[Una Halpin]

Hi Orla

Welcome to the course. I’m gald you like the idea of the mapping exercise. It certainly works well with younger groups and giving them the option of whether to map the whole walk or just part of it is a great idea. I also like that you have considered the needs of the class when deciding whether to work individually or as groups. I used to split classes into even groups for tasks like this but I find now that I am more flexible in my approach as some children love to approach a task like this on their own while others benefit from the group dynamic.

[Una Halpin]

Hi Mary

I like the idea of beginning with a discussion of the benefits and drawbacks of artificial lighting. It would be interesting to see what problems the children identify for themselves when given the opportunity to think about it. For many people, it seems that they don’t see any drawbacks to excessive lighting with more and more homes and businesses being lit up with excessively bright lights. As the increase in light pollution in your area is a relatively new one it is a great idea to get the children involved in lighting surveys in school and at home so they can also encourage their parents to think about the problem.

[Una Halpin]

Hi Catherine

It is fantastic that you have such a wide range of habitats accessible from your school and that you already make use of them for hands on learning in the outdoors. It would be fantastic to explore some of these these areas with the children or ask them to make notes if they are visiting any of these areas with their parents. It would be lovely to contrast the different habitats, looking at the plants and animals in each and also looking at which ones have the most artificial lighting.I like the idea of creating simple maps of light pollution and thinking of ways to combat it.

[Una Halpin]

Hi Grainne

That sounds like a lovel idea investigating Biodiversity around the River Shannon in Limerick City. I love that you are focussing on the needs of aquatic animals and those living on the river banks and lloking at the threats that these animlas face such as litter. It is a great practical way of showing children that we share out environment with lots of different plants and animals that support us in many ways and that our actions can have either positive or negative consequences for wildlife.  I love that you have incoporated positive action into your plan encouraging your pupils to become Active Citizens through writing to local leaders and encouraging community action to highlight the importance f protecting the river,

[Una Halpin]

Hi Luke

I love the idea of refining your usual bug hunts into a pollinator hunt. I love the idea of investigating different insect species and learning abut which ones do most of the pollinating. you have said that the front garden area in your school is well manicured so I’m assuming that the flowers there are mostly planted garden flowers rather than wildflowers and that many of the trees are also non native. This would be a lovely opportunity to do a study of the different flowers and see which ones attract the highest numbers of bumbleebees, solitary bees, hoverflies and butterflies to get an idea of which ones are pollinator friendly. This data could be compared to the lists of pollinator friendly flowers from the All Ireland Pollinator Plan and help to inform future planting. If you could also establish no mow or reduced mowing areas in patches of the school grounds in the future this would allow native wild flowers to grow naturally providing more scope for investigation in future years, tracking when different wildflowers appear and noting which ones attract the most pollinators.

[Una Halpin]

Hi Kevin

I had to look up the Living Bridge there as I had never heard of it. What a lovely inspiration for a bridge building project as it is designed to perform many functions rather than just crossing the river, providing pedestrians with an opportunity to rest and view the landscape of the River shannon and its islands. Using this bridge as an example, as well as the many other different bridges in Limerick introduces the concept that engineering can be about form as well as function. As you have said, bridge building is a fantastic Engineering and Maths activity for all ages and abilities but there is also the possibilty of introducing design software for older classes and the option of widening the project to think about incorportating the needs of local wildlife into design projects.

[Una Halpin]

Hi Nicola

I like the idea of asking different groups to investigate different climate scenarios and report back on their findings. After assigning each group a question to explore, you could also give them time to come up with their own questions and use the TEAL tool to find answers to those. Creating their own graphs to compare projected temperatures with current local temperature data is a great way to assess their understanding of the data they are viewing and see if they can extract and use relevant data. I really like your suggestions for improving the resource. Differentiated worksheets and templates would not only make it easier for pupils to interpret the graphs but would also give a starting point to a teacher wanting to introduce the tool. I really lie the idea of a glossary of term related to Climate Change. This could be something that a class could work on as they learn more about Climate change, creating a list of terms and their meanings that they can look back on for future lessons and that could be shared with other classes throughout the school.

[Una Halpin]

Hi Rosemary

Thank you for your ideas for using the Paxi video and the TEAL tool. I like the idea of tying future climate scenarios in with the children’s own lives and getting them to predict what their own lives will be like in 10 years time. This could tie in well with your dicussion on actions to reduce climate change, by getting children to think about both the negative aspects of increased temperatures but also the possibilities for improving our world. They could imagine the type of future they would like to have and think about sustainable actions we could take to help make that a reality.

[Una Halpin]

Hi John

Welcome to the course and I’m glad you found the resources in the first module useful. Recording the weather is a fantastic learning opportunity for children of all ages as they can see its relevance to their everyday lives and it imvolves so many important scientific skills. I love that you plan to carry our the weather recording over a longer period of time, to compare the data gathered to weather forecasts and online weather data. The recording can be done in a few minutes every day and after doing it as a class for a week or so and ensuring that everyone understands what they are doing, you could even assign different pupils to record each day so it takes very little out of your class time, but the more data you can gather, the more useful it will be for the children when creating graphs or interpreting what they find. I love the use of differentiated recording sheets so that everyone can work to their own strengths at at their own level.

 

Just a note on formatting. For future posts when typing your answers in another programme an pasting them in, right click on the wondow and choose “paste as plain text” from the drop down menu. This removes all the extra formatting and makes your posts easier to read.

[Una Halpin]

Hi Mark

Welcome to the course.  It is great to hear that inquiry based STEM is an importnat part of your classroom practice and that the children are used to working together to solve problems and communicate their findings and also that you use the outdoor environment for learning. All of these aspects will have even more emphasis in the new STEM curriculum and I hope that the rest of the modules in this course will provide you with plenty of inspiration for STEM lessons.

[Una Halpin]

Hi David

Looking at waste in your school is a great idea and carrying out a waste audit to collect data on the amount of waste generated in school and then come up with solutions to reduce the amount of watse. Of course, the most important aspect of a project like this is implementing the solutions and then completing the audit to see what has changed. That would allow children to really see that their actions can make a difference. Another important thing is to make the link between waste and climate change by considering the energy that is used to manufacture and transport the packaging we use every day and the raw materials that need to be extracted from the Earth to make them.

[Una Halpin]

Hi Aoife

It is interesting to think about all the satellites that pass over our heads and the different jobs that we do. You have given five examples of satellites that are constantly monitoring our Earth from space and transmitting data that we use in everyday life without thinking about where the information comes from. As you said the information is used to predict our weather and monitor the effects of extreme weather events which in turn in our understanding of climate change and its effects.

[Una Halpin]

Hi Claire

It is a lovely idea to look at the impacts of Climate change on Biodiversity. While the exact impact can be difficult to measure as it requires a lot of data, it is good that you plan to discuss with the children the impact that climate change may be having. When we look at the increase in extreme weather events such as this summer’s drought and recent wet springs which are becoming much more common as a result of climate change, we can start to imagine how these will affect plants and animals and even start to notice some of these effects. This year in my own garden, I have noticed the blackbirds and thrushes digging constantly in the vegetable beds as the ground elsewhere is too hard to dig for worms and some of the berries that are shrivelled from lack of moisture. Taking action to protect biodiversity is a great way to involve the children in making a difference.

[Una Halpin]

Hi Michael

That sounds like a great plan for your 5th and 6th class. I like the idea of starting with a class discussion into the importance of reduced light pollution and research into the existing dark sky reserves in Ireland, so that children are aware of the measures that can be taken and why they are important. Your scaled plans will be a great integration of engineering and maths skills and involve a lot of creativity and critical thinking as the groups plan their space and present it. I love the idea of the children having a choice of ways to present their findings with digital tools being used to design posters or presentations.

[Una Halpin]

Hi Emily

It is great that you have both a wild area in the school and access to the university grounds for observing wildlife. I love that your plan involves a comparison between different habitats and extensive data collection on plants and animals found in each area. The lighting survey completed at home is a great way to spread awareness to parents of the issue of light pollution and encourage responsible lighting as well as involving your pupils in active learnign and actiev citizenship

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