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Outline how you would use some of the course resources to conduct a seasonal biodiversity project to run throughout the school year. What resources and recording sheets would you need? How often would you bring learning outdoors? How would you integrate other subject areas?
I would like to look at trees for this seasonal biodiversity project. I think it would be a good start for this project as trees don’t move around and easy to observe over the year.
As a trigger, I would use the resource Explorify.uk and a clip from the “what’s going on” section .https://explorify.uk/en/activities/whats-going-on/seasons. It is a one minute video that observes a group of trees changing over the seasons. The children would talk about the changes that they have observed and talk about how trees change over the seasons.
Biodiversity projects allow for lots of opportunities for outdoor learning and integration with other subject areas. It allows for increased hands on learning, enjoyment and engagement, fresh air and exercise. There is no better way to observe how trees change than to use all their senses..touch the bark, hear the leaves rustle. It allows for integration with art..bark rubbings. It allows for the development of the skill of observation. The children can observe the leaves on the trees in the school environment. They observe the shape of their leaves and the colours they can see. Children would also use the leaf identification worksheet that we looked at in this module.
The children would have opportunities to record their findings throughout the year by using drawings and photographsHi Diarmaid, I really like the idea of starting the lesson with a “Treasure Hunt” I think it would engage the children straight away while they are also developing their positional language and map skills.
For younger classes, describe how you would plan and conduct a lesson on map making and explain how you might incorporate some online tools such as Google maps or Geohive
As an infants teacher, I can see lots of opportunities for the development of key skills such as creativity, problem solving and critical thinking in this activity. It is also a great opportunity for children to collaborate and communicate together.
I would begin the lesson with a trigger to find out the children’s knowledge about maps. I would use stories such as ” As the crow flies” by Gail Hardiman or “Me on the map” by Joan Sweeney to get the children interested and also to find out their understanding about maps. I would also have different maps, a globe and google maps on the interactive whiteboard that they could explore. We could use google maps to find our school and talk about where our classroom is on the map.
I will tell the children that today we are going to work together to make a map of our classroom. I really liked the idea of the 3D classroom in this module and it is something I would like to try out in my class.
We will first talk about our classroom, focusing on the language of location.my desk is beside the press, the sandbox is near the windows. There are so many opportunities for integration in this lesson.. shape and space( shape of our furniture, windows),counting, art and oral language.
In their groups I will get them first to draw a plan of our classroom . They will then make a 3D map of the classroom. Each group will be assigned different materials to work with.natural materials from outside, lego and playdough.
When the children create their map, each group will use their map for a treasure hunt. Using their map, they will indicate on the map where they have hidden the treasure in the classroom and the others have to find it, using the map they have created.
To finish the lesson, the children will look and respond at the other maps and reflect on their own maps and how they could improve on them and what they would do differently next timeHi Niamh, I totally agree that we can sometimes teach STEM as isolated subjects and I was guilty of isolated experiments. I also include more science and maths when preparing STEM lessons, but I am not so good at highlighting the engineering aspect. This is an area that I will be more mindful of when I return to school and integrating STEM over all curricular areas.
Having reviewed the paper Unravelling STEM: Beyond the Acronym of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (Liston 2018) reflect on what STEM education looks like in your classroom.
As a teacher in the junior end of my school, I feel that the children’s natural curiosity and questioning is a great opportunity for many of our STEM lessons. We always start our STEM lessons with a trigger..it could be a story (ie..focusing on materials, we may use The Three Little Pigs) or a picture or a video clip. I also like to use websites such as Explorify.co.uk and activities such as Zoom in/out and Odd One Out to provoke conversations and predictions and extend language. The children have opportunities to conduct simple investigations around whatever topic we are exploring. They get opportunities to work as part of a group or pair. I use STEM Smaointe and Curious Minds as a resource for STEM lessons in my classroom.
After reading the article, I agree that STEM lessons should provide the opportunity to develop the key skills of communication, critical thinking , creativity and collaboration. It also made me think of STEM lessons that I have conducted over the year and how much engineering was included. I tend to focus on the maths and science and this article really got me thinking about future stem lessons. In the article, it states that engineering is the glue that integrates science, maths, and technology and forces them towards workable solutions. This is something that I will keep in mind in future stem lessonsHi Caroline, I really like the way that you explain AI to senior infants children. I will definitely start my lesson with the sorting activity that you started with.
Microsoft Copilot is one of the AI tools I plan to use regularly because it supports early literacy development in an engaging and inclusive way. It is a great resource for teachers to plan lessons, create resources and differentiate activities. It is a great resource to generate lessons, ideas, and stories and also creates age appropriate worksheets and flashcards.
Designing a lesson using co-pilot on the theme of Autumn for senior infants. I would ask co-pilot to write a short story about a friendly hedgehog who helps forest animals, using simple vocabulary and simple sentence structure. I will then ask it to generate five comprehension questions suitable for 5 and 6 year olds.
To introduce the lesson, I will show the co-pilot –generated image and ask:
1. What animals can you see?
2. Where does it live/
3. What do you know about hedgehogs?
I would introduce new vocabulary: hedgehog, forest, friend, help.
I would read the copilot-generated story aloud and pause to ask prediction questions.
I would then ask the comprehension questions generated by co-pilot..Who was the main character? Who needed help? What happened at the end?
As a follow up activity, the children will draw their own forest animal.
I will then use co-pilot to create three simple sentences to describe an animal and the children will orally complete the sentences with a partner.
At the end of the lesson, the children will get an opportunity to share their picture and one sentence about their animal.I also used the AI platform Magic School to create a song about “The Friendly Hedgehog” using the Educational Song Generator. It is a nice way to end the lesson. Magic school will definitely be one platform that I will be incorporating into my practice this year, there are endless possibilities with it!
Differentiation:
For children who need support, I will ask co-pilot to create picture vocabulary cards and for the more able children, the can add two describing words, explain why their animal is special and ask a question about another child’s animal.Hi Caroline, I love your idea of keeping the goal short and manageable, it is so important for the junior classes. It is a great idea for them to share with their group what they have done. It is a great way for them to develop their oral language and also lets us know as teachers if they really understand what they are doing.
As a teacher of senior Infants, I would consider using Scratch Junior with my pupils next year .It is usually started in the older classes in our school. Using Scratch Junior in senior Infants supports the Primary Curriculum by developing digital literacy, creativity, communication and problem solving skills. It gives the children the opportunity to learn through play while also building confidence with technology. There are lots of opportunities for integration with other curricular areas and before we turn on the screen at all, I think that we would do lots of work and games around positional language..left , right, above, below and so on.
When they are confident in the vocabulary that we need before we engage with the program, I would introduce the app to the children on the Interactive Whiteboard and show them the different parts of the screen, such as the characters, backgrounds and coding blocks. I would model how to choose a character and background, drag and connect motion blocks to make a character move and press the green flag to start the program. I would get the children to work in pairs to create a simple animation. For the children who need more of a challenge, I would give them more complex animations and for the children who need extra support, it would be a good idea to provide picture-based instruction cards.Hi Tracey, I too will be using Magic school and Diffit to adapt topics for the different reading levels in my class. It certainly will be a game changer for differentiation in my classroom moving forward.
Part 1
Give two examples of how you can use some of the tools identified in this module to improve your own teaching, learning and assessment.
Part 2
Reflect on the potential classroom use of these examples and the other AI tools covered in Module 3 and how this can impact on future teaching, learning and assessment. Post a reflective piece (150 words min) to this Module forum as a Reply to this postThis module provided a wide variety of AI tools that I could use to enhance teaching and learning in my classroom. I teach senior infants and I can see the benefit of using Co Pilot Image creator in my class for enhancing vocabulary and storytelling in literacy in my lessons. It can be used to generate colourful images for any theme that we are exploring, for example, the seaside. I would show the generated image to the children and get them to describe what they see, ask questions and create simple stories. It would be a great resource to support oral language development, develop vocabulary and develop their speaking and listening skills
Another AI tool that I will be using to provide the children with support with their reading is Microsoft’s Reading Coach. I would assign simple decodable texts to the children that match their phonics knowledge. Pupils will read the text using the Reading Coach and this AI tool will provide support with difficult words. It is a great tool for building confidence, improve their pronunciation and develop their reading fluency while getting feedback. It is a great support for teachers to reinforce letter sound relationships and high frequency words in class.Hi Caroline,
I too am looking forward to using Vidnoz. I think it will be a great tool to engage pupils and like you said hearing the same thing again but in a different way. These tools are certainly very helpful to teachers to make our lessons more interesting.
Hi Tracey, I totally agree that AI is there to enhance our teaching and assist us but it can never replace the human interactions and conversations.
AI can transform teaching and learning in a classroom by making learning more personalised, interactive, and efficient and allows teachers to spend more time on instruction.
This module outlines 4 key areas where AI is important in education: It allows for personalised learning and attends to the unique needs of every student. It allows for administrative efficiency as a teacher and as a whole school and it frees up valuable time and allows greater time for teacher instruction. It analyses educational data and identifies gaps in their learning and informs decisions based on this information. It enhances teaching strategies and allows lessons to be more engaging for pupils.
This module provides lots of examples of implementing AI tools in my own classroom and school. One that I am particularly interested in engaging with is the Immersive Reader and I can already see how it would make reading for some children in my class a lot easier. It was great to see a demonstration of how it used in a classroom setting and it is one I am keen to implement in my classroom.
One of the main challenges of implementing AI tools is the lack of professional development for teachers in this area. I have gained so much insight as to what AI tools are available in education in this module alone and I am keen to share this information with my own school.Overall, AI enhances productivity, helps to create engaging content and helps teachers and schools to be more efficient when it is used properly. The possibilities of using chatbots such as Chat GBT. Co-pilot and Gemini can enhance teaching and learning and improve productivity and it was great to get the opportunity to explore each of them and their potential in this module. Teachers are time poor and AI tools help to create engaging content, research topics and help you present them, generating questions and answers, quiz’s and stories, the list is endless!
This module has given me the opportunity to engage with AI that I haven’t previously used, like Vidnoz and Pictory, which will enhance lessons and make them more engaging for pupils in my classroom.
This module highlighted all the different possibilities of using AI in the classroom to improve teaching and learning. The opportunities to explore the chat bots was great and I have a better understanding of how they will support the teaching and learning in my own classroom.This module also highlighted as teachers that we need to be aware of the harmful consequences and possible risks of using AI if not used properly. We need to engage positively, critically and ethically with AI systems and exploit their full potential.