Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
We can definitely help change things in regard to light pollution, I really believe that the majority of the public are just poorly informed on the hazards of LP and the simple fixes that we can all help to implement – shielded light fittings, changing bulb type, turning off outdoor lighting, using sensors – are all simple ways to help fix this problem! Not to mention how these simple steps would help towards cutting our ESB bills also!
I love the idea of a visually supported checklist, this makes it so much easier and accessible for the younger classes and children with additional needs. Writing and spelling can often get in the way of the fun and freedom of an outdoor field trip!
How you would engage your learners to explore biodiversity in your local area and
the possible impacts of light pollution on local biodiversity.I would initially spend a lot of time teaching about Biodiversity – what it is, why it is so important and what threats it faces. This would take place over a number of lessons. I would then arrange an active explore lesson around the grounds of the school, children would identify areas of biodiversity and they would investigate and record all the plants and animals they can find.
A homework activity would involve the children exploring their own gardens at home or an area near their home and recording the biodiversity there.
We could include our findings on biodiversityireland.ie.
Follow up lessons would be on Light Pollution and how it affects the biodiversity in an area. I would get the children to survey the school and identify all of the artificial light sources. We would bring together the information and have a class discussion on how these light sources could be affecting the biodiversity that we had previously surveyed – foraging time, navigation, bird song, migrating birds, plant growth, insects.
As a conclusion to the lesson I would encourage the children to design posters/create a simple display on convincing others to protect our Biodiversity, informing people on the hazards of Light Pollution. We would also compile a list of possible improvements that could be made around the school grounds in relation to Light Pollution and present these to our Principal and caretaker.
Detail how light pollution is impacting your local area and how you would engage your learners to explore this.
I live on the outskirts of a large town and am lucky enough to have access to a number of areas locally that let us see much of the beauty of the dark sky. I am keenly aware, however, that there is so much more out there in the night sky that would be visible under the right conditions. I have a vivid memory of being at the Gaeltacht in rural Connemara during my teacher training and when we arrived back to the accommodation late one evening we literally couldn’t believe our eyes, the wonder of the night sky was there in all its glory! I could see thousands upon thousands of stars in every area of the sky – it was like being inside a real life snow globe, only being surrounded by stars, planets, comets etc. It was a most magical moment that I have reflected a lot on this week and I will definitely aim to visit a Dark Sky location in the very near future!
Light pollution is certainly impacting my local area, there is a constant glow in the direction of the town, and certainly this gets worse on a cloudy evening. I understand now that it is the moisture in the clouds causing this! I am also aware that it has an impact not only on humans, but on nature and wildlife too.
I have learned that there are some easy fixes to some aspects of light pollution and having looked around my immediate locality I am happy to say that there is evidence of this in my area – the street lamps are fully shielded and they have a warmer tone of lightbulb. The security lights at the local GAA pitch accross the road turn off during the night. We have also fitted our own outdoor lighting with drive up sensors, so they only activate when necessary.
I would teach the children in my class about light pollution and how it affects humans, plants and animals alike. I would encourage them to look at their own homes/areas and see can they identify any ‘Dark Sky Friendly’ lighting. We would also do a school survey to see if our lighting systems comply.
I really love the videos that ESA have provided on this course. They are so child friendly and the visuals really aid understanding of how things work in outer space! They will definitely be my go to videos anymore.
Create an observing plan for autumn that shows which planets are visible in the evening sky.
Initially I would teach some explicit lessons on the compass directions and being able to locate NSEW in any location. I would teach the children how to locate this using the sun in the sky (sunrise/sunset) and also using a compass. I would get the children to do this as a homework exercise and become familiar with the locations of N, S, E, W as it applies to where they live. I feel that there would need to be support from home in relation to this and that would be a nice opportunity for home-school collaboration!I will help the children become familiar with Stellarium and together will identify what to look out for each evening. I will also help the children to understand that the weather has a big impact on our ability to look at the night sky and we will become familiar with consulting weather forcasts and use this to select suitable evenings in autumn to stargaxe. We will decide on evenings that are suitable and as part of homework I will get children to go out and try to spot certain planets in the night sky. They will record what they see using a simple journal.
I would also encourage the children to try and spot particular constellations. I would teach them how to use a Star Wheel and to get familiar with the proximity of one constellation to another. They could also record this in their Star Gazing Journal and report back the next morning!
I would envisage that this above activity could take place weekly/fortnightly depending on both weather and on what can be seen at a suitable time for the children.
I am really excited about this, I have always star gazed myself and this has given me an opportunity to examine how I could share this with my students!
I love the fact that the tubes can be from recycled materials. All too often I feel that I have to buy the styrofoam spheres to replicate the solar system with the children in my class and they are so expensive and it honestly doesn’t feel good to be going out buying them. The tubes have given me an alternative way of thinking about teaching the solar system and including the concept of gravity too.
Plan how your students could “observe and record the positions of the sun when rising and setting and at different times of the day”
I really love the idea of this. I feel that it would need to be done across the whole school year and would perhaps work best in the senior end of the school. I would introduce this year long project with the children by bringing them out to the yard to discuss and observe where the sun is in the early morning and how it moves (or the earth moves!) throughout the day. I think that it would be useful to spend a week in September just observing this fact. We would then plan on where best to photograph the sun and the times of day. This could be carried out by different children over the various seasons. It could be assigned as a class job to 2 children each week, to photograph and document the position of the sun at a set time, from a set position on the yard. A class record could be built up over the months and reflected upon, making predictions as the year progresses.
I would teach discrete lessons on the seasons and how they work to compliment and enhance understanding.