[Una Halpin]

Hi Jack

This is a good question as it relates to a local climate problem and is not too broad. It would be nice to be able to include an outdoor element to it rather than just growing the plants in the classroom as watering the plants doesn’t accurately reflect what happens in the outdoors where there are many factors that would affect the absorption of rain and the amount of rainwater stored in the ground. Perhaps you could add in an element where a number of the same plants are grown in 3 outdoor beds or planters. One planter could be covered with an umbrella during some rain showers or when rain was forecast overnight to simulate drought, one could be given extra water to simulate heavy rainfall and one could be left as the control. The height of the plants could be measured to check on growth rates and the data could be compared to your rain gauge data. Your plan to have the children do some research on past and predicted future rainfall amounts  and presenting their work to other classes would be a great Phase 3 for your project.

[Una Halpin]

Hi Giolla

I wasn’t aware of Portumna Swing Bridge and it sounds like a fantastic inspiration for an engineering project. Your mention of a swing bridge reminded me immediately of my years in the Girl Guides and all of the times we built and used a Haymaker’s bridge to cross small streams and ditches. https://www.pioneeringmadeeasy.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/Haymaker.pdf. Amazing fun!

[Una Halpin]

Hi Giolla

Well done on registering your garden with the All Ireland Pollinator Plan and for taking steps to welcome more pollinators into your garden. I have planted several species of herbs in my garden and they are very popular with pollinators and your other actions in adding some native hedging, leaving some areas unmown and creating bee habitats will be great for allowing pollinators to survive in your garden year round. It is great also that your school is taking action to help pollinators and that you plan to do more. Although you are not already registered with the AIPP, it would be a lovely idea to add your actions to the map to share the work that you are doing.  Using maps to help plan your actions and mapping and recording the changes from year to year will be a great learning experience for the whole school and as you said, a great way to spread the word and inspire the children’s families and others in your community.

[Una Halpin]

Hi Deirdre

Arthur Leared is yet another Irish Scientist that I had never heard of so it is great to learn about his important contribution to the field of medicine. His work is a lovely inspiration for the study of sound in your classroom and I love the idea of the children designing their own stethoscopes.

[Una Halpin]

Hi Declan

Using the Bog of Allen for a cross curricular project is a lovely idea that would help to draw attention to the importance of preserving our bogs

 

 

[Una Halpin]

Hi Robyn

That looks like a great video to start a project on sundials. I didn’t watch the full thing, but I did skim through and there seems to be some great information there on both the history and science of sundials. A discussion on what they have learned would be a great way to follow this up. As you have introduced the ideas in the video and the children should have some idea of what is needed to create a sundial, perhaps you make this a Design and Make project rather than just providing them all with the same materials. You could ask them to discuss what materials they might use to construct their own sundials and draw out a plan.  They could then assemble some materials from home, perhaps augmented by a selection of materials that you have in the classroom, and construct their sundials in class on a later day either individually or in groups. Allowing them to choose their own locations to place the sundials and evaluate the location they have chosen afterwards would complete the activity.

[Una Halpin]

Hi Mary

I love the idea of incorporating facts about the planets into the design of the planetary tubes to incorporate both independent research and creativity.  This could form part of a lovely display for a school science fair as part of Step 5 of the Curious Minds awards or a demonstration for other classes. Using videos from the ISS of working in zero gravity is a lovely way to help explain the concept of gravity.

[Una Halpin]

Hi Megan

This sounds like a lovely experience for your pupils and I like the combination of school work and home observation. Carrying the project on at select times throughout the school year is a nice idea as is the idea of giving different groups of pupils the task of observing and recording the moon. Having each child involved in turn will be a great way of ensuring engagement throughout the process. There are so many other cross curricular classroom activities that you could tie in with these moon observations throughout the year. In September, you could cover the lunar cycle but to tie in with the other periods of observation throughout the year you could do a different moon related activity each time covering gravity, tides, the history of the moon landings, music, art or poetry inspired by the moon, creative writing etc.

[Una Halpin]

Hi Aisling

Thank you for your comprehensive post about light pollution, especially your personal anecdotes about the effects of light pollution on your own sleep and that of your parents.  If your pupils too are living in a mixture of town centre housing estates and darker areas this would be a great way to explore light pollution by getting them to observe the night sky at home and do a survey of lighting and compare their experiences. I think you are right about so many animals being confused, not just by light pollution but by the constant destruction of habitats that are pushing them into more urban environments. Security is something that is often used as an excuse for excess lighting and while this is true in some cases, there is no reason why a shop or office building or a private garden needs to be completely lit up all night long and better lighting design can ensure the safety of people walking on the streets at night without causing excess light trespass or skyglow.

[Una Halpin]

Hi Tommy

I admire your commitment this project by organising a night time field trip to study light pollution. I imagine that this would be difficult to arrange, but perhaps if you got support from a local community group, astronomy club, bat group or a tidy towns organisation that are committed to protecting biodiversity, you could make it a joint project where children would come with their families to learn about the night skies or nocturnal animals and you could continue the learning in school through your projects to research the effects of light pollution on native species of plants and animals and your awareness raising campaign and advocacy for better local lighting design.

[Una Halpin]

Hi Christopher

Taking photos of the street outside the school is a good idea. You could first get the children to assess the street during daylight and see what they think of the amount and direction of the lights and then show them the photographs you took. Getting them to assess the lighting in their own area and take photos is a great idea as is using what you find to come up with solutions and take action.

[Una Halpin]

Hi Robert

Stellarium is a great resource and I’m sure that the children in your class will really enjoy working in groups to explore the night sky using Stellarium. Starting off with a discussion of what the children see in the night sky is a nice starting point. I’m sure that they will talk about the moon and stars, but I wonder how many will mention planets. A great way to extend this would be to get them to look for constellations that would be visible to them and then go home and look for them at night.

[Una Halpin]

Hi Laura

I think that story of your trip to Fraser Island would be a lovely one to share with the children in your class when talking about light pollution. You could ask them if any of them have had any experience of looking at the stars when visiting another part of Ireland or another country. Those stories could be used as a way to illustrate the difference between light pollution levels in Dublin City and other areas. Creating a questionnaire for homework is a great idea as it would be suited to your own area and as all the children would be answering the same questions it would be a great way to compare light pollution levels in the different areas where the children live.

[Una Halpin]

Hi Mairead

I’m not sure if you plan to bring the children on a walk during the day to identify light sources or to set them the task for homework of walking or driving with their families at night.  Both would work well. You could walk as a class to identify where lights are and photograph them or even add them to a street map and then some of the children could revisit the areas at night to assess the amount of light pollution caused by the lights.

[Una Halpin]

Hi Mairead

That sounds like a lovely plan. A discussion on the differences between urban and rural areas is a good idea. I don’t know whether your school is urban or rural but if you have pupils living in both rural and urban areas, getting them to look for the same constellations in the night sky might be a way of contrasting what they can see or simply discussing the issue with their parents or family members living in a contrasting area would do the same. Doing some audits of lighting in their own local area and then designing a town plan to minimise light pollution is a nice practical idea

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