[Margaret Mc Govern]

This is a very interesting question and you have laid out the lesson in a very clear way. It would be an interesting research project and I like that you have made it child-friendly-for example with the smiley faces!

[Margaret Mc Govern]

Research Question: How has the level of rainfall in each season changed in our local area over the last 20 years and what effect has this had on the local environment?
I would begin this lesson by brainstorming ideas on how to monitor the level of rainfall over the course of the school year. Children would design rain gauges and decide on how records would be taken/ recorded on a regular basis. We would need to record water levels for the same number of days in each season and the importance of a fair test would be highlighted.
After the data was collected children would investigate previous records of rainfall in the area and create charts and graphs to compare and contrast their findings. This would lead to conclusions on changing weather patterns and investigation on why sea levels are rising, weather patterns are changing etc.
We would look at ‘cause and effect’ and how increased rainfall and more extreme weather affects people and places around the world and specifically in their local area. It would be interesting to interview local farmers, florists, community water supply managers to get a sense of the effects of climate change at a local and relatable level for the children.
I would be hopeful that we would have a greater understanding of the direct impact global warming is having on all of us and that children would be more self-motivated to make efforts to be better global citizens and work to help in the fight to save our planet.
I feel strongly that children need to see the effects in a real and relevant local way to them to understand that this is not something happening to a far remote place. This is relevant to them and can affect them- for example we had water shortages in our area this summer due to the prolonged hot spell of weather- how did this affect you at home? How could you be proactive in preventing this or saving water in the future?

[Margaret Mc Govern]

These are all great ideas for the use of the lesson and highlighting the cross-curricular links is helpful. There would be lots of learning for 4th Class children across many subject areas in this lesson. Differentiation is also important and your ideas for this would be effective and ensure that the lesson was inclusive.

[Margaret Mc Govern]

Option 3
ESA lesson ‘Nose High Up In The Sky’
Having studied this lesson and carried out the activities I would say that this is an engaging and informative lesson. It encourages critical thinking, the sharing of ideas, active learning and group/paired work.
The photograph comparisons (Activity 2 and 3) were my favourite part. This would be so interesting and engaging for the children and would generate lots of meaningful discussion and promote their language and higher-order thinking skills.
Becoming familiar with specific astronauts and the photographs they have taken would also be interesting and encourage research on the work of these astronauts. We often talk about well-known astronauts from history but children rarely hear the name of modern-day astronauts and the important work that they are currently doing in space.
(This Module also talked about ground observations on weather and climate. In my own household my children have commented on the swallows flying low in recent evenings and this opened up conversations on air pressure and how nature can show us weather patterns etc. I also really enjoyed the slides on traditional ways of predicting the weather based on observations- I think these are a great way of empowering children to become aware of nature and the world around them to make predictions. It is through activities like these that they can come to respect and appreciate our planet and hopefully be more pro-active in helping to deal with climate change.)

[Margaret Mc Govern]

Love the idea of choosing specific clips to generate class conversation. The visuals were so striking and children would immediately be drawn to them and begin to engage with a whole class or small-group discussion based on them.

[Margaret Mc Govern]

The video ‘Home’ was so visually striking and explained so clearly our origins on earth and our effects on the earth in such a short time relative to our arrival here.
It would create a lot of talk and discussion and generate interest in comparing and contrasting life in different parts of the world, particularly in relation to farming and production techniques and the long term effects of machinery and factories vs traditional farming methods.
Younger children might find some of the video a little ‘heavy’ and for all children some parts might be a little scary in relation to the future for us all if global warming continues at this rate.
The teacher would need to choose parts that would be age/class appropriate and highlight key messages from these through brainstorming and talk and discussion.
A focus on how we can help in many small ways to deal with global warming would be empowering and engaging for the children.
The Green Schools Programme encourages a lot of small changes such as recycling, composting, awareness of packaging, energy conservation, water conservation, car-pooling and walking to school, awareness of animal habitats and encouraging these in the school environment and at home are all practical ways that children can get involved. This often leads to the above practices being adopted at home also.

[Margaret Mc Govern]

Relating this lesson to the children’s own life experience- farming in the local area- would be a great idea. It would generate lots of thinking and discussion on the effects of global warming on their area and farming in general.

Planting trees would also be a really practical, hands-on and visual way to show the children how they can be active in trying to combat global warming.

[Margaret Mc Govern]

Activity 3:
This is an engaging, hands-on, collaborative exercise. It encourages children to think about climate change, to share their thoughts with peers and to make predictions on the effects of climate change on their own futures. This encourages them to come up with ideas on trying to combat climate change and empowers them to start to make changes to help the planet.
The use of digital technology in using the prediction tools would be engaging and enjoyable for children. Navigating the globe on the TEAL tool would allow them to investigate and explore areas of particular interest to them- for example foreign nationals might like to look at their home countries or places in the world where relatives live.
In some posts from course participants it was mentioned that the language of some parts of these lessons, the worksheets at the end, may be challenging for some students so possibly having a differentiated sheet with more simplified language would be helpful if the class teacher felt that it was needed to ensure all children engaged and learned from the lesson. The Paxi video was very clear and child-friendly and would be engaging for all students.

[Margaret Mc Govern]

I really like the idea of encouraging the children to create their own weather apparatus, for example a rain gauge. This would be engaging, encourage them to work collaboratively, share their thoughts and create something that has a useful purpose. This is what STEM is about!

[Margaret Mc Govern]

In looking at Dr. Maeve’s Liston’s paper on STEM I would say that my understanding of STEM up to this point would mainly have been each part of STEM existing independently- for example a science experiment would be a full lesson and that would, more than likely, be the end of that particular lesson.
This paper highlights that this experiment can lead to exploration of other areas in STEM and enable children to use the knowledge from the experiment as a basis for following through to other areas-for example Engineering. Technology being something as simple as a paper clip or a pen is also worth highlighting as we often associate it with huge machines when it fact it can be something so small, simple and familiar. This is a great way to get children involved and thinking independently about how they use and often invent their own simple technology as part of play and exploration.
Activity 1:
This is a very clear and engaging lesson/activity. Children love to relate learning to themselves so discussion on their birthdays in relation to weather and climate will definitely get them interested. Also- completing some additional work as homework can encourage discussion at home and begin general conversations at home in relation to climate change and the environment. The suggestions for older classes- looking at areas of the world and their particular climates also seems well pitched and appropriate.
Activity 2:
This activity gets all the children involved in taking measurements, deciding where to put the thermometer and engaging in active learning. It also highlights the use of STEM as the thermometer may lead to discussion on maths-positive and negative numbers, technology- how the thermometer works etc. The children would enjoy analyzing the results and discussing the conclusions.

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