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Hi Yvonne
Starting with a discussion on greenhouse gases is a good approach as it helps to identify not only what the children already know but also to identify any misconceptions. I find regularly when I start this discussion in classrooms that many children (and adults) believe that global warming is caused by holes in the ozone layer and a simple explanation of the role of greenhouse gases and tools like the Paxi video can help to correct this.
I love your approach to using the TEAL tool. As you said, it is quite complicated but shows some very useful information. You approach of picking one parameter at a time and just looking at the colours is a great way for the children to notice and discuss changes without being overwhelmed by too much data. Once they have looked at temperature in Ireland and understood what they are looking at, then they could move on to other aspects and other countries.
Hi Veronica
That sounds like a lovely study to make children aware of the effect of urban heat islands and I love the fact that you are proposing to visit some of these locations with the children. Taking temperatures in different parts of the city is a great idea but it may be difficult to visit on multiple occasions so another nice addition might be to do a more in depth study within the school grounds if you have a variety of areas such as tarmac yard, beds or planters and shaded areas under trees. Temperatures in these areas could be taken on a daily basis over a few weeks to build up a better picture. Looking at pictures and studies of European cities where efforts have been made to green urban spaces would also be a good addition. Slightly off topic but maybe of interest is this initiative in Carlow Town https://www.carlowlive.ie/news/ecolive/1546922/carlow-concrete-spaces-given-over-to-rain-gardens.html
Hi Michelle
That sounds like a great project. I love the combination of using the EO Browser to look at change over time and then having the children walk to their chosen areas to assess them for themselves. Involving local people to speak to the children is also a lovely addition. There are 2 other resources that you may find useful in your study. Geohive.ie from the Ordnance Survey includes some older maps and aerial photos that are great for studying changes in land use especially when compared to up to date views from Google Maps. Also the mapping portal from Biodiversity Ireland https://maps.biodiversityireland.ie/ can help you generate plant and animal species records from a chosen area.
Hi Tommy
I like your ideas for using the EO Browser to study geographical processes such as erosion and also the effects of human activities on our environment. It would certainly help to explain concepts such as urban growth and deforestation when the children have a visual images to show them the changes in an area over time. A lot of these concepts can seem very abstract if you can’t demonstrate evidence and seeing the images should help to stimulate questioning and discussion in your class.
Hi Andrea
I like your idea of selecting clips from Home and the other videos from this module and using them as a stimulus for classroom discussion. Using role playing and debate to help students understand the issues and the solutions is a good way to get them actively engaged in considering their own role in protecting the environment and encouraging others to do the same. Learning from examples of youth climate activists can help children to realise that they too can make a difference.
Hi Irene
That sounds like a lovely question to investigate in your schools garden. The children could gather their own weather data and then compare it to the recorded weather data for each day and use a tool such as the Teal Tool to look at weather data for the same period in previous years. They could then record their observations of how well different plants grow in the school garden and discuss if the weather might have had an impact on plant growth. If this information was kept from year to year it would be a great long term project with each class being able to compare their observations with data from previous years.
Hi Phil
Your rooftop garden sounds like a lovely spot and as you said would be an ideal spot to place your sundial to get the most all day sunlight. I love the idea of starting with individual smaller sundials and then getting the class to collaborate with others on the design of a more permanent sundial and it sounds like a great way to involve parents in the school to construct something permanent that all classes could benefit from for years to come.
Hi Michelle
I love your idea of getting the children in your class to design an activity to explain the phases of the moon to children in the junior school. This would be a great exercise for many reasons. As you have mentioned they will be using the engineering design process and learning from each other, but also they will consolidate their own understanding of the moon by teaching it to others and gain great satisfaction and a sense of achievement from the process of creating and teaching a resource. I also love the idea of the children creating their own voice recordings at home as they will be able to compare notes with each other and see how people may have different perspectives based on their location and the time of night they observed the moon.
Hi Grainne
Getting the children to survey their school grounds is a great way to get started on understanding biodiversity. The fact that your grounds are limited might make the survey part easier and then you could go on to get the children thinking about how to make their small space more biodiversity friendly. The All Ireland Pollinator Plan has some great resources for managing grass cutting to encourage native wildflowers but also on pollinator friendly planting for a range of different spaces including the Pots for Pollinators resource and this one https://pollinators.ie/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Top-Ten-pollinator-plants-Guide-WEB.pdf which covers plants for small gardens, pots and beds among others. Many of these plants will also be good for birds by both providing berries and also increasing the amount of insects and invertebrates they can use for food.
Hi Eileen
You have some great ideas there for art and music lessons. I love your description of the Turner painting and as well as the art appreciation, it could be a nice way of looking at how our use of artificial light has intensified over time. I also love the idea of giving children pastels to create their own painting of the moon for homework based on The Moon by Amaral. That would certainly be something new and different for them. Studying the songs of David Bowie is a lovely idea for music. With all of this inspiration, I’m sure your pupils will be well prepared to create their own works of art and literature.
Hi Sheila
The exploring section of your activity is good with the children discussing clothes for different temperatures and their own winter and summer clothes. Your investigation here needs some more thought however. The thermometer measures the body’s core temperature which is will remain constant under most circumstances except in extreme cases like prolonged exposure or illness. When we go out in the cold without proper clothing, we feel cold because the body draws heat away from the extremities to maintain the body’s core temperature and the opposite would be true if we were to wear too many clothes. In the case of putting on different clothes, the children’s core body temperature would not change even if they were to wear those clothes all day. If trying on clothes you would have to use the children’s own assessment of how warm they feel, but again it usually takes a while for them to notice any difference. For an investigation on heat transfer you might take a look at Miriam’s post above. Animals in the Cold is an ESERO activity that looks at a similar topic and the SEAI classroom resources have some Interactive Whiteboard or PowerPoint resources that are good for aiding discussion on clothing for different environments.
Hi Jane
The investigation on continental and oceanic climates is a nice one and it is a great idea to link it to their summer holidays, the heatwave and maybe the water temperature on trips to the beach.
When writing your posts elsewhere and then pasting them here remember to follow Pat’s instructions above: right click on the box and chose “paste as plain text” to avoid all the extra formatting.
Hi Maura
Yes it is amazing how much young children know about the world around them and how much they take an interest in it. This is why the inquiry based approach works so well. It allows children to discuss what they already know and allows the teacher to tease out any misconceptions they might about a topic and then to check back after an investigation to see if their understanding has improved. In your description of the floating and sinking investigation you have demonstrated these steps very well. The learning is not in simply putting objects into water to see if they float. It is in the initial exploration of the objects and categorising them and in the follow up discussion where they consider the different variables and wonder why each one floated or sank.
Hi Eilis
Welcome to the course. I’m sure you’ll find lots of ideas for hands on inquiry based Science investigations and design and make activities for junior classes on this course and also ideas on how to adapt many different lessons and themes for younger classes. As you said space is a theme that young children are already interested in and if you read some of the suggestions from other teachers here you will see that dinosaurs feature in a few of the suggestions for inquiry based lessons. Once you have explored the options for space themed lessons, you will be able to apply the same principals and use many of the same websites to find resources for all sorts of SESE themes. Enjoy the course.
Hi Sarah
A month long exploration of space as a theme sounds like a fantastic project for first class. Chris Hadfield’s book “The Darkest Dark” is a lovely book for that age group too. Floating and sinking can be a great example of an inquiry based science lesson especially when you let children choose their own items to test as you have. Designing and making boats is another great lesson in itself and a perfect follow-up to floating and sinking.
