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I would use a hands-on activity for rockets with Junior Infants.
I would start the lesson by showing the children a video of a rocket launch to build interest and curiosity. We would have a discussion about rockets, about what is happening in the video and how rockets move. Following on from that I would read them the story ‘Edward Built a Rocketship’. I would brainstorm with the class: what would make a good rocket ship? How would your rocket ship move? I would provide the children with materials to build their own rocket ships in small groups in order to develop problem-solving and teamwork. The children will have a range of materials that they can use to launch their rocket ships. The children will present and launch their rockets to the class. As a closure to the lesson, I would bring the children outside and do the baking soda and vinegar rocket ship experiment.
These are such lovely ideas for science week. I love the incorporation of storybooks into the different days. I also like that you can then develop some of these themes in more depth as the year progresses.
I really like the idea of this lesson – you could even get a box with fake snow in it and hide the sorting cards in it and then children have to find them in the box before they sort them. Might tie in with the theme and bring a hands on playful nature to the task.
Steps towards a STEM focused SSE, was something that really interested me in this module as it is the area in the new curriculum that my school is planning to focus on next. I think it was really helpful to realise that the elements play such an important role in the STEM curriculum rather than just the strands as that would be something our school planning often used to concentrate on. I think first of all most important thing is too gather evidence in a manner that doesn’t overwhelm staff and children as if it is too intensive people might not engage. A short survey for the staff members and gather information from the pupils through the student council.
Moving on from the gathering evidence stage, an area of improvement needs to be identified perhaps using more hands on activities or inquiry based learning. The implementation is often where SSE can fail in our school as we concentrate on too big a concept or try to do too much too quickly. So I think perhaps a targeted year groups could put in place the STEM focus such as more hands on activities and then the children and teachers report back after a set time and then present to the staff in a staff meeting. The focus needs to be on collaboration and continued improvement rather than doing a hands on activity once and saying that is SSE completed.
I like how you use a range of methods to teach about stars and integrate it into different areas of the curriculum, such as the PE game. It sounds like a fun way to get the children moving. I have used marshmallows and toothpicks before to teach about consellations but some of the children didn’t like the feeling of the marshmallows so I also had pegboards for them to use.
I would use the Space and Aliens activity in my junior infant classroom. I really enjoyed this module as it showed how the topic of aliens can be integrated into the curriculum. Last year, when I was teaching Junior Infants, the first thing they wanted to talk about when I mentioned space was aliens, and I didn’t know how to incorporate the topic into the curriculum.
I would use the storybook ‘Aliens Love Underpants’ to introduce the topic. I read this story with my class last year and they loved it. I would then use the knowledge from the previous lessons on planets to ask the children which planet they think the aliens come from. The children will then be given a range of materials, such as playdough, the junk art box, paper, and colours, to create an alien/martian for a planet. For a digital literacy aspect, they could use the sketch app on iPads to design an alien, but we currently don’t use iPads with our infants.
I really like this idea as it works well with the new curriculum integrating the outdoors and digital learning. You could also make a short video of the shadows and how the chnage during the day using the ipads and videocut app.
I would teach the planets to Junior Infants. I would start with a mat-time discussion about space and planets to gauge their knowledge. I would play the planet rap ‘We are the Planets’ by StoryBots. I think it provides lots of information about the planets and the order of the planets in a fun interactive nature. I would then play the game ‘guess the planet’ – where I would demonstrate by describing a planet (information gathered from the song) and then the children guess which one I am talking about. The children will then play in whole class or small groups. I would then pass out their playdough and, in pairs, the children would make a planet using playdough and their partner has to guess which planet it is. Extension activities could be a cut-and-paste ordering of the planets or ordering the planets in a line (children are given a picture of a planet and then stand in the correct order).
I will be working with Junior Infants. The inquiry-based activity I would do would be looking at the moon and how it has craters.
I would introduce the topic through the song ‘Zoom Zoom Zoom, We’re Going to the moon’ along with the actions. I would then put some pictures of the moon on the board and, through use of a puppet I would model and answer questions about the moon and its craters: ‘How does the moon get craters? Why do they look that way?’
Hands-on activity – Create craters by dropping objects such as a marble into a tuff tray of flour and cocoa powder or for a less messy activity, could use playdough. Provide different objects such as a ping-pong ball or bouncy ball and compare the different widths and depths of the craters. Could drop from different heights also.
Mat time—discussion on their learning and findings.
Extension – Salt dough moons.
I really like this idea – it is a great way to get infants engaged using a story book to introduce a topic. I have used zoom to the moon, here we are and made among the stars with infants before and found them really good to developing questioning and introducing the topic of space. I love the idea of using the puppet and torch and ball – this is something I will test out. I made salt dough moons with my infants last year. If you give them a round piece of thick cardboard and and ball of salt dough they can make a moon in any of the phases they want.
I think this is a really important lesson and it is something I also experienced in 6th class when we did our end of year projects.
I like that the children would be working in pairs or groups and they finding the inaccuracies themselves as it makes them far more aware and active.
I would suggest doing this lesson with younger classes maybe 3rd class throughout a school and then building on it with developing an understanding of why and how errors happen.
This lesson would be for the class stage 3rd Class
Curriculum area: SSE and STEM. The children will be able to research and recall facts about Australia, whilst understanding that AI is an everyday tool but can make mistakes and develop the skills to question it.
AI concept: Accuracy and Bias
Activity – This is an activity we do in our school in 3rd class, where the teacher present a powerpoint with information about Australia. I think a way to improve and to integrate the STEM curriculum, would be to use an AI tool to create a information sheet about Australia and then children would use Britannic to verify the information. They could work in groups to organise the information into correct and unfound. The whole class will then come back together and create a shared chart of their findings.
Question: How do we know the information provided by AI is correct?
One responsible-use consideration – The children will learn that AI is a useful toolthey should question it. They will learn that should not include AI generated information without checking from another trusted source when researching.
By working in groups the children will discuss and question and then as a whole class work we would discuss and question our findings
I would gather evidence of learning through observations, discussion and whole class chartI chose the demo Bad connections, I feel online safety is extremely important and is going to become more and more integrated into all curriculum areas.
The world helps children to learn how to make safe internet choices – through peer driven interactions and narratives. As they move through the world they encounter different realistic situations and they decide how to respond to them. It provides the children with internet safety dilemmas in an interaction and educational manner. The demo provides children with dilemmas and information regarding sharing personal information and how to stay safe online.
The lesson plan is clearly laid out and has supporting documents – the extension games are very good. The lessons goal is that the learners will recognise, respond and report unsafe online interactions. It does it in a way that is not scare mongering rather using a lot of peer voice and interactions to promote online safety which is very good.
I originally chose this lesson as it is an area that I feel is really important but I haven’t found any materials that the children fully engage with regarding internet safety. I often find the materials can be a little instructional rather than engaging and involving the children. This lesson worked well as it talked to the children from a peer point of view but also works on developing a trusted adult which integrates well with the weaving wellbeing program. I think it would work well in the new curriculum Wellbeing and STEM sections.
I would use this lesson – I would do work from the weaving wellbeing program on emotions and then integrate in this lesson. This lesson would be for 6th class students.
I really like the idea of this lesson, I often find music a difficult lesson to teach as I am not very musical so I am always trying to find new ways to teach it. I also agree that it is very positive that they are teaching it through exploration rather than combat. I also feel you can do a lot of lessons after where the children have hands on musical instruments but also could tie into come geography lessons.
I really like the sprites you used as they are nice and colourful and child friendly. The games ties in well with your learning objective of developing hand eye cordination. Perhaps a way of developing the game would be to have a sprite they are trying to avoid as it would also help increase their hand eye coordination and problem solving skills.