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Hi Pauline
Some lovely ideas there for music and artwork. I think I will have the song “Somewhere Out There” stuck in my head for the rest of the day. I’ve looked up the Gerard Manley Hopkins poem to read later as I love his poetry.
Hi Dolores
Just to note that you have posted your reply to module 4 in module 3 so you might want to copy and paste your response into the correct forum.
This is a very comprehensive plan for exploring the effects of light pollution on Biodiversity. You have covered lots of different aspects from local investigations on Biodiversity to the importance of protecting all plants and animals in an ecosystem and the consideration of the effects of light pollution. I love the idea of creating models of night-time habitats.
Hi Isobel
That is a really great Climate detectives question. It is clear and concise, is relevant to the children’s everyday lives and is easy to collect data. It can also lead to discussions on the importance of green spaces in general and especially the importance of urban trees and green space for controlling the urban heat island effect. I recently did something like this on a small scale with a class where they chose a number of locations around the school yard on a sunny day to measure temperature. I’m sure that doing it over a longer period of time in a variety of weather conditions would give some interesting data.
Hi Patricia
I like the idea of identifying or creating a dark area in the school garden and encouraging wild plants or planting garden flowers to attract night-time insects. This guide may be of use to you https://pollinators.ie/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/AIPP-Nocturnal-Guide-2023-WEB.pdf. Building bat boxes would also be a good idea. If you have a local bat group or a local men’s shed, they might be able to help with this. Some of the children might even have suitable areas for bat boxes in their gardens at home which would be a nice way to involve parents.
Hi Aine
I like the idea of using the Night Sky Journal and the variation in what the children record to map out areas of good visibility and poor visibility. That combined with measuring light pollution as part of the Globe at Night Citizen Science initiative may help to show how some areas have a bigger problem than others, particularly if the children’s homes are spread over a wider area. A nice idea might be to extend this over a number of weeks so that if any children are going away to another part of the country over the weekend, they might make a note of whether it is darker or brighter at night and what they can see.
Hi Megan
I love the idea of using a variety of Dublin bridges as inspiration for your bridge design project rather than just a single bridge. I also like your emphasis on the river itself and how the Geography of the river Liffey and the natural and built environment in the area influences bridge design and location.
Hi Niamh
That’s a great idea for an investigation on rainfall considering that you have two distinct areas that are affected differently by rainfall. You have a clear plan for gathering scientific data and links with many different curricular areas. One thing I would suggest, which you have probably already considered is setting aside a small reference area in each of the two zones where you plant the same types of plants in each. This way, you would be comparing the growth rates of the same type of plants in the different situations. While your main focus is rainfall, you might also want to consider other factors that might affect plant growth such as slight levels. You could measure light levels at various times during the day in both areas using a free light meter app installed on a phone or tablet.
Hi Jessica
This is a great plan for a Climate Detectives project as it is based on a local Climate problem that is directly related to the children’s lives, it is focussed on a single issue and you have a clear plan for collection of data to answer the question. You might want to take a look at the Mini Case study on Air Pollution which might give you some ideas. https://esero.ie/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Air-Pollution-Mini-Case-Study-ESERO-Ireland-final.pdf. If you want to measure the impact of travel to school, you will need to link the average carbon emissions from cars to the distances travelled to school. This link will give you transport statistics for Ireland https://www.seai.ie/data-and-insights/seai-statistics/transport and if you scroll down slightly you will find the graph on Carbon Intensity of New Cars
Hi Ciara
It is a pity that light pollution is having such an effect in your local area in Wexford. Drawing the children’s attention to the problem will help to spread awareness among them and also their families. I love the idea of organising an evening walk if it is possible to do this. Maybe you could make it a family event. Observing and recording what they see is very important and engaging in Citizen Science through the Globe at Night project is a great way to deepen the engagement.
Hi Linda
It is lovely when you can base a lesson around a question that children have come up with independently. Being able to build your lesson on the moon around the questions that the children are already asking is great. I love the idea of drawing their attention to the moon phases section in the school diary. Once you have observed the moon with the children in school, they will be more inclined to refer to that page throughout the year and keep the lesson fresh in their minds. I really love the idea of framing the moon in a window at home and drawing a picture of it and using the story of the child with the round window is a lovely inspiration for this task.
Hi Marie
This is a lovely plan for observing the moon. I like the idea of starting with the KWL chart and using the Paxi video to introduce the phases of the moon before going out to observe. Being mindful of the potential glare from the sun while observing the moon in the morning is also important. It would be good to then encourage the children to observe the moon at night from home to add to the knowledge they have gained during the daytime in school.
Hi Sharon
Yu have some lovely ideas there for using the EO browser in school. I like the idea of using past and present satellite images to look at their local area to see the changes in land use as well as the effect of natural disasters such as wildfires and also man-made disasters such as the many hill fires in Ireland. I remember seeing an analysis of the impact of the 2021 fires in Killarney National Park done using images from the EO browser.
Hi Niamh
That is a lovely idea for a project for junior infants which really captures the spirit of Climate Detectives as you are investigating trees in your local area, gathering some data and also making a link with Climate Change. I love the idea of using The Lorax as a prompt, as it has a really strong message about looking after our planet. There is a huge amount of learning in a seasonal project about trees and the children will develop many valuable STEM skills such as observation, questioning, recording and communicating.
Hi Liadhan
I am so pleased that you enjoyed this module and in particular the Biodiversity Maps. It is a fantastic resource that can tell us so much about our local areas and the different species of plants and animals we have in Ireland and it is great to be able to spread awareness of this fantastic online tool. As you said, it has so many applications in the classroom. I love the idea of comparing the children’s own discoveries with what they find on Biodiversity Maps. Of course, much of the information on these maps comes from Citizen Scientists recording their Biodiversity finds on the website. In the next module, you will learn more about recording Biodiversity and how your pupils could get involved in contributing information to the Biodiversity Maps. I also agree with you on Met.ie. I use the app and website all the time and find it very accurate.
Hi Michaela
I love the idea of giving the children the option of drawing, writing or drama to showcase the stories they have collected. That would make a wonderful book if they were all collected together. Collecting stories from different countries and cultures is a great way to involve all of the children’s parents.
