[Carmel Wright]

Hi Eoghan,

Thanks for your post and welcome to the course!

Fifth class is a great age to get into the finer details of light pollution, and I can see you have created a project plan that will take them on a journey of discovery, from defining light pollution to observation and testing, to auditing existing levels locally, before looking at its impact and creating solutions.

I like how your plan includes a focus on communicating this issue-it is one that too few people are aware of, and one that is so easily solved, relative to other pollution types!

 

By raising awareness of the light pollution issue in your school and broader community, learners’ will develop a sense of pride and responsibility to care for their local environment and its many inhabitants.

[Carmel Wright]

Hi Kimberly,

Thanks for your post. I am delighted to see that you do have a school garden occupied by insects and squirrels. Often, there is more biodiversity on our doorstep than we realise, but there is always so much more we can do to support it.

By engaging learners in this activity, it will give them an appreciation for what the dark provides and how we can all play a role in light pollution reduction, and all have the power to act. Connecting it to the Green Schools programme and ”Lights Out” events will further the reach of your activity into the broader community.

I like your plan to include night-scented flowers. Honeysuckle is a firm favourite of mine, with a beautifully distinct fragrance emitted from hedgerows on evening walks these days to attract moths. It is also a wonderful opportunity for learners to engage their five senses and compare the sensory attributes of this diverse plant range.

[Carmel Wright]

Hi Lianne,

Thanks for your post. This is a great plan for getting learners and the broader school community engaged in STEM at home.

You are right that although binoculars and telescopes make viewing easier and show more, it is an accessible and equitable activity for all, as some planets can be viewed by the naked eye. I do highly recommend and use the Stellarium app for making the identification task so much easier!

I really like the idea of further learning through project work on the planets and making use of Kahoot to consolidate learning.

[Carmel Wright]

Hi Robyn,

Thanks for sharing! You have a wonderful selection of songs and poems to engage your future young learners in the topic of the night sky.

I really like your idea to link this to lessons about space, skies, light, stars and biodiversity. The night sky is such a broad theme and provides a springboard for exploration in many curriculum areas. By marrying the arts and STEM we can ignite learners’ passion for preserving dark skies’ beauty and crucial functionality.

[Carmel Wright]

Hi Fiona,

Thanks for your post and welcome to the course. From reading your reflections on STEM in your classroom, it sounds like your lessons are aligned with Liston’s vision. Her subsequent paper focuses on designing STEM lessons and describes them as “Driven by problem solving, discovery, exploratory learning and independent and collaborative research projects,” mirrored aptly by your words above.

I love how you mention learners out of their seats, collaboratively. We have come a long way from “STEM” classes of old consisting a quick hands-off demonstration at the top of the classroom! It is in this space of open inquiry and fun that the groundwork for STEM literacy, and indeed passion for STEM is forged for the next generation of problem solvers. I can see the framework for inquiry embedded in the process, and an appreciation of the importance of strategic questions for learners-to mine their existing information bank, and reflect on their work.

[Carmel Wright]

Hi Maria,

Thanks for your post and welcome to the course. I like how you plan to build learners’ confidence and awareness of local biodiversity on school grounds through nature walks-there is much to be discovered in our hedgerows if we take the time to pause and look.

By focusing on one butterfly, the Peacock, it presents a wonderful opportunity for learners to look at its interactions and life cycle. It is also a great way to reevaluate the role of a plant with a new lens—the humble nettle. This weed provides an egg-laying site for this beautiful species. Early September and Spring are good times to start looking!

Contributing to citizen science gives learners a real sense of purpose and appreciation for the work of ecologists, as well as the role we can all play in contributing to the national database.

[Carmel Wright]

Hi Vera,

Welcome to the course, and thanks for your post. Your plan for your learners is well laid out, opening with a wonderful prompt in the form of the This is Ireland video. I can see how it adheres closely to the Curious Minds Framework and incorporates important steps, including reflections.

I love how you have included the use of strategic questions throughout this activity to elicit knowledge, for reflections, etc. It’s also great to see how you plan on comparing learners’ maps with old maps and online tools.

Mathematics can be applied in many ways to this activity, and tools like trundle wheels can be utilized effectively for measuring sites and creating scale for map dimensions, among other uses.

It is wonderful to see how you plan on getting learners to present their work to the class. STEM provides so many wonderful opportunities to develop transferable skills, including the ability to communicate ideas.

[Carmel Wright]

Hi Sarah,

Thanks for your post and welcome to the course. I really enjoyed reading your reflections on Dr. Liston’s paper. Your understanding gets to the heart of what she is hoping to achieve.

Teachers have an incredibly important role in supporting learners develop STEM skills and become “curious, confident thinkers who can tackle challenges” as you put it so well.

I applaud your use of simple but highly effective activities such as designing bridges, and focus on creating teams where everyone participates. It is also great to see your emphasis on mistakes being part of learning. Scientists ‘ mistakes have given rise to very useful inventions, such as Post-it glue!

[Carmel Wright]

Hi Sarah,

 

Thanks for your post and welcome to the course. I really like your plan, and particularly your commitment to it being conducted over a longer period of time-weekly observations build a dataset and will establish a new skillset for your learners as they practice timely observation as an ongoing routine.

 

I also like how this activity will form part of the days work-observing the sun during the day, and its location relative to landmarks, and as they become comfortable with directions can lead to reflections on why people in the northern hemisphere may choose to build houses facing south, which direction their house faces, etc.

[Carmel Wright]

Hi Susan.

Thanks for your post and welcome to the course! You have created a fitting plan for your learners with an emphasis on hands-on, interactive learning experiences. If suitable for your learners, a Paxi video or a model using a torch to represent the sun may be a helpful addition to supplement learning about our solar system and its role in this activity.

There are many opportunities for maths, and additional ones can be created. How long is your shadow? How tall are you versus your shadow, etc.

[Carmel Wright]

Hi Donna,

Thanks for your post and welcome to the course. You have created a fun, engaging and accessible plan for this activity with your junior infant class. I particularly like your attention to the questions that are to be asked-both to elicit prior knowledge, and ensure understanding throughout.

I also like the simple yet effective explanation of how, a long time ago, people used shadows to tell the time. It’s great that there is a plan for all learners to engage with this outside, marking the hours as they pass. If time allows, and the sundials remain in the same location undisturbed, it can be interesting to check in and see if they tell the time the same way the next day, allowing some repetition of the learning and observing how the shadows change consistently.

[Carmel Wright]

Hi Sinead,

Thanks for your post. I like your plan to get the learners observing the early morning sky outside of school hours. It is also a great opportunity to learn about what it’s really like as a scientist-some days it’s too cloudy and you can’t observe much! I think it’s great to engage the broader school community in STEM, and this activity can create unique at-home opportunities to learn, observe, report and reflect on findings.

Stellarium is an excellent addition to the space learning toolkit, and its free accessibility makes it an option for homework, too. We no longer need to wonder what we are seeing in the night sky, as the answers are a mere click away!

[Carmel Wright]

Hi Rachel,

Thanks for your course, and welcome to the course. I really like your idea of a lead detective for reporting on the weather, and I am sure it is a role all your learners will be eager to have! Senior infants will benefit from the repetition of this activity and a growing understanding of how weather and climate differ. They will develop their observational and reporting skills through their roles as weather detectives, and it’s also great that it offers an impromptu movement break, too!

I couldn’t agree with you more about starting young! Each year is an opportunity to revisit prior learning and deepen and broaden the scope of the topic.

[Carmel Wright]

Hi Rachel,

Thanks for your post. I am a big fan of all of Paxi’s videos as they really help make these topics so accessible, through visuals and storytelling, as you said. For very young learners, it can also be a fun opener to lay all of the class’s coats on one learner who represents planet Earth and compare the coats to the additional greenhouse gases being added to our atmosphere by various industries, transport, energy, etc.

TEAL does have a lot to offer, but of course, it depends on the age and capabilities of each class, and some may need a demonstration and significant support in order to navigate its functions. It may serve as a starting point that the teacher only showcases, or can be used by all learners on tablets to conduct research. It is one of many tools on offer to support learning about climate change..

[Carmel Wright]

Hi Marie,
Thanks for your post and welcome to the course. Dr. Liston’s paper certainly is thought provoking, and I can see from your comments that you have given it and your STEM delivery considerable reflection.

I am delighted to see that over time you have developed a more integrated approach, and I do hope you get to incorporate some of the ideas into your plans for the coming academic year.

I love how you mention putting students at the center of their learning and connecting concepts-we have come a long way from a hands off, teacher only demonstration of old, to a holistic, hands on exploration of themes, a breaking down of subject silos., and opportunities for all learners to participate and grow to their full potential.

 

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