[Shannon Wilson]

Hi Patrick,

Welcome to the course. I really like how you would begin with the trigger question about frost, as this connects the movement of the Sun to something pupils can observe directly in their own school environment. Using the chalk to mark where the frost begins at 30-minute intervals is a very creative way to make changes in sunlight visible. Creating a time lapse on the iPad would also add a strong technology link and help pupils see patterns over the course of the day.

I particularly like how you would use this to address the misconception around whether the Sun or Earth is moving. Comparing observations around the winter and summer solstice would be a lovely extension. Your reflection on Liston’s paper also captures the value of prediction, analysis and learning through mistakes – this is something I also find is really great for students and adults alike! We can all sometimes be afraid of getting things wrong, and its great that STEM foregrounds curiosity and exploration over this.

Thanks for sharing and hope you enjoy the rest of the modules.

[Shannon Wilson]

Hi Amy,

Welcome to the course. I really like that you have connected light pollution to changes you have personally noticed in your local area over time, particularly in relation to the visibility of stars and nocturnal wildlife. This is a great anecdote to engage curiousity with your pupils.

Your idea of pupils carrying out an evening survey from home is very strong, as it would help them connect the topic to their own environment. Recording sources of artificial light in residential areas, roads, parks and nearby countryside would support observation, mapping and comparison skills.

I also like the idea of comparing local findings with a Dark Sky Park or Reserve in Ireland. Asking what prevents an area from becoming a Dark Sky place would encourage critical thinking and discussion. The practical solutions, such as timers, lower-intensity lighting and downward-facing lights, would help pupils see how local action can make a difference.

Thanks for sharing.

[Shannon Wilson]

Hi Sarah,

Welcome to the course. I really like that you would begin by asking pupils what they already know about planets and whether they think any can be seen from Earth without a telescope. This would be a great way to spark curiosity and discussion.

Using Stellarium in class is a strong idea, as it allows pupils to explore the evening sky safely and identify which planets may be visible before they try observing at home. Comparing real observations with Stellarium would also help pupils notice patterns and understand that the night sky changes over time.

I particularly like the home observation element with an adult, as it creates a lovely home-school link. Adding details such as weather, direction, brightness and whether the object twinkled or not in their records would also help pupils compare observations more closely.

Thanks for sharing and hope you enjoy the course.

[Shannon Wilson]

Hi Aoife,

Welcome to the course and thank you for sharing your reflection. I really like how you have connected the learning from Module 1 with practical, inquiry-based STEM activities rooted in the children’s local environment.

The link with Birr Castle and the Great Telescope is especially strong, as it shows pupils that scientific discovery is not just something that happens far away, but can be connected to their own locality and heritage. Exploring light, shadows, the Moon, planets and telescopes through hands-on activities would give pupils lots of opportunities to ask questions, make predictions, investigate and share their findings.

I also like your idea of using everyday materials to make a simple telescope or investigating how shadows change during the day. These activities would really support curiosity, creativity, problem-solving and collaboration, while helping pupils see science as something active and accessible.

Hope you enjoy the rest of the modules.

[Shannon Wilson]

Hi Laura,

Welcome to the course. This sounds like a lovely activity plan. I really like how you would begin by exploring what children already know about maps and encouraging them to ask questions about what maps can show.

Taking a walk around the school grounds is a great way to make the learning concrete and meaningful. Identifying familiar natural and human-made features such as trees, grass, paths, gates, the playground and school building would help pupils understand how real places can be represented on a map.

I also like how you would introduce GeoHive in a simple and guided way. Locating the school, zooming in and out, exploring aerial imagery and comparing it with pupils’ own maps would help them develop a sense of place and scale. The inquiry questions, such as “What is near our school?” and “How does our area look from above?”, would encourage observation, discussion and curiosity.

THere is also a lot of lovely cross-curricular links here with art and design – the maps they create could be layered or combined to create one large collaborative design.

Hope you enjoy the rest of the course.

[Shannon Wilson]

Hi Rosaleen,

Welcome to the course. I like your idea of pupils carrying out some initial research before starting, as this could give them more ownership and help the students arrive with questions they genuinely want to investigate.

The presentation element would also work well, especially if pupils are asked not only to explain what they found, but to suggest practical future actions for their class or school as you suggested. This could strengthen the Engineering Design Process by encouraging them to identify a problem, propose a solution and consider how it might be tested or improved.

Your point about differentiation is very important too. A new words sheet in the classroom would support pupils in accessing the key ideas more confidently.

Thanks so much, hope you enjoy the rest of the modules.

[Shannon Wilson]

Hi James,

Welcome to the course and thanks for sharing such a thoughtful reflection.

I really appreciate your nuanced point that while pupils should feel their choices matter, they should not be left feeling that solving climate change rests on their shoulders, as that could be quite overwhelming especially for young pupils. Your idea of beginning with the concept of our shared home is lovely and meaningful. Exploring food, travel, waste and water would help Junior Infants connect big environmental ideas to things they experience every day too.

I especially like your HSCL link and ideas for bringing the learning beyond the classroom. Inviting parents and grandparents to share their memories could create a rich intergenerational project. It also recognises the knowledge already held within families and communities, which is a lovely way to make climate learning feel hopeful, local and shared.

Hope you enjoy the rest of the course.

[Shannon Wilson]

Hi Donal,

Thank you for sharing such a great research question. Food waste is a strong focus because it connects directly to pupils’ everyday school experience while also opening up wider discussion about climate change, food production and greenhouse gas emissions. I like how your investigation would begin by helping pupils understand why wasted food matters, rather than simply treating it as a classroom management issue.

Your plan to record uneaten lunches across classes over a month would give pupils meaningful data to work with – and the follow-up stage is especially strong. By designing messages for assembly or parents, then repeating the audit, pupils would see whether their solutions made a measurable difference. This gives the project a real sense of agency and impact.

Hope you enjoyed the course!

[Shannon Wilson]

Hi Richard,

I agree that this activity works well as a natural next step after pupils have explored the difference between weather and climate. As you have suggested, the Paxi video and temperature prediction tool would help pupils move from basic understanding into thinking more deeply about future climate scenarios and the impact of emissions.

Your point about visual learning is important too. Seeing predicted temperature changes can make the data feel more concrete, especially for 5th class pupils who are beginning to interpret graphs and connect climate learning across Geography, SPHE and Maths.

Your suggestion of adding an Irish case study is excellent. Looking at possible impacts on Irish weather, biodiversity or coastal areas would make the learning more relevant. The Green-Schools link is also strong, especially if pupils use their findings to design a practical carbon-reduction action for the school, as you’ve suggested.

Hope you enjoy the rest of the course.

[Shannon Wilson]

Hi Grace,

Welcome to the course. Thank you for sharing a really clear and practical approach to creating a School Pollinator Plan. I like how you have broken the process into manageable steps, beginning with forming a Pollinator Team that includes pupils, teachers, the Green Schools committee and the caretaker. Having the whole school community involved would make the plan much more sustainable.

Mapping the school grounds is a great starting point, as it helps pupils identify what is already there and where improvements could be made. I also like the idea of logging actions on the Actions for Pollinators mapping system, as this shows pupils that their work contributes to a wider national effort, and empowers them as citizen scientists.

Hope you enjoy the rest of the course.

[Shannon Wilson]

Hi Aimee,

This sounds like a really strong design-and-make project, and I love that you would use the suspension bridge in Birr Castle Demesne as the inspiration. Beginning with photographs of a familiar local structure would help pupils connect engineering with something real in their own environment.

The challenge to design and build a bridge that can span a set distance and hold a given weight is a great way to bring STEM learning together. There are lovely links with Science through exploring materials and forces, Engineering through designing and testing, and Maths through 2D and 3D shapes, angles, symmetry, parallel lines, tables and bar charts.

I also like the emphasis on reflection at the end. Asking pupils to consider what worked well and what they would change next time really supports problem-solving and engineering thinking. You could also encourage groups to compare which design features helped the strongest bridges succeed.

Hope you enjoyed the course.

[Shannon Wilson]

Hi Lauren,

Welcome to the course.

The photograph of Christmas on a beach in Australia is a brilliant hook, as it immediately gives pupils a real-world reason to wonder why it can be winter in Ireland while it is summer in the Southern Hemisphere.

I also really like how you used practical demonstrations with a torch and globe, as well as the ‘human axis’ game to get the students both learning and moving. It sounds like a lot of fun while also helping pupils visualise the Earth’s tilt and understand how different parts of the Earth receive different amounts of sunlight.

The One Year on Earth model sounds like a great next step, as building and tracking the Sun-Earth relationship across the year would further consolidate understanding. Looking at satellite images would also strengthen the geography and digital learning links.

THanks for sharing and hope you enjoy the course.

[Shannon Wilson]

Hi Heather,

Welcome to the course. Thanks for sharing such a detailed and well-structured autumn observing plan for your senior pupils. I really like how you have broken the activity into September, October and November, as this would help pupils understand that the evening sky changes over time.

Your observation record is particularly strong. This would support careful scientific observation and help pupils compare evidence from week to week. The Autumn Planet Diary would be a lovely way to consolidate learning and present findings. Including the reminder about adult supervision and never looking directly at the Sun is also very important. The solar eclipse yesterday showed us that many people still do not know these important things.

You could strengthen this further by using Stellarium in class before the home observations, allowing pupils to practise locating Saturn and compare the predicted sky with what they later observe. A shared class sky map or planet diary could also help pupils identify patterns across the autumn months also.

Thanks for sharing, and hope you enjoy the course.

[Shannon Wilson]

Hi Sean,

Welcome to the course. Thanks for sharing your response.

I like that you would begin with a whole-class discussion and encourage pupils to think about areas near them where excessive lighting may be an issue. This would help make the topic relevant to their own lives and local environment. Linking light pollution to the loss of our view of the night sky is also a very accessible way to help children understand why dark skies matter.

Looking at Ireland’s Dark Sky areas would be a lovely visual comparison and could prompt discussion about how different the night sky can look in protected areas. To develop this further, pupils could carry out a simple light audit of the school grounds or local area and suggest practical ways to reduce unnecessary lighting.

Hope you enjoy the rest of the course.

[Shannon Wilson]

Hi Ciara,

Welcome to the course and thank you for sharing your reflection. I really like how you have highlighted that STEM in an infant classroom often happens very naturally through play, curiosity, exploring and everyday activities. This is such an important point, as young children are already developing STEM skills when they build, sort, predict, compare, test and problem-solve.

Your examples are very clear, especially linking Science with water, plants, animals, light and materials, Maths with counting, sorting and patterns, and Engineering with block play and construction. I also like the simple teacher prompts you included, as these kinds of questions really support inquiry-based learning in an age-appropriate way.

Just a small note, it looks like some formatting code copied into your post. When copying from Word or another programme, it can help to paste as plain text by right clicking in the text box.

Hope you enjoy the course.

[Author]

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