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This is a really interesting one, as there are definitely far less mini beasts around. It is also important for the children to realise that insects are very good for the environment and how important creatures like bees are for the environment.
Research Question 2:How can we make our outdoor area in our school more biodiverse and eco-friendly?
Activity- Children in the class can conduct a survey of each yard (there are 3 in the school) and note down how much greenery they see, if they see any plants, flowers etc and if they observe and mini-beasts.
The children will also look up aerial photography of each yard area and its surroundings and mark any areas they think should be improved.
The children will do some lessons about why some insects in particular are very important for our environment, particularly bees. We will try to make some changes to increase the amount of plants and greenery on the yards where the least amount of minibeasts have been seen. This could include patches of grass where the grass is allowed to grow without being cut, flowers being planted in designated places, etc. Some fundraising could take place and some plant pots etc could also be made or collected if children have spare ones at home.
After a final discussion of the results and some before and after photos, The children can assess the changes that have occurred and investigate how these have made the school environment more eco-friendly? Are there any challenges with this? Have there been any other positive affects besides making the school more biodiverse? What changes could you make in your own gardens to have a similar improvement?
I like the focus on air quality here, as this is such an important topic. The project sounds very engaging with a chance for the children to use tools to measure these themselves and really understand the effects that development can have on the surrounding environment.
Research Question: What can changes can we make in our class to help reduce our carbon footprint?
Brainstorming:
Focus on small changes we can make quickly and easily. Inform the parents of these efforts so that they can also join in and try to support the changes that are decided upon in the class.
Our journey to school- Suggestions- walking groups to school instead of driving, taking the bus, etc.
Our school lunches-How can we reduce the food waste that is happening (food leftover daily when students are absent)? Why is food waste happening everyday? What way can we make sure that more rubbish is being recycled properly?
Our school day- What way can we use less one-use products in our class? what kinds of materials should we try not to use? What kinds of materials are reusable?
For each topic, a survey could be completed both in our class and other classes in the school, to observe common patterns of behaviour and problems surrounding travel to the School, food waste, recycling and the use of single use plastics around the school.
For each problem that is identified, the children will brainstorm some solutions- for example initiatives that we could do within the class to improve these issues such as- Walking Wednesdays where everyone that is close enough to each others houses tries to walk to school together at least one day a week to begin with.
Free food Fridays- To reduce food waste, any food (from absent children’s lunches that are provided and not used during the week) (provided that is not out of date but has been left over) can be collected in the front of the school so that it does not go to waste.
For Walking Wednesdays, track how many children would have come to school in a car had they not completed walking Wednesday (if possible for them)
For Free food Friday- Track how much food would have gone to waste should the children not have collected all the spare food.
The children will discuss findings and act as climate detectives to also to problem solve further how these problems and other similar issues could be addressed first within our own class but then on a larger scale. (within the whole school context and also at home)
This is very interesting, I didn’t complete this section of the assignment as I found the site I went to a bit confusing but it’s fascinating to see here all the different satellites which have recently passed Ireland and also what they are all doing. I will definitely try this again using some of the tools mentioned here instead of the one that I tried, which seemed to only show the data for current satellites passing or about to pass.
This is a really interesting idea. It is always exciting when things can be seen from space, and some of the children may have recently heard about the Northern lights being visible here etc. These tools really bring space to life for children. It’s amazing to see just how many satellites there are and to be able to track their movements like this.
I thought the Nose High up in the Sky activities were great. My favourite is the weather proverbs. Having heard these for years, I’ve never been sure which ones if any are accurate, and if so, why. These proverbs are explained really well, but they are also lovely things to learn as well, as proverbs could be a lovely lesson in general. The weather forecast analysis also was useful for me to understand the terminology more clearly, a lot of the phrases used in weather are used a lot without people really knowing what they mean. It would be great for children to be able to explain these at home when they listen to the weather forecast. The practical hands on tasks of making tools to measure the wind speed are great, as the children will be able to recreate these at home. The tools are useful also as they measure aspects of weather that are very important day to day, and that he children will see mentioned on the weather forecast. Overall I really liked all these resources and after trying out these activities, I feel they would be suitable for the age level. For the wind speed tool, I would have then children work on this in small groups working together or complete it when there are more adults in the room to help, as it is a bit more complicated.
I agree that this level would be great as 6th class is an age where children are progressing to secondary school next year and becoming more independent. This means that they will feel more powerful to make changes and take in the impact of the film and its messages. It is very important that we all realise how serious an issue this is, and how every person is responsible for change, however at the younger age groups, it may work better to show imagery and some short clips to display what climate change means, without showing every aspect of it. It is most important like you said that the video ignites a passion for wanting to change what is happening, and I think it would do this so it really is a great resource.
Home is a very interesting documentary and I would definitely use some clips from it for a lesson about climate change and the affect it is having on our planet. The video footage is really incredible and it does show the impact of global warming. It is particularly alarming to consider the speed of the damage that has been done and also how the problem is potentially getting worse. I think this video would work well in classes like 4th/5th/6th as a trigger to discuss the topic, potentially in groups. Though it is a worrying topic, it is also important that everyone realises the significance of this issue, and children will be at an age where they can make some real difference through what they do at home, day to day and in the future. The Greta Thunberg video would also be effective to show, as it shows how one child was able to cause such an impact and is so well known. I think it would be great if this video was the beginning of project work which then led to action projects that could be simple things like using less electricity, encouraging your family to use less electricity, walk more, recycling in the school, and buying less by doing a swap shop etc. I think in order for these topics to not become overwhelming, it’s important to follow lessons that could be a bit shocking or worrying by activities that make the children feel they do have some power to make a change.
I really like this idea as well. Group work would mean that children could pool their ideas and knowledge together, and tools like kahoot are great for examining their knowledge in a fun and interactive way. I think the mintimeter would be great as a brainstorming activity at the beginning, and then repeated at the end, to show the new level of knowledge that the children now have. It could then be finished up with one last opportunity for children to suggest one question they still have on this topic, which could guide further learning on this topic in the future. These types of lessons would also make great projects, as the children could explore certain aspects of global warming and projects within the classroom to try help reduce the problem where possible.
I really like the paxi video and the TEAL tool. Firstly, I would start with a discussion about greenhouse gases where the children could first brainstorm how much they already know about this. This would include questions about why it is happening, why it is a problem and what we can do to try help prevent this. I would then watch the video and conduct a mini group quiz after. We would look at TEAL together using Ireland as the first example, I would then assign each group a country that they need to investigate the changes that have occurred from 1950 to 2024, only looking at the colours not the numbers. I would explain the meaning of the colours, and looking only at temperature first. I would then show the children in their groups how to watch the changes over this time and decide if they noticed anything, for example, has it gotten hotter, stayed the same or gotten cooler. We would do this quite briefly and then examine some counties together as a class, looking at the other aspects like solar radiation, rainfall and co2, and discuss what these changes might mean. As this tool is a bit complicated, I would focus on one country or area each time, and one aspect, to ensure that the children can understand the tool. Though the tool is a little complicated, it would be a very interesting way to show the changes that have occurred across the world in a short space of time.
Part 1 of assignment
Liston’s paper makes some interesting observations about STEM and the importance of integrating science, maths, education and technology together as subjects. I agree with this, as sometimes students form a dislike of subjects like Maths, if they find it challenging, without realising that they are actually very skills at lots of important aspects of Maths, even if they find number challenging. It is also very important that children learn to apply their skills in ways which are adaptable in Maths, so that they can complete more challenging problem solving activities. STEM builds on this and ensures that children develop these skills in the early years. Active learning and hands on activities are engaging and interesting for students, but they also ensure that children are learning how to be agile learners that are confident to tackle activities and questions that have several steps and do not appear straightforward.
I also really liked these ideas. They start with ideas that would be personal to the children like their birthdays, which could be further personalised with them planning party ideas based on weather predictions. As the lessons go forward, they get the chance to actually record and monitor the weather in an interactive and enjoyable way. These lessons are a good way to make sure that the children stay interested while also learning all about weather climate how to record things like wind speed and rain levels in a reliable way.
Liston’s paper makes some interesting observations about STEM and the importance of integrating science, maths, education and technology together as subjects. I agree with this, as sometimes students form a dislike of subjects like Maths, if they find it challenging, without realising that they are actually very skills at lots of important aspects of Maths, even if they find number challenging. It is also very important that children learn to apply their skills in ways which are adaptable in Maths, so that they can complete more challenging problem solving activities. STEM builds on this and ensures that children develop these skills in the early years. Active learning and hands on activities are engaging and interesting for students, but they also ensure that children are learning how to be agile learners that are confident to tackle activities and questions that have several steps and do not appear straightforward.
Nose High up in the Sky
I really liked the activity where the students discuss weather proverbs, along with being interesting and practical, this is something that the students will remember when they hear adults remark on proverbs regarding the weather, and it will encourage them to discuss this at home with their families. The activities where the children make the tool to measure wind speed and the tool to measure rain are great lessons. It would be engaging, enjoyable and challenging. The activities to go with these lessons are very simple and well laid out, and would be very useful for completing these lessons.
Weather Vs Climate
These lessons are very useful for ensuring the children understand the difference between weather and climate. The weather detectives activity would be very enjoyable and interactive. It would also integrate well with data in Maths. The Climate reporters uses some challenging concepts however it teaches about a valuable topic of greenhouse gases and their effects. I like the group work and the idea of students working together to analyse how much of an impact an increase of temperature would have on their lives and also very importantly how to try to reduce this.
