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In the brief time that Ai has been in use in education, things have already changed immensely and will continue to do so in the coming years. It is a powerful tool that we can harness to our advantage in so many way. I will be working in SET next year and am already thinking about the ways that I can use it to help me to personalise programs for individual students, for designing instructional tools, for assessment and for administration. I foresee myself embracing the use of AI in my classroom and saving quite a bit of time in researching, planning and designing child-centred resources. It is clear that we have to proceed with caution but it is far better to do this while reaping than benefits than by avoiding its use completely.
I always think that its a great idea to talk about the effects on the environment of non-sustainable activities as I find the kids are so empathetic towards animals and this is when it hits home with them that the things that we do have consequences – we have to be careful though as they sometimes find this upsetting too.
We are a green school so the conversation and practise around the theme of sustainability is very active. The children are aware that we try to avoid single use plastic and food waste in the classroom. We have walk, cycle and scoot to school days as well as a school garden where we grow vegetables and wild flowers. All of this is a great start but there is certainly quite a bit more that can be done. With Galway 2020 came a green agenda so there are plenty of local initiatives in place to help us become more environmentally aware and increase sustainability – wild gardens, cycle lanes, improved public transport, beach clean ups, recycling etc so I would like the children to be more aware of what is going on and how they have a responsibility to contribute.
This year I would like to focus on
using our green bins at home for junk art and model building
more walk and cycle to school days
helping the children become more responsible consumers and more aware of where products come from and how hey are produced
increased awareness of initiatives in Galway to help sustainability
becoming involved in local clean up drivesI think a lesson on the nutritional value of seafood would work well when we have visited the aquarium or have a saltwater aquarium in our classroom – as this helps the children to understand that seafood is more than just fish fingers and tins of tuna! I would begin by looking at the wide variety of seafood available at the local fishmongers and what this fish looks like.
When we look at the food pyramid in class we rarely spend too much time talking about seafood – particularly as a good source of high quality protein – and I had no idea that mussels were such a good source of iron! I think I would give the children an outline of the human body so that they could label the parts of the body that benefit from eating seafood – eg the brain, the bones, the heart , the blood etc and how eating seafood helps.
I think I would really focus on the mackerel – as a fish that is available straight from the sea close to our school. So many of the children like salmon, but mackerel is certainly a tasty alternative and one of the most nutritious foods that you can eat!
I agree Michelle some children definitely have a negative attitude towards seafood and a reluctance to try – while those who have love a wide variety of seafood – mussels, prawns etc. I think once introduces to the broad spectrum of seafood and the different types that they can try and the different ways that they can be prepared, they might be more willing.
I really enjoyed the ARC resources and particularly the videos, which are simple, clear and so well explained. I think it is very important that children realise the importance of being responsible consumers, helping their parents to buy food that is organic, sustainable and ethically produced. The video on sustainability does a great job of showing us that we need to protect our seas and oceans and to make sure that we have enough resources for the future. We are taught also about the labels to look out for which inform us about the food ew are eating and how it is farmed. In line with the STEM plan we need to provide experiences which help children to engage the world round them in a way that promotes curiosity and learning. I would love to bring my class to the local docks to speak to fishermen and the fishmonger, looking at the various types of seafood and how they are caught and prepared. Visiting the Marine institute or taking some time on board the Celtic explorer and taking to researchers about our coastline and the research that they are doing. Lastly in art class I would like my class to design posters or packaging for seafood with labels to show how it has been farmed in a sustainable fashion.
I would love, with the help of parents and the local community to have a seafood tasting. Many classes that I speak to about fish have a very negative reaction and don’t like fish but this could definitely be improved by having them try some with their family.
The sheltered conditions in the west and south west of Ireland seem to provide the ideal conditions for aquaculture and every time I visit Killary harbour the first thing people want to know is What are those things in the water?’ Reading about Killary shellfish and the mussels that are farmed there by locals was very informative and no doubt provides vital socio-economic support to the local community. As well as generating jobs in processing, distribution and retail, seafood is more readily available to locals and local restaurants – and mussels and oysters are v very much in demand, especially to tourists who love to enjoy local seafood. It was interesting to read how under utilised our coastlines are while farming land is at a premium, meaning that we will heavily rely on aquaculture to provide quality sources of protein in the future. At a national level, aquaculture contributes to the economy through exports all over the world.
I have really enjoyed this module and have learned so much already about aquaculture – something that I have to admit I didn’t know enough about – and this is why I was so drawn to this course. Our school is beside the sea and yet we don’t spend enough time investigating our local environment. I have worked on some projects with the Galway aquarium – including keeping a saltwater aquarium in our classroom, as well as designing posters for Seafest. I feel that we need to take the next step and educate our classes about where the seafood that they eat comes from and the importance of sustainability. Our community as a whole needs to understand their social responsibility – so it would be great to include parents in what the children are learning – through an open evening and invited speakers – and perhaps even a tasting of local seafood! We are lucky to be close to the Marine Institute in Galway and we have our Oyster festival here every year so we have plenty of local resources that we can tap into – along with the wealth of great resources and lessons introduced in this module.
I hope to plan some engaging and hands-on activities for my second class students this year for space week.
DIY Rocket Launch – there are some great examples in this module of creating various types of rockets. We could measure how far different types of rockets fly.
Space Kahoot quiz
Planet Scavenger Hunt – Hiding planet pictures and providing clues for each.
Space Art – Drawing or painting scenes from Space, designing a spacecraft or an alien being.Creating a Solar System model.
Working with Stellarium to examine and create star constellations. Looking at the difference between how planets and stars look.
Space Stories – Reading space-themed story books and writing our own space stories.
NASA Virtual Tours
Guest Speakers
Space -Themed Movies eg Wall-E
Maths activities – investigating the length of the day on different planets, distance between planets, weight on each planet or playing space bingo.I really like the Astronomy picture of the day – I certainly hope to look at this as much as I can next year.
I hope to use Stellarium with my second class next year in order to help them to identify planets and basic constellations and to understand the movements of the night sky. I will begin ny asking my class if they have ever looked at the night sky and ask them what they have noticed/seen – and explain to them that we are going to use a program called Stellarium to help them to understand the night sky. I will instruct them in how to use controls and toolbar to search for well known constellations and we sill examine the difference between how stars and planets look and move in the sky. we will ‘time-travel’ by changing the date and time to help them to understand that the night sky changes over time. After using tellurium we will use stickers and charts so that the children can create their own constellations. I am looking forward to getting started with this!
I think that a lesson about designing an alien being would not only engage students creativity but also allow them to think about life beyond the Earth and the geography and science of different planets and moons. After discussing the possibility of life in space and how that might look we can discuss the variety of life on earth and how animals are adapted to live in a variety of environments eg deserts and the poles. Working in groups the children will research the landscape and atmosphere of various planets and moons and design an alien which could survive in that environment. Their alien might be adapted to live in very hot/cold temperatures, low-gravity, high-pressure, toxic, dusty environments etc. After sketching their alien they could create it using clay and paint, give it a name and introduce it to their classmates. The activity could be extended into a writing class where the children write a story or poem incorporating their alien.
