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Our school is currently in the process of trying to get the funding to put solar panels on our roof so this could be really interesting for our kids to look at the importance of them and the impact that they can have. The SEAI also do really good workshops with classes on how to conserve energy in schools and at home you can apply for them to come visit your school for free.
Question: How does population increases affect the biodiversity in an area?
Our school is located on the outskirts of west dublin where urban crawl is a very prominent in the area, land that a few years ago was farmland has seen a number of developments in the last 5-10 years. With this the population of the area has significantly increased too.
We would use satellite imagery to compare the differences in the area over the past ten years and compare them to photographs of the area similar to the landmark idea in one of the climate lessons shared.
A large biodiversity study was carried out in our area in 2016 we would use this data to compare to data that we will gather by carrying out field surveys of the flora and fauna that are found in our area.
We would then look at the census information to gather information about the population of the area at different intervals. Using this information we will make comparisons between the human population at the time and the flora and fauna present in the area at the time.
We would then generate ideas as to how we could protect the flora and fauna in the area and make posters sharing our ideas
I was struck by this during this module too that if the satellites aren’t retrieved will there eventually be too many satellites up there and put restrictions on future satellites being sent up. That article you’ve linked about space junk was very interesting. The question around the sustainability of the practice is interesting. My class this year found the launch of EIRSAT 1 in December very interesting
I downloaded the ESA resources ‘From the ground and from the sky’ and I thought that both the teacher guide and student resources were fantastic. I love the activity where the children are matching the images from the different viewpoints and I think this would lead to fantastic conversations with the children about what the different images could be used for and why each viewpoint is important and how it could be used in real life settings. I also think the satellite images could be used to integrate really nicely with history & geography and compare an area using images from different times, you could explore urban sprawl, development of roads and infrastructures etc. I have previously done a lot of work with kids about the ISS and they always love the topic. There are fantastic resources available and the kids favourite is always the videos of Sunny Williams giving a tour of the ISS and showing what life is like when you’re living up there. This resource and the EO browser would allow you to delve more into the actual work that’s being done up there and the different things that they may be studying
I think the idea of a water conservation game is a great idea to actually draw the children’s attention to how much water they’re using and how tasks can be completed using less. I can remember myself once there was a problem with the water at my house so the taps were dry and we had to use bottled water for a couple of days and I couldn’t get over how much water we were actually using when you were watching the bottles empty it seemed to highlight it a lot more that just using a tap all of the time.
A key message that stood out for me from both Greta Thunberg’s TED talk and ‘Home’ is that we know what needs to happen, what we need to change but it’s our willingness to do so that is getting in the way of significant change. The point Greta made about people saying she should become a climate scientist and find the solution but the solution already exists. Unfortunately I think it summarises a big issue here in that most people want to slow down climate change, most people understand the risks and results if we don’t but people don’t want their lives to be inconvenienced to do so. When listening to Greta speak about how come this massive threat to human existence is here but we’re not taking radical action it made me think a lot about the COVID-19 pandemic, the world came to a stand still, every government brought in extreme measures to protect human lives and it makes me question is it just because it was threatening the lives of people who live now where as the threat from climate change is less imminent, the people who it will really affect won’t be able to stop it so it’s up to us to act now.
As a 6th class teacher I think there are definitely parts of the HOME video that I could share with the class, I know there are very real concerns about eco-anxiety and the impact that this has on children but at the same time I think we can’t completely sugar coat it as it is serious and does need action. I think decisions would have to be made on a class by class basis what the teacher deems appropriate. I also think consultation with parents is essential here a) so they can support their child if they’re feeling anxious or worried and b) we can implement changes in school as much as we like but with buy in from home too and support it would lead to far more beneficial change.
I think the Paxi video linked here was really informative and child friendly. I wasn’t familiar with the Paxi videos and I’m interested to see what other topics they have covered as I found this one was very well pitched. It was child friendly without being too babyish which I find can be hard to achieve for 6th class students.
We are currently making a school garden and there is a greenhouse being constructed so this could allow for a nice introduction to the lesson going out to the greenhouse making observations about it and identifying what it’s purpose is. This video would then build nicely from that. I think getting the children involved in identifying ways in which they can help the planet would be beneficial for them and exploring the different commitments from countries across the world to reduce their greenhouse gases and initiatives in place to achieve this. I think this could link in really nicely with some persuasive writing work in English where the children could try to persuade others to do their bit to contribute or they could write persuasive letters to politicians etc about Ireland’s efforts.
The tool for predicting future temperatures would be very interesting for the children and show them in real life context the effects. It could provided nice opportunities of integration of maths looking at data, creating graphs etc.
I like that you said that the article provided a reminder of what STEM should look like in our classrooms. I definitely think critical thinking and problem solving is key to worthwhile STEM activities. Sometimes the best learning opportunities arise from real life problems and discussions that arise daily in classrooms.
I agree I think the use of birthdays could lead to really interesting conversations and allow the children to find patterns. It’s also providing meaningful links for the children rather than just talking about a random November day they would automatically be more engaged when it’s significant to them.
I think all of these activities would give great real life context for a lot of maths topics such as data; creating and reading graphs, finding average, Measures, positive and negative numbers and lots more.
I found Module 1 was full of useful resources and videos that I think I will get great use out of in my classroom. The article about STEM being more than an acronym I found very interesting. I agree I think STEM is definitely the buzzword that’s getting thrown around which in some ways I actually think is taking away from what true STEM should be. Everyone feels as though they’re doing STEM by just doing an activity that incorporates one or two elements. Even reflecting on my own practise I think the engineering element has been loosing out and needs to be focused on more.
I thought that the 2 ESA resources were fantastic so practical and there’s no need for fancy resources or anything. I love the idea of the weather station and I think that by the children creating their own weather instruments would really help them buy into it and lead to more meaningful engagement. As a 6th class teacher we’re always looking for ways to allow 6th be leaders in the school so it could be a nice way that they could teach the younger classes about their instruments and their findings.
I thought the Weather V Climate resource provided lots of meaningful opportunities for integration across the whole curriculum. There’s lots of lovely literacy, maths, geography activities outlined and I find one of the most challenging parts of covering any topic is finding time but when you can do worthwhile integrated tasks it leads to more effective teaching and learning for the children