Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
I love this idea, I had never heard of Dr. Walsh and as a fellow Wexford teacher, I will definitely be including him into my plans for 6th class this year!
Describe how you would involve your pupils in an art, music drama or creative writing project based around your local natural or scientific heritage
We are very lucky in our area to have the beautiful Ahare River. There is a biodiversity group working on the conservation and preservation of the river and we are very lucky as a school that they link in with us. Last year, they held a creative writing competition in which the children had to write a myth or legend about the Ahare river and all of the entries were compiled into a book which is available locally. This really allowed the children to explore the river and link in with close family and locals about what they know about the river in order to research for their writing pieces. I think it would be a really nice idea to compose some songs about the river and perform them at our summer field day. This would link in with the strands in the music curriculum while at the same time linking in with local community groups and showcasing our local area.I think it’s a great idea to tie into what is actually happening in your locality right now. The children are seeing in real time what is happening so therefore it allows them to give their learning ‘real-life’ meaning.
Research engineering in your local area and describe how you would use a local building, structure or other engineering feature as inspiration for a classroom or outdoor design and make project
I have chosen to look at the nineteen arches bridge in a nearby town of Arklow. This bridge will serve as a great prompt for the children as I am sure they know it due to it being the bridge you cross to go to the local shopping centre. It will act as a prompt to look at the design features, types of bridges and any other bridges that we can find that have similar design. This bridge is very topical at the moment as there is discussion of a new bridge being built due to the existing one not being able to cater for the traffic flow in the town. This would lead on nicely to the children undertaking the project of designing and building a new bridge for the town and presenting their project to a local engineer from the council. I think picking somewhere the children are familiar with really helps them engage in the content and makes it more relevant to them.
I really like the idea of the school pond and what a fantastic exciting project for the kids to also be a part of and it gives them a sense of ownership of their own learning and creating something that all the school can use and learn from.
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?
Getting out and bringing the learning outdoors is something that I really want to incorporate more into my lessons as opposed to learning about our natural environment in the classroom.
Some of the resources I would like to use in future lessons would definitely be the idea of the wildflower identification, we have an abundance of wildflowers so it would be lovely to have them labelled and the children learning about them. I would love to also do the tree identification also. I think it would be amazing to have a camera where we could see any wildlife that visits the school during the night too. I think this would be a nice way to integrate narrative writing, where the children could write from the perspective of the animal that visits. The wildflowers could be a stimulus for an art lesson, where we could focus on sketching skills.I really like the idea of taking the ipad and taking photos so the children have the pictures as a reference point which could help with discussion and serve as reminders as the lesson progresses. I really like the links with local history that you included in your post.
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.
The idea of a map for younger children may seem daunting and quite tricky to teach. I think to begin before using anything, it would be a useful idea to do a mapping/sequencing task. Using a story book like Rosie’s Walk or We are going on a bear hunt it could be the beginning of sequencing places and the idea of going from point a to point b. Then moving on from that I think it would be of benefit to map a journey of places that the children are familiar with. I would look at the journey from our local church to our school on google maps with the class and take the aerial walk first and then ask the children to design their own map showing the journey. We could then use the function to look at the time to walk or drive the route and then also open up a discussion as to why there is no public transport option for this journey. A homework extension activity could be given where the children look at the journey from their home to school.
I agree that real life scenarios are key for children to see STEM in action and understand concepts in real time and how what they are learning can be applied to real life.
I think experiences for children can be long lasting for their learning and really enhance the objectives we as teachers are trying to attain.
Describe how you could apply some of the concepts and skills you have learned in this module to your own teaching practice in line with the STEM Education policy statement
This module really allowed me to reflect on my teaching of STEM. I really liked exploring the curious minds framework template which really gives structure and a process to the lessons. I like the reflection aspect to it which allows you to think about ways you can improve further lessons or things you might add to the next lesson or questions that may arise to explore in further lessons. I really liked the simplicity of the helicopter lesson. I think this lesson is so accessible for all children and it’s a great starting point for children to follow the curious minds framework and build in questioning, predictions and reflections. I like the simplicity of the resources yet how effective it is. This module was a fantastic starting point to reflect on my own practices.
I really like how you stress the importance of the Green Schools, sometimes s schools we can be overrrun with committees. It is vital that the Green Schools continues to show children that small changes can lead to big results and the change starts with us.
The Ahare river in Castletown has experienced a lot of changes in conjunction with climate change.
An Oirechatas meeting noted the following:More frequent and severe flooding: Heavier rainfall events have caused the Ahare River to flood more often. When the river overtops its banks, the road near Castletown can become impassable, effectively cutting the village off from the rest of north Wexford. This issue has been raised repeatedly in the Irish parliament and by Wexford County Council.
Higher winter river flows: Climate projections for Ireland indicate wetter winters with more intense downpours. These conditions increase runoff into the Ahare catchment, raising flood risk and accelerating riverbank erosion.
In order to tie in with a lesson, children could look at the river course and how land around the river could prevent the flooding. The children could also look at preventative measures to stop the river flooding. This allows children to see how climate change is affecting them locally.I haven’t heard of this organisation, but I really like the way there are opportunities to link with the school community and allow for awareness to be raised among staff, students and the school community.
A group that works with Ukrainian refugees in my area is called the hub.
Its work includes:Providing donated clothing, shoes, toiletries, toys, and other essential items to Ukrainian families.
Helping people access services such as employment, education, healthcare, and legal information.
Offering translation and integration support for people settling into life in Ireland.
Organising community activities, including children’s programmes, cultural events, workshops, and social gatherings to reduce isolation and help people integrate.
Supporting Ukrainian-language education and maintaining connections with Ukrainian culture through local community initiative.
This hub was and is an essential part of the ukrainian refugees settling into the area. A place where they can go to meet other Ukrainian families and also to integrate within the local community as there are many local volunteers and workshops set up to promote links to the community and provide opportunities for integration. It has really allowed for sharing of cultures and promoting cultural awareness in the area.