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Hi Robyn!
That’s a pretty impressive array of songs and paintings about the night sky. Not a Ed Sheerin, Coldplay or Miley Cyrus fan myself more David Bowie ‘Starman’ – different generation I guess. But Starry Night by Van Gogh is one of my favourite paintings. An vast amount of art on the night sky.
ASSIGNMENT 5
I would implement a version of “Design Your own Dark Sky place” in our school by using the information given on the slides in module 5. The children will ultimately explore, plan, make and evaluate in the process of designing their own dark place in our school.
Students through active learning and discovery with the resource lesson plan and its many activities (Module 5 ‘Discover Primary Science and Maths – Design your own Dark Sky Place lesson plan’) would reach their learning objectives of designing a dark place in our school area. The lesson would be cross curricular with drama and literacy. The lesson would include two activities.
Activity 1: investigation using role-play
Children will create their own Dark Sky Place in our school area from discussions undertaken by them during role play. This requires input and information from the different users of a Dark Sky Park area. The students will represent the interests of different stakeholders with a meeting to investigate the key requirements for establishing a dark sky site at their school. The students will be assigned one of the following stakeholder groups to represent their views: • Lighting Planners • Visiting Stargazers • Conservation Rangers and school leadership • Residents (students and teachers)
The views of stakeholders will be considered and presented at the end of the session. The results will then the design of a map and brochure providing information on the attractions within the site and useful information for the visitor.Activity 2: Engage using questioning and brainstorming
I would use Trigger questions to engage the students such as the ones given in the resource:
What is a Dark Sky Place? [Show pictures of Dark Sky Park / Reserve in Ireland]
Why are they special?
What can we see in the sky on a clear night?Get children to wonder about their Design
Who would visit a Dark Sky Place? (leading to stakeholder groups)
Who would benefit from a Dark Sky Place? a list or a drawing of people/animals
What do you think of when you look at the stars? – Drawings and Freewriting
What kind of animals live in a Dark Sky Park (what might be special about them)?
How can we assess the quality of a dark sky park.Getting children to explore their ideas:
What is Light Pollution?
Why is darkness important?
Where are the best places for visitors go at night to experience a dark sky free from light pollution. What kind of lighting could be Dark Sky Friendly?The plan for the design would have to consider key factors such as:
1. Light pollution
2. Viewing sites and access
3. Biodiversity at night
4. Safety
5. Information on astronomy
The children would then make a map using photos or drawings to create a collage of your dark sky place with information on nocturnal wildlife and create a brochure for visitors to inform them of what to expect. They would also have an equipment list for stargazers.
Then children would evaluate the design by answering key questions:
1. Have we considered all the issues?
2. Will our plan help protect the night sky in the future?
3. What supports do we need?
4. Is our plan realistic?
5. Does it have a positive impact on our environment?Hi Helen!
I really like your idea of setting up nocturnal wildlife cameras around the green areas of school to capture footage of nocturnal wildlife and allowing the children observe how artificial light affects creatures like moths and small mammals. I don’t know if this would be a runner in our school due to the cost of cameras, but maybe these cameras aren’t expensive to purchase.
It would highlight as suggested the importance of preserving local biodiversity and helps children understand the broader environmental impacts of light pollution.
ASSIGNMENT 4
I would engage your learners to explore biodiversity in their local area by getting them to do an audit, survey and mapping exercise of biodiversity surrounding our school. I would use several resources given in module 4 for research and investigation work. The children would work in groups.
Materials needed: tablets/ Chromebooks, Internet access, Google Maps, graph paper and biodiversity websites given in module 4.
Introduction: I would highlight and explain to children 3 key words in lesson – biodiversity, habitat and ecosystem. I would give the students background information on biodiversity and why its important to the area.
Audit:
Biodiversity Audit would include location, composition (list of species found), abundance (no of individuals of each species found) and distribution (how spread out the species are). Children will perform an audit of the area surrounding the school. They will use technology and resources given to assist with the audit.
Mapping:
The children would construct a map of the area around the school representing spatial patterns of environmental characteristics with the biodiversity in that area. The children will use graph paper to draw up the map within an extended perimeter around the school. Each group would focus on 3 spots in the area to focus on.
Research:
Students would identify species by using the internet for research.
Findings/ results:
Students would reflect on findings and complete audit. The students would evaluate biodiversity in the area and discuss the characteristics of the area that support the biodiversity living there.The children would then learn about the possible impacts of light pollution on local biodiversity.
For this lesson I would use the Curious Minds/ESERO framework for inquiry shown on slide 13 of module 4 to investigate the effects of light pollution. We will break the lesson into different species of biodiversity – bats, birds (including owls), plants, invertebrates.Hi
I did a similar lesson but forgot to use the resource you mentioned in your lesson the ‘ESERO 9 light and darkness activity’. I also like the idea of using the Book Creator App and getting children to do their own catalogue on what they work on and their experience.
It’s true what you mentioned on the northern lights that occurred in May and the effects light pollution has on our view of the night sky.
ASSIGNMENT 3
Detail how light pollution is impacting your local area and how you would engage your learners to explore this.
I reside in the urban area of Bray (a large town) in Co Wicklow. According to the map: Growth of light in Ireland 2015, Bray is 2-4 times natural which means it wouldn’t be possible to see the Milky Way at night. Now with population growth and industry in the area and in accordance with the light pollution website: LightPollutionMap.info, Bray is higher now looking at the light pollution in the area.
Most of Bray is a bright area at night with its clutter of lights at parks, schools, sport areas, factories, DART station, streetlights in the town and in many estates. Then there are many homes with outside lights and the use of smartphones and televisions increases the use the lights for recreational and entertainment. I believe there is excessive groupings of light sources.
Bray centre does transmit a lot of light, far more than the suburban or forest, coastal and mountain areas nearby. Obviously, there is a contrast between these different areas of Bray – the Irish sea being much darker than town centre.
I would engage the children by using slides 30 to 39 from module 3 on how to do a Science /Geography project on light pollution in the Bray area. The slides cover predicting, investigation, recording, with sharing and interpreting the data which would give structure and information to the students on how and what to do for their project. Other slides from module 3 such as 51 would give students websites to use for research and understanding. The students would complete a survey to record their findings. The survey would be like the one given by the Irish Times in Slide 50 in Module 3 with changes made to the survey considering lighted areas in Bray such as shopping centres and supermarkets.Hi Pat! I like your lesson on observing the moon. I wouldn’t never thought of observing the moon during the day. I like the idea of using a resource as you suggested to observe different phases of the moon. Children find the moon mysterious and fascinating so I’m sure they will be well motivated.
ASSIGNMENT 2
Create a short teaching resource using Stellarium/ WorldWide TelescopeI’ve decided to choose Stellarium/ WorldWide Telescope as an online resource for this assignment. This resource is insightful and would trigger or motivate further learning about space.
Stellarium is a planetarium that allows children to explore space. Children could use it to see the sky in 3D, just like what you see with the naked eye, binoculars or a telescope. I would use Stellarium to motivate children’s interest in the night sky.
The theme I would choose to work on is looking at the sky at night.
The class would discuss what they see in the sky at night. I would record all the children prior knowledge. I would then discuss and answer any questions they may have about the sky at night.I would use the video from Module two slide 20 and slide 21 to present to the children on how to use Stellarium. I would highlight different tools such as choosing a location to look at the night sky and the time setting on the resource.
Then I would get children to work in groups and do project work on the sky at night. The children using the resource in my class could identify stars, constellations, planets, comets and moons using the program. Children could observe the location of the sun rising and setting in both hemispheres
I would place particular emphasis on the planets in the sky at night. The children would use Stellarium web with the class to observe the planets that are visible at different times of night, seeing different planets at different times.Hi Claire!
I like your lesson on observing and recording on the position of the sun at different times of the day. The lesson is well structured with good use of resources for the children. The activities are fun and I like the steps process making it easy to understand for young children in particular but I think your lesson could be used for almost all classes. Well done
Module 1 Assignment: Understanding the Seasons Resource (ESA)
SESE Geography Lesson: How we observe the seasons
Lesson aimed at 5th or 6th class. Children will be familiar with effects of seasons. I would use the resources discussed from ESERO in module 1.
Trigger for lesson: Ask children particular questions to generate curiosity and observe their knowledge:
• Duration of daytime over different seasons
• Time of sunrise and sunset
• Direction of sunrise and sunset
• Position of the Sun at different times of the day and at different times of the year.Do mind- map with children’s feedback and highlight key words.
Investigation:Activity 1: I would use the resource given in module one and show the video and by referencing: Learning about Seasons: A Guide for Teachers and Curriculum Developers Article in Astronomy Education Review · December 2011
Misconceptions about the seasons have been explored in A Private Universe: resource givenHi Cathriona!
We unfortunately don’t live near the ocean but we too arrange different classes to pick up litter in the locality. We also encourage children that live close to the school to walk or cycle to school. I think what’s important is to teach children that we all have to take responsibility for our environment and locality and that there are many things we can do to sustain our local environment. Reduce consumption especially plastic bottles and toys. reuse bottles, pick up litter provided it’s safe. Recycle correctly and teach others about it’s important.
As stated in module 5 on sustainability the ‘Tidy Town’ programme is very active in the locality in County Wicklow where I teach. Tidy Town bring local people together to provide a cleaner tidier local environment in which we live and work. The people take pride in their locality. Children have engaged in pickers pals program in our school focusing on picking up litter around the school, doing recycling and discussing the benefits of recycling and reusing for our locality and the environment in general. have the same objective as Picker Pals programme and Tidy Town have the same initiative in sustaining the environment in which we live, work and play.
I would engage the children to explore this further by doing a project on the importance of reusing and recycling to sustain our local environment. For example I would ask the children whether we should purchase plastic bottled water instead of using water from the tap and reusing the water containers we have in school. Our project could be entered into ESB Science Blast (national competition) and discuss the importance of limiting the use of plastic and the impact of plastic in our rivers, towns and seas affecting sea-life.Hi Rhonda! I like the idea of using the salmon of knowledge story as you suggested as an introductory piece at the start of the lesson to arouse interest in the benefits of eating seafood. In the story Fionn gains wisdom whereas children will gain nutrients from eating salmon. A story is always a nice way to start a lesson and makes the topic cross curricular with history and literacy.
The school in which I work, implements the food dude program. The food pyramid is displayed in each classroom and in class we teach about a balanced healthy diet and nutrition as a a topic in the in SPHE and SESE curriculum. and I also like to link it to Gaeilge and English lessons. I teach 4th class and have done many lessons on the food pyramid with the benefits of eating fruit and vegetables. But we have done very little on the benefits of eating seafood if I’m honest maybe with the exception of eating salmon. There were lots of interesting nutritional facts about eating fish . I would use a mind-map and ask children for prior knowledge. I would keep the lesson simply due to class and level of learning on the topic. I would ask children about the different types of seafood and what nutritional benefits they are to eating them. I would use the resource from the course on the nutritional value of eating seafood, the videos and discuss the nutrients found in these foods. From module 4 I found it particularly interesting about all the nutrients found in eating shell fish especially mussels and oysters – iron, calcium and iodine. Children would not have learned about iodine before and many of the nutrients found in other seafood so emphasis would be placed on new vocabulary which the module highlights. The video in the module would be used in connection with a PowerPoint presentation on the IWB discussing the slides shown in module 4 discussing the food pyramid. Children would then do a project on the nutritional benefits of eating different types of seafood. They would use canva as a digital technology to present their posters on their work.
The online lessons and resources from this module that I would use is the ARC video on the nutrition of seafood. I would focus on the theme of healthy eating and a balanced diet. With key vocabulary such as nutrition, protein, vitamins, iron, iodine, calcium and minerals.
For the first part of the lesson, I would display and discuss the learning objectives.
Name the different types of seafood.
Discuss the benefits of eating seafood.
I would then use a mind-map with the children on seafood and find out children’s prior knowledge about different types of seafood and why it is important we eat seafood by asking key questions and getting children to ‘think pair share’ before giving feedback.
What is seafood? Name different types? Where would you find them? Has anyone ever tasted seafood and which ones? What did they taste like? What nutrients are in the seafood you have eaten?
After the feedback I would then show the video on the nutrition of seafood to the children. Which discusses different types of seafood and its benefits. Mussels providing iron (provides us with healthy blood). Oysters provide calcium and iodine. Salmon with omega three.
After the video I would get children to work in pairs on an activity to design a poster using digital technology related to STEM to design a poster on the benefits of eating different types of seafood. Children would research their work using Duck Duck Go as their search engine and Canva as a digital means to design their poster on the benefits of eating seafood.
For the plenary, children will display their posters, discuss their work and present their findings.