Lesson
Planning and Rationale by Rachel, Eilidh S, Eilidh T,
Neave (Yr 3 Univ. of Stirling 2020)
Researching
Minibeasts : A sequence
of three lessons
Visiting pupils with students around the fire after geocaching experiences
Short
extract from the rational and some resources:
Throughout
our series of lessons, sustainability is an element which is tied into the core
of the lessons, with specific focus on sustainability being added into the
second and third lesson. In order to understand sustainability further, the
definition given by the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development
is provided. Sustainability is the ability to meet the needs of the present
without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
(Evans, M, 2019)The purpose of our sequence of lessons is to engage
children with their local environment and allow them to think about and
question the importance of minibeasts and their impact on ecosystems within
this environment. Including children in conversation surround these key topics
is critical for them to become active participants in conserving their local
area. This idea is evidenced through (Davis, J, 2015) by providing children
with proper education, children and young people can be positive about the part
that they play in the world and how they can contribute to change. There is an
extensive amount of literature surrounding the benefits of children being
educated and informed participants, who can help conserve the environment.
creating our sequence, sustainability was a theme incorporated throughout, with
a key focus being in the last lesson of conserving minibeasts habitat.
Lesson
Planning and Rationale by Nathaniel, Nicola, Lucy: (Yr 3 Univ. of Stirling 2020)
Wood
you ever believe it? : A sequence
of three lessons
Geocaching
(Lesson 1 of three) is extracted here
Place responsive pedagogy involves using the
outdoors with the aim to understand and improve human and environment relations
(Mannion, Fenwick, & Lynch, 2013). The intent is to
create a relationship of mutual interdependence (Brown, 2012). The pedagogy of
place responsiveness does not only build relationships with the humans and the
environment but between humans too (Gruenewald, 2003). To help learners to become
place-responsive a teacher requires a fair amount of flexibility and creativity
(Mannion, Fenwick, & Lynch, 2013). When outdoors
anything can happen that can become a lesson in itself, such as an unusual
organism is found. This does present a degree of unpredictability. Open-ended tasks that initiate discussions
and opinions are vital (Mannion, Fenwick, & Lynch, 2013). If a lesson is set
in stone everything becomes regimental and inflexible, this can then restrict
the amount of unintentional learning (Brown, 2012).
When designing the lesson, we made sure to not inhibit any explorative
learning. During the taught lesson, a log will be turned over and the learners
will be looking for organisms that are decomposers, such as woodlice and
earthworms.
Sustainability in
education is described as the development that meets the needs of the present
without jeopardising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (Prince, 2010). To become a
registered teacher with the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS),
teachers must show several key professional values. These include equality and
justice as well as sustainability (General Teaching Council for Scotland, 2012). The GTCS states
that these are core to a professional teacher’s values. It is not just about
recognising the rights and responsibilities of the current generation, but also
the future generations too (General Teaching Council for Scotland, 2012) (Prince, 2010). It is important for children to
explore what a sustainable lifestyle is by seeing and working within it and not
just taught about it (Brundiers, Wiek, & Redman, 2010) (Prince, 2010) (Ballard, Dixon, & Harris, 2016).
In the taught
lesson, earthworms were usually found. This facilitated a teacher lead
discussion on the importance of earthworms and their vital function of
converting decomposing plant matter to nutrient-rich soil. It was stressed that
without earthworms (and other decomposers) we probably would not have the wide
range of food-producing plants, which would have a knock-on effect on humans
resulting in food shortages. The children were questioned on what could be done
to ensure that earthworms continue to thrive in our ground and soil. This
discussion contained a mixture of inferential and open questions allowing a
wide range of answers. One group discussed how fruit and vegetable discards
from the kitchen could be placed onto compost heaps rather than into the bin.
In the final lesson, the children would partake in a carousel activity that
featured three questions. Two of them where “What causes a food chain
link to be removed?” and “What can we do to prevent food chain links
being removed?”. After watching a video, the children will have discussed
with the teacher some of the causes of the removal of links from the food
chain. This will perhaps lead on to the question: what can we do? However, just
this experience will not make the children fully understand and appreciate
sustainability.
The children need to continue to take part in
outdoor lessons that feature sustainability that build upon the previous ones (Brundiers, Wiek, & Redman, 2010). After visiting a
local area several times children will start to build a relationship with that
location (as discussed above), this will result in the children becoming more
attached to the local environment and more willing to protect it (Grren & Somerville, 2015). Therefore, the
lessons planned will have either created or built upon the awareness of the
need for sustainability in the children, but to get the best awareness and
action, children need to consistently take part in outdoor learning in a
familiar place.
To
conclude, the lessons planned to ensure that the learners will become place
responsive, will learn more about the scientific concept and will become more
sustainable. To become place responsive and build a relationship with the
environmental location (Mannion, Fenwick, & Lynch, 2013) a learner would have
to go to the outdoor learning area several times. Although this was not
possible with the lessons planned, we hoped that through the experience the
learners would build a small relationship with the area through the activities
they took part in. If the lessons were planned to happen in school grounds, I
would expect to take the children consistently over several weeks to further
explore the biodiversity and interdependence. The lessons planned will ensure
that the children went away with a greater knowledge of biodiversity and
interdependence, especially the biodiversity of the Scottish woodland floor.
Sustainability is
more important than ever more. The role of teachers is to facilitate children’s
understanding of the need for sustainability. During the lesson planning, we
made sure that through inferential and open questioning the children will
become more aware of the importance of sustainability. Overall, I felt that
this was a worthwhile exercise, creating the experience for student teachers to
develop and plan as well as teach an outdoor lesson while taking into account
the three concepts of place responsiveness, science context and sustainability.
Lesson Planning
and Rationale by Becky,
Jessica, Sophie (Yr 3 University of
Stirling 2020)
Eyes
on the Sky! A sequence of three lessons
Geocaching
(Lesson 2 of three) is extracted here
Rationale for the lesson (Extract)
In designing our sequence of three lessons, for our level one pupils, we attempted to incorporate place, science and sustainability as common threads running throughout every lesson. The National Trust (2020) highlight a lack of engagement with nature in the present climate and it was our hope that within our lessons relationships with our local setting could be constructed. We also hoped to create within our learners a wider sense of self in a global environment. The need to enhance human connections with the environment is at the heart of sustainability and thus within the Scottish Curriculum for Excellence (Ross and Mannion 2012). The purpose of this rationale is to highlight how we hope to achieve place responsive, science conscious and sustainability aware learning intentions within a somewhat restrictive curriculum. The aim is to go further than the blanket outcomes of educational standards and create more collaborative, lasting achievements (Gruenewald 2003). We hope to motivate and engage learners encouraging an ability to question and analyse the world around us (Learning and Teaching Scotland 2010). I will argue that it is important to include outdoor learning within the curriculum to access the affective domain and build learner and teacher confidence (Van der Hoeven Kraft et al. 2011). Due to the limited access to nature that children currently experience it is vital that we highlight the benefits and encourage others to step outside the classroom and teach the benefits of the multisensory, learning rich environment we have within our reach (Mannion et al. 2012). It was vital for our lessons to be place responsive hence our decision to locate, for lesson two, on an open section of land, a hill, where the sky was clearly visible when standing or lying down. Place based learning centres around the curriculum but uses the environment to create a context to learn (Van der Hoeven Kraft et al. 2011). We are able to adapt the lesson dependent on weather: from cloud watching, to considering where the rain falling comes from, to asking how mist forms. Our questioning will relate at all times to the water cycle and air pollution in whichever manner the opportunity presents itself that day. This is curriculum’ due to a place-based response (Ross and Mannion 2012). Mannion et al. (2012) state that teachers are not the only influence on building the curriculum when it comes to place responsive pedagogies, in fact they describe the natural environment as a “coauthor”. The university as a location is an interesting option due to its inner city yet natural feel, it juxtaposes the human built environment with wildlife. Cars and construction are visible from our waypoint while also being within a vast expanse of managed grassland and close to tree cover. According to Ingold (2000) this relates to a dwelling versus a building perspective, how the learners see the environment depends on which perspective their culture has encouraged. Lesson three once again involves an element of cloud watching and an expressive arts activity that consolidates the children’s learning, this considers visible pollution from their own school’s outdoor space. This is changeable depending on the school’s placement near industry or transport. At its core the intention of using place within this context is to enhance the relationship between our learners and the environment (Mannion et al. 2012). Our purpose is to connect to the children’s own experiences and create a concrete link between human behaviour and the environment in their minds (Gruenewald 2003). Learning and Teaching Scotland (2010) describe “rich urban and rural environments” within reach of all Scottish schools. The value of teaching outdoors is clear in how meaningful the learners find the experience and structuring these connections can achieve significant and memorable experiences (Mannion et al. 2011). Science as a concept must be taught in these experiential ways in order to motivate enduring interest (Education Scotland 2020b).
Lesson Planning and Rationale by Jack, Cameron, Jonathan, & Hannah (Yr 3 University of Stirling 2020)
Epiphytes! A sequence of three lessons Geocaching (Lesson 2 of three) is extracted here
The Geocache Lesson Rationale – (Extract)
As mentioned previously, lesson 2 will be designed for and delivered to a group of local primary school children in a wooded area of the Stirling University campus. This lesson builds on the learning of lesson 1. While lesson 1, looks at the conventional growing conditions of a plant, lesson 2 begins to explore plants which use other plants as growing sites- epiphytes Namely, Moss, Lichen and common Ivy.
As this lesson examines flora in their natural niches, we as a group, felt that this lesson was the clear candidate out of the 3 to be a place-responsive lesson. By letting the children see these plants in their real-life habitats, we felt this offered the context for the learning that simply could not be conveyed in the confines of a school classroom. There has been extensive volume of research into the benefits of place-responsive teaching. Smith (2002) writes, “The primary value of place-based education lies in the way that it serves to strengthen children’s connections to others and to the regions in which they live.” By introducing the children to plants which are present in abundance in areas within their own access, this allows for them to feel more invested in the place where they are from and more connected to the nature which immediately surrounds them. This is the key reasoning and philosophy which underpins all outdoor learning.
Place-based educators welcome and nourish this connection which can be harnessed to promote a variety of spiritual, political, economic, ecological, and pedagogical avenues (Gruenewald, 2003). In the case of our sequence of lessons, we begin by introducing the children through the means of science in lesson 1 and then moving on to place in lesson 2.
The children are to split up into small groups of 3-4 and are tasked with finding the 3 mentioned plants (Moss, Lichen & Ivy) with riddles hinting at their physical appearances and likely growing sites. Before the task commences, the children are familiarised with the set boundaries and the key safety risks this area poses- denoted in the risk assessment. The place our group has selected has an abundance of examples of each of these plants, meaning locating and taking a sample should not prove too difficult for children of the age of 7-9 (primary 3&4).
Although this task presents no obvious traditionally academic challenge, it could be argued that the real-life aspect of looking for these plants in their native habitat exponentially increases the individual child’s interest in the subject matter and then subsequently their understanding of the subject in question. Place-based educators will not discount the role content and skills play in a young child’s overall learning journey, but postulate that the study of places can help boost student engagement and understanding through the means of multidisciplinary, experiential, and inquiry based learning. Furthermore, these outdoor experiences often not only prove to be relevant but also potentially contribute to the wellbeing of community life (Gruenewald, 2002; Haas & Nachtigal, 1998; Smith, 2002; Theobald & Curtiss, 2000).
This emotional engagement which arises from being in the place, is a crucial aspect to place-based learning. The natural progression from being in the place, is caring for the place. Questions of sustainability and accountability start to become apparent to practitioner and student alike. Our group decided to start addressing these questions in lesson 3.
The contents of the cache and related activities will be linked to the teaching and learning of the Food chain in and around Airthrey Loch (Stirling University very own private loch). The geocache is aimed at educating primary school aged children about food chains. This concept will be taught through the three activities provided within the geocache. The first activity will provide the pupils who find the geocache with a challenge, this will be to find a toy duck hidden in the area, the pupils will be given a single clue to help them locate the duck. This will keep the children engaged and enthusiastic about the subject as the challenge is fun and different from usual lessons they’d have in a classroom.
The activity is relevant to the loch and the educational contents of the geocache. The geocache will include two kazoos, the children will be encouraged to try and imitate the noise a duck would make using the kazoos. The kazoos give the children something fun to do whilst keeping them on the subject of the loch’s food chain. The third and final activity in the geocache will be an inquiry-based approach and will include a list of pictures and names of 7 organisms native to the loch, the children will then be asked as a group to put the animals in what they think the correct order from top to bottom of the food chain would be. (The correct order will be revealed at the end.) This should spark curiosity among the children and be the catalyst for questions. This geocache can be adapted for any habitat by changing the 4-10 animals used in activity 3.
The place in which we shall be placing our geocache lies in an area right next to Airthrey Loch under the end of the bridge. Since this is next to the loch, it is one of the many places where the ducks are going to be, for reasons such as: feeding, looking after their babies, excreting waste, reproducing or simply a place to be while walking around the loch.
In relation to education for sustainability, this geocache mainly relates to global goal number 12 which looks at responsible consumption as it makes the children think about the effect that one change can have in the food chain. They can also realise their own impact on the local and global environment as well and in turn they may change their actions in regard to their future actions. This geocache can also be related to global goals 14 and 15 which relate to life on land and under water. It relates to these goals as the food chain can impact both of these land forms even if the animals in that particular food chain are not in the land as the possibly infected animal can contaminate a wide variety of sources.
