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I think that’s such a natural target to focus on with children. The children we are teaching will experience more profound impacts from climate change than we are likely to see. I also think that a lot of the children we teach have strong opinions about climate change and are inspired by youth activism that they see around the world. It’s important to channel this passion and allow the children to develop a sophisticated understanding about the topic, particularly as there is so much untrustworthy information out there on climate change.
One of the Sustainable Development Goals that I think would help children to draw a link between local and global issues is that of Life on Land. This goal is centered around the sustainable use of land – managing forests and ecosystems sustainably, halting and reversing desertification and halting biodiversity loss.
In our school, there is a large emphasis on creating a sustainable environment to encourage biodiversity. Children can see and participate directly in efforts to increase the suitability of our school environment for biodiversity. A pond has been installed, areas of the grounds are reserved for wildflowers such that the grass is not mowed there and there are a variety of native trees planted in the grounds of the school. Having said that, the school will soon be undergoing expansion and a large portion of the yard area will be lost while construction is underway. This opens the possibility of children debating and considering the competing needs for the land within the school grounds – is biodiversity and wild habitat provision still a priority for them if it means losing access to space they might otherwise use during yard time? This opens up a connection with the global situation in terms of balancing priorities for land use or using land in ways that are sustainable.That’s very interesting Shane – I’ve definitely noticed the same dynamic with regards to boys gravitating towards leadership or construction tasks and girls doing the same for artistic activities. I think what you’re saying about questioning norms is spot-on: it’s definitely something children feel comfortable with! Drawing their attention to subconscious norms around gender is probably a great way to have them challenge these ideas.
Gender stereotypes are very much in evidence even at primary school level. From clothing to toys to hobbies and interests, children are often already pursuing well defined paths based on gender. It is important that children not feel stifled or constrained by their gender roles, particularly for young girls.
A scenario I encountered in the classroom related to games and activities on yard. There was a designated area for ball games during yard and due to space constraints children had to take turns to play in small groups during yard time. One of the girls in the class was very passionate about soccer and played for her local club but felt that she was being excluded or deterred by some of the boys in the class when it came to accessing the ball-playing area on the yard.
This necessitated an intervention in the form of classroom discussion around gender expectations and whether or not some children in the class were holding a view that soccer and sports were activities for the boys on yard and that other activities were reserved for girls. It was actually a very productive discussion and the situation was resolved thereafter.
Having said that, I am also constantly surprised by the nuanced and interesting opinions and values many of our children hold in relation to gender – it is certainly the case that there seems to be much more awareness and sensitivity around gender roles amongst children today than was the case when I was their age.Hi Colm – enjoyed reading your response. I like that you mentioned critical thinking – children can often be highly engaged by material they see online. This can be an excellent motivator for children as they inform themselves about events around the world but it’s probably fair to say that children often don’t have the full complement of critical thinking skills to assess the credibility of sources, etc. Essential that we address this in the classroom to equip them with the information environment they’re living in.
The themes in the paper “The role of global citizens in today’s world” seem very pertinent for young people in our classrooms. Two forces have made this the case – the extreme events of war, poverty, hunger, climate change, etc. and the incredible immediacy of some of these events in people’s lives brought about by the connectivity of modern traditional/social media.
I have found that children in the classroom are very well informed on topics such as the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine, the climate emergency and more. This is particularly the case as I teach in a very multicultural school where children may be attuned to developments and events in the countries in which they or their parents were born.
I think a theme of the paper – the importance of action at both a global and local level – is very relevant for today’s classrooms. The overwhelming tide of information and the scale of global challenges can feel oppressive and encouraging local and global action is one way of regaining a sense of agency in a world faced with such challenges. There are many cross-curricular links with this aim – from SESE links with the climate to persuasive writing in English (as part of a letter-writing campaign or similar).
One way that this feeds into school self evaluation is that making children develop the skills to be empowered citizens is a goal of our school – we can reflect on whether the education we are providing is achieving that goal. Do the children feel empowered to take action in their school community (and beyond) to address issues that are meaningful to them? Working with colleagues in the school, we can decide on formal and informal assessments of this goal.
Some great examples there Anna! A lot of really child-friendly ones for the junior classes and then some great poetry to inspire the senior classes.
Describe how you could implement a version of “Design Your own Dark Sky place” in your school/classroom?
I thought that the activity as described would be readily applicable in most classes in a primary school. I think the children might like to research the different priorities they would have as various stakeholders. For example, I think a senior class could get a lot of discussion out of the idea that town planners have to counterbalance the priorities of protection biodiversity through responsible use of urban lighting on the one hand with people’s safety on the other hand. A good extension of this task would be to have the children do some design work to come up with a superior type of urban lighting that leads to minimal light pollution. If children worked in groups, each with an LED torch to model a streetlight, they could work with cardboard, fabric or other materials to try and design a light that produces illumination below but that minimises light pollution going upwards. Having debated the different priorities and uses for urban lighting, this would allow the children to design a solution that aims to address all these concerns.
Hi Tara – that’s a really good point about giving the children the understanding of biodiversity first. We were doing a green flag activity in our school this year around biodiversity and found that exact thing: the first step was establishing whether the children actually understood the concept and then providing opportunities to explore the meaning.
Hi Lora – you’re right about floodlights in sports venues and I feel that the contrast between rural and urban areas in terms of light pollution is growing smaller over time in general with the expansion of streetlighting.
Hi Tara – that’s great that there’s a partial lunar eclipse to observe: that would be such an engaging event for children to get them excited about the topic.
Hi Sinead – I also liked that with the sun dial, there was room to bring in a history link and have further integration beyond the STEAM subjects. There could be such a brilliant link to Irish history and Newgrange as well.
How you would engage your learners to explore biodiversity in your local area and the possible impacts of light pollution on local biodiversity.
There are a number of ways to engage learners with the biodiversity of the locality. Children can explore this by doing surveys of the school grounds, researching the species native to the area and through guest speakers explaining some of the biodiversity in the area. For the topic of biodiversity and light pollution, I actually think that one of the best ways to engage children would be through the use of a nocturnal wildlife camera or cameras. A number of cameras could be set up in the grounds of the school itself. I work in a school with a lot of green areas including a forest school section and an area of grassland given over to native wildflowers and rewilding. By setting up a motion-activated camera to capture wildlife in the school grounds, children can be engaged to consider the variety of species that are native to their locality. The use of such a camera at night also opens up the question of light pollution and its impact on local wildlife. Children can perform a survey of light pollution near their own homes and then see the impact on local wildlife via the footage obtained from the wildlife camera. Children can directly see the impact of light on moths and other nocturnal insects. Ideally, they might see the impacts on some small nocturnal mammals in the school grounds as well. This can be supplemented with additional child-lead research into the species of most interest to them so that they can learn more about the specific impacts of light pollution on those species.
Detail how light pollution is impacting your local area and how you would engage your learners to explore this.
I grew up in a rural part of county Waterford where light quality at night was relatively good. Even in this setting, areas of the sky were visibly polluted by the light from nearby towns but stars were very visible during clear nights. I now teach in a suburb of Dublin which is quite built up and which experiences tremendous light pollution relative to the area in which I grew up. In order to engage learners in this topic, it is first important to recognise that the level of light pollution they are growing up with is what they perceive to be normal. It would be beneficial to give them some level of experience of what they should expect to be able to see on a clear night so that they can recognise the high level of light pollution to which they are accustomed as being abnormal. Some children may be able to share first hand accounts of being able to see the night sky clearly when on holidays in more rural parts of Ireland or abroad. A more immediate way of impressing this point on children would be to do an experiment in the classroom to indicate the level of light pollution. By darkening the classroom and using a projector, a good simulation of a clear night sky could be created. Various levels of artificial light can be introduced to demonstrate the impact on the visibility of the night sky. For example, are the projected constellations as visible with lamps lighting in the room? This would give an indication of how much visibility is being lost due to street lamps in the children’s local area. As a follow-up activity, children could be encouraged to make a composite photograph of the night sky in their area using clear photographs of the night sky from areas with low light pollution – the composite could show local landmarks in the foreground and a very clear image of the night sky in the background to demonstrate the level of visibility that should be possible.
Plan to observe the Moon – which phase of the Moon is best for observing in the morning from school? What dates will that be in 2024- 2025
By consulting a guide for the visibility of phases of the moon, it would seem that the first quarter of the moon will be visible in the morning times in September 2004. I would plan to do a lesson where children explore the factors influencing the visibility of phases of the moon – the relative positions of the sun, earth and moon. Children could get a hands-on feel for this by recreating the phases of the moons with models – balls for the earth and moon, a light source for the sun. This would prepare them to make observations of the first quarter of the moon during the month of September. Children would first be in a position to identify the specific phase that was visible to them based on the learning they had done in the classroom. They could then note any features that are visible at this time. Later in the year, in early December, the New Moon would be visible early in the school day and this could provide an opportunity to revisit the topic and draw a contrast between what was observable during September and again during December when a different phase was visible.