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How would you engage your learners to explore biodiversity in your local area and the possible impacts of light pollution on local biodiversity.
The first thing I would do with my 4th/5th class pupils would be to discuss biodiversity so they have a good understanding of what it is and its importance. We would walk around our school grounds and complete a biodiversity survey- making a note of all plants, trees, insects, animals and birds. We could also look at the ‘maps.biodiversityireland.ie’ website to see what other animals or nucturnal animals have been recorded in the local area. I would then show the children the Heritage in Schools video “Make a biodiversity garden map”. This would be an excellent guide for the children before they start drawing their own individual maps of the school grounds. Once they have completed their maps I would let them get into groups to discuss and compare their maps, helping each other to improve their maps with suggestions on how they could be more detailed. Once our biodiversity maps were completed we would then make a plan of what we could do to encourage biodiversity in our school and we would add these ideas to our biodiversity maps. We could also suggest ways to decrease the effects of light pollution to the biodiversity around our school and add these to the maps as well. There are many different websites that we could use to gain ideas for improving biodiversity in our school. Websites such as pollinators.ie, Heritage in schools and Paddy Maddens website to name but a few.
I was really interested in your ideas as the area you are working in is so different to the country school I work in. You have some great ideas for how you could engage the children especially when it comes to dealing with light pollution in the area.
Describe how you would implment a version of Design your on Dark Sky Place in your school/Classroom?
This would be a good project to implement with a 5th or 6th class group. To introduce the topic I would brainstorm ideas with the class about why a Dark Sky Park is needed and refer back to our previous knowledge about light pollution and the issues it raises. I would show the children websites and videos about other Dark Sky Parks found in different locations around the world. Next I would ask the children to design their own Dark Sky Park. This design would need to include maps, drawings and descriptions of the park and it’s features. They would need to think about viewing sites, access and safety of visitors. They would need to think about staff needed and what their roles would be. They would need to think about activities and ideas to make people want to visit the park.
Some other activities would be to produce a brochure about the park for visitors. The brochure would include maps, informations, activitiy ideas for visitors, information about stargazing and astronomy, information about the animals found in the park and how they can ensure their safety.
Art activities based on artwork that could be used in the park. Artwork such as pictures of the night sky and constellations seen from the park, pictures of the different nocturnal animals found in the park.
Rachel, I agree there are so many ways you could implement this topic in your Aistear theme of Space. You have thought of so many great ideas that could be used. Alongside all the stories, poems, songs and art available on this topic there would be plenty to keep the children busy.
Creating a teaching resource using the “Globe at Night” citizen science programme
To introduce this topic to 4th/ 5h class children I would firstly use citizen science resources to learn about light pollution, the disappearing night sky and its causes and solutions. I would encourage children to create their own light pollution surveys based on the survey produced by the Irish Times. As part of their homework I would ask the children and a grown up to walk around their local neighbourhood after dark and fill in the survey. We would then discuss our findings back in class.
As a continuation of their project I would then get the children and their families involved in the Globe at night campaign which takes place once a month. We would use the website to learn about the campaign and we would learn how to measure night sky brightness by following the 4 steps listed on the website.
1) When is recording taking place? 2) Where are you recording from?
3) How dark is the sky? Can they see the current constellation? How many stars can they count in the constellation border?
4) What are the sky conditions?
I would show them how to submit the data they have recorded and how this data will be used to monitor levels of light pollution around the globe. Further discussion will teach the children about the findings of the globe at night campaign. How light pollution has an effect on energy consumption, plants, wildlife and human health.
2. Create a short teaching resource using Stellarium
This would be an excellent project to complete with 4th or 5th class children using individual Ipads for them to explore what’s in the night sky in different locations at different times of the year around Ireland. I would ask them to set the location locally and then to a contrasting location elsewhere in Ireland. I would encourage the children to use the observing log function to record the planets that are visible in their two locations in both the night time sky and daytime sky at different times throughout the year. I would encourage the children to use the information panel function as they zoom in on different planets to learn about them. Once they have gathered enough information the children could produce a project using the information from their observing logs. This project could include drawings of and information about the planets that are visible in one of their chosen locations.
As a child my mother always encouraged me to look up at the night sky and specifically the moon. She would tell us it was following us on our journey home and would often make up stories about it. Her fascination with it encouraged mine and it is something I have tried to pass on to my own children. I think section 4 of your activity is a lovely idea and something they can share with their grown up. This is a simple but fun homework activity for the children to complete.
3. Plan how your students could “observe and record the positions of the sun when rising and setting and at different times of the day”
Ask the children questions about the position of the sun in the sky throughout the day. Discuss the idea of shadows and how they change with the sun’s position. Take time on a sunny day to look at the position of our shadows on the yard at various times throughout the day. Introduce the idea that the sun appears to move across the sky throughout the day. Emphasise this idea by taking an Ipad photo of the sun from the same position at one hour intervals throughout the day. Each time ask the children to predict where the sun will be next time they come out. Discuss the relationship between the sun’s position and what time of day it is. Make a display and also a short movie using the photos taken throughout the day and show how the sun moved. Connect observations made to the concept of the Earth rotating.
In the following days I would use an art lesson for the children to create their own pictures and models of the sun moving across the sky and display these in class.