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I think children nowadays are much more aware of sustainability than we ever were. There are many initiatives that our pupils take part in with their parents such as tidy towns, beach combing, pop up shops selling pre loved items; and that is just a few of the different things that the children have mentioned over the last few years. Our school is also taking part in the Picker Pals programme and our two second classes have really enjoyed taking their pack home each day and going out to collect litter with their family that evening. Our Green Schools committee have also been involved in activities such as tree planting or scoot to school. It’s wonderful to see how engaged the children are with all of these various initiatives, they would put many of us adults to shame! I think looking into the Blue Flag Award would encourage and engage the pupils going forward when it comes to sustainability.
One of our SET team also signed us up for Picker Pals and our two 2nd classes have really enjoyed it. Families also seemed to enjoy it as they took pictures of themselves around their estate or out on a walk together collecting the litter, it was wonderful to see many parents embrace it also.
This module on the nutrition of seafood provides valuable information to use with the children to highlight the importance of including adequate amounts of seafood in our diet. The importance of protein is garnering more attention all the time, even with children in the senior classes. This would be a great way to ignite their curiosity and their tastebuds and start the discussion around seafood nutrition. Along with this there are so many other key vitamins and minerals that we need for our body, such as iron, vitamin D, etc. When the children understand the importance of these vitamins and minerals to keep the body healthy/strong/agile for sports they may be more open to trying different fish/shellfish with their families outside of school.
That’s so true Sinéad. Our school would be the same, focusing on what the children bring in for lunch instead of giving more time to what they eat outside of school which is where they are spending most of the time. It can be taken to extremes too, it’s important to show the children that we can all enjoy a healthy balanced diet and let them have a treat on holiday days/occasions or enjoy some birthday cake when celebrations arise.
I love the idea of having cooking demonstrations or tasting sessions to engage the children. That would certainly spark their curiosity. It would also be very interesting to have local fishermen/aquaculture farmers in as guest speakers. These are jobs which we never really discuss with the children in school and this would give them a wonderful insight into this world.
The ARC lessons were all very informative and engaging but the one I enjoyed most was how aquaculture supports the community. This could be integrated so easily within a variety of subjects such as science, history, geography, maths and SPHE. Examining the wider reaching positive effects that aquaculture has on the community and the people employed both directly and indirectly as a result may inspire children to really think about it as a viable career, in alignment with the STEM education policy.
STEM education is a crucial area but one which I don’t feel as confident with as others. The SSE process would allow time and space for evaluating the effectiveness of our teaching of STEM and would determine clearly the necessary steps forward, whether that be upskilling/training or dedicated teacher collaboration during Croke Park hours. The SSE process would be very beneficial in addressing STEM education.
The location of aquaculture farms, predominantly along the west coast of Ireland shows the importance of utilising the local natural environment. The rugged west coast might not be the ideal location for farming the land, but the practical use of the sea has created many jobs, maintained industries and encouraged tourism with superb seafood. There is less need for people to move to bigger towns/cities when there are employment opportunities available locally. Living along the coastline offers the benefits of aquaculture and allows for other ventures such as boat tours. I did the Sea Safari in Bantry Bay a few years ago and learned so much about the area. We went out around the Beara peninsula and there was a seaweed hatchery being built at the time, another fantastic benefit to being along the coast. It’s wonderful to see so many opportunities for socio-economic growth in coastal communities which may struggle otherwise.
This course interested me as it was an area I knew very little about, but living in Dundalk we are only a stones throw away from Carlingford which has a prominent Oyster industry.
It will be fantastic to know more about sea farming/aquaculture and be able to share this knowledge with the children, particularly because of our locality. There’s so much scope for integration in many subject areas such as SESE, English, Gaeilge, etc.
I had never heard of the ARC before, it would certainly engage the children and get them excited about aquaculture. The information and resources available on the BIM website are excellent and give nice ideas for different lessons such as the life cycle of a salmon. There are a wealth of funded projects and training initiatives ongoing that you would never even hear about unless you’re in the industry.
It would encourage me to utilise our location more and perhaps inquire about a visit to the Oyster Factory in Carlingford, or invite a guest speaker in if this is not an option.