[Carmel Wright]

Hi Deirdre,

Thanks for your post, and welcome to the course! I am delighted to see you have a sensory garden in your school. It sounds like the perfect location for a weather dial( as long as nothing nearby creates shade on the dial). By empowering the learners with the challenge of selecting the correct location and materials to use, they will develop their skills.

With the support of senior classes, there is considerable opportunity for peer learning, and by involving other classes to test the dial, it creates a whole school engagement in the activity and nurtures curious minds.

There are also many opportunities for STEM vocabulary development, such as gnomon, and it is worthwhile recording these new terms on a poster.
Best of luck with this activity in the coming academic year!

[Carmel Wright]

Hi Fiona,

Welcome to the course, and many thanks for your post. I can see you have put considerable thought into how this activity would work in your school. It would be interesting to see if your learners could come up with a suitable location for the weather station themselves when given an understanding of the criteria that make a good position as outlined in the course. This can give rise to teamwork, discussions and presenting of the reasons why they selected a certain location, extending the activity and developing their skillset.

It’s great to see your extensive list to extend learning further, with plenty of cross-curricular links and the opportunity for learners to develop an understanding of real-life applications through visits from suitable parents/members of the community.

[Carmel Wright]

Hi Kate,

Thanks for your post, and welcome to the course!

Liston’s article provides considerable food for thought on the delivery of an authentic STEM experience. I am delighted to see you have been inspired by some of the activities shared in this module and have seen first-hand how project-based work is highly engaging for your learners.

The weather station is a great addition to any schoolyard and can be a relatively quick installation process by purchasing the necessary equipment, but it is so much more worthwhile as a holistic and in-depth learning experience when students get the chance to make the equipment too, and problem solve as challenges invariably arise along the way! Best of luck with these activities in the coming academic year!

[Carmel Wright]

Hi Sinéad,

Thanks for your post and welcome to the course!

You have prepared some great questions, and that will take your learners on a journey of discovery as they uncover the answers. It can be helpful to use some props in the classroom if needed during the discussion phase-a torch can be helpful for shadows, etc.

Through this engaging sundial activity, learners stand to learn a great deal about the solar system in motion and light and develop their STEM vocabulary with new words such as gnomon. Using a STEM vocabulary poster can be helpful for capturing and recapping new terms as they arise.

[Carmel Wright]

Hello Michelle and welcome to the course!

Thank you for your post. You have put considerable thought into the practicalities of how this activity can run well at all levels across your school. I do hope your principal is amenable to the idea of a permanent sundial structure in your sensory garden. It is something all learners can enjoy engaging with, observing this ancient technology and its simple yet effective design.

Getting the learners to try this out at home is a great way to extend this activity. With such few materials required, it is a very accessible activity.

[Carmel Wright]

Hello Sharon, and welcome to the course!

Thanks for your post. I can see that you have reflected on Dr. Liston’s paper and how you apply her principles in the classroom to develop your learners’ STEM skills through hands-on investigations and play. Play is an essential way children explore the world and helps cultivate deeper engagement in a lesson.

I can see you have incorporated play into the weather detectives activity. Having learners role-play as weather girls/boys, is a wonderful way to add theatrical fun to the proceedings.

It’s great that your school has most of the equipment, and I hope you get a chance to put it to good use in the coming year!

[Carmel Wright]

Hi Eleanor,
Welcome to the course, and thanks for your contributions to the forum.

You highlight some excellent points from Liston’s paper that go beyond joining the dots between the STEM subjects to fostering problem-solving skills through the use of the Engineering Design Process. I can see that these principles are closely adhered to in your own class.

The weather station is a great practical exploration of weather and the measurements involved and can serve as an important tool for skills development throughout the whole school. Senior classes can present to younger students about their station, its purpose and results, and of course, there are problems that can pop up when a station is in use-wind knocking equipment over, students tampering with it, etc, giving learners a real-life challenge to solve.

[Carmel Wright]

Hi Eoghan,
Thanks for your post, and welcome to the course.

Through reflecting on Dr Liston’s paper, there is much to uncover about creating an authentic STEM experience, and I can see that you work to apply these principles in the classroom through a multidisciplinary, hands-on approach.

Setting up a weather station is a unique opportunity for classes to experience the realities of Ireland’s changing weather through observation, making equipment, data recording, collating and presenting results.

It’s a hands on, skills developing opportunity for the learners to see firsthand the true meaning of weather, and worth considering adding to class lesson plans for the coming academic year.

[Carmel Wright]

Hi Catherine,
Thanks for your post, and welcome to the course!

You make important points about the importance of challenging how traditional “STEM” activities compare to the principles described in considerable detail by Dr Liston in her paper.

Teachers have such an important role to play in nurturing young learners’ curiosity, science literacy and skills. By including interdisciplinary, hands-on experiences, learners can develop a suite of STEM skills that will serve them well in the future.

I hope you continue to enjoy your return to the classroom and these resources get put to good use!

[Carmel Wright]

Hi Matthew,
Thanks for your post, and welcome to the course!

I can see you have given considerable thought to running this activity with your learners. Within this task, there is a lot of scope for learning and further exploration. For instance, if two or more groups create a large sundial -which is the most accurate, and why? Can it be redesigned to become more accurate? How does the size of the dial and the marker stones impact the reading? Etc.

Through the approach to this activity you described, you have incorporated important principles of STEM to ensure an authentic, hands on and multidisciplinary experience. Best of luck with this in the coming year!

[Carmel Wright]

Hello Edwina, and welcome to the course!

Thanks for your post; I am delighted to see that you plan on using these resources in the coming academic year.

The Paxi videos are a great opener for this topic; he certainly makes understanding the difference simple and accessible for all. As you mentioned, these are activities with a wealth of cross-curricular links.

You also touched on how these activities can be adapted for all ages, and I think through the shared resource of a weather station, it could be ideal to build on collective practices and give rise to new ideas-like hosting a whole school science fair or a visit from a meteorologist.

[Carmel Wright]

Hello Katie, and welcome to the course!

Thank you for your post.

Dr Liston’s paper is a helpful resource that can offer expert guidance on the true meaning of STEM and its principles for success. As you mentioned, there is an interdisciplinary approach where the boundaries between science, technology, engineering, and mathematics are blurred, rather than the siloed approach to each topic.

You make some great suggestions for the two activities, and of course, these are by no way prescriptive-rather a guide that can be customised and enriched to meet the needs and abilities of your class. Adding more diverse examples from different climates will help enhance understanding, along with visual aids. ICT skills could be developed through the learners creating a template for recording results and furthering their skills development.

I hope you get to put these to use in the coming academic year!

[Carmel Wright]

Hello Micheál, and welcome to the course.

Thank you for your post. I am glad to see that Liston’s paper has inspired you to reflect on the multiple components required to teach STEM authentically-the scope of STEM in her paper covers a great deal, and her principles can provide invaluable guidance in delivering STEM in the classroom effectively, by adhering to the principles outlined.

Every school can benefit immensely from the installation of a weather station and related activities, such as making rain gauges and anemometers, recording results, creating averages, etc. There is a wealth of opportunities for STEM engagement for all levels and abilities that will foster STEM skill development, and I hope your school benefits from one in the future.

[Carmel Wright]

Hi Ciara and Ann,

You both make excellent points. A story that may help learners is about the ozone layer. While it was a smaller scale problem than the climate change issue we currently face, I think it important to highlight how we have tackled global environmental challenges before and overcome them by working together globally. It was a major concern not so long ago, and today, it is on track for recovery.

[Carmel Wright]

Hi Lisa,
Thanks for your post, and welcome to the course.

As you have 5th-class learners, there is a great deal that can be covered from the ESERO 52 activity sheet on Sundials, with a design and make element, but also an option to extend the activity by comparing how well the large sundial compares the small ones that they create wit the provided template.

There is a lot of potential for STEM vocabulary development, with new terms including gnomon, sundial, northern hemisphere, etc., and it’s helpful to capture these on a poster in the classroom to revisit over time.

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