[Una Halpin]

Hi Hannah

Studying the effect of rising sea levels on Ireland’s coastal communities is a good idea. I like the way you have structured the project, starting with videos to explain the problem and moving on to simple hands-on experiments with melting ice. The ESERO activity The Ice is Melting is a nice one for this. Looking at maps of Ireland to see where coastal flooding has occurred in the past and predict where it might occur in the future is a good idea and there are online maps on sites such as https://www.floodinfo.ie/map/floodmaps/ and https://www.climateireland.ie/impact-on-ireland/climate-hazards/coastal-flooding/ which could be of help. The addition of role playing when discussing solutions would help to increase pupils’ understanding of the issues.

[Una Halpin]

Hi Hannah

Studying the effect of rising sea levels on Ireland’s coastal communities is a good idea. I like the way you have structured the project, starting with videos to explain the problem and moving on to simple hands-on experiments with melting ice. The ESERO activity The Ice is Melting is a nice one for this. Looking at maps of Ireland to see where coastal flooding has occurred in the past and predict where it might occur in the future is a good idea and there are online maps on sites such as https://www.floodinfo.ie/map/floodmaps/ and https://www.climateireland.ie/impact-on-ireland/climate-hazards/coastal-flooding/ which could be of help. The addition of role playing when discussing solutions would help to increase pupils’ understanding of the issues.

[Una Halpin]

Hi Andrew

It is a great idea to focus on your own school and see what actions you can take in different areas to reduce your carbon emissions. Starting with the Climate Detectives website to see what other schools have done is a great idea as it will give the children an idea of what the project is about.  Having the children work on different projects in groups can work well if they are familiar with these types of projects, but they will need to be very clear on what question they are answering and if they are not sure, separate projects will require a lot of input from the teacher. Perhaps focussing on one specific area such as electricity or transport and having different groups collect different data or work on different aspects of the project could be a good idea if the students require a bit more guidance.

[Una Halpin]

Hi Michelle

Welcome to the course. I am glad that you found the first module useful can see the value of using hands on STEM investigation and Design and Make to foster STEM thinking and encourage the development of STEM skills among your pupils. Linking what is learned and experienced in the classroom through hands on inquiry based learning to STEM in the real world is important as it encourages children to think about the skills they are learning and to see themselves as Scientists, Mathematicians and Engineers while using Technology to research, record and present their findings. I hope you will find lots more resources in this course that will help you to continue this approach.

[Una Halpin]

Hi Adrienne

That sounds like a great lesson on observing planets during Autumn. It is well laid out and shows the steps clearly with progression from learning about and researching the planets to using star charts and apps, observing Jupiter and Saturn in the night sky and recording . I like the addition of the art activity to draw or model the planets and the creative writing aspect. The geography aspect is also interesting to get the children thinking about what we see from Earth and how different stars and planets will be visible at different times depending on where you are.

[Una Halpin]

Hi Julie

That is a lovely way to introduce the idea of how light pollution can affect biodiversity for your infant class. It is great that you already take them on walks to observe and explore the different habitats in the school. Looking at the habitats from the perspective of artificial light at night will add another dimension to this and guide their discussion on solutions.

[Una Halpin]

Hi Stephanie

It is definitely a fine line between educating children on the realities of climate change and the actions that we can all take to reduce our impact and being seen to blame parents and families.  Like you, I always stive to be realistic when talking about actions. While educating children about things like renewable energies and insulation, it is important to acknowledge that installing solar panels or buying an electric car are things that cost money and may not be feasible for many people, but that saving energy and choosing what we buy and what we use are actions that everyone can get involved in and that many of the actions we can take to save energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions will not cost anything and will in fact save money. When asking about energy saving measures I like to focus on things that the children can do themselves.

[Una Halpin]

Hi Katriona

Although the melting ice caps and the plight of the polar bears have become symbols of climate change, and we can acknowledge that this is one of the many consequences of climate change, it is important for us all to realise that climate change is not simply something that happens far away, but something that has impacts on out local environment and our everyday lives. This is why the focus of Climate Detectives is on local climate issues and the question should be one that relates to the children’s own lives and their local area. This not only makes the problem of climate change more real and relevant but also demonstrates to the children that they have agency and can be empowered to help make a difference. Melting ice caps are a problem that they can’t connect with in any real way and they can’t do anything directly to help polar bears, but by focusing on a single local climate issue, they can take action to help tackle it

[Una Halpin]

Hi Christy

I like the idea of the children conducting their own research into the properties of each planet before constructing their planetary tubes.  Allowing them to choose a range of materials to represent the surfaces of the planets is a great way of recording the information they have gathered on the composition of the planets and locating them around the room according to distance from the sun is another good way of recording information.  Starting with one planet and working on it as a class is a good way to explain the concepts before allowing them to work on their own individual planets in groups.

[Una Halpin]

Hi Megan

I love the idea of asking the question “Can we use the sun to tell the time?” and asking the children to discuss it in pairs. The Paxi video should hopefully have prompted them to start considering the movement of the Earth to open up the discussion and your approach of standing back and only prompting them with questions as needed is a great way of encouraging independent thought. Bringing the focus to fair testing and predicting is an important step as is your focus on data collection and using the data to answer the initial question and communicate their results and conclusion.

[Una Halpin]

Hi Katriona

Welcome to the course. Your classroom sound like a wonderful environment for fostering STEM skills in a hands on and interactive way and you clearly understand the importance of inquiry based STEM education and weaving STEM thinking throughout everything the children do. I hope you find lots of inspiration in the modules of this course to help you continue to encourage STEM thinking among your pupils and encouraging them to become Scientists, Engineers and Mathematical thinkers

[Una Halpin]

Hi Cliodhna

I agree that role playing and building a story around the issue of climate change can really help to turn the real life data from the Teal tool and the predicted future weather data from an abstract concept into something they can begin to understand. The past weather data in the Teal tool is real life data and the future predictions also have a very strong scientific basis as they are based on computer models of climate so if they are using the Teal tool to base their future predictions on, then they are based on real scientific data.

[Una Halpin]

Hi Cassandra

I’m glad you enjoyed the module and have found resources that can help you to start recording biodiversity with your pupils. Some of the short online courses from the National Biodiversity Data Centre might be very useful for you to get you started and the All Ireland Pollinator Plan has a great series of lessons on Pollinators that you could use with your class. The FIT count is a great way to get started. It does take a little bit of practice to start telling the main groups apart but you could maybe start with a simplified version where the children simply record the total number of insects and once you and they start to watch them, then features like wings, eyes and antennae will be more obvious. Getting the children to take pictures of what they see is a great idea as it then gives them time to look up the websites for identification. I often do that myself if I’m out for a walk.

[Una Halpin]

Hi Ellen

That is a very detailed plan for introducing maps with a clear step by step approach. I like the way you plan to introduce questions on things like scale and direction while they are drawing their classroom maps, so that they start the process and have to figure out how to represent the size of the classroom and the relative positions of objects in the room. The knowledge that they gain through this simple exercise can then be carried forwards into their study of Google Maps and GeoHive. Remember that as an Ordnance Survey of Ireland mapping tool, GeoHive can only be used to study different regions in Ireland and not other countries.

[Una Halpin]

Hi Maria

That sounds like a fantastic project based around the Hill of Uisneach. I love the idea of the children taking on the role of different characters and it’s great that you have included animals living on the hill as well as the human characters. It’s great that you have included so many different ways of bringing the history and legends to life. The drama and visual art aspects combined with their individual written or oral stories would really capture the children’s imaginations. There is also an interesting geological and geographical aspect to the hill as it is formed from karst Limestone and the Catstone is a large glacial erratic deposited by the ice thousands of years ago https://gsi.geodata.gov.ie/downloads/Geoheritage/Reports/WH009_Hill_of_Uisneach.pdf

 

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