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Sustainable Development Learning Log : The Environment

Key Learning: ‘What does ‘The Environment’ mean to you?’ was the leading question in this week’s lecture/workshops and this made me think not only about the environment in regards to nature but also the different types of environment which impact … Continue reading →

Key Learning:

‘What does ‘The Environment’ mean to you?’ was the leading question in this week’s lecture/workshops and this made me think not only about the environment in regards to nature but also the different types of environment which impact our lives such as community and people.
The environment and sustainability, focusing on our impact on our environment.
To consider our own urban environment.

Impact on my views/lifestyle/practice:

Both Andrew and Louise’s inputs have encouraged me to re-evaluate my thoughts on the environment and allowed me to successfully see how to introduce and engage this type of topic to children, as the workshops were both very practical – involving us to go out and explore the area surrounding the university campus completing different activities such as bark and leaf rubbings and identifying various insects.

Furthermore, the independent study task allocated this week enabled me to think more about my urban environment eg.the Industries/ work, transport, green spaces and community aspects within my town.

Areas of interest to explore further/develop:

To consider the wide range of tasks/activities which could be used in order to teach children outdoors.
To explore my own urban environment.

urban area

I live in a town called Irvine which is in North Ayrshire it is on the coast of the firth of Clyde. Irvine is quite a large town I would say and has quite a lot of buildings and things to … Continue reading →

I live in a town called Irvine which is in North Ayrshire it is on the coast of the firth of Clyde. Irvine is quite a large town I would say and has quite a lot of buildings and things to do in it, in this blog I am going to be discussing all about my urban area. Below is a map of Irvine

There are many different buildings in my urban area we have a shopping mall called the Rivergate with over fifty different shops in it. There is also a leisure centre with a swimming pool, ice rink, gym and soft play in it. However this will soon be closing and moving to a different area in Irvine meaning that it will have less facilities in it as it will be a lot smaller.

Image result for magnum irvine

Image result for rivergate shopping centre

There is quite a lot of methods of transport used to get around Irvine and also to other nearby bigger towns like Ayr and Glasgow. There are trains that run frequently to Ayr and Glasgow these are on Everyday. There is also busses that run to these towns. There is many local busses that take you to different parts of the town these busses tend to be very frequent and run every ten minutes. I think the amount of transport being used in the town will have an negative effect on the environment as this will be polluting the air quite badly. At the moment in Irvine there is a lot of road works going on which is causing many delays and traffic jams in the town. There is also the new the roads and roundabout being built at an entrance to a new housing scheme.

There are many primary schools in Irvine and one secondary school. Within Irvine there are a few different schemes for example there is Girdle Toll and Castlepark to name a couple within each of these they tend to have a primary school for that area and also a community centre for that area, I would say in total there is around ten community centres in Irvine.

With Irvine being a large town there is many different types of jobs available, there is retail as the Rivergate shopping centre has more than fifty shops. There is also many jobs working on the railway and construction to name a few. However I would not say there is many agricultural jobs available.

The link we were given said the page is no longer available for the population density so I did not get my information from that link however I did find that the population in 2011 was 64,148 for men alone and 70,982 for females.

The air quality was quite low when I went on to the site to check this it was coming in at 3.

Sustainable Development Study Task: The Urban Environment

I live in a small town called Viewpark, which is often categorised under Uddingston, in North Lanarkshire. It is made up of many housing schemes, mainly council and has many small towns surrounding such as Bothwell and Bellshill. I … Continue reading →

I believe that there is a great sense of community in my town. There are many aspects which support and enhance the community such as the community centre which provides various leisure activities, the library, the health centre, the newly built care home, shops, restaurants and bars. There are also two primary school situated in the heart of my town and many other primary and secondary schools surrounding. In 2012, Viewpark saw the return of its Gala day for the first time since 1988 in which focuses on bringing everyone in the community together with many fun attractions such as a parade, funfair rides, bouncy castles, various stalls and entertainment. The focus youth project also provides a wide range of educational, recreational and outdoor learning programmes to the youth of my town.

In terms of transport there are various facilities, one being the well run bus services connecting the surrounding towns such as Bellshill, Motherwell and Hamilton. Despite Viewpark not actually having its own train station, there are two very popular stations extremely close which have trains running to both Glasgow and Edinburgh. Currently there are some developments being made to the motorways A8 and M74 surrounding my area, with many road closures and diversions which is causing a lot of traffic and confusion.

In my urban environment there are a few green spaces such as the glen, local parks and local football pitches. Viewpark Gardens is a horticultural centre that incorporates several types of gardens and glasshouse displays, among the features of the gardens are Japanese and Highland plants. This is a very popular venue for wedding photos also. However, North Lanarkshire Council recently launched an £250,000 garden allotments project, in Viewpark gardens, where people can grow their own fruit and veg.

Viewpark/Uddingston, as well as closely surrounding towns, provides a great deal of jobs from the local shops, restaurants/bars, doctors to factory work. Uddingston is home to the Tunnock’s factory, famous for its caramel wafers and teacakes. The family-run business was founded in 1890 and is still based in the town today offering hundreds of jobs to the community. Also there are two large industrial estates, Bellshill and Tannochside, which also employ a lot of the community.

North Lanarkshire has a population density of 719 people per square km. (http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/HTMLDocs/dvc134_c/index.html )

My urban area has also got a low level of air pollution, I found this surprising considering it is quite industrial. (http://www.scottishairquality.co.uk/latest/?postcode=g71+5hf&postcode-submit.x=0&postcode-submit.y=0 )

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Urban Environment

I live in a small town called Bellshill in North Lanarkshire. It is a very old town with records dating back to 1654 where quarry workers settled in a small village. Bellshill has always been an industrial town with many mines up until 1953, it is also just under 4 miles from Ravenscraig which was […]

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Bellshill, like most small villages in North Lanarkshire, does not have much to offer in terms of leisurely places to visit or shop. The town has a library, a leisure centre and two supermarkets. The town has always had a few cafes and pubs but has recently opened two quite successful restaurants given their location, one of which just recently won an award for being the best mediterranean establishment in Scotland. Back in 1958, Bellshill changed their two-ward hospital into a massive two building maternity. This was the first in the whole Lanrkshire area and I quite often find like myself, many of my friends and family were born there. However the maternity was closed in 2001 and demolished in 2003 to make way for new housing developments, which is actually where I am currently living. I also live next to the Bellshill industrial estate, one of the two in Bellshill, so I do not live in a very green part of Bellshill.

250px-bellshill_main_street

Bellshill has many roads, two sides of the town are surrounded my motorways, which are currently having major work done causing in a lot of traffic, or connecting towns Motherwell and Uddingston.

The town does cover a small part of Strathclyde County Park as well as Hamilton and Motherwell. The park covers 1.5 square miles and is centred around a loch. Sadly this loch is artificial as it is simply a flooded mining village from 1970, parts of the loch are unaccessible due to wiring underneath the water. I do not think Bellshill is very green and highly polluted due to its industrial past.

The town has a train station which always has direct trains running to and from Glasgow Central and Edinburgh Waverly which is very handy and useful. The town also has a good bus service with the two biggest bus services in Lanarkshire running through it. As I mentioned Bellshill falls in Strathclyde park which means its easy to walk or cycle to Hamilton or Motherwell avoiding roads and motorways. I tend to travel to most places by car or train. There currently is a lot of work being done to the motorways A8 and M74 surrounding Bellshill with many road closures and route changes which is causing a lot of congestion and confusion amongst drivers, in the mornings especially.

I do not believe Bellshill is very urban at all. However recent developments such as the new restaurants and housing I do believe this can change. The town should possibly open more shops and leisure places such as a cinema etc.

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Learning Log 1: The Environment

Theme: THE ENVIRONMENT Key Learning: I learnt about both the natural and urban environment. The natural environment is made up of the elements which surround you, for example: the land, the people and the community. It is important to teach … Continue reading →

Theme: THE ENVIRONMENT

Key Learning:

I learnt about both the natural and urban environment. The natural environment is made up of the elements which surround you, for example: the land, the people and the community. It is important to teach sustainable development and the environment topic. If pupils can form a relationship with nature, and become interested in it, then they are more likely to care and look after it.

The urban environment refers to a built-up area such as a town or city. Urban areas tend to be packed full of buildings, roads, factories and transport.
Cities are responsible for a large amount of carbon emissions, whether this is from deforestation or burning of fossil fuels. There are a finite amount of fossil fuels and the demand for these is much greater than the supply.
As there is an increasing growth of the human population the urban areas must grow to suit. This can lead to cutting down forests, to make more space for buildings, which results in the loss of animal habitats and then eventually the loss of different species.
Our urban area is able to support human growth, allow us to physically develop through health care, allow us to socially develop through clubs and communities and provide us with education. It also provides lifelong care such as nursing homes and provides resources for life. Our urban area allows us to interact with nature and shows the diversity of different species.

I also learnt about the different parts of a flower as well as the process of germination and photosynthesis. I also learnt that hydroponics is the process of growing a plant without soil.

Impact on my views/lifestyle/practice:

During the input on the environment we were able to go out onto the grounds surrounding the university and complete different tasks relating to the topic. We were given sheets with different types of plants, birds, insects and lichen and we were to go out a walk and try and identify them. This made me realise how little attention I pay when walking from the car park into the university as there were all these different species of living things that I had never really noticed before. It was good to get involved in the task.

I was able to look further into my own urban environment and it was interesting to see how many details you don’t really think about on a day to day basis. For instance I never really thought about the carbon emissions and how driving in my car every day is in some way adding onto this. It makes you think what a difference it would make if we were able to use different modes of transport, like the trams in Edinburgh, or try cycling to work and university instead of taking the car.

In the science lab we set up an experiment to compare the difference between two seedlings. One was set up with the complete solution and the other was without nitrogen. Over the course of the week we have been checking up on the seedlings and comparing the length and appearance of the two.

Areas of interest to explore further/develop:

I’m looking forward to becoming more confident about teaching science and sustainable development. To further develop my knowledge on the environment topic so far I am going to engage in some further reading as well as doing some more research online.

The Environment (Learning log)

Key learning: I have learned what Sustainable Development means, and how it applies to the environment as a whole. I have also learned the definitions of concepts explored in the urban environment, while contemplating my own urban environment. Through this module, I am now more comfortable discussing different environmental issues in the classroom and would […]

Key learning:

I have learned what Sustainable Development means, and how it applies to the environment as a whole. I have also learned the definitions of concepts explored in the urban environment, while contemplating my own urban environment. Through this module, I am now more comfortable discussing different environmental issues in the classroom and would be able to lead several activities relating to various topics.

Impact on my views/lifestyle:

Outside Learning- Through this module so far, I have begun to appreciate outdoor learning more as a means to grasp the attention of the pupils and make learning more enjoyable to young children. The benefits of working outdoors for a topic such as Sustainable Development are numerous. Children can experience animals in their natural habitat and see how they interact with the environment, are able to create links between different parts of the environment such as leaves to a tree or food to an animal and are also able to actively learn while benefiting their health. In the future, I will use this technique to enable the children to take a break from the limitations the classroom enforces. This will ensure that the children will become more engaged in learning and will increase the chances of recall later as they may find it more memorable.

Awareness/knowledge expanded- Before this module started, my knowledge of the environment and sustainable development was limited. Now that I have had a few classes detailing the contents of the course, I now have better understanding of the environment as a whole and have been able to complete tasks related to the topic thanks to the reading given to us beforehand. I now know more about human relationship with nature and the demand for finite resources, which is now greater than the supply. Thanks to this module, I know feel a bit more confident in teaching this topic in a classroom.

Highly enjoyable- I have really enjoyed this module so far, and look forward to more classes. I found that I was more engaged and interested when we were being taught outside, and I would like to initiate this type of learning in a school in the future.

Areas of interest to explore further/develop:

Science aspects of the module- Throughout Primary school I was always curious about science. I was particularly interested in the biology side of science, which I continued to study at Secondary school. I hope this module will allow me to study some science and enhance my knowledge of the subject in relation to the environment.
School learning- I am interested to find out how schools teach this topic to pupils. I would like to know how the pupils of local schools interact with the environment during school times, how they act as a community and how that affects their local environment.

as a community and how that affects their local environment

The Environment – Learning Log

B.A. 2 Learning Log Theme: The Environment Key Learning: In this session we looked into our feelings on the environment and what we would describe it as. After discussing our own thoughts we found out how the ‘environment’ is actually … Continue reading →

B.A. 2
Learning Log

Theme: The Environment

Key Learning:
In this session we looked into our feelings on the environment and what we would describe it as. After discussing our own thoughts we found out how the ‘environment’ is actually everything around us; where we live, the countryside, towns, cities and even our own homes. We learned how even the smallest factors can have an effect on the environment in the biggest ways. For example global warming is having great effects on the environment as a whole including the habitats of animals, insects and plants.

Impact on my views/lifestyle/practice:

Personally I have never been one to enjoy the outdoors, ever since I was a child I was more of a ‘play inside with my barbies’ kind of girl instead of getting mucky like the other children in my street would. However, I actually enjoyed getting outdoors in the workshops last week. Before the session, I was unaware of how much the conditions of an environment can change what is in it. In the workshop with Louise we searched for certain insects, lychens, leaves and birds, and the types of each of these things we found differed greatly by the area of the campus we looked on. This made me realise how important it is to keep the planet tidy as, if the small insects were unable to live in certain environments, then think of the bigger animals such as deer and rabbits who may be affected by our unenvironmentally friendly habbits.

Areas of interest to explore further/develop:

I hope to further develop my knowledge on the environment and how I personally can help keep the habitats of such animals safe for them to live in. I also hope that when I go into the primary schools I am able to educate the children on some of the things which I have been learning about and make them want to help with the environment around them too.

The Environment Learning Log

In engaging with the workshops, it opened my mind as to the possibilities that outdoor learning brings to a child’s education that indoor learning cannot. The tree identifying activity was the one I found most effective and intriguing as it gets children to directly be around their local environment and really engage with it which will be much more stimulating and interesting for children than learning about it indoors. It was also useful to summarise successes and issues with this activity when doing it with children as well as recreating similar indoor activities based on the same learning. I also found this activity most interesting as it led to several prompt questions that may arise in children that relate to environmental issues such as the impact of the loss of habitat and discovering the reasons behind why certain trees may be found in a particular area. This concern for environmental issues can be followed through with my role as an educator which Kemp (2004) highlights is a necessity as we are increasingly becoming more aware of these issues, evidence being that more individuals and groups are forming to resolve discrete environmental issues.

Moreover, the birds and bugs activity proved to be a more difficult activity, however I realise this was due to lack of enthusiasm for digging around in mud whereas children may be more keen to do this. The lichen activity was also less engaging than the tree activity, but may be an eye-opener to children when discovering the different factors that affect air quality in their local environment that are man-made. However, as a future role model and teacher, and as the Scottish Government (2012) describes, I should aim to become an “active global citizen” in order to inspire children to develop a positive and appreciative attitude towards the environment. In addition, Scottish Government (2012) describes common whole school approaches that support learning for sustainability and ultimately helps towards a more environmentally friendly planet. Such examples include the participation of Scottish schools in eco schools, the green flag award and fairtrade schools.

Furthermore, I have always had good experiences regarding the environment which has led to a deep appreciation and interest for helping to support a greener planet. This stemmed from always having an interest in studying geography and being an active eco community member in high school, therefore I hope to inspire the same enthusiasm and appreciation for the environment in children and guide them towards realising and understanding the importance of creating a sustainable environment for future generations.

Kemp, D. (2004) Exploring Environmental Issues. London: Routledge

Scottish Government (2012) Learning for Sustainability: The Report of the One Planet Schools Working Group. Edinburgh: Scottish Government.