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3 Detail how light pollution is impacting your local area and how you would engage your learners to explore this Dark Sky Ireland – Promoting & Preserving Ireland’s Dark Skies
I grew up in a rural area where the light quality throughout the night was excellent and at times magical. I teach in an urban area and genuinely don’t think that pupils are aware of light pollution and the impact of it. To be honest I wasn’t fully informed before completing the course. Dark Sky Ireland – Promoting & Preserving Ireland’s Dark Skies is an excellent resource. I also found this power point very interesting and informative. Light Pollution in Ireland (mayo.ie).I feel it would be important to raise awareness of such an issue in class and really start at the beginning- I think a visual representation of how light pollution has increased would help pupils see that it is an issue that needs to be addressed . The other areas I would teach information on are: What is light pollution? What causes it? Why has it increased? What impact has it had on the environment and on ourselves? Other question and maybe further research will answer questions such as: what is our local authorities’ policy on controlling light pollution?, Is this being implemented ? What can we do at school and at home. I feel this is a very information heavy topic but still an important one for our young people to take into consideration and learn about.
A great plan for the lesson Mary. Everything is covered and will lead to a great experience for the pupils.
2.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?
This is a lovely idea for a lesson and something that I would be excited to teach and engage in myself. I have learned so much about the moon and its phases from this course. Observing the moon from school is such a different way to view the moon other than at night. To start I would use the video linked here Paxi and Our Moon: Phases and Eclipses (youtube.com). I think it’s a great starting point and a great way to introduce new vocabulary. I like the visual of each phase of the moon at the end of this resource. This is something I would laminate for each pupil and use when observing the moon at school 62_Lunar-eclipse-and-phases-of-the-Moon.pdf (esero.ie). I would also get pupils to sketch what they see from observation. Organisation is key as always but for such lessons binoculars, telescopes, paper, pencils, i-pad for taking photos will be prepared and ready to go for the morning activity. Knowing when the moon will be best visible from school using timeanddate.com. I have read that the moon in the last quarter phase is most visible in the morning. Another participant also had the idea which I really liked of observing the moon on these nights also and making a comparison between the two and how they present in the sky.Choose one of the following
1. Construct a sundial in your immediate area or plan for your school grounds to see where a sundial could be placed. I teach in a special school and think the sun-dial activity would be a great lesson to integrate many areas of the curriculum for the older pupils and could be made relatable to their every day lives e.g. the importance of time and having a sense of time. The math’s areas of time and the passage of time come into my head initially as an area where to start this topic. I also think the history of reading time and the sundial as mentioned in the forum would put the construction of a sundial into context. Close to my school is Lough Gur and some years ago a stone sundial sculpture was unveiled. We could visit this first before deciding the best location in the school yard for ours and what materials we could use. A design process could be undertaken and pupils could present their ideas and their why’s. We would also take into account the seasons and weather and the impact this has on our sundial.