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Sustainability in my local area Drogheda is a really important part of everyday life. We are surrounded by community and government led initiatives which as a school we can introduce to our children. We have recycling centres, tidy towns, biodiversity projects and Green Schools to name a few. All these initiatives make a positive difference in our community.
As a teacher I think Sustainability should be explored through enjoyable hands on experience experiences rather than simply being thought in the classroom. I would first start by contacting the our local library or Louth Co. council to find out a out local initiatives and what they do to promote sustainability in our community. I would invite or visit local volunteer initiatives e.g. Friends or Bully’s Acre where children can find out the hard work and effort that goes into looking after our community.
In school as part of our Green School’s campaign I would encourage active litter picking challenges,create posters to promote sustainability and monitor waste and energy usage in the school.
I would hope that by giving children hands on experience and showing them that we all have a responsibility to care for our environment it will make them more care and active citizens in the future.There are many opportunities for children to see how sustainability is practised in my local area. My school is situated in Drogheda and there are plenty of local initiatives which we can be involved in such as recycling programmes, community clean ups, biodiversity projects and Louth County Council environmental initiatives.
As a teacher I would get children to investigate the many local initiatives in their town. A great place to start would be by contacting the local council or library and enquiring about ongoing and upcoming initiatives taking place in the area. I would also contact the Friend’s of Bully Acre a volunteer initiaitve near our school which have restored and maintained an old cemetery, which was used to bury workhouse paupers over 150 years ago. By inviting people to come and talk about what they do or visiting these areas children will be able to get a real sense of the work that people do in our community that contribute to sustainability.
As a school we could also organise litter picking challenges, go on nature walks and biodiversity hunts, recycling competitions and visits to local gardens etc.
As the Green School’s coordinator we already hold pre-loved clothing sales during Halloween and Christmas, we create posters promoting sustainability, monitor waste and energy consumption and we work alongside the parents council to help us to communicate our message to the wider community, I think that by making sustainability interactive for children it helps them develop a genuine sense of responsibility and pride in their local community.
I like the idea of taking part in class debates and persuasive writing. This is a great way to encourage children to further research the topic and come with their own opinions as to why healthy eating is important. I also like the idea of presenting these nutrients as brain fuel.
On reflecting on this module I think that Seafood is an excellent way of introducing children to idea of healthy eating. Showing children that what they eat will help improve their brain development, heart health and overall growth is extremely important.
To explore this with children it is important that the lesson is engaging, relatable and fun. In the classroom children can build a healthy seafood plate, children could be seafood nutrition detectives, play a feed your brain game or create an eat well from the sea poster. There are a lot of lessons that would facilitate children’s learning whilst also tying in with curriculum links to sese and sphe.
As a green schools coordinator I would also get my team to create a visual display showcasing the importance of seafood and of it’s many nutritional benefits.I also agree, as a Green Schools coordinator these lessons will add to arich bank of resources that bring STEM into the classroom. They will also teach children about real world issues and how people and communities find solutions to these problems using the environment around us.
The online lessons provided by ARC cover the principles of STEM perfectly. The four lessons allow for inquiry-based learning, problem-solving, collaboration and critical thinking, all of which are key principles of the STEM Education. The online videos I think children will find fascinating and informative and be able to apply to the real world. I also think it is beneficial to all children to understand that these types of food have nutritional value and are good for their health.
I love the idea of establishing a marine/aquaculture team and it will tie in nicely with our Green Schools especially as our flag this year is Global Citizenship Marine Environment. Children will be able to explore the benefits of aquaculture through hands-on experiments and possibly a visit to an aquaculture producer. A deeper understanding of why aquaculture is so important for sustainability will help to understand the impact it has globally. I would also hope to have ARC visit our school and give children the benefit of real expert knowledge.
The online quizzes are also great and I think they would be a good lesson for children to do with their family as it will also teach adults about aquaculture, nutrition, history and how it benefits our community.
I was also curious about the conditions for aquaculture farming and that Ireland for all it’s dismal weather is the perfect location for fish farming. Living in the East Coast the socio economic benefits of fish faming are not something that I would have any considered. It is great that we can turn beautiful yet hostile landscape in the West into a profitable and sustainable buisness.
Living in the North East, we are not as exposed to aquaculture farms and hence I’ve never really thought about where they are located and their contribution socio economically to coastal communities. The East coast of Ireland is lucky in that our land is suitable for dairy and arable farming and we do not suffer from excessive rugged terrain. It is great that the West Coast offers the right environment for producing seafood, sheltered bays, clean water and suitable environmental conditions.
This type of farming provides our restaurants with beautiful seafood to the delight of seafood lovers. It makes me proud that these are Irish and that we are known for our excellent seafood offerings. What makes it even better is that this provides employment and supports local business in rural areas that would not be considered economically viable otherwise. It also keeps a tradition alive whilst protecting our seas from over fishing.
I can see many cross curricular links that can be used in the primary school setting Geography, maths and SPHE. Children should be encouraged to study the Irish landscape and the different type of farming in Ireland and gain an appreciation and wide understanding that all these farms contribute to our economy, our traditions and our wellbeing.I agree with you too. Many children rarely get to see a conventional farm let alone a fish farm. Using ARC to bring this concept to Urban or inland schools is an excellent way of giving children a more round view of the world. Fish farming can also be introduced when looking at sustainable development goals with children.
I think that the teaching of Aquaculture is an excellent way of introducing children to the concept of fish farming, why it is important for our future sustainability, how it protects natural habitats and why it is important for the economy. There are a range of classroom based activities e.g. videos as shown in this module, investigations such as carrying out a sustainable fishing lesson, looking at data for overfishing data etc. I would also like to explore our locality and introduce children to aquaculture on their doorstep. We are close to a number of beaches and very near to Clogherhead. Also a visit from ARC would be an amazing opportunity to bring the sea to the classroom. Social licence is also an important term that children should know, young children have a heightened sense of what is fair and showing them how and why it is important to care for their environment is paramount.
HI Katie,
I think this is a really worthwhile question to ask. Children need to be reminded and taught about the effect of litter in the environment. This is such a real world problem that children need to be equipped with the appropriate language to be able to encourage and challenge people/family who litter in the sider environment. Their projects would act as a reminder to our local community that it is not someone else’s job to pick up after you.
The research question I would pose to my class would be ‘How does the weather affect the plants and animals in our school garden’. On trying to come up with a research question our school recently installed an outdoor classroom and enclosed garden area. This would be the perfect question for younger children to take full advantage of our new space.
I would start by reading the story Sunshine by Cassie Mayer. This will introduce the idea that weather changes in a simple informative way. There are also plenty of pictures for the children to engage with and ask questions. In the first week, I would set up a simple chart we can fill in as a class, we would observe the weather in the morning and afternoon for five days and see if we notice any changes. This will help them get a sense that the weather changes often.
After spending a week discussing the weather indoors through stories, songs and observations I would then introduce the idea of the outdoor garden. I would pose the question of what things we would hope to find in the outdoor garden. Using these responses I would then pose the question what effect would the weather have on the different plants and animals in our garden. I would put them in groups with a tablet for taking pictures, a magnifying glass and a chart for ticking off any animals and plants the might find.
After investigating the outdoors on a dry day I would wait for a wet day to go out and explore the garden again. Can the children see any changes to the plants and animals. With this research I would make a big poster for display where children can write/draw their findings.
Hi Niamh, Yes I think that this is a powerful tool that we should equip our children to be able to use. It will enable to ask questions about real life issues and make their learning more relevant to them.
I used the Satellite tracker to track the satellites:
It detected the following satellites passing over Ireland:
1. Starlink-30512
2. Starlink-33548
3. Starlink-22514. Eirsat-1
5. Starlink -1506
All these satellites hold important information but I think I would be inclined to study the Eirsat Satellite as it was developed in Ireland by UCD and involved many students. There is also a lot of footage on you tube that will help children to visualise the Satellite from it’s conception to it’s launch in December 2023. The satellites main experiment is to measure Gamma Ray Bursts in the solar system. This may lead children to question what else can Satellites do e.g. observe what is happening to Earth from space. This would allow to explore Climate Resilience especially when equipped with solid data that can used to show how changes can be made.