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Hugely important to make it relatable for our students. In the past, we have held litter picking events, we have also used the Picker Pals programme, the students take home the picker and try to do a more local litter pick with family too which most seem to enjoy.
My research topic would be What impact does low cost fashion have on our climate? Our senior class recently engaged in a project where they repurposed old clothing into something new. They showed a natural curiosity in fashion and I feel this would be a good area to move onto. They could look at fashion over time and how we now source clothing in a more furious way than ever before. As part of their mini company they could host a jersey swap shop or a costume trade stand .This could be an ongoing concept to fit in with the many different occasions such as Christmas jumpers, sports equipment, etc. The older students have also shown an interest in creating/up styling their own clothes so we could look into sourcing a group to hold a sewing workshop with them. We could also use the community bus to visit local charity shops.
In recent times satellites such as the International Space Station (ISS), EIRSAT-1, Starlink, ADEOS II and a Chinese Space station called Tiangong have passed Ireland. I found the
Satellite Tracker App really interesting and definitely one I will use on the I Pad in school with students who have a special interest in Space related learning.
The ISS is one of the brightest and most frequent satellites over Ireland. It was conducting ongoing microgravity experiments, Earth‑observation studies, and supporting astronaut operations as it orbited overhead.
Starlink have been passing in clusters, performing station‑keeping, calibration, and network optimisation as they passed Ireland.
The Chinese satellite Tiangong was supporting Chinese scientific research, including materials science and Earth‑monitoring experiments
All of these satellites were carrying out a range of scientific, communication and observational tasks as they passed over Ireland.
One which may be of most interest to our students is the Irish satellite the EIRSAT-1 which was completing its Irish‑led research mission, detecting gamma‑ray bursts and solar flares while sending data back to University College Dublin.
I really enjoyed the video Home by Jann Arthus Bertrand. It was nicely put together, showing how spectacular Earth is. I was saddened though to see how much damage, we as humans are doing to the planet. It is rather upsetting, but as they say, the truth hurts. It is an impactful video which I think could be shared with older classes. It is sad to think that so much harm has been done which is irreversible. In terms of harm such as deforestation, we can work harder to plant more forestry. We need to practice what we preach and be a more sustainable school environment. Our students need to believe that change can happen, and it will help the future of our planet. I think it is important for our students to be aware of the challenges but in an age-appropriate way. We also need to be honest and we can do this across all class levels without fear mongering.
I thoroughly enjoyed the video. I am only disappointed I’m only coming across them at this stage in my career. The video explained in a child friendly way the impacts of green house gases and how these gases are impacting our environment. I thought it was very positive for the video to explain to us all- young and old, how we can impact change and help to protect our planet going forward. While teaching 4<sup>th</sup> class, I would firstly conduct a KWL group chart, to gather our current knowledge. I would then show them some videos to promote discussion. We would explore the prediction tools, the students could use their devices in class to explore this further. As we engage with Creative Thursday initiative, I would encourage children to pick an area in the world to explore climate change and how this may impact the daily lives of people and animals. At the end of the month, they can report back to their peers and share their learning.
I think referring to their own lives is so impactful, across all learning. If they can relate it to their own lives its more ‘real’.
I agree Sinead, the idea of a year long project will help students get a more detailed view of weather patterns. They could also have a relook at a later stage in their school journey. The integration across the curriculum will be essential as the revised curriculum is rolled out.
STEM Reflection & ESA Activities (Junior Infants)
Liston (2018) highlights STEM as an integrated way of thinking rather than four separate subjects, which aligns naturally with Junior Infants’ exploratory, play‑based learning. In my classroom, STEM emerges through a natural curiosity, questioning, simple predictions, and hands‑on investigation. This has other cross curricular links with Gaeilge and weather recording and reposting in literacy. The ESA activities Nose Up High in the Sky and Weather vs Climate suit early learners because they use observation, noticing, and comparing—core skills at this age. I would adapt them through sensory exploration, daily weather discussions, and simple pictorial recording. To incorporate digital literacy, they could also create their own weather forecasts.
Setting up a Junior Infants weather station in our school grounds would foster STEM skills such as observing (science), using simple tools like rain gauges (technology), constructing shelters or windsocks (engineering), and counting/measuring rainfall or sunny days (maths). As a small rural school with large grounds, we have able areas to create weather stations and we also have a good bank of resources to help make them from scratch such as paper cups, straws, bottles, cans, etc. I would share children’s weather logs, photos, and simple graphs on Google Classroom which may foster discussion at home to further expand their curiosity. As a means of modelling collective practice and building whole‑school engagement with weather and climate learning, the older students would be encouraged to develop their own skills at their level. Peer tutoring and mentoring would also be hugely beneficial here.