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The Shannon Dophin Center is a place I have never heard off. I will have to look up some resources from there to do with. my class next year.
Sustainability is highly evident in my area by the coast in Dublin. Almost every school has a green flag showing off its efforts in being “green” over the years. There are great cycle routes all around my area heading out from Howth to Malahide to Clontarf. Cycle lanes have been put in around my school as well as the colourful pencils to encourage cycling, walking and scooting to school instead of taking the car.Cycling and walking are prioritised through projects like the Clontarf to City Centre Active Travel Scheme and Sutton-to-Clontarf coastal path, reducing car dependency and cutting emissions. DART and frequent bus services offer reliable public transport links to Dublin, further encouraging sustainable commuting. St Anne’s Park provides an enormous green space for biodiversity, sports, and community events. Bull Island is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve which protects rare habitats and species while offering low-impact recreation like walking and birdwatching. There is currently a ban on walking dogs in certain areas especially in the dunes and by the seal sanctuary at the end of the island.
My local area participates in Super Valu tidy towns, there are many bottle banks and recycling banks around. The local libraries plant wild flowers, local shops use paper or compostable bags.
There is a sustainable market in my locality, a natural bakery and numerous farmers markets.In our school we could teach the children about the local UNESCO reserve on our door step and encourage the school as a whole to walk to school as most children live in the locality.
Laura, great point about the decision making open to children in schools that provide a hot food menu. It is important to teach the children about nutrition so that they can make more informed decisions.
We are an island nation yet i find the numbers of children in my classroom from year to year who “don’t like fish ” astonishing. Convenient highly processed food tastes nicer to them and is often advertised as being healthy when in-fact it is not a healthy option. Making children more aware of nutrition and ingredients, sustainability of food would be highly beneficial. This should be introduced from as early as the infant classes.
Teaching children about the food pyramid makes them aware of what their body needs. This could be done in both SPHE and science based lessons.
Teaching the children that omega 3 fatty acids is brain food is a topic that the children would love to explore and learn about. A rich source of which is found in fish such as salmon.
Teaching of the past and how we were hunter-gatherers and ate from the land and sea would be interesting also as the children might learn the importance of these foods for our ancestors in a history lesson.Colette, I like how you discuss the children in Ireland not living near the coastlines. We find in Dublin we need better resources to make some of our children more aware of farming in Ireland as some of the children are not exposed to this way of life. There would be children living in the midlands not aware of the importance of our coastline and how it contributes to our country.
After participating in this course and exploring the online lessons and resources from The ARC. The ARC resources has given me practical ideas for making STEM more engaging and accessible in my teaching. Mr. O’Mara the professor is engaging, interesting and child friendly. The hands-on, inquiry-based activities encourage students to think critically and work together to solve real-world problems. I can see how these approaches would support the goals of the STEM Education Policy Statement by helping students build key skills in problem-solving, creativity, and collaboration.
As part of the SSE process, I would work with colleagues to review how STEM is currently being taught across the school as STEM is part of my post in my school. We could use the ARC resources to identify areas for development, share ideas, and create more consistent opportunities for students to experience integrated STEM learning. By using these materials and reflecting as a team, we can take small but meaningful steps to strengthen STEM teaching and learning in a way that fits our school context. I like the video about sustainability. This could be integrated in a lot of aspects of our life as well as aquaculture we could discuss land farming, the problems of deforestation, etc. I would use the ARC resources to introduce mapping skills also. I would also look into blue flags.
I like how you focused on teaching the children the importance of local jobs in creating a community feel.
Ireland has an oceanic temperate climate, an ideal climate for the aquaculture industry. There is little variation in temperature and we do not have extremes in our temperatures. The gulf stream warming our waters and providing nutrient rich waters. This provides a rich habitat for marine life such as oysters, Atlantic salmon and mussels.
In Ireland most of our aquaculture farms can be found along the west coast, nutrient rich waters. These areas often have bays, inlets, and Irelands only fjord – Killary Harbour, deep waters and areas that protected from the Atlantic waves. It is in these areas that the earth is often not ideal for agriculture due to its poor soil. Aquaculture farms can bring about and provide primary, secondary and tertiary jobs to rural areas which otherwise would struggle to create jobs and in-turn struggle with depopulation. These farms help rebuild rural communities, giving young people an option to stay where they come from and have a career.
hi Claire,
I like your outlook regarding the teaching of social licence in the classroom. Teaching them the importance of listening to other peoples point of views and working with others for the greater good for all.
There are many potential uses for the tools provided so far in this course. We are an island nation yet we neglect the teaching of the sea in our primary classrooms. Usually there is very little mention about aquaculture and social licence in our schools. These topics would be hugely beneficial subjects to introduce to or broaden our students knowledge of. It is important for us to be aware of the different industries in our countries and how they work. It is important to know where our food comes from.
The course mentions Aquaculture Remote Classroom – the 4 hour workshop that is both engaging and hands-on. It is something different. My school is located a few hundred metres from Dublin Bay and the older classes would love for the ARC to visit or even to watch the BIM videos and do the quizes on the ipads. A little walk to the sea would be fun to find the mussels clinging to the rocks as mentioned in the videos.
The younger classes might enjoy the life cycle of the salmon.
Social licence provides a platform to discuss sustainability, responsibilities as a citizen, fairness and critical thinking.
For the older children the Young Chef Ambassadors or Next Generation Oyster producers are great opportunities to gain insight into jobs that they may never had known existed.
My name is Michelle O’Driscoll,
I teach in a large junior school in North County Dublin, i have second class next year after years teaching infants. I am looking forward to expanding my space knowledge and fun ways to teach the vast topic of space to my class.
One of my favourite space facts is that space is silent. I have included my enquiry based activity in an above comment.
An enquiry based science lesson that I normally do in my class is the parachute lesson: which size parachute works best, which material works best, how long should the strings be and what should they be made off? For a space themed lesson that is enquiry based I would do the following: Children explore the science of rockets by making simple balloon rockets. First, they make predictions: “What will happen if we use a bigger balloon?” or “What if we add more air?” Then they build their rockets by attaching inflated balloons to straws on a string track. When they release the balloon, it shoots forward. The children test different balloon sizes, string lengths, and amounts of air. They record how far each rocket flies. Through guided questions and discussion, they observe that more air gives the balloon more thrust. Children are encouraged to compare results, notice patterns, and explain their thinking. The experiment builds understanding of force and motion in a fun, hands-on way.
I would introduce the lesson of rockets by reading the story Sadie Sprocket Builds a Rocket”. We would discuss rockets, why we have them, how they work and where they go.
I would use cardboard rocket model or a drawing to introduce parts:
· Nose cone (goes first!)
· Fins (help it stay straight)
· Body (holds fuel/astronauts)
· Engines (make it go WHOOSH!)
Interactive Game: “Rocket Simon Says”:
· “Touch the nose cone!”
· “Flap your fins!”
· “Blast off!” (everyone jumps up)
I would then build the rocket mice launcher with the children or get them to design their own rockets in pairs.
We could test them to see which rocket goes the highest, stays in the air the longest or travels the furthest.
