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That is a really good point about encouraging children to think about aquaculture as a STEM career. We are an island nation and in terms of sustainability and healthy eating aquaculture is an important area.
I hadn’t considered how aquaculture was the same as agriculture in a different environment. Working in a coastal area making this link would be a good way to engage the children in aquaculture.
You could easily make a link between migration in salmon and migration of other birds and animals. The fact sheets on salmon were very interesting. The children could be encouraged to think about how salmon must be adapted to their lifecycle eg their size and weight. I think this would foster a greater appreciation for a product that is so commonly seen in our supermarkets.
The geography syllabus has strands on working and industry in your local environment. I hadn’t considered aquaculture as an industry that supports so many different jobs.
The historical aspect of aquaculture would also interest children. I have often told children about methods of preserving food eg smoking or salting. Fish is probably one of the few foods commonly preserved like this.I did Starry Night with the children last year and they really enjoyed it and create lovely artwork. Didn’t know it was an anniversary this year.
I never thought of searching for a failed rocket launch to explore what is needed for a successful one.
How would astronauts exercise in space could be a starting question for children to create their own games or activities.
Some ideas I would like to try for Space Week this year are.
PE / Music : Space Race Planet Dance Song by Danny Go. Hip Hop Astronaut by Go noodle
Art Appreciation : Ann Kenny makes books a Wexford artist has some lovely imaginative artwork featuring the sky
Ipad time : ESA space themed games.
Oral language and Art: The Space Week site had a lovely idea of the children working in pairs. One child pretending to be a Martian and the other child interviewing them to illicit a description and then drawing the alien. I would use it as a starting point for a lesson on how we live on earth and how an alien would have to adapt to live in space. The children could then create their own aliens and explain their design and where they would live. Twinkle has a design a planet worksheet as well. Some work on the solar system and planets would have been done before hand. There are some nice activities on Stem.org.uk and Explorify.uk
History: I would show the children some images from the lunar landing and as part of a mouse rocket explore how to get it to land in a particular area. There is a fun lesson on Teachstarter.com about designing a safe landing for an eggnaut from ESA. More suited for older classes but would be fun to try some time.
Maths: The are easy co ordinate space themed lessons on Teachstarter.comI never considered sourcing websites / apps with language choices for children with other first languages. That’s a great point.
I liked the Esa Spacecraft assemble and the Milky Way Match games for the younger classes. They had a short activity with quick results, perfect for the attention span of younger children. They were also great for giving bitesize information while the children are completing an activity. They also gave an opportunity to practice visual and motor skills for junior classes. Follow up activity locating the satellites on the Orbitrack app could be explored. Milky Way match and the Space Memory Game are perfect for junior infant classes.
I have to admit that I found it difficult to control the Paxi spacecraft in the Space Cleanup and the Solar System Explorer games and died repeatedly! I am sure the children would be far better at it. The Catch the Craft game was easier to control and I think they would enjoy the destructive side of it. It requires concentration and impulse control which are important skills for children to develop.
Overall I liked the Esa games site as it allows for children of varying abilities to choose and work at their own level and learn about space in an indirect and engaging way. Even if they all don’t understand the language or names they are becoming familiar with them.
Unawe.org was good for older classes perhaps. Catchy titles and activities like Your Birthday on another Planet. I really liked the activities on Marvin and Milo and will try them when I have an older class.The activity I chose is Draw Your Own Constellation. I would start with a discussion about what people would have done at night before electricity , tv etc. to show the children the importance of storytelling and the connection that people had with the natural world. Light pollution could be brought into this as well as dark sky reserves. Then I would tell them some myths and legends about the constellations from in-the-sky.org.
Following that I would show the children simple pictures and names of constellations and ask them to match the picture and the name and to explain their choice. This should help them to visualize connecting the stars to create a whole image.
I would then use Stellarium to show them the night sky. Stellarium gives you an option of viewing the night sky with or without the constellations marked. I would ask the children to try and spot constellations before revealing them.
I would use dot / graf paper at the start when encouraging the children to create their own constellations. I think the structure may help them create a picture and could tie in with math. It may also help them understand that they are not a perfect outline of the intended image. At the start their partner could join the dots to reveal their constellation. When the children are more comfortable creating their constellation they could draw some free hand.
Follow on activities could be night sky art drawn with the children lying under their tables and their paper tacked above them or a creative writing / storytelling activity creating their own constellation story.
