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Hi Alyson
I really like your idea of keeping a weather diary. There are great opportunities for integration with SESE and it would be very interesting to track weather changes in general. Often there could be four seasons in one day lately!
Climate change is huge global issue that is now visible in our local area here in Dublin. In recent years, we’ve experienced more unusual weather patterns—intense rainfall leading to flooding in local areas like Harold’s Cross and Rathfarnham, and longer, drier periods in summer that affect local parks and gardens. I am from Roscommon and my family were badly affected by recent winter storms and had no water and electricity for days. This had huge impact on local services in the area.
To help pupils explore this issue, I would start with a local climate inquiry project. This could include investigating changes in local weather data. We could invite environmental speakers or parents who were experienced in this field to come and take to the pupils in the school. I know there is a local group in our area Dodder Action that is concerned with cleaning and protecting our local river. It is very positive example of a community responses to ecological changes with our own local area of Terenure.
Three actions we could take to make a difference:
1. Continue to develop our biodiversity garden in the school to support pollinators and local wildlife.
2. Organise a “low-carbon week” with no single-use plastics, walk/cycle-to-school days, and meat-free lunches.
3. Create a student climate council to lead awareness campaigns and green initiatives year-round. We already have a green team and student council but a climate council might have further impact within our school.
In our local area in Terenure, they have set up the Terenure Community Support and Integration group in 2022. They provide English lessons, host playgrounds, crafts, evening walks, outing and inclusive events for all migrants and local people who are interested. Their Wednesday English classes, and community meet up offer language learning but also create social connections and build community links. I know of the CSI, the City of Sanctuary Dublin helps schools and local groups to create a culture of welcome and inclusive projects that promote integration.
In the past few years, we have had an increase in children living in direct provision attending our school. Often, they have to take buses to school and can be moved to another centre but then have to travel to our school. We take great care to ensure they feel welcome and safe in our school. We meet with the parents and use translation apps to explain school routines and provide uniforms and other essentials that we think they may need or benefit from. We provide after school activities to these children and endeavour to make our school as supportive and as welcome as possible.Thanks for sharing your story. What an incredible journey for a young boy and his brother to face. Hopefully they will both continue to thrive with ongoing community supports
Hi Elaine, I really like how you’ve grounded the topic in real, recent events—like the impact of Storm Éowyn—as this makes the learning immediate and relatable for pupils in your class. I also really like the use of group research to encourage your pupils to work collaboratively and take ownership over their learning.
One Sustainable Development Goal that resonates deeply with children at both local and global levels is SDG 13: Climate Action. Climate change is hugely important and it is something children are experiencing tangibly through more extreme weather, threats to biodiversity, and environmental changes locally here in Ireland. Just this week there are wild fires in Crete in Greece. Globally, they hear about climate action in the news and may have visited these places on holiday or experienced extreme heat in Europe during the summer.
To engage pupils and support ESD to 2030 Priority Action Area 5—Accelerating Local Level Actions—I would begin by link in with our Green School’s Team. As a school through the Green Team, we could explore local environmental issues such as plastic waste, food miles, or energy use in our school and wider within our community. In the past we have organised walk to school on Wednesday, planting in our school garden and trying to reduce our school waste and energy. This helps to empower students to realise their actions can affect positive change within their local community and globally. This whole school approach can easily be linked to our whole school self-evaluation plan.Hi Joan,
I agree, I think it is hugely important as teachers that we empower students to defy limiting expectations and help students realise that gender should not be a barrier to achieving goals. By constantly challenging gender ‘norms’ children will hopefully empower children to have a broader perspective and experience in education.
Gender stereotypes can begin to influence children’s thinking and self-perception from a very young age, often without them realising it. In my own school, I teach in an all-boys school and often see gender stereotypes in role play activities in the classroom. As a school, we strive to encourage all students in non-gender roles, for example we have a dress up area with ‘female’ traditional roles such as nurses, moms etc in Aistear, and encourage boys to take on different roles during playtime.
We strive to make our pupils aware of gender stereo types and try to counteract it by introducing female scientists, male nurses, or leaders from underrepresented backgrounds—we can challenge children’s assumptions about what is “normal” or expected based on gender. I try to structure group work that assigns rotating roles (e.g., leader, reporter etc. This helps to ensures that all students have equal opportunity to develop confidence and take initiative. Furthermore, discussions around fairness, equality, and empathy—core to Development Education—help pupils critically examine stereotypes they encounter in media, school, and society. By making these biases visible and discussing them openly, we can empower our students to think more freely and broaden their understanding of gender.
Hi Alyson & Jackie,
I think that this is global citizenship and developmental education is often woven into the fabric of schools. Classrooms are ever increasingly diverse and so many positive examples of global citizenship happen every day in classrooms.
The Role of Global Citizens in Today’s World reminds us that we live in a very interconnected world, therefore it is hugely important that we foster a global outlook within our pupils. I really liked how the paper highlights that Development Education cultivates students’ critical awareness of global inequalities, climate challenges, and human rights issues, while also nurturing attitudes of empathy and resilience.
To teach development education in my class, I would start by weaving global case studies into existing lesson, looking at the global news. In previous years, we would often watch new2day which would highlight topical global issues that we would then discuss in class. I would encourage students to explore real-world problems—This supports SSE by strengthening the quality of learning and teaching—students engage in deeper, more meaningful work and develop higher-order thinking skills. Celebrating different cultures within our school and community would also be very important in development education. It is vital that children appreciate and experience other cultures and traditions.
To actively engage pupils in this research, I would begin by making the topic relevant to their everyday lives. Air quality is something that directly affects their health, especially if they or someone they know suffers from asthma or allergies for example last year I had two to three pupils who suffered from this condition last year. Starting with a classroom discussion about what they already know like traffic congestion, or even how they feel after walking near a busy road—helps build personal connections to the topic.
Next, I would involve them in data collection through hands-on activities such as measuring air quality using portable sensors or tracking traffic patterns near school. We could compare results from different locations and times, and analyse the impact of things like school runs or public transport. We could easily utilise the School’s Green Team to collect and collate data from all classes.
By allowing pupils to present findings and suggest solutions to other classes they would be empowered to become more sustainable.I downloaded the Satellite Tracker by STAR walk and got a week’s free trial. It tracked satellites around the world. It allowed you to see what satellites were currently visible and allowed you to track satellites and get notifications of when they would be visible again. It locates everything by co-ordinates, and it gives you lots of details of satellites. It is really fascinating. I was also had no idea of the number of satellites there were. I think the children would really enjoy looking and tracking satellites in space. I discovered that the following satellites have passed over Ireland recently.
1. EIRSAT-1 (Educational Irish Research Satellite-1)
2. Starlink Satellites (SpaceX)
3. International Space Station (ISS)
4. NOAA-20 (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration-20)
5. Copernicus Sentinel-1A
I really like Diarmaid how you aim to spark your pupils’ curiosity by beginning with thought-provoking questions—this is such an effective and get pupils brainstorming and thinking critically right from the beginning.
Your use of visuals like maps and videos is also a great way to support different learning styles and bring global issues like deforestation and climate change closer to home and in particular their own locality. The idea of incorporating group discussions and hands-on tasks, such as creating models or simulations, will definitely make the learning experience more interactive and effective.
I really liked your focus on creating a supportive learning environment where every child feels heard. Linking the topic to local initiatives and pupils’ own communities is a powerful way to help them see the relevance of their learning and how deforestation can impact on their own locality in lots of different ways.
Hi Diarmaid,
I also found the ‘Nose High Up in The Sky’ a very useful tool to use in the classroom. I think the lessons are very applicable to all classes. It makes complex atmospheric science accessible and engaging for students. The balloon experiments will certainly capture the student’s imagination and curiosity. I really liked your idea of creating more opportunities for students to design their own experiments. Encouraging this kind of student-led inquiry would definitely deepen engagement and foster creativity, while also connecting classroom learning to real-world scientific practices.
Hi Tara, I agree with you, Home is really visually stunning. I really liked your idea of using inquiry-based learning and group projects is excellent, as it gives students ownership over their learning while encouraging collaboration and critical thinking. I also think I will use project work with my class next year when showing them clips from this movie.
I also liked cross-curricular approach. Connecting Geography, Science, and SPHE provides a holistic understanding of environmental issues, while also allowing for creative expression through posters, drama, or digital tools. These approaches make the learning accessible, memorable, and impactful.
