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The Aquaculture Remote Classroom (ARC) is a fun and exciting way for young children to learn about different types of fish, water, and the ocean through inquiry based learning. In the younger end of the school, this is achieved by using various interactive videos, stories, and hands-on activities. In the older classes, this can also be achieved through coding and various projects as well as collaborating with local aquaculture farmers. It helps develop early STEM skills like critical thinking and creativity through play especially in the younger classes which entails prepares the children for the complex real-world that they will grow up in. Children will explore various life-cycles and eco-systems as well as environmental impacts and solutions based on Aquaculture farming in Ireland. This will be achieved through observation (live fish tanks), questioning, sorting and counting (Maths), through play (build an aquarium) etc., As a result, it helps support oral language development, encourages teamwork and promotes early involvement within STEM.
I also agree with Katriona, these types of lessons for children help to integrate various different subjects which really puts emphasis on the learning for the children based on topics at hand. For example, Aquaculture not only fits perfectly into the SESE subjects but it also integrates SPHE, PE & Visual Art so seamlessly. This allows children to be fully immersed in the lesson at hand which I often carry out with many topics in my own classroom.
As I teach Junior Infants I think it is a wonderful chance for children to showcase their geographical and mathematical skills through map plotting. This would integrate PE also to the lesson. To begin the lesson we would elicit prior knowledge from the children by using simple north, south, east and west movements around the classroom focusing on direction. Next, the children will be shown co-ordinates by pictures they will engage with e.g. school = S4, Tree = T2 etc.,. They will work in groups based on mixed ability to complete this treasure hunt. I will continue to facilitate their learning by asking questions throughout the lesson i.e. which is closer to the school, the tree or the football pitch? To summarise we I assess the children’s learning at the end of the lesson by asking various questions based on the lesson at hand.
There are 14 coastal counties in Ireland that produce various fish. As a result, it provides employment and reduces emigration. It reinforces cultural livelihoods as well as increases housing and farming opportunities for new generations. It also helps the tourism of Ireland and helps global recognition. Moreover, it promotes healthy eating amongst families. Thus, it is important as educators we teach the benefits of aquaculture to children in schools from a young age.
I am also in the same boat as Orla, I work in a rural country school in the midlands where there is no Sea or wild Atlantic way around us but from viewing the first module of the course I can really see the importance of introducing children at a young age to Aquaculture in Ireland and the many benefits it will have on their future. I love the way Orla says to integrate this topic through SESE and SPHE by discussing the importance of healthy eating, interviewing local fisherman/restaurant chef’s etc., I also really enjoy how Orla integrates her own personal experience into showing the importance of sea farming.
Aquaculture and social license can impact children in schools in many different ways e.g. their health, environment, education, and community well-being. For example, it provides jobs for children in the future, real-life experiences for children to learn, integrates local environments into school life i.e. speakers, shows children the importance of eating healthy etc., After reviewing the BIM’S Social licensing project for aquaculture, I really enjoyed the ‘Taste the Atlantic project’ best. I feel it would be a very well worth project for older children who live near the Wild Atlantic Way to go and explore the Sea and speak with local fishermen etc., and visit local restaurants and taste various different fish that can be found in various counties in Ireland. I think as teachers it is very important that we teach children from a young age the benefits of why Aquaculture and social licensing is vital in our lives in Ireland because it plants a seed in children’s head about water farming as I know when I was in school I rarely ever heard educators speak about Aquaculture and the benefits it can have on young children in Ireland.
I think implementing a design of the Dark Sky for children, especially in an infant classroom is a fun way to raise awareness about light pollution. Each year as part of Aistear, we explore the theme of ‘Space’. Children focus on the various planets and stars found in our galaxy and we explore this theme for the month of November (as the winter months are usually darker). This year, I will be including our dark skies into these lessons and allow the children to create and design their own version of the dark sky they observe every morning/night. I will allow children to rotate each week around the classroom exploring various aspects of the dark skies e.g. tuff tray to explore the planets, a reading corner to explore various books based on the night sky, a black tent in our calm corner of the room to explore the stars (glow in the dark stars and red amber led lights) etc., These are just some of the ways that I will incorporate the dark night skies into our lessons going forward this year.
I think the art subjects are a great way to showcase the SESE subjects and how they can interlink. I am a Junior Infant teacher and I always try to incorporate the art subjects through SESE to engage the children into the lesson. I really like how you used popular songs to connect children to the lesson on ‘stars’ and ‘space’ and twinkle, twinkle little star is a perfect song for infants.
I am currently a Junior Infant teacher and I think this topic on local biodiversity and light pollution is a great way to introduce the younger children into caring for their local environment. I work in a rural school and there are many mountains and local woodland areas to explore with the children daily. I also think it is a great way of teaching children by immersing them fully into the topic at hand and to make connections. As these children are quite young, I will directly teach them what ‘biodiversity’ is. I will then use an image of our local area to engage all children in the lesson before we begin on our nature walk in pairs to our heritage centre to observe what we can see i.e. the different plants/animals that live there. This will incorporate the subject of P.E. also as we will create a scavenger hunt based on plants/animals that we know can be found here. At the end of the day we will discuss as a class what were our findings. In the next lesson, I will take the children on another nature walk to the same place to observe what light pollution might be disrupting these local habitats that we spoke about in our previous lesson. Children may need to be prompted during this lesson to help them begin depending on their ability. Some of the answers the children may come up with may be street lighting etc., To end the lesson, we will come up with ways that we can protect our local area to ensure these plants and animals are not being disturbed.
As I am also a Junior Infant teacher I was very drawn to your response. I think it is really important to allow the children to make connections with their own local environment in order to engage them fully in the lesson. I also think it was a great idea giving the children a visual checklist to observe what plants and animals they saw in their area and how light can impact them.
As I work in a rural school in Ireland, thankfully light pollution is less severe than other towns/cities around the country. However, artificial lighting is spreading at high speed into these rural parts of the country. I would engage the children into the lesson by using an image/video of the local woodland area in our village to assess their prior knowledge. In groups, the children will discuss and create mind maps on the environmental issues that this woodland area will have as a result of light pollution. Over the course of the week, we will take part in various nature walks at various times of the day to explore the area by taking pictures/drawings etc., on what we observed and would could cause issues for wildlife, plants & the local people e.g. street lighting can cause insomnia for the local villagers and artificial lighting could have an impact on the local habitats e.g. owls, hedgehogs etc., which rely on natural darkness to navigate, hunt and reproduce. At the end of the week, children will come together as a class and discuss their findings on what they found to be the main light polluting issues impacting our local area and what we can do as society to help maintain our local natural night environment, biodiversity and the village’s rural charm. If time allowed, I would also love the children to take part in a debate ‘Is light pollution having an impact on our local environment’ as part of SPHE.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading through your lesson plan as it really integrated the SESE subjects i.e. working as historians and comparing light pollution to what is happening in our world today. I really like how you engaged your learners through prior knowledge of their own environment by taking part by observing light pollution in their own area. I also like how you used a simple but effective stimulus to engage other learners into the lesson i.e. images/videos. A really engaging lesson for older children.
As I am a Junior Infant teacher, I was very drawn to the assignment on ‘planning to observe the Moon’ as somedays the children are fascinated that they can still see the moon in the morning sky when they are lining up to come into school, as they believe the sun is for daytime and the moon is for nighttime.
When planning to observe the moon with the children, I believe the best phase is the last quarter. It rises and is visible around midnight to noon. Noon is the perfect time for my children in my class as it is their lunchtime so we will already be on yard. We will observe this moon phase on September 17th this year as the children will have been settling into school life in the Junior Infant classroom and I think it will be a lovely first engaging activity for the class to take-part in.
After the activity the children can record what they saw in their school yard by creating a picture and describing to the class what they observed.
Hi Gráinne, I really enjoyed how you engaged the children in their learning by modelling the solar system through the clay strand of the visual art curriculum. I thoroughly enjoy using thematic planning in my classroom and this is one really good way of showing this integration. I also think it is a great idea to divide the children into groups as this will ensure mixed ability and will appeal to all types of learners in your classroom. This will be a great project for the older children of the school to showcase their talents through the SESE subjects.
As I am a Junior Infant teacher the last 5 years, I was very drawn to the activity on understanding the seasons as I have noticed through the years some children find it difficult to understand fully the order and changes that happen within the year when it is associated with the weather/time/change etc., By reading through the ESA booklet within the last slide, I would engage students in my class with this activity by discussing daily the various changes we can see in our immediate environment throughout the different months/year i.e. trees, plants, animals, weather etc., As a class we would create a display for each season as they arise and children will add to it often e.g. life cycle of a tree/animal during that season etc., This will incorporate the subject of visual arts. We would also incorporate story time into our lessons about each season e.g. autumn stories/stories about animals hibernating etc., Simple everyday language will be used as they are young children e.g. when the earth is tilted towards the sun, it is summer etc., I will incorporate the 5 senses into our lessons when we take part in various nature walks around the school looking at small changes e.g. buds growing on the trees etc., It will be very much based on the class at hand whether or not we can go further with our discussions or tasks etc., I like to work on various themes in my classroom so all subjects will be incorporated as best as we can whether that is song & dance or drama etc.,
Hi Mona, I really like how obvious you have made it for a reader to clearly see the integration of the SESE Subjects i.e. history – children becoming historians looking at the past and how these people measured time and what they used etc., I also like how you engaged the children into the lesson through prior knowledge on shadows. A really well thought out lesson for the children in your class.
