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Module 3 Assignments: A reflective piece on how light pollution is impacting your local area and how you would engage your learners to explore this.
I grew up in a rural area on the Kildare, Wicklow border so as a child we were afforded many opportunities to see clear, unpolluted night skies! Weren’t we fortunate to be part of a generation that made their way home only when it began getting dark. I remember learning all about consolations from some of the older children and have fond memories of camping out especially for meteor showers.
I teach in a rural school, mostly surrounded by farms and fields where the children in the area would be afforded opportunities to see clear night skies. Most recently however, the Co. Co. have put up street lights all along the little country road. To what benefit? I’m not sure. They weren’t petitioned for and many locals were surprised when the works began. After studying this module and learning about the different types of lights I believe these street lights are only partially shielded. Perhaps while exploring light pollution, the students could contact the local Co. Co. and ask if these could be fully shielded.
Once informed of the negative effects of light pollution, I believe students in our school would be motivated to create a community awareness campaign and like David said above, they could design posters encouraging people in areas to switch of any unnecessary lights in indoor and outdoor areas. As Una mentioned above, students could let the residents in the local community know that one or two small low intensity shielded lights may be useful for security outside a house as in the majority of cases big outdoor lights or flood lights serve no useful purpose so more education and emphasis on reducing light pollution is necessary.
Module 2 assignment – Plan to observe the Moon – which phase of the Moon is best for observing in the morning from school? What dates will that be?
The Moon can be seen in the daylit sky at any phase except for the new moon, when it’s invisible to us, and full moon (18/9/24), when it’s below the horizon during the day. The crescent through quarter phases are high in the sky during the day (11/9/24), but the daytime gibbous phases can be glimpsed only just before the Sun sets.
https://www.timeanddate.com/moon/phases/ireland/port-laoise
I found the above website useful if I were planning to observe the Moon and different Moon phases which are related to the position of the Moon around the Earth, and what time of day at which you can see a particular phase of the Moon. – which phase of the Moon is best for observing in the morning from school? What dates will that be? As our school is based in County Laois, the data is for pokrtlaoise but you could enter in your own location. I am already looking forward to looking for a super full moon coming up on 18/09/2024.
I think my class would engage well with Paxi and as an intro to looking at the moon and then engage with lesson 62 Journey to the Moon https://esero.ie/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/62_Lunar-eclipse-and-phases-of-the-Moon.pdf
By the end of the lesson the students will have been afforded the opportunity to learn to describe and name the phases of the Moon, know what causes a lunar eclipse, collaborative word and learn to set up and carry out an experiment. The students will also engage with an activity to create a representation of the Sun, Moon and Earth during a lunar eclipse.
I also liked the idea of the moon observation log where the students look at the moon and record how the moon looks each day for one month. It will also encourage the use of and reinforce the terminology associated with describing the moon phases – New Moon, Waning Crescent, Waxing Crescent, First Quarter, Waxing Gibbous, Full Moon, Waning Gibbous and Last Quarter.
I was drawn to this course having recently attended the Gaeltacht for a week in An Rinn in Waterford. I was amazed by the whole process of oyster farming and it was something I began to research in order to share with my class in Term 3. Teaching in a rural midlands school, the large majority of the students are from typical farming backgrounds – dairy farming, beef farming, tillage farming etc. and I thought by undertaking this course it could offer another aspect of farming to the students in our school.
I am delighted to have found so many resources available on this topic already and the course has just begun!
The Aquaculture Remote Classroom is amazing and I think visiting schools with this is a fantastic opportunity for students to learn. The mere presentation of the remote classroom is something that would instantly grab their attention and get them interested. I will definitely try to sign my school up for it even if it means a year on a wait list 🙂
Before we commence the school year, each teacher in our school presents and disseminates information and key facts/findings from the CPD they’ve undertaken over the summer. The BIM website and videos are both excellent resources for my colleagues and students to be informed and learn more/make comparisons about aquaculture vs what they already know about agriculture.
I found the information on the Taste the Atlantic along the Wild Atlantic Way topic very interesting too, learning all about the Atlantic Salmon, Blue Mussels and Pacific Rock Oysters. It was also a very insightful and ruminating module learning about the social license of a company’s standard business practices to improve industry relations and the continuation and growth of the aquaculture industry.
Module 1 Assignments Construct a sundial in your immediate area or plan for your school grounds to see where a sundial could be placed.
I engaged with an ESERO course last year, Teaching Space in Junior Classes and so I was aware of the wealth of teacher resources available on https://www.sfi.ie/engagement/curious-minds/
I used ‘the sundail’ resource last year with 2nd and 3rd class. This year however if I were to do it again with 5th and 6th I would make adaptations.
Activity – make a small sundial indoors and a large sundial outdoors
LO’s *To know that you can tell the time using a sundial. *To tell the time using the Sun. *To discover that long ago it was much more difficult to tell the time than it is today.The lesson on SFI ‘the sundial’ should take approximately 55 mins over two days but I would stretch this and increase the time over three days for the older students.
Starter activity – Firstly split the students into 4 groups and ask the students to go out and assess the best places around the school where a sundial could be placed. Come back together and ask the students to discuss their findings, ideas and data to the whole class. Why did they choose this specific location? Does the rest of the class agree this is a good place? Why/Why not?
Have any students ever seen a sundial? Do they know how it works? Explain that a sundial has a stick or pointer that makes a shadow. This is called the gnomon. It is important that in the Northern hemisphere the gnomon always points North, or you will not be able to read the sundial. Explain that the Earth turns on its axis. This means that the position of the Sun with regard to the Earth is always changing. If necessary demonstrate this using a torch and an orange. Explain that the shadow of an object also changes as the Earth rotates. The sundial uses this fact. By looking at the position of the shadow of the gnomon on the sundial, you can tell what time it is.Ask if any of the students are wearing a watch. Why is it handy to have a watch? Explain that 600 years ago nobody had a watch. Ask how the people back then knew what time it was. Before the mechanical clock was invented, people sometimes used the sun to tell the time. They did this using a sundial.
Activity – The students make two sundials. Ask the students to investigate what would be the best materials to use to make a sundial? See if the students consider waterproof properties of material, weight of materials so that they don’t blow away etc.
Suggested materials needed (may vary due to students input): 12 large stones, scissors, glue, a stick around 150 centimetres long, a large protractor, a marker pen, a compass to tell where North is, extra small stones. For the activity The large sundial you will need a playing field that is in sunlight most of the day.
When the Sun is due South and the shadow is pointing to the North, it is noon. That means it is exactly 12 o’clock in solar time. Solar time is not always exactly the same as the time shown on your watch. That is because the time we use today is not based on the sun’s actual position in the sky.
Taken from SFI PAGE 301 • Use the Sun • LESSON 52 https://www.sfi.ie/site-files/primary-science/media/pdfs/col/the-sundial.pdf
Make a sundial 20 min.
Hand out scissors, glue and the activity sheet. The children complete Task 1 on the worksheet.
Important: to calculate the angle for the gnomon, you need to know the latitude of your town. You can look this up in an atlas or on the internet. For example the latitude of London is 51 degrees N, so the angle needed for a sundial in London is 51 degrees. The instructions are on the worksheet. When their sundial is ready they should put it somewhere with the arrow facing South.
The children read the time shown by the sundial. Can they see what time it is? The children complete Task 1 on the worksheet. Discuss the tasks. Come to the conclusion that today we always know exactly what time it is because there are so many clocks around us. Long ago, when there weren’t any watches and clocks, it was much more difficult to tell the time. And of course they could not use a sundial at night!
The large sundial at least 30 min.
Make a large sundial with the children. Take the children outside to a location where the sun shines most of the day. Mark the direction of North, using
a compass if necessary.
Stand the large protractor upright on its long side in the grass. Use it to meas- ure the correct angle to the ground, as described above. Stick the stick firmly in the ground at the chosen angle, facing North. See the picture for how this should be done.
Every hour the children place a large stone on the ground where the shadow of the stick falls. One of the children uses the marker pen to write the number of the hour on the stone. You can use the smaller stones to mark the quarter and half hours.
If you don’t want to take the children out side every hour, you can just place two stone markers, one in the morning for example at 9.00) and one in the afternoon (for example at 14.00). Of course your sundial will be less accurate.
To finish the sundial, the rest of the day after school-time needs to be divided using the stones. In the example shown here, five hours have passed and so the time in between needs to be divided into five. Encourage the children to write the numbers of the hours on the stones and place them in the correct position. The next day, take the children outside to see if they can read what time it is. How accurate is their sundial?I like how you would give the pictures out and perhaps afford the children the opportunity for Talk Time to discuss in small groups? Rather than look at them on a PP.
Agree that the directions would perhaps need to be broken down and more time given overall if the younger ones are accessing this lesson.
