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Hi Conor
I think light pollution has been a problem in our towns and cities for a long time but like you I live in a rural area and it is very noticable in recent years that there is very little darkness anymore. The presence of very bright outdoor lighting around rural houses has become so common and the shelves of garden centres are filled with a huge array of solar garden lights. All of these lights are damaging to human health and wellbeing and disastrous for wildlife, very wasteful of electricity and I find them very distracting and dangerous when driving at night. One or 2 small low intensity shielded lights may be useful for security outside a house but in the majority of cases these lights serve no useful purpose so more education and emphasis on reducing light pollution could as you said bring back the beauty of the night sky and bring benefits to both people and wildlife.
Hi Kathleen
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the Nose High Up in the Sky resource. As you said integration of subjects is key to being able to cover the different curriculum subjects and strands and I’m glad that this resource and others will help you to do that. As you have mentioned, that is the beauty of many of the ESERO and Curious Minds resources in that they offer many opportunities for subject integration but also promote the development of a wide range of STEM and other skills through inquiry based learning and give you suggestions and opportunities to extend the learning in many different directions.
Hi Sinead
You have some great ideas there for monitoring biodiversity in your school and then using that information to make a biodiversity map to help plan your improvements. If you loom after biodiversity in general, this will also benefit nocturnal species but learning about nocturnal species and considering their needs is a nice touch when making plans. A wildlife camera could be a nice addition and hopefully a lovely way for the children to see some nocturnal visitors. Just be warned that you may have to experiment with locations and move the camera a few times before you spot something.
Hi Jacqui
That sounds like a great project based on trees with a very practical purpose. I love the way that you have structured the research projects with each group focussing on a different benefit of trees. It would be lovely if you could incorporate a local walk or field trip after the children have presented their findings so they could look for examples of where trees are helping to prevent soil erosion on a slope or providing shade and improving air quality on a town or city street or spending time investigating the minibeasts that live in or around a particular tree. They could use what they have learned in their research projects when choosing what trees to plant and where to locate them and then enjoy the satisfaction of planting their trees and watching how they grow over the years. We have planted many trees in our garden and I love to walk around the garden and watch their progress. You might be interested in this resource from the Tree council https://www.treecouncil.ie/the-right-tree-in-the-right-place to help with choosing trees. The resource names both native and non native trees but native trees will often grow better in the space and will always provide the best benefits for climate and biodiversity,
Hi Gráinne
Welcome to the course. It’s lovely that you have a sundial at home that you can bring in as inspiration for your pupils as well as discussing the concept of time and showing them images of other sundials. I like the fact that you mention ” I would hope that they would select a large area in our school field which has no obstructions near it and has exposure to the sun”. You can see yourself that this would be a logical place for the sundial but you plan to let your pupils work this out for themselves and to discuss and choose suitable materials. This highlights the importance of allowing critical thinking and exploration. If the children choose an unsuitable location or materials that are not weatherproof, then they will learn more through going through the process and finding it out for themselves that if you were to choose the location and materials for them.
Hi Aaron
That sound like a very comprehensive and exciting project, involving not only the school but the entire local community. You have incorporated group research projects, awareness campaigns, engineering design projects within the classroom as well as art, music and poetry with local consultation and night time events to celebrate the night sky. Of course, such a project would require a big time commitment but if implemented would be hugely beneficial for the pupils and a great example of how a school community could become leaders and influence their own local community in a very positive way. I hope you enjoyed the course.
Hi Niamh
You have some nice ideas there for using the Climate reporters resource with senior infants. I’m glad that you consider the Paxi video to be suitable for a younger class and that you have ideas for simplifying the worksheet with pictures and matching activities. Yvonne had suggested above that she would focus on just one country and one parameter a time when using the Teal Tool and just look at the changes in colours. You might like to use a similarly simple approach if using it with a senior infant class.
Hi Emer
Looking at the effects of deforestation on Climate is a nice idea but remember that the main objective of the Climate Detectives programme is for the pupils to investigate a local climate problem. Researching the role of forests in absorbing CO2 and then using satellite imagery to look at changes in forest cover in Ireland might be a nice way to make this a local climate issue. You could also compare forest cover in Ireland to other European countries to see how low our rates of forest cover are and to research the efforts of Irish people who are hoping to expand out forest cover especially native forests. I like your idea of interviewing older people about changes that they have experienced which would be a nice addition to your research.
Hi Brendan
While Polar Bears have become the symbol of Climate change and are no doubt affected by it, a focus on animals who live far away can make it seem to children that Climate Change is something that happens far away and therefore it isn’t directly relevant to their own lives. This is why the Climate Detectives Programme asks children to investigate a local climate issue. By investigating one of the many local affects of climate change children can see the relevance to their own lives and can also focus on awareness campaigns and local actions that can help to reduce its effects
Hi Carrie
Using the Gardening for Biodiversity book as inspiration for encouraging Biodiversity in your school is a lovely idea. I don’t know if you are aware yet, but Laois Education Centre now have a new Biodiversity garden created with a range of different areas to provide inspiration for schools of different sizes, with signage to explain each area. I haven’t seen it myself yet but the photos look amazing. It should be a great source of inspiration to you and other schools in the Laois area and hopefully something that other Education Centres around the country will implement too.
Hi Fiona
That sounds like a well thought out plan for studying the moon. I love the idea of the initial questions and bringing the children up to draw what the moon looked like when they saw it. This is a great way to start a discussion on the phases of the moon why, it looks different on different days and at different times of year and why it is seen in different parts of the sky. Encouraging the children to draw the moon when they go out to observe it might be a good idea as well as trying to use the iPads as photographing the moon can be difficult.
Hi Pat
Coastal erosion is one of the most easily visible effects of climate change and investigating it on your local beach is a fantastic idea for a Climate Detectives project. A visit to the beach combined with research on the causes, effects and solutions to coastal erosion and examining data from satellite imagery is a great way to go about the project. The Geohive map viewer from the Ordnance Survey https://www.geohive.ie/ might be a useful tool for you.
Hi Gina
That is a great question and is something that the children can directly observe in their school garden. It would help if you had some photos from previous years of plants that were harvested from the school garden but if not it would be a great idea to start a small database in school. You could record what was planted each year, along with the dates and the weather and some photographs and the same with harvesting whatever was planted. You could even keep a simple daily log of the weather, especially if you got other classes involved or could simply refer to past weather data. That way you would be able to track the changes from year to year and identify which were good growing years and which were bad.
Hi Maurice
I like the idea of recommending Home to climate sceptics. I’m hoping that you don’t have too many climate sceptic co-workers in your school as it is important for those involved in educating our children to be informed about the harsh realities of climate change and to be informed about the science so that they can help to guide children in positive behaviour. There is so much misinformation out there that the more you can do to help counter this among colleagues and parents, the more the children will benefit. I agree with your reasoning on not showing Home to the children, unless as some others have commented you select specific short clips, and that a more hopeful and solutions focused approach can be more motivating for children.
Hi Jacqui
Your sensory garden sound like a lovely place to set up a weather station and do some weather monitoring. As you have 6th class, you might be interested in another ESERO resource https://esero.ie/wp-content/themes/esero_theme/pdf/66_Class%20weather%20station.pdf which gives instructions for making a simple thermometer, a hygromter for measuring humidity and a different type of barometer. Another resource 46_Strong-air.pdf (esero.ie) gives instructions for making a simple barometer. While not all of these instruments will give accurate readings, making them will help students to understand how the different weather instruments work and why we need to record so many different variables when forecasting the weather.
