huge and heavy like a spacecraft manage to break away from Earth’s gravity? What is a rocket? How does it work? Where do these gases come from? For something to burn what do you need. But there is no air in Space! So how do the fuels burn?
Watch a launch rocket video clip on YouTube
Making the rocket:
Materials: A4 sheet of paper, straw (wide diameter if possible), scissors, pencil (of approximately the same diameter: as the straw), Sellotape and measuring tape. Activity Children should be encouraged to Design and Make their own rocket, given the above materials.
Cross-curricular links: maths: The children should predict how far their rocket will go. What instrument will they choose to measure the actual distance? How will they decide what to measure in order to make it a fair test? They should launch their rockets a number of times, firstly estimating the distances travelled, and then measuring them and taking the average distance. Does the angle make a difference to the distance travelled? Geography: Planet Earth in Space Art: Rocket Design.
Conclusion Can you think of any other ways of making a paper rocket which might go further?
Follow-up activity: Try out different lengths of rocket. Does a longer or shorter rocket make a difference to the distance it travels?Online resources and tools.
The ESA Kids website can be a fun and engaging resource to ignite your students’ curiosity about space in the classroom for multiple ages! Here’s how I might use some of the resources available effectively in my own classroom setting:
1. Capture their imagination: Take them on a virtual tour of space with ESA Kids’ and explore the planets, peek inside rockets, and witness the wonders of the universe together.
2. Spark learning: Browse the website’s space news section for age-appropriate articles. They can be a great springboard for discussions on astronomy, physics, and even history of space exploration.
3. Get hands-on: The website offers downloadable resources like various downloadable activities and worksheets. These can be used for individual or group projects, letting your students explore concepts like phases of the moon or building a model rocket.
4. Differentiate learning: The ESA Kids website is available in multiple languages. This allows students with different cultural backgrounds or language skills to participate and learn at their own pace.
5. Bridge to the curriculum: Many of the activities on ESA Kids can be linked to core science topics like gravity, our solar system, or the importance of the sun. This reinforces classroom learning and makes space exploration relevant to their studies.
By incorporating ESA Kids into your lessons, you can transform your classroom into a launching pad for a lifelong love of space exploration!
