[Una Halpin]

Hi Edele

That is a great plan that looks at the problems that light pollution causes for nocturnal animals from a number of perspectives: learning and researching and taking action. I love that you plan to involve the local community and engage with the local authority to look at reducing light pollution and that you plan to spread the word about the dangers of light pollution as well as working to provide shelter for nocturnal creatures who might visit your school.

[Una Halpin]

Hi Sarah

Putting a focus on the needs of bats is a lovely idea for your school biodiversity plan. I’m not sure why bats being out would be a problem for the children, as the whole point of learning about bats and undertaking a project to look after their needs is to show children how beneficial bats are and how there are no reasons for anyone to be nervous around them.  Changing the lighting and planting night scented flowers is a great idea. Bat Conservation Ireland are currently working on a series of videos on gardening for bats which might be of interest to you when they are finalised.

 

 

[Una Halpin]

Hi Fiona

That sounds like a great step by step plan to design a dark sky place and a great way to recap on everything the children have learned about dark skies and put it into practice through discussing their dark sky place. You might also want to think about areas outside of the National Park that would be contributing to light pollution and ask the children to consider how they might engage with the local community.

[Una Halpin]

Hi Ailbhe

I think a class discussion to assess children’s prior knowledge of Climate Change is essential before dealing with this topic As you said, most children will have some knowledge as it is now belatedly being discussed to some extent in the media, but I’m sure you will find that children have many misconceptions as the causes of climate change are rarely discussed in any detail and many adults are not aware of the differences between weather and climate and how global warming can lead to many different extremes including cold and wet weather. The Paxi video is a great place to start in explaining how man made climate change is happening and how our actions can contribute in negative or positive ways.

[Una Halpin]

Hi Caroline

Welcome to the course. I am glad that you have enjoyed the first module and are confident that you can use the resources to round out your teaching of STEM and provide a more inclusive and interactive STEM experience for your pupils.  Hopefully you will find lots more inspiration in the rest of the course for inquiry based STEM integrated with all other aspects of the curriculum. I like the idea of involving all classes in your weather station with each class being responsible for recording the weather on a different day of the week.

[Una Halpin]

Hi Lorraine

I agree with your point that it is very important to link Climate Change to the children’s own lives. Too often, people in Ireland dismiss the idea of climate change thinking that it won’t affect us or that because we are a small country, our actions don’t matter. It is important to realise that while we in Ireland have escaped the worst effects of climate change so far, we are being affected by increased floods, occasional droughts and other unpredictable weather events as a result of climate change so it is relevant to everyone . We also need to take responsibility for our own part in contributing to the problem.

[Una Halpin]

Hi Saoirse

I like your point about eco anxiety. Greta Thunberg is a good example of how young people can take action to help combat their own fears around climate change. It can be my making their voices heard and raising awareness like Greta Thunberg and all of the young people involved in campaigning or it can be through positive actions like planting trees in school, growing some of their own food, reducing energy use or cutting out waste. Your idea of the green action plan is a good one but ensure that if you are creating posters that they are just reminders and are accompanied by concrete measurable actions and that teachers are modelling positive change through actions such as turning off whiteboards when not in use, opening blinds to reduce the use of artificial light, and using recycled materials for art.

[Una Halpin]

Hi Louise

It is a very good idea to spread this activity out over a few lessons and to include your KWL chart and lots of discussion. the topic of Climate Change shouldn’t be rushed as it is very important that children understand what greenhouse gases are and how they cause climate change. There is so much misinformation being spread about Climate Change that children have a lot of misconceptions and it is good to take the time to address these. Your use of the Paxi video to aid discussion and the Kahoot Quiz will help to reinforce the science around Climate Change and help address misconceptions.

[Una Halpin]

Hi Laura

I agree that the film Home is too long and detailed to show in its entirety to primary school children. Some people have suggested using clips from the movie when covering particular topics which can be effective. The main target audience for this film should be adults as we are the ones making decisions that affect children. It is very important that all teachers and educators understand the realities of climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss so that we can help children to understand at an age appropriate level. As you said there are lots of good shorter videos that are very good to show to children to get across some of the points that are illustrated in Home. Combining these video clips and discussion around them with practical activities such as ESERO’s Earth Under the Lid and positive action around saving energy, planting trees or other positive actions.

[Una Halpin]

Hi Aoife

I like the combination of homework and school observation here in your recording of the moon, starting out with the children learning about the moon in class and observing the phases at home at night and then moving to classroom observation once the moon becomes visible in the morning after the 24th September. It would be nice to resume the recording at home agin for a while after the morning observation in school as children who may have struggled with doing the homework task at first, might be more enthused and motivated to try again after observing the moon in school.

[Una Halpin]

Hi Martina

I like the open ended task of asking the children to sort the animals. I really like this kind of sorting activity as it is interesting to see what features they observe in the animals and what criteria they use to sort them. As you said, some groups might think about sorting into nocturnal and diurnal animals but if not you can set this as a task.  Moving on to focus on Irish animals is a really good next step and one that is often forgotten. I find that most children are very aware of animals that live in other countries that they may know from the zoo, from TV or from books but not as many can name native Irish mammals, birds, amphibians, invertebrates and our one native lizard.

[Una Halpin]

Hi Amy

That sounds like a great idea to work through the list of animals and list questions about them before going out to find the answers. Science is all about asking the right questions and then finding the answers. You might find the Biodiversity maps website useful in compiling your list of animals. https://maps.biodiversityireland.ie/Map If you click on the Reports tab you can choose an area on the map and generate a report of all plants and animals that have been recorded in the area. Of course it relies on information being recorded, so there may be lots of other animals in your area that do not appear on the list but it could be a good starting point. It is fantastic that you have someone working with the children once a month on discovering Biodiversity and I’m sure he would be delighted to get involved in helping the children answer their questions.

[Una Halpin]

Hi Amy

Welcome to the course and I’m happy that you are getting some good ideas for use in your classroom. I like the way you have placed such emphasis on group work and getting the children to problem solve about ways to represent gravity on the different planets. I’m sure it would be a really enjoyable activity for your class and having the different groups consult to learn from each other is a nice touch.

[Una Halpin]

Hi Barry

I like your focus on picking celestial objects that are easy to view through binoculars. You could still use your Planetarium wheel and the Stellarium app to explore where the planets should be seen and the children will enjoy using Stellarium  and finding what is above them, but picking out some things that should be easily visible is a good idea as there will be a great satisfaction for the children if they are able to spot the stars and constellations they have explored in class.

[Una Halpin]

Hi Rachel

Observing the moon when the children line up on the way into class in the morning is a great idea as it starts off the day well and the children will enjoy looking at the moon and taking turns to record it. Using the super moon as a way to introduce the moon observation is a nice way to introduce customs, history and culture and also a nice way to introduce discussion about the moon’s orbit and why the moon appears larger during a supermoon

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