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One SDG I would focus on is <strong data-start=”133″ data-end=”161″>SDG 4: Quality Education, which aims to ensure inclusive, equitable, and quality education for all. While children in Ireland generally have access to education, some still face barriers due to poverty, additional learning needs, language differences or limited access to digital technology. On a global scale, millions of children are unable to attend school because of conflict, poverty or displacement. Girls also face a disproportionate amount of barriers when it comes to education often limiting their opportunities and future life chances. To encourage children in my class to take action, I would use a variety of child- led, inquiry-based learning activities to help them understand that education is a fundamental human right. Children could investigate and identify what makes a school inclusive and identify ways to ensure everyone in their own school community feels welcome, supported, and able to participate. The children could organise a take part in fundraising activities to support organisations that provide education to children affected by conflict or poverty. Students could also explore children’s experiences of education in different countries through stories, videos, and virtual exchanges with schools abroad. This would help develop empathy, respect for diversity, and an appreciation of the privileges they have. They could present their learning through assemblies, posters or a school-wide awareness campaign, encouraging the wider school community to value education as a shared responsibility.
Hi Aisling, I think Education is a great SDG to look at because as you said it is a local and global issue and something that impacts children’s lives.
Hi Cliona, I have witnessed similar situations in my classroom where children pull back when something is highlighted to them by another student.
I think that gender stereotypes can prevail from a young age based on what toys and life experiences are exposed to early in life. I also believe that they can be challenged through different unbiased activities. I have witnessed gender stereotypes in my classroom during play activities. For example, during a role play activity a boy in my class was dressed with cat ears and another boy asked him why he was wearing ‘girl clothes’. He responded that dressing up wasn’t just for girls and the other boy was accepting of this and joined in. I feel that he hadn’t been exposed to this type of play before or maybe only witnessed girls dressing up. This module highlighted great lessons to challenge gender stereotypes which I would use in my class next year. I also think that young children could explore this topic through history lessons such as ‘What was school like when by grandparents were young?’ They could interview their grandparents and older family members and explore how in Ireland in the past boys and girls took part in different lessons such as P.E. for boys and knitting for girls. This could link the local and the global community idea in the children’s mind.
Having read ‘The Role of Global Citizens in Today’s World (Ehigie, 2021), it has helped me understand the importance of Development Education in our schools especially at primary level. It is important that children are given opportunities to develop a knowledge about our changing, interdependent and unequal world and view all humans as a global family. This is particularly important as our classrooms welcome new students from different parts of the world and children become aware that local and global issues are connected and that their actions have both local and global impacts. It is important that children are exposed to different perspectives. It is important for teachers to provide opportunities for learners to practice empathy and critical thinking skills. Development education fits perfectly with the new primary curriculum and can be used to develop children’s Key Competencies. As a teacher in the end of school I would use picture books and games to teach about issues of fairness and offer the children different perspectives and opportunites to discuss and explore these. I would encourage development education throughout the school using school intiatives that we are already involved in such as Creative Schools or Green schools. For example we could celebrate different cultures in our school through creative activities or learn about how our clothes are made and how to be more sustainable through Green Schools.
Theme: Rockets in Space – Design and make different rockets (Senior Infants)
The children will take part in a series of investigations to deign and make different rockets and test different materials.
As part of the theme Space, the children will have learned about stars, the moon and planets. The children will have read a variety of pictures books based on this theme such as The Way Back and Aliens Love Underpants. The children will watch video clips of rocket launches and discuss what they know about
The children will complete a variety of the activities outlined in this course.
Marvin and Milo Cartoon – Balloon Rocket: Firstly, the children will look at and discuss this comic strip and identify the materials they will need to create their balloon rocket. The children will work in pairs and will add decorations and details to personalise their rockets. The class will experiment with adding different amount of air to the balloons to see how far they will travel. the children will alos experiment with different directions. The children will test their creations in a fair test, from the same staring point and measure the distance travelled.
Rocket Mice – Similar to the activity above, the children will carry out this activity in groups, where each child in the group can design, decorate and name their mouse. This lesson could also be used for a whole class shared writing lesson where they create a story about the mouse’s journey to space.Hi Sarah, I love the idea of using the story Roaring Rockets as a stimulus. I also think it is a great idea to have the children name their rockets and decide on the planet and star they will land on. It really promotes creativity.
Online Tools and Resources- Stellarium: Stars & Constellations
I would introduce the topic of stars and space to Senior Infants through the exploration of various picture books such as Bright Sky, Starry City by Uma Krishnaswami, Where to Hide a Star by Olivier Jeffers and a Hundred Billion Trillion Stars by Seth Fishman . The children would study the model of constellations made from plasticine and sticks on a desk.
Before the children use the online tool Stellarium, the children would play a game of North South, East, West so as to consolidate previous lessons about directions. The children would watch the online North Star Guide video from Blackrock Castle Observatory to get a visual of the constellations.
We would use Stellarium loaded on the class IPads. The children could work in pairs to search the sky in their location from the night before. The fact that you can set to your own location would be very beneficial to the children a give them a greater sense of place. The children could share their findings with a different pair.I think the children would enjoy this activity as they are working together and this also promotes creativity and collaboration.
Theme: Stars
Class: Senior Infants
I would introduce the theme using the picture book Bright Sky, Starry City by Uma Krishnaswami. We would discuss what we know about stars.
Each child would create a star fact journal in their SESE copies, sketching and writing things they know about stars eg. See them at night/ are bright. This will be added to over the course of their lessons with new learning.
We will learn about constellations and how they form from a number of stars at different distances, and that their shape appears differently from different perspectives. We will create a model of a constellation and look at it from different angles. The teacher will model the activity and form the shape of the constellation Cassiopeia. The children will look from different angles, from the front and from the side, in a darkened room. What do they see? From the front, the stars look like the constellation Cassiopeia, but from the side they form a completely different shape. Apparently, constellations only have their form because we look at them from Earth’s perspective. We will do the same activity using different constellations.
The theme of stars could be integrated into other subjects such as Music and Visual Arts – Look at and respond to A Starry Night. Listen to music about stars and learn a song – When You Wish Upon a Star.Theme: Stars
Class: Senior Infants
I would introduce the theme using the picture book Bright Sky, Starry City by Uma Krishnaswami. We would discuss what we know about stars.
Each child would create a star fact journal in their SESE copies, sketching and writing things they know about stars eg. See them at night/ are bright. This will be added to over the course of their lessons with new learning.
We will learn about constellations and how they form from a number of stars at different distances, and that their shape appears differently from different perspectives. We will create a model of a constellation and look at it from different angles. The teacher will model the activity and form the shape of the constellation Cassiopeia. The children will look from different angles, from the front and from the side, in a darkened room. What do they see? From the front, the stars look like the constellation Cassiopeia, but from the side they form a completely different shape. Apparently, constellations only have their form because we look at them from Earth’s perspective. We will do the same activity using different constellations.
The theme of stars could be integrated into other subjects such as Music and Visual Arts – Look at and respond to A Starry Night. Listen to music about stars and learn a song – When You Wish Upon a Star.I think the children would find this lesson very interesting and could use many different online resources and tools to explore the plough.
Activity Set: The Sun and Shadows
Class: Senior Infants
Learning Outcomes:
• discuss differences between day and night, light and shade
• Recognise that the Sun is a source of light
• explore how shadows are formed
• Investigate how moving a light source changes a shadow.Vocabulary: day, night, sunrise , sunset light, dark, shadow, shrinking, growing, rotating
Whole class discussion and Mind Map
The children will collaborate to create a whole class mind map: Think Pair Share – What do we know about shadows? I will ask follow up questions to encourage deeper thinking and sharing of ideas (When can you see your shadow? Where can you see shadows? Are all shadows the same? Where does light come from during the day? Where can we get light during the night-time?)
I will then explain that we are going to become scientists and investigate how shadows are made.
Investigation: Can you make the Bear’s shadow change?
In pairs the children will work as scientists to investigate how the bears shadow can move and change shape. They will use a maths bear, a torch and a sheet of paper. The children will be given the opportunity to play with the equipment before they begin the investigation. During the investigation I will ask the children questions to encourage thinking. What do you think will happen when we shine the torch at the bear? Where do you think the shadow will appear? Can you make the shadow bigger or smaller? What will happen if you shine the torch in different directions? What happens when the torch moved closer? What happens when the torch moved further away?
The children will share their findings with the class and we will add information discovered to our mind map. Light cannot pass through the bear and it blocks the light creating a shadow. Moving the light changes the size and direction of the shadow.
Conclusion: Animal Shadows – The children are given a variety of toy animals and will bring them outside. They will place them in a sunny area where they create a shadow. The children will place a sheet of paper on the shadow and sketch their animal shadow. They can move the animal to create different shadows. The children can then add details to their animals
