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I like the idea of using a current topic to such as the Olympics to teach this, as it would have the children’s attention from the start. Which is always important!
Research question : “How the simple changes made by humans can help prevent climate change?
I would take this as a whole school approach facilitated by our Green Schools committee and as such involve all classes.
Initially we would begin our research on this by having a whole class discussion on ways that we as humans are currently contributing in a negative way to climate change. I would organise for each student to carry out the carbon footprint calculator to determine their impact on climate change. For the older children in the school, as their homework over the course of the week they would need to identify areas that they could change in their lifestyle to try and reduce their footprint. The younger classes would be tasked with creating a poster to represent ways that they could change their lifestyle to also reduce their carbon footprint.
This work would be carried out over the course of a couple of week at the beginning of a term and then again at the end of a term once children have made changes to their lifestyle, they would once again carry out the carbon footprint calculator and see how their changes have helped to reduce their footprint on the planet.I thoroughly enjoyed the activities made available in ‘Nose up high in the sky’ and found the teacher guide very useful, with all activities clearly detailed and explained. The really enjoyed the first activity, exploring weather proverbs and will most definitely complete this activity in my classroom this coming year, it is a great way to link weather/space into a history lesson. Again activity two offers great opportunity for a very engaging class, I think that students of all ages would really enjoy looking at weather forecast in great detail. This particular activity lends itself to endless cross circular opportunities be it in English, Irish and even drama (getting kids to present a weather forecast). I was very impressed with how activity 3 brought learning from activity 1 and 2 together and is an excellent STEM lesson for students of all ages to enjoy. In summary, the activities in ‘Nose up high in the sky’ are excellent and I very much look forward to using all in lessons this coming school year.
The HOME video was a fascinating video to watch, highlighting how wonderful our planet is whilst be extremely effective in showing the impact human life is having on it. Teaching 4th class this year I do feel that it is a video suitable to show and feel that it would provide a lot of scope in for cross circular linkage in history, drama and visual. I do think that I would introduce the topic of climate change to my class by asking them to determine their carbon footprint, initially completing the task at home. I would then get children to think-pair-share their carbon footprint with their peers in the class and from this begin to discuss and brainstorm effective ways to help reduce their footprint. I would also show the children the TED talk Greta Thunberg video as I am sure most children are aware of this girl and I feel that it would be a great way to demonstrate to the children that you are never too young to have a positive impact on your plant- I feel this video would be very inspirational to the class.
I like the idea of getting children to create digital projects and present, this is something which the children would no doubt enjoy!
The Paxi video would be used in my class as the stimulus at the beginning of my lesson to begin the discussion on this topic. This video is a great stimulus as it explains the greenhouse gas effect in a very clear and simple way. It is also very engaging and would no doubt instigate a very good discussion on the topic. I like how there is groupwork involved in activity 3 which gives opportunity to facilitate great discussion and conversation within the class. I would also incorporate the use of I-pads into this lesson and using the temperature predictor tool let them explore the impact on climate change across the world.
I do feel that this activity could be further enhanced with the presence of some interactive activities such as a quiz that the children could engage in at the end of the lesson, which could also be used as a tool of assessment.I would agree that it is an excellent idea to use the weather station as a whole school project involving everyone
The ESA (“Nose Up High in the Sky” and “Weather vs Climate” ) resources and activities are fantastic and are practical and can easily be used within the classroom. I look forward to using the ESA resources in my classroom this coming academic year. The videos included in this module were also very relevant and engaging. If I were to set up a weather station in school, I feel that I would most definitely aim to involve all classes within the school and take a whole school approach to this. I would set up a little weather team and encourage all class levels to nominate a weather recorder who would be responsible for recording the weather each day for a period of time and each class would have a weather display in their room. In doing this I feel that there is ample opportunity for linkage in other subjects, such as data collection in maths and oral language opportunities in literacy.