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Hi Caitriona
Presenting the children with a set of questions to help them navigate Stellarium is a good idea as it gives them the freedom to explore the resource and learn how to use it while also giving them a framework to operate in and a way to direct their explorations. I really like the extension activity of getting them to come up with their own questions to challenge each other as they will find out extra information this way. Starting outdoors with practical activities to revise cardinal directions is a good beginning. It is always nice to pair a practical activity with something technology based, especially if that activity can be done outdoors.
Hi Marie
Welcome to the course. Reading the myths associated with the constellations is a nice way to connect with the night sky and also to think about the origins of those myths and how people used them to make sense of the stars and planets. Using the constellation models to enhance maths skills such as modelling distance and perspective is a good idea. As you said, astronomy can be a difficult subject to get to grips with so practical activities like these can help to make it more accessible and engaging for pupils.
Hi Niall
It’s great to hear your enthusiasm for the content and materials referenced in this course. As you said, there is so much local information at our fingertips when we start using online maps such as those on GeoHive and the NBDS and online data sets such as weather data. I love your point about the digital skills. As these are all free online tools, the children can gain valuable skills in the use of technology through coming up with questions about their local area and figuring out how to manipulate the tools to zone in and turn on the appropriate layers. There is also a lot of opportunity to develop maths skills through analysing and representing real life data.
Hi Adrian
Welcome to the course and thank you for your glowing endorsement of the Curious Minds programme. It is great to hear that STEM skills and STEM thinking are so prevalent across your school and that your pupils are confident is using those skills throughout their project work in school. I hope that the rest of the modules in this course will support you in this and open up new ideas for investigating and exploring STEM in your local area with your pupils.
Hi Rachael
That is a great question as it is focussed on a single issue and relates to the children’s local area and everyday lives. The 10 year timeframe is good in one way as it possibly relates to the children’s own lives and the changes they may have witnessed in the local area through their lifetime. When using Satellite imagery, it might be a good idea to widen your timeframe and look at changes over a 30 year period to emphasise that climate data is gathered over a period of 30 years or more
Hi Megan
I’m glad that you found Maeve Liston’s paper useful and that it has encouraged you to think more about how you can encourage STEM thinking and exploration in your classroom. A whole school weather and climate project is a good idea. There is so much learning involved in the collection of weather data and the collection of weather measurements, making of instruments, weather reports and blogs and analysis of weather and climate data could be differentiated for younger and older classes with collaboration between younger and older students.
Hi Sarah
I’m glad you liked the tools and resources in this module. When using Climate models like the Teal tool, it is important to understand the background of Climate Change and how data is represented. The modern day increase in Greenhouse Gases began at the start of the Industrial Revolution in the late 1700s and Greenhouse gases have been rising steadily since then. Although the Teal tool only shows data from the 1950s, the reference point for increases in Greenhouse gases is pre-industrial levels of CO2. Greenhouse gases were still increasing in the 1950s, although not at the same level as they are today.
Hi Sarah
I’m glad you liked the tools and resources in this module. When using Climate models like the Teal tool, it is important to understand the background of Climate Change and how data is represented. The modern day increase in Greenhouse Gases began at the start of the Industrial Revolution in the late 1700s and Greenhouse gases have been rising steadily since then. Although the Teal tool only shows data from the 1950s, the reference point for increases in Greenhouse gases is pre-industrial levels of CO2. Greenhouse gases were still increasing in the 1950s, although not at the same level as they are today.
Hi Maria
A local rath is a fantastic place to explore with your class. As you said there is so much to discover and learn through visiting and looking at it on maps and aerial photographs to see how the landscape around it has altered over time. Using creative writing to imagine the lives of people living in the rath and artwork to create their own images of what it looked like at the time would really bring it to life for the children and really help them to connect with their own local place. They might also ask older family members if they have any old stories about the rath or might look up the Folklore Collection on duchas.ie to see if there are any old stories recorded from their local area.
Hi Vera
That sounds like a lovely creative project based around Birr and William Parson’s Great Telescope. I love the idea of the diary entries as these would require research into some of the scientific discoveries made by William Parsons, the engineering work he completed on the telescope and life at that time period. His journal entries might even mention other family members. this research would be paired with imagination and creativity for the children to put the diary entries together. Similarly the artwork would be inspired by the Science. I love the idea of putting it all together through reading and drama combined with music.
Hi Chantelle
I love the idea of sending home prompt sheets to spark conversations with parents and grandparents about the night sky. Children might not know what questions to ask to start a conversation or family members might need a mention of something to bring back a memory. Some of the children might even look up the Dúchas Folklore Collection at home with their families that could spark memories of other stories and customs. Halloween is often a good time for conversations like these. I love the idea of collecting all the stories old and new and having children retell them or act them out.
Hi Edel
It is nice to make the connection with ancient civilizations and talk about how people told the time in the past. In a time when most people carry around phones or wear watches and we have clocks on many of the devices we use every day, it is hard to imagine the work that ancient people needed to put in in order to be able to keep track of time. There is also a nice link with both geography and history in learning where Egypt and Mexico are on the Earth and some facts about them and also the history link with both of those ancient civilisations.
Hi Katie
Every opportunity that we can give students to act as real scientists and engineers is a valuable learning experience and using real life data makes it a lot more real. I like the idea of the pupils using the data from the Teal Tool and other online sources to complete group projects and then present them to the class. They will learn a lot of useful skills from this and the addition of a creative element such as a drawing, poster or even a creative writing piece of their area in the future is a nice way to consolidate the learning.
Hi Katie
Yes the one I have came from Lidl or Aldi and is designed to fit over a single growbag. You can also buy rigid lids that fit over smaller planters but they would work out more expensive
Hi Nicola
Welcome to the course. I agree that the Paxi video presents the Science about Greenhouse gases and Climate change in an easily accessible way. Often Climate Chang is presented in a very obscure way and while the science is complicated, the basic concepts can be explained in a simple way that is understandable to all. The Paxi video is a good way to start and then involving the children in hands on weather collection and data gathering to explain the difference between weather and climate builds on this as does interpreting the data from the Teal tool. You have also identified lots of different curriculum links which makes this a great cross curricular project.
