#sustainabledevelopment

Sustainable Development- Placement Task

For the first part of this task, I have attached a copy of the mapping of the school grounds/area. Map of school grounds Following on from this, looking at the evidence of existing engagement with sustainable education within the school such as garden area, recycling bins, litter picking ‘wardens, bird boxes and so on, I … Continue reading “Sustainable Development- Placement Task”

For the first part of this task, I have attached a copy of the mapping of the school grounds/area.

Map of school grounds

Following on from this, looking at the evidence of existing engagement with sustainable education within the school such as garden area, recycling bins, litter picking ‘wardens, bird boxes and so on, I found that:

The school have a food recycling rota where the children must ensure that food from the canteen is recycled and collected.
Scotland’s climate change pledge for communities.
They have a green charter that I have attached in the picture below
They school also have Green flag awards [1^st award 2010 & 2012]
They have both a ‘Eco Schools Silver Award 2007’ and an‘Eco Schools Bronze Award 2006’
The school have recycling bins outside and inside the building
They have litter picking teams that go around school once a week

Examples of Sustainable Development in the School

Moreover, I looked into the consideration of actual play space for children and its suitability and found:

“Play is what children and young people do in their own time, for their own reasons. When playing, children choose what to do, how to do it and who to do it with.” (Shackell et al,. 2008 p.g.9).

Play space within the school is primarily made up of two playgrounds. One playground caters for P1 to P3, whilst the other caters for P4 to P7. Both playgrounds are large concrete spaces. Both areas have very little grass available, or trees. I believe this to be primarily due to the school’s geographical location (based on a hillside).

The playgrounds are surrounded by fencing which aids in providing a safe environment for children. Children do not have access to leave the school at any point in the day via the playground due to the layout of the school building. The playground also does not go near a street or road and instead runs adjacent to the back of local houses and gardens.

Inside they playground there is a MUGA (multi-use games area) available for children to use. Children are rewarded extra time in the MUGA through ‘star-line’ technique. After each interval and at the start of the school day a teacher or CSA will decide what class has the best line in the playground. The class with the most points at the end of the week receives extra time in the MUGA. The MUGA allows the children to participate in many activities including football, tennis, netball, basketball, hockey and athletics. The school has described that since having the MUGA installed, it has aided in reducing unacceptable behaviour in the school playground, and promotes increased fitness within early age groups.

I find the playground ideal for this school as children can participate in many sporting activities, including football in the playground. This promotes health and well-being but also social interaction with children. The children in the school are also able to participate in sports as this seems an important part of many of the children’s lives (particularly football).

Shackell, A., Butler, N., Doyle., P. and Ball, D. (2008). Design for Play: A guide to creating successful play spaces. [London]: Dept. for Children, Schools and Families. [Online] Available at: http://www.playengland.org.uk/media/70684/design-for-play.pdf [Accessed 13 Nov. 2017].

The school’s sustainable development achievements so far.

Finally, after discussing these aspects of sustainable education with the children, I found:

When discussing with children, they have described the enjoy many aspects of sustainable education.
Children described that they feel their playground is of adequate space, and that they can play many games during breaks and lunch times. They also thoroughly enjoy the MUGA, so much so that children are reward with extra time in the MUGA through good behaviour and good ‘lines’ when the bell goes at the end of intervals.
Some children expressed that the only problem with their outdoor space was that it often gets very muddy, which affects the areas in which they can play.
Children have described they enjoy helping the local community in a simple way by recycling. Children are encouraged to regularly recycle many materials including paper and food. There is also a food recycling team who have the accountability for recycling food across the school one day per week.
Litter picker wardens are also across the school during break times [break time litter pickers]. Some pupils expressed that they thoroughly enjoy being litter pickers and helping the school to remain tidy and eco-friendly
An eco-schools audit completed in 2017 also confirmed that the level of litter was low due to measures put in place through break time litter pickers.
From this audit, it has encouraged more awareness around food-recycling despite their being teams in place to support this with the children.

Sustainable Development- Energy

These last week lectures focused on energy. When i reflect on my time in primary school, I remember learning a little bit about energy but i definitely learned a lot more about it in high school. From studying and learning more about energy in this module it has opened my eyes to the variety of activities and lessons that i could create to teach this topic in the classroom in a fun and enjoyable way. I feel like from the inputs in lectures and workshops on this topic i have developed numerous skills such as communication, team working, research and creativity and now feel more confident about teaching this topic.

For the first input on energy, we got to take part in a debate. The debate was to focus on ‘Alternative Energy’. We worked in small groups to read academic texts focused on wind turbines to find out information to debate about. We then went into larger groups to share our ideas and research with one another in order to work together to come up with 5 key points to debate about. We had two large groups, one for wind turbines and one against, we then had to decide which members of the group would go up to debate. Through this input i learned a lot about the skills i already possess and new ones that i have developed. Through this my team working, communication and research skills came to light. However, i also realized that i do lack confidence skills and this is something i would like to develop throughout my years in university.

The second input on energy focused on an activities we could use in the classroom such as creating a model of a wind turbine. This was an activity that we could to try ourselves and then create a lesson plan based on this activity. When it came to creating the model, we had to ensure that we had the appropriate resources and that we read our instructions correctly in order for our model to work. I was really happy with my end result and it is definitely an activity that I would try in the classroom.

When it came to creating the lesson plan we worked in partners and it was very interesting and fun. I really enjoyed being able to understand how doing an activity like this would be created and written up in a lesson plan. It was a good experience to work cooperatively with someone else and see how they would write up a lesson plan opposed to how I would do it. We managed to finish our lesson plan and we were really happy with the finished result.

From both these inputs my knowledge and skills in energy have definitely increased and improved. It was a topic that I didn’t think I would be interested in but now experiencing it in a different way I would love to teach this in the classroom. There are lots of resrouces and activities out there to help with teaching a topic like this that would be fun and enjoyable for the children. There are activities such as creating energy circuits, making a wind turbine, creating animals that use energy and many more. Energy is such a relevant topic and is important to teach as it is something that surrounds us in everyday life.

Sustainable Development- Natural Disasters

This week was our time to present our natural disaster presentations to the rest of the class. Previous to this, we were split into groups and each group were given a natural disaster to research and then present to the class. Our group was given earthquakes. We wanted to make our presentation classroom friendly and … Continue reading “Sustainable Development- Natural Disasters”

Our group was given earthquakes. We wanted to make our presentation classroom friendly and one that supplied enough information and facts for our peers but could be used as a lesson plan. From taking part in a task like this I feel like I have developed numerous skills such as: communication, team working, time management, organisation, research as well as listening and computer skills.

Some parts of this task I did find challenging as I feel like time played a major problem for the group. This was because it was a struggle trying to find a time where every member in the group was free to rehearse, especially as we were only given a week to carry out the task. However, we did manage to pull it all together and deliver a good, well researched presentation to the rest of the class. I particularly liked that from watching everyone’s presentations we were able to get different information on the natural disasters as well as different ideas on how we can present and teach these disasters to children.

Additionally, from the previous weeks workshop on natural disasters, I gained some knowledge on the type of activities we could carry out in the classroom e.g. fossil making, tornado in a jar and a baking soda and vinegar volcano. I found this lesson fun and interesting as it gave me some ideas in implementing natural disasters in the classroom.

The skills and information that I have been able to gain from this lesson and topic can and will be a crucial role into my development as a teacher.

Below I have attached a copy of the presentation we created.

Earthquakes-update

Interdependence- Learning Log

Interdependence is “the dependence of two or more people or things on each other” (Oxford Dictionary, 2017). This weeks class and workshop focused on the theme and understanding of interdependence and how it can relate to sustainability. There are 3 components which are all interconnected: economic, social and environmental interdependence. This input was presented in … Continue reading “Interdependence- Learning Log”

This input was presented in a different way to the previous ones. This theme was first delivered when we went and visited the two contrasting farms last week and we continued this theme this week. This week we were asked to make a Piktochart highlighting the main facts of the sustainability of fishing. “Sustainable fishing means leaving enough fish in the ocean, respecting habitats and ensuring people who depend on fishing can maintain their livelihoods” (Marine Stewardship Council, 2017).

We carried out this task in small groups, of around 4 people. I enjoy working in groups as I feel that my social, team working and communication skills are continually being developed. Each member of the group took a different topic to research and then towards the end we would combine all the information together. This was an excellent idea as it allowed for better time management, our own personal research skills and that the workload was shared. The topic itself was very interesting and I discovered various facts and information such as “Around 70-80% of the seafood consumed in the UK comes from overseas” (Seafish, 2017).

I found that from carrying out this task I developed a lot of new skills. These varied from team working, organisational skills, technology skills and research skills. These skills I believe are important and are skills that I will need to possess and develop as a student teacher.

References:

Oxford Dictionary, (2017). Interdependence. [Available: https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/interdependence] [Accessed: 23rd October 2017]

Marine Stewardship Council, (2017). What is sustainable fishing? [Available: https://20.msc.org/what-we-are-doing/our-approach/what-is-sustainable-fishing] [Accessed 22nd October 2017]

Seafish, (2017). Seafish. [Available: http://www.seafish.org/] [Accessed: 24th October 2017]