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Some great suggestions in this list. I like the idea of using some orchestral pieces, as the lack of lyrics can lead to much more imaginative responses from the children.
Consider how many Songs / Poems /Art can you think of to connect us with the Night Sky? For example: Look up President Michael D Higgins’ “Stardust”
I love the cross curricular learning opportunities that can be achieved by bringing the arts and literacy into our studies of the night sky. While a YouTube video from NASA, for example, could be very engaging for some students, it might be the poem “Silver” by Walter de la Mer that piques other students’ interest in the night sky.
I’m surprised how many songs, poems and artwork I could think of that are related to the night. For example, one of the first songs that many children learn is Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Then there are classics that the children’s parents and grandparents might know and love like Frank Sinatra’s Fly Me To The Moon. Many of the children themselves will be familiar with the particularly relevantly titled Sky Full of Stars by Coldplay.
It would be lovely to combine this with an art lesson on Van Gogh’s Starry Night or some Aboriginal Australian sky paintings and stories about the night sky, for example.
I think these songs poems etc. have the potential to reach children on a different level to a PowerPoint presentation or a video. W.B. Yeats’ He Wishes For The Cloths of Heaven wouldn’t have quite the same impact if it went something like “Had I the heaven’s embroidered cloths, enrought with an orangey glow and maybe the odd star visible”. This juxtaposition could be used to highlight the impact of light pollution and what we are missing out on as a result of it.
I like the idea of having real, positive actions as part of the lessons – for example the bat boxes and sowing wildflower seeds. I think it is very easy to talk about all the negative issues to do with pollution and forget to take action and promote a positive, all is not lost attitude amongst the children.
How you would engage your learners to explore biodiversity in your local area and the possible impacts of light pollution on local biodiversity.
I think it could be really interesting to begin by doing a biodiversity walk and habitat map of the area. As a class we could explore the area and take note of the possible habitats we come across. Children could then conduct research into the wildlife that could potentially live in these areas.
In small groups, children could then research these plants, animals and insects and investigate what impact light pollution could have on them.
We could then do the biodiversity walk again, except this time surveying what potential sources of light pollution could have an impact on the wildlife. Children could then take action based on what they have discovered – for example ask the school principal to make changes to aspects of our lighting, write to the council with specific concerns, set up a campaign highlighting the impact of light pollution in our area.
I like the idea of the Light Pollution Detectives as it provides a wonderful opportunity for children to go home and do some interesting, meaningful activities with their parents/guardians.
Detail how light pollution is impacting your local area and how you would engage your learners to explore this.
I think it’d be really a really interesting introduction to ask children to draw a picture of what they think the night sky looks like. Afterwards the teacher could show the children images of the night sky taken in our locality (in my case suburban Dublin). I would imagine the majority of children’s night sky pictures would contain a lot more stars etc. than the image of the sky over the city. This could be contrasted with an image of the sky above a dark sky park or reserve. This could act as a great springboard for engaging discussion and research into light pollution and it’s impact in our area.
Following on from this, we could learn about what is light pollution and what impact it has on us and nature in our area. Children could do a light pollution survey in our local area (this could provide a lovely school/home link). After this survey, children could be given the opportunity to “work for Dublin City Council” and do a project on redesigning aspects of lighting in our area. For example, find examples of unnecessary lighting, find lighting that should be shielded etc.
Finally, I think this could be a really interesting, relevant and useful topic to investigate through further project work as part of something like the ESB Science Blast.
I like the idea of getting the children to make predictions. I think it’d be very interesting to see how much children’s predictions change over the year, after they gain more knowledge about the moon’s phases and positions.
Q3 Plan to observe the Moon – which phase of the Moon is best for observing in the morning from school? What dates will that be?
I love the idea of observing and studying the morning moon in school. For something that has such a profound effect on our lives, the moon is something a lot of us understand very little about. Another interesting aspect of studying the phases of the moon is relevance it has to the tides. My school is quite near the sea, and tying the lunar cycle to tide times and heights could be very relevant and interesting for the children.
The waning gibbous seems to be a good phase to observe during school hours at the start of the next school year.
1. Children could observe the moon from September 1st to the 4th between the hours of 9 and midday.
2. Children could use the moon observation log to detail what they have observed and at what time.
3. We could use a printed photo of the sky from the school yard to mark the position of the moon each day
4. We could use the NASA Daily Moon Guidefor observing the moon each day of the year.
5. Outside of school children could complete MDSP Moon Journal at home. this would provide a lovely link with home and get parents/ guardians involved and interested.
I like these ideas. One thing I think could work really well in my school, and I’m sure many others, is to investigate which classrooms are have sunlight streaming into them at different times of the day. We have classrooms with windows facing north, south, east and west. I think this could make for a really engaging, and relevant, study into the sun’s positions throughout the day.
I love the idea of constructing a sundial on our school grounds. This is something I’m going to do next year with my 5th class.
I think it is amazing how little children know about the sun and it’s various positions throughout the day and year, especially considering how much of an influence it has on our lives. This module really made me realise that it’s something I need to focus on more with my classes.
I like the idea of children constructing their own sundials at first and this could lead in to a whole school approach to construction of a permanent sundial on our grounds. This active learning approach should be really beneficial for the children.
As a suburban Dublin school it is a challenge to find an area to build a permanent sundial that isn’t blocked by buildings or trees. However, we are lucky enough to have a single storey extension that has solar panels on the roof. This area can be seen by any of the upstairs classrooms. I think it could be really interesting to have a sundial built next to the panels and it would provide many different cross curricular learning opportunities.