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I like Declans idea of measuring how climate change is affecting our local environment over a specific period and making it applicable to Junior Infants and I too will be teaching Junior Infants this coming school year. I like the way he has considered that the numbers will be too high for infants but by using concrete materials they will be able to count the difference between the numbers. I like the way he has made it applicable to them as it is about where they live and not some broad topic that they might struggle to understand.
Research Question: Coming up with ways to lessen our carbon footprint in school and monitoring these changes over the course of a school year. I think this investigation would tie in nicely to the work that the green schools committee is doing in the school at the moment also. I also think this is a question where the whole school could get involved in as each class could be given a different topic to work on and to monitor throughout the year. This project could start with the older classes coming up with ways in which the school could lessen its carbon footprint such as monitoring the ways in which children travel to school and promoting more environmentally friendly ways and doing a survey each month in every class to see if there are any changes in behaviours. Another investigation could be to monitor how much printing each teacher is doing in the school and coming up with ways they could improve their numbers and monitoring this over the year. Another investigation could be to encourage all teachers to plug out devices at the end of the day and ensure lights are always turned off when we leave the classroom. Another investigation could be to harvest rainwater in the school and use it for different purposes around the school.
I downloaded the Nose High Up in the Sky resource and have carried out the pupil activities myself and this is how I would use it in class. I like the idea of using the weather proverbs with the children and asking them do they know any before we begin or even asking them to guess what they think the proverbs mean before actually telling them what they mean and the science/geography behind them.
For the second activity I would ask them to use their senses to describe the weather at the moment. I will then get the children to describe the weather through different methods such as a drawing, a written description or even a table and try to get them to the conclusion that we use wind, rain, temperature and clouds to describe the weather.
For activity three I would run this experiment over a couple of weeks so that all children get a chance at measuring the different types of weather. I would divide the children into groups and give them the materials needed and ask them to figure out how we were going to use the materials to measure that specific weather. I would also leave it up to the groups on how they would record the weather diary and then they would have to report it back to the class.I really like Enda’s idea of using the cotton balls soaked in different colours to represent the different greenhouse gases to explain how the Earth is warming up as this would be a very visual aid to help the children see how it is happening. I also like the idea of the role play where children can explore the advantages and disadvantages of the different energy sources.
The Home video is a very powerful tool that I can definitely see myself using in the classroom. As it is quite a long video to show in one sitting for children I envisage myself using this in chunks to show and highlight different important points to the children such as the start when it gives the history of planet earth and then a different section to highlight the damage humans are doing and the rapid population increase and the affect agriculture is having both in such short periods of time. You could also use the Home video to do specific studies on different countries such as India, Greenland and Dubai which are mentioned in the film and how they are affecting/how climate change is affecting them, even comparison studies between different countries. The affects of deforestation, poverty, wild fires, global warming and rising sea levels are also other topics that could be explored through the use of this video. The end of the film is also good to show the children to show there Is hope with all the good things that different countries are doing to slow climate change.
I would start this lesson with the PAXI video as a hook to engage all the children and give them relevant background information that they need to know before completing the rest of the activities. We could then have a whole class discussion about what they learned from the video and what we can go to fix the greenhouse gas situation. I would then introduce the children to the TEAL tool and show them how to use it. I think the tool at the bottom where you can see how the temperature changes in each country in the world between 1950 and 2023 is especially effective where we can virtually see no blue countries anymore. I would divide the children into groups and it could be linked with geography where they have to research a different county and have to include the temperature changes over the years and the projected temperature changes based on the different scenarios.
I agree with Emma that STEM has really become the buzz word at the moment especially now that there are talks that it will be in the new curriculum coming down the line everybody is more invested in learning about it and the practicalities of how it will work in the classroom. Sometimes the thoughts of doing the activity and gathering all the resources and materials required would nearly put you off doing it but when you see the value the kids get out of it through collaboration, critical thinking skills and problem solving and when you get high engagement levels which can be hard to get especially in the senior classes you can’t but see the value in the STEM lessons.
Sometimes the thoughts of STEM add stress to a teacher who is already try to teach an overloaded curriculum and this is just another thing to try and fit into the school day but the unravelling STEM article really shows how they can all be integrated into topics we already teach and can be integrated which would hopefully save time in the long run. I like the idea with starting with Science where there is a hypothesis and using technology and engineering to try and create something to solve the hypothesis and using maths then to analyse and interpret solutions.
The weather vs climate resource would be very helpful to teach children the difference between the two and the activities and exercises are already there and created for you to use. I think these resources could be used on notice boards in the school they look so good.