[Una Halpin]

Hi Hilda

The Biodiversity Data Centre site does take a bit of getting used to as there is so much content on the site, that it can be difficult to navigate at first but once you get used to recording, it gets easier. There is a Spring Flowers tracker which has a small number of wildflower species found in spring but to record your wildflowers, trees or most plants, go to Submit a Sighting and then choose the Vascular Plants tab. Once you start typing, the names will come up.  I agree that the actual recording is not something that would be done easily by junior classes, but third class up might get involved. For younger classes, you could record some of what the children observe and photograph on the Whiteboard as Rachel has suggested and then log in under View My Records and show them how their class records have been recorded. Recording the species in class by displaying photographs on the walls is a great idea. The wildlife signs from Biodiversity in Schools are a great prompt for going to look for bugs and a great way to check back on what they found and talk about what they didn’t find and why and how the habitat might be improved to encourage more species.

[Una Halpin]

Hi Rachel

Using the yurt in the school grounds is a great way to inspire creativity in the children. It shows them that engineering isn’t just important for large buildings and structures, but is all around us in our daily lives. I love the idea of getting the children to examine the structure and stabiity of the yurt and the building techniques used in its construction and to use this as a basis for designing and testing mini yurts.

[Una Halpin]

Hi Hilda

That sounds like a fantastic map lesson for senior infants and I am glad that you find the tutorial and Curious Minds / ESERO Framework for Inquiry so useful the I love the focus on your local river and talking about how rivers are represented on Google maps and you have incorporated so many elements from the Framework for Inquiry in considering how pupils can plan the route and what to record.  I also love that you are considering future cross curricular lesson plans on the theme of the river and I hope that the other modules in this course will provide lots more inspiration for lessons.

[Una Halpin]

Hi Gary

Welcome to the course. That sounds like a nice activity incorporating lots of practical maths such as predicting, estimating and measuring. The Cosmic jump is a nice visual way to start off the lesson. The decorating of the tubes as well as incorporating art integration could also involve some research on the planets. By learnign more about each planet, children could consider how to represent this information in a visual form in the decoration of their tubes.  I also like the idea of the children trying to find things that weigh 7kg.

[Una Halpin]

Hi Rachel

I like the idea of linking the topic of light pollution to the plants and animals the children have observed in school. In this way, it becomes more relevant as a local issue and the children can think of it as affecting animals in their own school rather than just a distant problem. Using school assembly to share their knowledge on light pollution with the rest of the school is a great way to highlight an issue than many peope have not thought about.

[Una Halpin]

Hi Monica

I love your ideas for getting the children to share their work in this and other posts. Allowing them the opportunity to share what they have learned with their class and even other classes and their families is a great way to consolidate learning. You have also given great consideration to integrated STEM with using the Globe at Night programme to incorporate Technology and Maths.

 

[Una Halpin]

Hi Mary

I love hearing about all of the amazing Irish Scientists and Engineers in this module and Robert Flower is one I had never heard of. That sounds like a fantastic project on textile engineering inspired by the work of Robert Flower.  I love the idea of a number of Fair Test investigations using different fibres and then repeating the investigations with their woven carpet tile. This is a really fantastic project that involves so many different aspects of STEM with real life local focus.

[Una Halpin]

Hi Aine

I love the idea of the children using iPads to take photos of what they find and to complete projects on some of the plants and animals. It gives them an opportunity to find out information for themselves and to share their knowledge with others. I would caution against the use of Google Lens as it frequently misidentifies species. There are more reliable aps such as Seek, and Flora Incognita. I use ObsIdentify regularly as it bases results by what is found in your area and gives an accuracy rating for each find. I would always cross reference with books, keys or Irish websites and check on biodiversityireland.ie to see if the species is found in Ireland.

[Una Halpin]

Hi Sean

I really like your research question. It is relevant to the children’s local area, has a clear Climate focus and is neither too broad nor too narrow. Your chosen time period of 50 years is perfect to get across the idea that climate is measured over long periods of time and should be long enough for the children to see trends appearing and asking each group to focus on a different decade and report back is a great way of splitting it up and allows for discussion and comparison among the class. Confining it to Dublin is also a great idea as it makes it relevant to the children. I also love the way you bring it back to personal action at the end as it important to empower children and make them feel that they have the ability to take action.

 

[Una Halpin]

Hi Yvonne

Welcome to the course and it is great to hear that you found the first module and the websites so useful.  Curious Minds is a rebrand of the Discover Primary Science website that you used in the past and many of the new activities incorporate aspects of the ones you would have been familiar with before.  Both the Curious Minds and ESERO website aim to make it easier for teachers to find practical resources that align with the curriculum and that can be adapted easily for different class groups so it is good to hear you highlight that aspect. You will also find that most of the resources needed to carry out the lessons are readily available and apart from a few like the telescope, you will need to buy very little specialist equipment or materials

[Una Halpin]

Hi Michael

Welcome to the course. It is great to hear that Maeve Liston’s paper has got you thinking about and reflecting on your own classroom practice and that you are thinking about ways to change your approach. I hope that this course will give you many more ideas for putting your thoughts into action in the classroom and lots of resources that can be adapted to provide ideas for interdisciplinary lessons. You will find this approach very useful when it comes to implementing the new STEM curriculum which values skills such as critical thinking, problem solving and collaboration.

 

[Una Halpin]

Hi Dervla

Welcome to the course. Combining school and home observations is always a good idea as the children get to observe the sun over a longer part of the day instead of just during school time. It is also a great way to involve parents and make them aware of the learning that is happening in school. Asking the children to make observations and record patterns for themselves heps them to understand the movement of the Earth. Graphing the positions and using it as a practical way to link with maths is a great idea.

 

 

[Una Halpin]

Hi Emma

Welcome to the course and thanks for your detailed post. It is fantastic to see how much you have taken on board from the first module and the plans you have for incorporating some of these ideas into your teaching in the coming year. Just a few simple ideas can make a huge difference, such as the prompt for beginning a lesson. By just having something like this to fire the children’s imagination at first, your think pair share or class brainstorm can form part of the wondering process and should yield more depth. I agree that Michelle and her colleagues did a great job on the Fingerprints lesson, taking a very short and simple activity from the Curious Minds website and turning it into a whole school lesson with differentiation for different classes and lots of opportunity for using STEM skills. I hope you find lots more inspiration in the remaining modules of the course for incorporating into your teaching this year and in the future

[Una Halpin]

Hi David

That sounds like a lovely project on a local natural heritage site. I love the idea of building on your scientific investigations and research to cover the different types of writing. Procedural writing on how to carry out a minibeast hunt is a lovely idea and could tie in well with your art idea if the children used natural materials in the forest to create pictures or models of the minibeasts they found. The recount writing on the life of a deer is also a lovely idea. For an older class, this could be expanded to include other forest animals with each child researching their animal before writing and would also tie in with your drama idea if each child played the role of the animal they had written about.

[Una Halpin]

Hi Brid

Welcome to the course. I am glad you are enjoying it so far. As you have said, the very simple idea of discussing the weather on children’s birthdays has so much scope for discussion on seasonal variations in weather but also the short term changes from day to day and leading on to a discussion about climate and longer term variations. It would be interesting for children who have family in other countries or who may have been abroad on their birthday on some years to compare the weather there to introduce the topic of climate zones. As you said, there is so much scope with recording of the weather for differentiations for different classes and abilities from simple techniques for reading a thermometer, to working out where to place thermometers or other weather instruments, when and how to collect the data and how to analyse and represent it.

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