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Hi Andrew
I love the idea of organising a local Night Sky Festival for the students to share their artwork and writing is a great idea particularly if you can get local astronomers involved to allow the children and others to view then night sky with telescopes. This has the potential to be a great community event and having it at night when people will be looking at the night sky while discussing light pollution should increase the likelihood of people listening to the children’s messages and taking action
Hi Orla
That sounds like a great project. I love the idea of community involvement, moving from awareness of the issues to coming up with solutions and then the active engagement with local authorities and the local community to try to have some of their solutions implemented. Having a wide range of ways for your pupils to document their work on the project is sure to keep the interest going in your class especially if they can persuade local authorities to engage with them on dark sky friendly lighting or encourage their families and others to turn off unnecessary lights at night.
Hi Emer
Welcome to the course. I’m glad you like the stellarium resource and I like your approach to using it with your class. Having task cards for individual exploration on the tablets is a lovely idea as it provides prompts to guide their learning while at the same time leaving them free to explore. Continuing the exploration at home where they will hopefully be able to see the stars is a lovely follow-up activity.
Hi Maurice
It’s great that Dr Liston’s paper has given you a better understanding of STEM and even better that you have been using a STEM approach already without realising it. you make a very good point about countering the misinformation around Climate Change. So many people think a colder and wetter summer is evidence that the Earth isn’t warming because they fail to grasp the difference between weather and climate and understand how a warming Earth can make all sorts of abnormal weather events more frequent. I hope that you get to try out some weather instruments with your class and make full us of Science, maths, engineering, technology and integrated learning opportunities that weather recording provides.
Hi Aine
I’m glad you liked the resources in this and you have some great ideas for using them to enhance discussion and critical thinking through analysis of the prediction models and coupling the use of the prediction tool with research on climate policies and climate mitigation strategies employed around the world seems like a very thorough way of deepening children’s engagement with the topic of climate change and encouraging them to think about solutions.
Hi Anthony
Using the recent Aurora Borealis sightings is a great way to start a conversation about dark skies with the children. You could ask if anyone managed to see it. Even though I live in a rural area and can see the stars relatively well from my garden, I have some neighbours with very bright outdoor lighting and a few bright streetlights so I was very disappointed not to be able to see the Aurora myself. Sharing your own experience of now being able to experience darkness at night when you couldn’t previously would be a good way to spark conversations about places the children may have been with higher or lower levels of light pollution
Hi Claire
Your sea safari sound like a lovely experience for the children. Marine Biodiversity is not something I have a lot of experience in myself but I am always fascinated when I can look into rock pools and see a variety of life inside. I had an opportunity lately to explore some fantastic rockpools in Tramore where we saw a variety of sea anemones opening and closing as well as a tiny crab. Completing projects in class is a lovely idea so the children know what to look for, as is having a knowledgeable person to help the children choose the right locations to search.
Hi Padraic
that sounds like a good plan for exploring Biodiversity. I like the idea of the nocturnal cameras but not that you have added the provision “if plausible”. Wildlife cameras could be an expensive buy for a school especially if you have a few of them to increase your chances of seeing nocturnal wildlife but it might be worth reaching out to the school community and any wildlife enthusiasts in the local area and see if anyone would be willing to lend them to you or help to set them up in the school for a period of a week. They have become quite popular over the last few years so it is possible that people will have them and would be willing to help you investigate nocturnal wildlife.
Hi Roisin
That sounds like a lovely set of activities. Looking at different light bulbs within the classroom is a great way to get the children noticing the effects of different lights on their own vision. This combined with use of pictures and discussion within the classroom will help them think about what to look out for when they start exploring outside the classroom and at home.
Hi Karen
I love your approach to using clips from Home. You have a great way of introducing the clips and of pointing out the wonderful parts of our Earth that need to be protected. I particularly like the emphasis on pointing out connections between different parts of the world and how we are connected to and depend on the natural world.
Hi Karen
I love your approach to using clips from Home. You have a great way of introducing the clips and of pointing out the wonderful parts of our Earth that need to be protected. I particularly like the emphasis on pointing out connections between different parts of the world and how we are connected to and depend on the natural world.
Hi Brendan
It’s great that you are already placing a strong emphasis on collaboration and critical thinking in your classroom. Your point about the time constraints is a valid one, but hopefully the resources in this course especially the Curious Minds / ESERO Framework for Inquiry will help to illustrate how a STEM lesson doesn’t just incorporate Science and Maths. Reflective thinking can bring in elements of oral or written language and also includes many aspects of SPHE by encouraging children to focus on their strengths and abilities and how they work with others. I love that you have been using your green screen to allow children to record the weather and making their own weather instruments and using them toi record the weather will be a great addition.
Hi Christina
I love your idea of incorporating a project on stories and traditions of the night sky with Grandparents Day and making it a whole school project. I’m sure the children will love collaborating with grandparents on their research and artwork both on the day and in preparation for the visit and giving an opportunity to children to present their findings and for the grandparents to maybe tell some of their stories in person to a whole class will be a great way to involve everyone, whether they have grandparents present on the day or not.
You make a great point there about the caretaker. An important step in any school biodiversity project is to make sure that the caretaker is on board and knows what the aims are.
Hi Mary
I love your approach here. Recording what you can find, making changes to the lighting and then recording again is a great scientific approach to a problem. Hopefully you will be able to make changes to night time lighting in the school which should hopefully have a positive effect on biodiversity. Your idea of focussing in on a sample area of 2m x 2m is a good one. Ecologists often choose smaller sample areas to survey that are representative of the wider habitat. I would however, consider expanding it out to more than one sample area as even in a school yard, there are likely to be variation in habitat, such as shorter / longer grass areas, planted flower or vegetable beds and areas with trees or shrubs. Perhaps consider selecting a range of sample areas and have groups of children survey each one.
