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Question: How can farming and nature work together to protect our climate?
I choose this question as my school is in a rural area surrounded by farmland. We have recently invested in renewable energy within our school and children are interested in learning about solar energy due to our new solar panels and also the solar farms that are now in our locality. I also wanted to provide a hands on and positive research question as I believe that some children can become overwhelmed when investigating climate. This research question provides children with hands on ways we can protect our climate.
Pupils will investigate the relationship between farming, biodiversity and climate change by exploring their local rural environment. Through collaborative inquiry, observation and discussion, they will discover that sustainable farming practices can support both food production and environmental protection.
Activities I would incorporate:
Looking at images of land around our school and naming what it is being used for.
Use satellite/ aerial imagery to research land around the school.
Research positive ways farmers can protect climate: hedgegrows, wildlife, renewable energy etc.
Invite a local farmer to school and interview him/her on how farming has changed over the past few years and what he does now to protect his land and the climate.
Engage in a bio diversity survey around school/ locality grounds.
Design and display a ‘climate friendly farm’ : children are encouraged to include trees, wildflower meadows, solar panels, hedgegrows etc.
Finally, children would present their findings and ‘climate friendly farm’ to the wider school community.This is a great research question as it is practical and children would experience success after implementing a variety of strategies to reduce plastic. Children would also be more likely to reduce their use of single use plastic at home too.
Download the Teacher Guide & Pupil Activities for the ESA Resource ‘ Nose High Up in The Sky, carry out the pupil activities yourself and post your thoughts on the resource and if you would use it in class. (150 words)
This is a great lesson that focuses on active learning and provides plenty of opportunity for discussion and collaboration amongst pupils. Children are given the opportunity to investigate images, discuss observations, identify patterns and justify thinking. This encourages higher-order thinking skills such as analysing, comparing and interpreting evidence. The activity naturally promotes collaborative learning, as pupils work together to solve problems and explain their reasoning.
I personally like how visual the lesson is with children observing a variety of images to support their learning. The resources provided make this lesson accessible for a wide range of pupils with opportunities for teacher to modify the lesson for a younger/ older class.
With a younger class children could research the appearance of cities vs rural areas from satellite images whereas with older classes this lesson could be extended for children to research how changes in the environment are monitored by satellites.This lesson also integrates well across the curriculum and provides opportunity for the use of digital resources.
This is such a great idea. Pupils would love researching satellites that are above their locality. This activity gives pupils the opportunity to incorporate technology into their learning.
The video clips in this module were thought provoking and inspiring.
The movie HOME is fascinating with a powerful message. The aerial photographs that capture how everything on Earth is interconnected is a great stimulus for children. I would not show the full movie to children instead I would select certain minutes of the movie and ask the children to look and respond to the images they are seeing. The message of the future of planet Earth relies on how we as humans treat our planet is inspiring and thought provoking. To ensure that pupils understand the importance of this message and the responsibility that we have as citizens of planet Earth we would engage in many hands on activities. Children would complete a school climate audit and share the results with the wider school community eg: waste and recycling bins check, leaving lights on, school travel etc. We would then discuss ways in which we can improve our school climate such as encouraging children to walk, scoot or cycle to school.
I have taught pupils about Greta Thunberg in the past and children relate well with her. They admire her bravery and ability to communicate her opinions. She is a positive role model as children learn how they can respect and protect our planet from her. I would engage the children in completing mini projects on Geta Thunberg.I agree that although this is a very important topic to teach children it can be overwhelming for them. I have experience of this with a previous class becoming quite concerned about the climate and future of our planet. I really like the idea of encouraging children to do what they can to help our planet. It is a positive approach to teaching such an important topic.
Activity Three Climate Reporters is a really interesting lesson that encourages collaboration and critical thinking. I found the Paxi video to be very informative and child friendly. I believe that all children would achieve the learning objective of understanding and explaining greenhouse gases after watching this video. The use of the Teal visualisation tool is a great way to introduce technology into the lesson
I would teach this lesson to a senior class. I would begin the lesson by discussing what we already know about greenhouse gases, climate and weather.
As a whole class we would watch the Paxi video on greenhouse gases and I would ask children to share what they learned from watching the video.
I would divide the children into groups and provide each group with a chromebook to access the Teal visualisation tool to research climates around the world. I would encourage children to compare and contrast between dates of the past and future eg the climate in Ireland the year you were born, now and in another 12 years time.
I currently teach in a rural school surrounded by farming land. When the children are completing the worksheet I would encourage them to think of something relative to them such as farming. Children could answer the question about how the increase in global air temperature by 2050 would effect farming.One extension to the lesson would be to encourage the children to list the ways we can help the planet and reduce greenhouse gases. A positive conclusion would be to plant trees with the children. When the trees are established we could move them to an area on the school grounds or the children could bring them home.
I think this is a really interesting debate to have with your class about the trees being cut down for the use of cycle lanes. It makes it more interesting for children when it is an experience from their own community.
Having read Liston’s article, I feel encouraged to teach STEM as an integrated subject providing pupils with many opportunities to problem solve, discuss, collaborate and to be creative. I wanted to focus on STEM this year with my class and didn’t really know where to start so I think it’s a great idea to use the children’s own experiences and incorporate their voice into lessons. This will ensure they are motivated throughout lessons.
I really liked both activities listed as part of this assignment.
Activity one provides plenty of opportunity to develop language and for children to work together. In order to ensure children reach objectives with the worksheet we would discuss weather and climate as a whole class. I think the ‘weather on your birthday’ question is great as it is something the children will remember and makes the lesson meaningful to them. The addition of making and using weather stations to further investigate climate and weather is something my pupils would really enjoy.
Activity 2 : ‘Weather detectives’ already sounds fun from the title. Children love to investigate and record information. This is a really hands on task and encourages use of pupils voice which I think is great. I would integrate this with data and children would present the information they have gathered in a variety of ways : block graph, pie chart etc.