[Carmel Wright]

Hi David,

Thanks for sharing. You make a very important point; light pollution is something many people don’t think of as a “proper” environmental issue. Education is critical to addressing this, and teachers play a crucial role in making learners aware and engaged in addressing this within their own communities.

You are very lucky to have such a site on your doorstep. I can appreciate that after-school or evening visits may be difficult to arrange. Even showing photos taken from the site is a great way to demonstrate what can be seen, without light pollution, and encourage learners to pay it a visit with their parent/guardian.

I love your idea to make this a whole school initiative-we need everyone to understand that light can be a form of pollution, but one that can be so easily solved, to benefit us all. By creating posters and presentations, learners will help share the message even further throughout the wider school community.

[Carmel Wright]

Hi Niall,
Many thanks for sharing how you would incorporate the needs of nocturnal species, especially those that rely on dark skies, into school biodiversity plans.

By bringing your students on a learning journey of exploration, they will come to appreciate the biodiversity that thrives in the darkness and our role in protecting it.

By monitoring, a clear picture will emerge, and as you said, it will give children an insight into what goes on after dark. By exploring light pollution and its solutions on the school grounds as part of the school’s biodiversity plan, any actions taken will benefit local diversity and make learners aware of how we all have a role to play in protecting our local environment, as the school models this with their biodviersity plan. I love your idea to communicate with the wider school community via posters/presentations too.Lots of scope of STEM skills development, including communications with this comprehensive plan.

[Carmel Wright]

Hi Denis,

Thanks for your post and welcome to the course.

I really like how your lesson plan gives the learners ownership of finding out whether or not the sensory garden is a suitable location for the sundial. By making every step a learner-led journey of discovery, they will be fully engaged and active throughout, in doing so, developing their STEM skills.

It’s great to add new terminology like gnomon to a STEM board/poster if possible. It’s a rarely used word, but it adds to their STEM vocabulary.

There are numerous benefits to class discussions on how to improve design, and learners may surprise you with their insightful answers. If time allows, it would be wonderful to try one improvement suggestion out.

[Carmel Wright]

Hello Helen,

What a wonderful plan for your young learners, taking them on a journey back in time. I really like the immersive nature of this plan, and the tactile sensory dimensions of your considerations-the smell of the food cooking, the sound of the river, the sights all around. It will bring ancient times to life for your students.

 

I love your idea to weave an exciting tale into proceedings with a predator-every good story needs a villain- and it is historically accurate, at a time when safety concerns would have been paramount. A lovely, age-appropriate activity incorporating the arts with drama, music and art.

[Carmel Wright]

Hi Patrice,

Thanks for your post.

I really like your plan, and openness to the possibility of making this a whole school STEM challenge-a great way to get learners excited and comparing notes on bridge design!

 

It’s great that you have considered a design brief for learners to follow-they can be encouraged to draw their designs in advance and reflect on what went wrong/could be improved for next time.

 

You’ve come up with some great ways to integrate maths, communications, and team building, using bar charts, tables, messy ranges, and calculations, as well as exploring shapes, etc. I like to include costs for materials as part of this project with older classes, and find junior quantity surveyors soon emerge from the groups!

[Carmel Wright]

HI Gary,

Thanks for your post and welcome to the course.

I really like your plan to foster school wide engagement in this activity with a collaborative inquiry project. It’s a wonderful opportunity for peer learning as senior classes present and showcase how to use the weather station, measure and report. Like you said, this builds a strong foundation in environmental science-a critical area for us all to understand.

What a fun and exciting idea to create a weather channel making use of green screen technology! It’s a great segue to discuss the importance of communications in the sciences, and career opportunities as meteorologists-who knows if RTE’s next weather presenters will start their journey in your classroom?!

[Carmel Wright]

Hi Daniel,
Thanks for your post and welcome to the course.
I am glad to see that Dr. Liston’s paper has caused you to reflect on what STEM truly means in education, and that in your classroom, you see how your activities reflect a holistic STEM experience, with hands-on creativity to solve real-life problems.

It’s great to read that your learners love working in teams and trying things out. I appreciate your honesty about the challenges of finding time and confidence teaching all areas of STEM. You really don’t need to be an expert in a STEM area to deliver a great class with the right resources. Teachers and learners go on a journey of discovery together to find the answers. To quote a man who knew a thing or two about science, Albert Einstein, “Education is not the learning of facts, but the training of the mind to think!”

[Carmel Wright]

Hi Caitriona,

Thanks for your post.

Those are some wonderful ideas, and I am particularly drawn to the one about the book released last year featuring poems from the children in Gaza. Thanks for sharing this. What a wonderful way to make learners reflect on how we are all global citizens who share one night sky.

It is heartbreaking to read Fatema’s poem, a nine-year-old who was killed in an Israeli airstrike, “Hands are for shaking with friends, not for shooting gun.”

I like your idea for learners to create their own works about the moon, stars or night sky, decorate and display them for others to enjoy.

[Carmel Wright]

Hi Adam,

Thanks for your post and welcome to the course!

I am delighted to read that this is an activity your learners will enjoy! There is so much to be said for getting outside-it’s good for students and teachers alike!

I really like your plan to incorporate some history into this activity, and with a bit of luck, you may even have an old sundial in your locality. Ireland has several, many of which were used by monasteries to determine time for prayer, which look different to the sundials we typically imagine. It could be interesting to see if any learners could guess what they are for by looking at an image of them.

I really like how you plan to build their understanding step by step, including taking the time to explore shadows, how they are cast, and how a light source’s position impacts their length. Its great how you will add a fun dimension with shadow puppets too!

[Carmel Wright]

Hi Caitriona,

Thanks for your post and welcome to the course.

I think you have come up with a great lesson plan that builds step by step, from how our perception versus the reality differ-often the case with science! It’s also a great segue to discuss historical beliefs about this and the importance of observation in STEM.

It can be interesting to see what learners already know through strategic questions to elicit their prior understanding for an activity like this, or even use a KWL chart.

I love the specifics of your plan in terms of timing and shadow observation-here’s hoping for sunny days to come for this activity!

[Carmel Wright]

Hi Roisin,

Thanks for your post and welcome to the course.

I am delighted to see that you plan on using these resources by involving students in monitoring and reporting. This is a great way to develop STEM skills. Learners who come to understand the differences between weather and climate lay a fundamental foundation for beginning a conversation on climate change, etc.

I love how you plan to broadcast this information across several platforms, from school assemblies to the website. This will provide learners with a wonderful opportunity to develop their communication skillset and connect with the broader school community.

[Carmel Wright]

Hi Aoife,

Great pitch! I like how you mention that this does not require coding skills or downloading. It really is an accessible, user-friendly experience.

I can see you have given consideration to how you plan on using this to cover a range of topics, and the imagery provided will certainly help bring those topics to life.

I love how you plan to get learners to tie in their locality, exploring changes that have occurred since the year they were born-this is a great way to make it personal and meaningful, and could lead to discussions with family/neighbours about the changes that have occurred.

I hope you enjoy the rest of the course!

[Carmel Wright]

Hi Freda,

Thanks for your post and welcome to the course!

I am glad to see the diverse range of videos and resources being considered for your learners as a stimulus. I think keeping the Home footage to clips is advantageous, as while it is breathtakingly beautiful and important to see, there is also an activity/project to carry out, and time is precious!

You mention the Climate Action Plan 2019 being positive, and I think that it is really important to focus on the positives. We can all do something, and the carbon footprint calculator is a great eye-opener for how we all can make changes.

[Carmel Wright]

Hello Cathy,

Thanks for your post. I am delighted to read that you have a good understanding of where your learners’ passions lie and are making plans accordingly! You have created a comprehensive plan to explore this topic in depth.

I quite like this article from a few years ago that touches on some of the native and global species impacts. Wildlife under threat from climate change – WWF

By connecting the climate change issue with animals that your learners clearly love, it will further their interest in this topic and its solutions. This IUCN Red List is a great source of information on specific species and the causes of their decline, including climate change:IUCN Red List of Threatened Species

[Carmel Wright]

Hi Megan,

Thanks for sharing. It’s great to see your appreciation for this browser and its extensive functionality-as you said, it’s really useful for understanding climate change and environmental issues in a visual way.

It’s so important that we see how dramatically some aspects of our world have changed over time, and browsers like this capture the shifting baselines, including the expansion of urban areas and farmland at the expense of biodiversity.

I really like your plan to get learners to conduct research and prepare reports, making use of their skills and confidence using this tool to get a deeper understanding of our changing world, the challenges we face, and solutions.

[Author]

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