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I think the phrase ‘the commonality of emotions’ is such an important idea to install in children especially when there is so much division and othering in the world today.
I notice gender stereotypes when the children have free time or golden time and can choose an activity. The girls seem to have far more freedom to choose what they would like to do. Often some boys with stronger personalities and who like sports, football in particular can greatly influence the rest of the boys. There is a definite stereotype that boys would rather be outside playing football than doing art, drawing, writing stories, playing games or reading. Lesson 2 could be used to begin a discussion about stereotypes and the assumptions that we make. It could also be used to help give children a voice to identify and assert their own preferences. It could also expose children to a range of likes and dislikes and realise that your preferences are fluid and can change depending on mood and circumstance.
From the video in the slide previous to the paper on Global Development I learned that the aim of Irish development aid and programmes is to create a fairer playing field where people receive the supports and resources needed to help themselves. I think this is an important message for Global Development education. Children are naturally acutely aware of fairness and everyone being given a chance. Showing them that people are not different but that their circumstances are is important especially with the rise of racial right wing rhetoric.
The paper on Global Education emphasised the need to foster a sense that we as humans have a natural connection with each other and a symbiotic relationship. Exploring similarities between the lives of children in other cultures and countries is a central theme in the junior classes SESE subjects. Exploring how resources such as water and power are managed in other countries could help children understand their value and our role in using these resources responsibly. This could tie in with Global development education. The extreme weather events now in Europe also reinforces that this is a global issue needing a global cooperative solution.
As a whole school we teach the Croi na Scoile programme which educated and celebrates festivals, religion and cultures from around the world. I think it is an important part of Global Education to be exposed to the wealth and variety of joyous celebrations around the world. Many of these celebrations have common themes and celebrate the natural world.This is a fantastic idea. I imagine the children absolutely loved it. Children don’t seem to get a lot of opportunities for make and do but when they do they really enjoy exploring materials and using their imagination especially in groups. It is important to allow children to discover value and use in discarded or used material. It also promotes individuality in their ideas and designs.
I really like the three rules ‘ look after yourself, nature and each other ‘ . It is a lovely simple mantra for young children. In the junior classes children have a natural desire to cooperate and to help others. This mantra would help foster a sense of community with a shared value and goal.
I have scrap boxes for the offcuts of paper, cardboard and material used during art. The children know to look in the scrap box first before they use a new sheet. A small thing but its made them more aware of not wasting materials.
I don’t live near my workplace but the area where I live has a lot of active environment friendly groups and initiatives. The local tidy towns plant a lot of window boxes and flower beds in the village each spring and summer. I have noticed they have recently been planting more pollinating plants rather the traditional bedding plants. There are also several areas left grow wild around the village marked with signs like Pardon the weeds, we’re growing food for the bees. The annual best garden competition has an emphasis on wildlife friendly gardens and has published a list of suggestions. There is a weekly litter clean up. There is a local habit of picking up washed up rubbish, ropes and plastic on the beach as people walk on the beach. This seems to have happened organically as people have seen others doing it. The council regularly pick up the rubbish from the car park. The council has changed the lighting to more environmentally friendly lights and the Christmas lights are now turned off sooner. I have noticed more and more people are participating in no mow May.
Some of these initiatives could be brought into the school area like no mow May or wildlife friendly corridors. When planting with the children pollinator plants could be chosen. A small water feature could be placed in a corner of the school grounds. We have participated in Spring clean litter picking before.
Promoting school / home links in conserving water and power and avoiding food waste could be explored. Maybe making younger children sustainability ambassadors. I was really interested in the slides on sustainable labels. I didn’t understand what they really meant and had no idea that dolphin friendly and dolphin safe were two different things. I had never heard of Origin green labels. Displaying these in the classroom would help children recognise this labels when shopping.The parents in our school are very diligent about their children’s lunches and most children will have a protein (usually in a sandwich), a carbohydrate and a dairy portion. Rarely however do children have a seafood in their lunchbox. The healthy food for life PDF was very informative, particularly the portion sizes and the different recommended portions for children and adults. It would be helpful to parents trying to give their children a balanced and varied lunchbox. I learned that of the twenty-nine ammino acids we need nine of them cannot be produced by our body and must be obtained through our diet. These nine amino acids can be found in seafood which is why it’s referred to as complete proteins. Slide 16 clearly shows the incredible amount of minerals, vitamins and amino acids found in seafoods. I also learned that fatty fish such as halibut, salmon and mackerel contain vitamin D. Salmon really seems to be a superfood being high in Omega 3 as well. The BMI seafood handbook was full of information, but I liked that it had a clear image of the fish under its name.
I will have a younger class next year so perhaps a simple body shape on a wall chart with the vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, proteins etc needed by different parts of the body or functions eg protein helps the immune system, energy, building muscles etc. We could then look at various foods and discover which foods give us which benefit. For younger children it could be ‘helps me run faster’. The children could discover how healthy seafood is.This is very true. Many healthy bars in lunchboxes are full of sugar when you look at the ingredients.
I think that this course has really shown ways to spark children’s curiosity in aquaculture. The first online course video on the ARC resources would be a great conversation starter on aquaculture. If the volume was muted and you paused the video at certain parts you could initiate imagining, question and exploring skills about aquaculture eg Describe a farm …. Are there any other types of farms, what would a sea farm look like, how would it be similar / different to a land farm, what kind of animals could be farmed, crops grown, how could you catch and keep them, how would you care for them, how would you harvest them, what machinery would you have. Each question would generate more questions and discussion. As a pre learning assessment the children could design their own sea farm in groups. As part of using skills and content knowledge to creatively solve problems the children could brainstorm the questions / solutions to how you would keep the animals or crops. Collaborating and engaging with inquiry and analysis would happen naturally throughout this. For innovating, designing and making the children could design and / or explore designs for aquafarms eg mussel ropes, oyster trays, fish cages and the materials used and attributes needed for suitable materials. Testing and modifying their solutions could come after learning about aquafarming and viewing the video uninterrupted and with sound. They could modify their solutions as part of a post learning activity.
‘STEM is interdisciplinary, enabling learners to build and apply knowledge, deepen their understanding and develop creative and critical thinking skills with authentic contexts. ‘
As part of the STEM curricular integration encouraged by the SSE linked activities could include language lesson on ‘aqua’ prefix and words associated with the sea. Some forum posts had great ideas on designing a menu or packaging for marine produce. This would link with language, creativity, graphics and art. Geography would be central when looking at the location of aquafarms. Graphs could be created based on choice of seafood. Lessons on the foods and diets of other cultures and countries would integrate with History and Geography.Getting the children to research or create fish recipes or meals is a really great idea to extend the lesson and create links with the other jobs supported by aquaculture.
I really like the idea of getting the children to design a label for a fish product. It would be interesting to see what ideas the children would come up with to entice other children to try fish. It would also be a nice way to assess the children’s knowledge of fish farming.
71% of the worlds surface is covered by water most of which is salt water. Only 29% of the earths surface is covered by land. Currently 65% of Irelands land is suitable for agriculture and most of this is already in use however as an island we have a large area of sea suitable for aquaculture.
Not all of Irelands land is suited to different types of agriculture. Mountainous coastal areas in the south west, west and north west do not have land suited to dairy, arable, livestock or mixed farming. Agriculture is possible in these areas but with mountainous regions and bogs as well it is not best suited to it. However their coastal access to the Atlantic makes then ideal for aquaculture. Erosion on the west coast of Ireland has created peninsulas, bays and inlets which are suited to aquaculture. These parts of the country are also traditionally areas of high emigration due to a lack of employment opportunities. Working with the natural landscape and resources not only gives opportunities for industry and employment but also places a value on this landscape and resources. Employment in these areas allows people to remain in these areas keeping schools, local shops and other business viable and helping to regenerate these areas. This also leads to further investment and facilities.
