[Carmel Wright]

Hi Sharon,
Welcome to the course, and thanks for your post. I am glad to read you plan on bringing this to your classroom in the coming academic year.

At the junior end of the cycle, there is so much that can be covered from the resources, but the models are most useful for helping learners visualise the changes. All resources can be adapted to their level of ability, with plenty of opportunities for cross-curricular links -from poetry to art and song, the seasons have inspired many an artist and writer.

It is also interesting to have conversations about whether anyone they know is in Australia, etc., and how the seasons differ, with longer and hotter days at Christmas while we have shorter, colder days. By making it personal to them and creating a narrative, it can be a useful and engaging way to explore the topic.

[Carmel Wright]

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

Dr Liston’s paper certainly opens our eyes to the true meaning of STEM, and I am glad to see that it prompted reflection on your part on how you approach STEM and can integrate the principles outlined in the paper in your classroom investigations.

Weather stations can begin with just one instrument, like an outdoor thermometer, and be added to over time, making it a more accessible starting point. In many ways it may be better to introduce one instrument at a time, and as the learners grow in confidence in measuring one, move on to make and add another.

[Carmel Wright]

Hi Susan,

Thanks for your post, and welcome to the course!

It sounds like you have a firm understanding of Liston’s vision for STEM and apply it in the classroom by having your learners work on real-life issues that foster their creativity and develop their STEM skills.

The weather station is a great project that can be short or long term, with considerable wins. Keep in mind it does not have to be all at once, it can start with one instrument and be added to over time.

I hope this module inspires you to bring the ideas you mention to the leadership team in your school to strengthen collective practices and encourage STEM engagement in this activity throughout all class levels.

[Carmel Wright]

Hi Laura,

Thanks for your post, and welcome to the course!

Liston’s paper is a thought-provoking piece of work that defines STEM, taking away the ambiguity around this buzzword, and is a useful point of reference when developing STEM activities.

You make a very good point about climate and weather being a point of confusion for some adults. Hopefully, this lesson will help address this confusion for the younger generation, especially as climate change takes centre stage as a global issue.

A weather station has so much to commend it, I hope you consider it for your school, as a resource that the whole school can engage with and learn from and may even inspire your learners to consider a career as a meteorologist!

[Carmel Wright]

Hi John,
Welcome to the course and thank you for your post.

Liston’s paper is a springboard for reflection on the true meaning of STEM, and how an activity can meet her criteria for an authentic STEM experience, bringing together the four disciples, highlighting how a genuine STEM education promotes critical thinking, creativity, and teamwork in addition to imparting content knowledge. To solve the problems of tomorrow(of which there are many), we must nurture scientific literacy today and a creative solution-focused mindset.

Whatever the age or abilities within the classroom, there is a way to adapt this lesson to all learners. I highly recommend considering a weather station to develop STEM skills and gain a deeper understanding of the changing nature of weather.

[Carmel Wright]

Hi Conor,
Thanks for your post, and welcome to the course!
I can see you have put thought into running this lesson with your 4th-class learners, and Paxi is certainly a great introduction to the topic!

Predictions are an important part of an investigation, and can see you put a strong emphasis on this through group discussions. A hands on example is a great way to bring this topic to life. Venus is a great example of the impact of greenhouse gases that could be added to the discussion.

For Irish climate-based information, I recommend the Climate Ambassador site; it has a nice section on climate change in Ireland and future predictions. Read more here: Climate Change – Climate Ambassador

[Carmel Wright]

Hi Ann, and welcome to the course!

Thank you for your post. It’s great to see that you have taken something from this paper that you plan to apply to your classroom with greater engagement in collaborative problem-solving.

The weather station is a wonderful way of getting all classes involved in a whole school STEM activity class to have a chance to read the results daily, build their own equipment and carry out tests at home, too! It is also a nice opportunity for learners to have a movement break out in nature-something that benefits all ages!

[Carmel Wright]

Hello Áine, and welcome to the course!

Thank you for your post and reflections on Dr Liston’s paper. I can see from your post that your classroom is already an authentic STEM experience for learners and the strong commitment you have to developing their skills is in line with the SESE curriculum and her paper.

It is wonderful to see your dedication to creating meaningful STEM experiences for the whole school by developing a shared resource from which all teachers can benefit. With all this wonderful STEM work underway, it may be fitting to consider applying for the Curious Minds programme to receive recognition for your school’s commitment to STEM learning.

Learn more about this here: Curious Minds | Science Foundation Ireland (sfi.ie)

[Carmel Wright]

Hello Veronica,

Many thanks for your post, and welcome to the course!

I am delighted to read that you are enjoying the course so far. It’s great to see how this module has inspired you to consider incorporating a weather station into your STEM plan for the coming year. You have put considerable thought into how this will work and how it will benefit not only your class but the entire school, with opportunities for everyone to engage with these tools.

With all this data, so much can be done to interpret and present results, providing lots of opportunities for communication skills development-perhaps even to run a whole school science showcase on the theme of weather and climate?

Best of luck with these activities in the coming year!

[Carmel Wright]

Hi Michelle,

Thanks for your post, and welcome to the course!

Dr Liston’s paper offers invaluable guidance on the true nature of STEM, the value of its integration and how to deliver an authentic STEM experience grounded in solving problems and real-life applications.

The EDP is a worthwhile addition to the development of lesson plans, fostering a mode of thinking that will serve learners well in a career in STEM or, indeed, life in general!

I highly encourage the weather station; it is a fun and engaging activity that can be adapted to their level and grow in complexity as they get to senior level.

[Carmel Wright]

Hi Matthew,

Thanks for your post, and welcome to the course!

This activity has a lot of scope for learning, including the challenges of Irish weather and astronomy! There is a lot for learners to take in in terms of vocabulary, and this could be shared on a STEM vocabulary poster within the classroom.

The moon log shown in this module, though simple is a great tool that can be a starting point for your more detailed observation work of the craters and seas. It can be interesting to show how what they see through a telescope/ binoculars compares to detailed images of the moon.

[Carmel Wright]

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

The ESERO 30 Day and Night lesson plan on nocturnal and diurnal animals is a great choice for learners in senior infants. It is highly visual, and I see you plan on putting a big focus on eliciting information from your young learners and asking them questions to make them come to their own realisation about the differences that exist between these species in terms of features such as eyes for night vision.

By using the prop of the globe and a torch in your classroom, you can teach the learners a great deal. It can also be fun for the learners to be hands-on with this and turn the globe, etc., to physically engage. Lots of questions about where is it nighttime/daytime now during this activity can help cement learners’ understanding of night and day.

[Carmel Wright]

Hi Sarah,
Welcome to the course, and thanks for your post.
There certainly are plenty of cross-curricular links with this topic, especially history.

A great opener/prompt for this activity is getting the learners to travel back with you in time; before clocks existed-how did people manage? What did they use? Even after the invention of clocks, they were out of reach for many until they were mass-produced. Here in Ireland, we still have some examples of sundials. Read more on this here: Sundials: telling the time in medieval Ireland (irishheritagenews.ie)

I also quite like this story about the role of “Knocker Uppers” long ago: Early risers: before alarm clocks there were knocker-uppers – The Irish Times

This activity is also a great opportunity to develop vocabulary from the term Sundial to Gnomon; these can be added to a STEM vocabulary poster in the classroom.

[Carmel Wright]

Hello Sinéad, and welcome to the course!

Thanks for your post. You have some lovely ideas about running this activity with your class, breaking into groups and rotating the activity so everyone can enjoy a hands-on learning experience.

While the resources are focused on species found globally, I would encourage learning about native Irish species as these are what the learners are most likely to observe in their daily lives. There are some terrific websites on native species, from Irish butterflies to bats, etc.

The spinning wheel showing the globe going from day to night is a wonderfully simple tool to demonstrate what is happening through a model that is easy to make and engage with.

[Carmel Wright]

Hi Louise,

Welcome to the course, and thanks for your reflective post on light pollution in your local area. Your story about how visitors were uncertain about how to drive at night is shocking but a reality for those who have never truly encountered a dark night sky! As the maps and apps reveal, we are losing the dark over time, with consequences for us all, but the good news is that it is one of the easiest forms of pollution to fix.

Using photos of the night sky with and without artificial light (and no flash!) is a great idea. While the survey in this module may be too advanced for your learners, you could also get them to identify what is causing the artificial brightness outside their homes at night-is it a streetlight in the city? A neighbouring building? Is it coming from their own house as the blinds are open, etc?

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