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I love this as an idea for a research project. It’s something that could be repeated every year and the school builds up its own data, gathered and collated by the children
Are native pollinators more active on warmer days in our school and what plants in our school garden attract them the most?
I chose this question because it would involve the children being in the outdoors and they can work in groups.
To begin with I would bring in a Mystery Box (containing a flower, a plastic bee, a thermometer and a jar of honey). I would tell them there are four clues to a mystery happening outside our window and can they guess what our CLimate Detective case is all about.
using the research question planner. we would decide on the suitability of our research question, which is then written on the board. We would discuss how we can answer it (they might have a better method than the one I have planned) Pupils make their predictions (this would be done daily)
We then go outside and record the temperature and split into groups looking at different plants. A timer is put on for 5 minutes and they count the pollinators that land.
This is done over a period of days and we collate the data.
The data is then presented on a poster by the class.
I think I’ll definitely be making use of the Nose Up In The Sky resource too. I think children are naturally fascinated by space and it blows their mind to see photos of our planet from outside it like you said.
The satellite tracker app is seriously addictive, wasn’t expecting it to be so. I got a telescope for a Christmas present last year so this is right up my alley!
Some of the satellites I tracked that pass over Ireland are:
1. International Space Station: probably the most well known, they engage in scientific research. It still blows my mind how fast they travel at
2. Starlink satellite SpaceX: providing internet -this looks really unusual in the sky, a train of satellites
3. NOAA-20 – this is a weather satellite that circles the globe 14 times a day, important in monitoring climate change
4. METEOSAT-11 – this is a weather satellite used by MetEireann, it’s on a fixed orbit on the equator 36000km above us and scans every 15 mins to generate data.
5. Sentinel-2A / Sentinel-2B is a European satellite that passes over Ireland every few days. It’s purpose it to capture high-res imagery that helps in monitoring and mapping land, agriculture and forestryHard to believe there’s so many in the sky above us!
Great point Linda on focusing on what they can do to make a difference rather than on the worrying facts of what is going on at the moment in our environment. I teach Third Class and found parts of it a little ‘heavy’, I would probably do the same as yourself and pick out particular clips relevant to whatever lesson I was going to teach. It’s definitely a fantastic resource to re-visit throughout the year and would be a wonderful springboard for learning – plenty of ways to integrate with other subjects like you said.
I really enjoyed this and think my Third Class would too. It’s engaging, evocative and very informational. I would definitely use it to introduce lessons and discussions about climate change. There are some amazing facts and statistics that would help inform their learning.
Similar to what others have said, I’m not sure I would show them the whole thing as I feel it may cause a degree of anxiety in some as it’s a bit ‘heavy’ in parts. There are undoubtedly a lot of clips that could be used – it’s a resource I would return to several times throughout the year for different topics for sure, but I’d use my own judgment as to what parts of it I show. For e.g. the bit about how much water it takes to produce a kilo of potatoes/rice etc. – the Maths to show that would go above the heads of many in the class, certainly in the first term! Words like standardisation, indefatigable etc. and the general higher-order nature of a lot of the language and sentence structure might also, at least in my school context. But, if it I did decide to approach that particular part of the video in terms of a lesson about where our food comes from and the cost (environmentally and monetary), I would pre-teach any tricky vocab and have the subtitles on also. It would definitely raise awareness amongst the children and they could discuss in their groups what changes they could make in terms of the food they consume, empowering them to feel like they are making a difference.
It would definitely be more appropriate for those up the higher end of the school or secondary school.
I thought this activity was a great interactive way to introduce climate change to the pupils. The Paxi video was enjoyable and informative and I could see my Third Class enjoying using the temperature prediction tool.
There would have to be explicit teaching of some of the more technical vocabulary, maybe pair or group work to discuss and predict
We’re lucky to have iPads and Chromebooks in our school and Third Class is a big step up when they start using them. I’d be allowing plenty of time for getting used to the prediction tool, it could be a bit confusing at first and how to understand the data (even the concept of time periods is challenging for some, I feel like this is a later-in-the-year topic when our timeline hanging up is a bit fuller). Maybe teaming up with some older classes (we tend to teach similar topics in 2nd/4th/6th, 1st/3rd/5th) might be a good idea in terms of differentiation and collaboration.
It’s always good to introduce a little competitive element so there could be a prize of some sort for the best poster they create afterwards.
Hi Lauren, love the idea of presenting with the older classes, we’ve been talking about how to have more partnership with different classes in the school.
Dr. Liston’s paper was very informative, highlighting the importance of STEM and the modern skills it promotes. It did make me reflect on whether lessons I teach are truly STEM or isolated parts of it. Highlighting the role of engineering in the process was important – I think this is where the ‘fun’/hands-on part of the lesson comes in for the children. It’s interesting to see the dynamics when children are trying to get their ideas across and come to a consensus (which is a skill in itself). She makes a great point about schools needing integrated materials.
We have a very strong Green Schools ethos in our Educate Together school and these activities would tie in very nicely with it. I think Activity 1 is a great way to understand the difference between weather and climate. Our school has a very diverse student population, so their experience of weather and climate is very varied. I could see them being very excited talking about the weather in their own lived experience in Pakistan/Egypt/Sudan/Brazil and what it’s like in Ireland and understanding about climate zones. Using and reading maps/globe/atlas is a skill in itself and a good way for them to work on that.
Activity 2 would be a lovely way to integrate across the curriculum in Geography, Maths and Science. There’s good discussion for understanding opportunities before getting in to the hands-on planning/design/construction process. They will be far more interested in and motivated for learning by a device they’ve made themselves than anything I could bring in.
I was very drawn to Activity 3 also, I might try that with my class this year.