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<p data-path-to-node=”2″>Hi Paddy, great overview of CyberSafe: Bad Connection.</p>
<p data-path-to-node=”3″>One feature I particularly liked is the inclusion of realistic online scenarios that require pupils to make active choices. This really supports the player experience by moving beyond passive learning and makes the abstract concept of online safety feel much more tangible and memorable.</p>
<p data-path-to-node=”4″>Your idea to pause at key decision points is a brilliant way to handle the pacing. To develop this further, have you considered having the pupils document their justifications for these choices on a shared digital wall such as Padlet or Wakelet? This could provide you with some excellent pupil voice evidence for your DEIS Action Plan.</p>Demo World: Fantastic Fairgrounds
Overview: This is a single-player, immersive world within Minecraft Education designed for students aged 8 and older. The core premise is that the player acts as an assistant to Park Director Leslie to help resolve various operational issues across the park.
Summary of Plan, Objectives, and Resources
Lesson Plan: The lesson is structured as a series of quests centered on three main attractions: the Bee Pavilion (AI behaviours), the Light Show Pavilion (AI applications), and the Art Pavilion (AI in our world). After completing these, students can explore additional areas in an “AI Carnival,” such as a robot pet simulator, language translation, and automated food preparation.Learning Objectives: By the end of the lesson, students will be able to:
1. Understand the foundations of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
2. Practice data analysis in different fields.
3. Identify and address ethical dilemmas in AI.
4. Explore careers in AI.Associated Resources: The guide provides extensive support materials, including:
a) An in-game “Check for Understanding” worksheet.
b) Integrated “Immersive Reader” support for character dialogue.
c) A comprehensive “AI Curriculum Overview” featuring linked video series, discussion guides, slide decks, and additional coding tutorials from Code.org.Reflection: Irish Curriculum Link
A strong link can be made to the Primary Maths Curriculum, specifically the Data strand. In the Bee Pavilion activity, students must analyse the groups of bees in the park to gather data about their pollen to identify pollutants. This provides a practical, real-world application of the “Collecting, representing and interpreting data” objective.Modifying the Experience
I would have the whole class focus on the Bee Pavilion together, then pause for a 10-minute debrief before moving to the next area to ensure no one gets lost or rushes through the concepts without understanding the data collection aspect first.Hi Anne Marie, I really enjoyed playing ‘Lakeside Clean-Up’. I particularly liked the 20-second timer. It’s a great touch because it adds a sense of urgency that really mirrors the real-life challenge of keeping our waterways clean. It’s an effective way to help players understand that environmental protection is an active, ongoing effort and also to achieve the desired learning objective.
Have you considered adding a penalty should the warden accidentally touch some wildlife instead of the litter? It could add an extra layer to the game.
Game Title: Save the Pollinators!
Link: https://makecode.com/_DgibWzLHjAax
Game Type: Chaser.
Curriculum Area and Objective:
Curriculum Area: STEM Education (Science)
Learning Objective: Pupils will demonstrate an understanding of the importance of local pollinators by collecting suitable food sources (flowers) and protecting the bee from a predator (bat) in the game environment.Simple Storyboard:
Location: A sunny wildflower meadow.
Player: A busy bee.
Predator: A hungry bat.
Game Elements: The bee moves around the screen to collect pollen (flowers) while avoiding predators (bat). When it overlaps with a flower it scores points.
Goal: The player must navigate the bee to collect pollen before being caught. If the bee is caught by the bat, then the game is over. Once the bee reaches 100 points then the bee has won.Computational Thinking:
I used pattern recognition and algorithmic design to create this game.
I recognised the repeating pattern of sprite interactions where the bee must interact with flowers (to gain points) differently than it interacts with the bat (to trigger a game-over state).
I then developed an algorithm to track the score, ensuring that the game logic checks for the win condition of 100 points while simultaneously running the ‘chaser’ logic that monitors the distance between the predator and the player.Hi Niamh I really enjoyed your lesson activity and thought it was a great way to teach such an important concept to pupils in 6th class before they go on to second level.
Strength in Activity Design: Pupils contrast their own writing with AI-generated text. By placing their original work alongside the machine’s output, pupils will see that AI can be used to analyse and edit rather than just accepted as is and copied.
Supporting age-appropriate AI Literacy: At this stage, pupils in 6<sup>th</sup> class are transitioning into more complex writing tasks where they may be tempted to use shortcuts; by forcing them to critique the AI’s “weaknesses,” you help them realise that AI often produces generic or predictable content.
Critical question on authorship and bias: How might a pupil determine if the “ideas” the AI suggested for their story are actually just recycled stereotypes from the training data it was fed, and why does this matter for the originality of their writing?
Practical suggestion for assessment: Using the paragraph generated by the AI ask the pupils to “humanise” it by adding specific emotions, a familiar local setting, and/or a unique character trait that the AI failed to include. You can then evaluate their understanding by reviewing their final annotated version; if the pupils can clearly explain why their human additions improved the story, they have successfully demonstrated an understanding of the limitations inherent in machine-generated content compared to human creativity.
AI Literacy Lesson
Class Stage: 3rd – 6th Class.
Curriculum Area & Learning Intention: SPHE (Digital Citizenship) or Science (Working Scientifically).
AI Concept: Machine Learning (Supervised Learning). Pupils explore how models are “trained” on datasets and how they use these patterns to make predictions.
Activity Outline:
- Introduction (5 mins): Explain that machines learn like pets; instead of telling them every step, we show them many examples until they recognise a pattern.
- The “Teachable Machine” Experiment (20 mins): Using a tool like ‘Teachable Machine’, have students train a model to recognize two different things (e.g., “Thumbs Up” vs. “Thumbs Down” or “Banana” vs. “Apple”).
- The “Imposter Test”: Once trained, have students show the model an object it hasn’t seen before or an “edge case” (e.g., a green apple if they only trained on red ones) to see if it makes a mistake.
- Critical Question (Bias/Accuracy): “If our model struggled to identify the green apple, was it because the computer was ‘broken,’ or because we didn’t show it enough variety in our training examples? How might this affect AI in the real world if it only learns from a limited group of people?”
- Responsible-Use Consideration: Discuss the “Never-Share” rule: pupils must never use real photos of themselves, classmates, or private personal information when training AI models to ensure their digital privacy.
- Supporting Critical Thinking: Support students by consistently asking, “Why did it get that right?” and “Why did it get that wrong?” after every prediction. This forces them to look at the data they provided rather than viewing the AI as a “magic” black box.
Gathering Evidence of Learning:
Formative Assessment: Have students complete a brief “Model Report” where they describe one thing they learned about the data they used (e.g., “The model was confused because I didn’t move the camera enough”).
Observation: During the “Imposter Test,” observe if students can correctly predict when the model will fail based on the limitations of their training data.
The tutorial I completed on MakeCode was the ‘Pet Hamster’. The micro:bit turns into a digital pet that reacts to your input. In this tutorial the ‘on shake’ and ‘on logo pressed’ inputs were coded to make the hamster’s expression change. On the LEDs screen either a happy face or sad face will appear with appropriate music playing alongside each icon ‘until done.’
The link to my project is here: https://makecode.microbit.org/_hr7dbg3tpMf3
Bringing it into the Classroom:
I’d love to take this further and turn it into a full STE(A)M lesson for my students. Here is how I’d bridge the gap between coding and other subjects:
Science & Engineering: Students could get creative by building a physical “habitat” for their hamster using recycled materials, while also learning about what real animals actually need to stay healthy.
Maths: We could track the hamster’s mood over the course of a day, then have the students graph the results or even calculate the measurements needed to build their physical enclosures.
Hi Rachel this is so cute and a lovely, age-appropriate way to introduce technology to Junior Infants! I really like how you linked the abstract concept of a heartbeat to a tangible, visual output on the microbit’s LED screen through the ‘Flashing Heart’ tutorial.
To strengthen the ingerated STEM link you could add a “Heart Rate Simulation” component to your Science and Maths activities. After the children feel their own heartbeats after running, experiment with the code to change the pause duration between the “on” and “off” blocks creating a “Resting Heart” code (with longer pauses) and a “Running Heart” code (with shorter pauses)
For an assessment that doesn’t require writing, you could show the children two different heart programs—one that flashes slowly and one that flashes quickly—and ask them to point to the one that matches how their heart feels after a race.
Hi Brona I really like how you’re using Minecraft for writing. I think that’s a brilliant way for students who usually struggle with motivation or just getting their ideas down on paper to help bring their stories to life.
I hadn’t heard of Storyboard That until now and I’ll definitely be checking it out. It sounds and looks fab.
In relation to assessment have you heard of ReadTheory.org. It’s a free platform that gives students reading comprehension passages tailored to their level. It tracks their progress automatically, so it might be a great resource to help you get that data you’re looking for. I’ve been using it for years now and love it. If you are using it make sure to have an adblocker like UBlock Origin Lite installed as well. It will prevent all the ads from displaying.
I’ve been looking at the Digital Learning Framework, specifically the standard: 3.2 ‘The teacher selects and uses planning, preparation and assessment practices that progress pupils’ learning’. I’ve been thinking a lot about how I plan and assess my lessons and where I have room to grow.
My biggest strength is probably the culture of collaboration I foster in my classroom. My students are generally very good at working in pairs to solve problems. It’s great to see them talk through their ideas so naturally, which I think is a perfect foundation for STE(A)M-based work.
An area I’d like to develop is making computational thinking more explicit. I’m possibly not doing enough to help them name the processes they’re actually using. I’d like them to be able to identify when they’re using skills like decomposition or pattern recognition, even when we aren’t using any devices.
Specific measurable actions:
1. From October I’m going to start running one unplugged CT activity each week—I’m planning to pull some ideas from the Brain Bytes resources. The goal is to explicitly model one specific concept, like abstraction or algorithmic thinking, before starting a curriculum task.
2. To see if it’s sticking, I’m going to use targeted questioning during these sessions. For instance, if we’re working on abstraction, I’ll ask things like, “What part of this is essential, and what can we leave out?” I’ll keep a quick observation log to track how their responses change over the month.I really appreciate the idea of researching local scientists and tying their life stories into other areas of the curriculum; it’s an approach I hadn’t considered until now, but it feels incredibly impactful. Mary’s example of using Robert Flower as a case study is a perfect example of this. By researching his work as an inventor and carpet manufacturer, the children can step into his shoes and experience textile engineering firsthand. I love the idea of the students discovering that while a single strand is weak, the act of weaving creates collective strength.
Research a famous scientist or engineer associated with your local area and describe how you would use that person as inspiration for classroom science investigations.
Kathleen Lonsdale was a physicist born in Newbridge, Co. Kildare in 1903. She famously discovered that the Benzene ring is flat. As I’m teaching in a special school, I would shift the focus from learning about complex theories to practiical hands-on exploration of patterns and shapes.
Shadow and Shape Experiment:
Build the Model: Use six balls (e.g., clay, foam, or marshmallows) connected by sticks or connectors to form a hexagon. (This represents the carbon atoms of the benzene ring.)
The “Lonsdale Lens”: Use a bright desk lamp or a flashlight to act as the “X-ray”.
Create the Comparison:
The “Non-Flat” Test: Have a student hold a random 3D structure (like a cube or a pyramid) between the light and the wall. Ask the class to look at the shadow. They will see that a 3D object creates a messy, complex shadow that changes shape when you turn it.
The “Lonsdale” Test: Have the student hold the flat, hexagonal benzene model. When it is held perfectly flat against the light, it creates a crisp, clear, and perfectly consistent hexagonal shadow.
The “Aha!” Moment: Explain that this is exactly what Kathleen Lonsdale did. She used X-rays like a “super-bright flashlight” to look at molecules. Because the shadow (the X-ray pattern) looked the same way every time, she was able to prove that the molecule was flat, just like a sheet of paper, rather than a lumpy 3D shape.
To simplify this even further I could use a simple physical demonstration to illustrate Kathleen Lonsdale’s breakthrough by having students try to lay their 3D marshmallow structure (e.g. cube) flat on the table compared to laying the carbon atom model flat on the table, reinforcing the discovery that the benzene ring is, in fact, flat.
I probably would spend more time sharing the narrative of Kathleen Lonsdale as a person from their own community who achieved great things which helps ground the lesson in a relatable human story.
Hi Anna I love your idea of using The Little Red Hen to explore wind energy. Given that I am focusing on the new bridge project in Newbridge with my students, I think I will incorporate your strategy by using The Three Billy Goats Gruff as the narrative hook for my class. I think it would provide the perfect context for a design challenge i.e. building a bridge that is strong enough to support the Billy Goats’ journey while also incorporating a “troll” under the bridge as a test for clearance requirements. 😀
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.
For an outdoor design-and-make project, I will use the proposed second bridge over the River Liffey in Newbridge as a local engineering case study.
1. Inquiry and Research: We will begin by exploring the purpose of the new bridge: traffic management and improving community connectivity. Students will research different bridge types such as beam, arch, and suspension, to understand how different structures distribute forces.
2. The Design Challenge: Using the River Liffey as our inspiration, students will be tasked with designing and building a bridge model that can span a set distance while supporting a specific weight.
3. Integrating Mathematics: This provides a perfect opportunity to apply maths skills in a real-world context. Students will practice:
Measurement: Calculating the span and height requirements.
Geometry: Identifying and utilising strong shapes like triangles (trusses) and arches to add structural integrity.
Proportion: Creating scaled-down versions of their designs.
4. Reflection: Following the engineering design process, students will test their structures, record failures, and make changes to their designs. The students will hopefully be able to see the direct relevance of STEM to their own community with the upcoming construction of a new bridge in the town.
Hi Katie, I really like your idea of conducting a comprehensive seasonal biodiversity project at a whole school level. It got me thinking about my own school and the fact it’s a new build. We’re effectively starting with a clean slate, wo we could establish permanent monitoring stations that allow the students to act as primary researchers. This would give them the opportunity to build a long-term baseline of data, effectively transforming our school grounds into a living laboratory that tracks environmental changes over time. It would be lovely to think that the current students could start a legacy of citizen science within the school.
