• Evidence of existing engagement with sustainable education within the school such as garden area, recycling bins, litter picking ‘wardens’, bird boxes, and so on.

– When searching for evidence of engagement with sustainable education in my placement school, I often had to go searching instead of this evidence being obvious. The first piece of evidence that I observed were the lack of bins in the playground. For the whole school, there were only 2bins outside and the school did not have designated litter pickers. There we no bird boxes as the school is situated in the middle of a housing estate and so has no naturally placed trees. The school is largely concrete which the children play on, aside from a grass area up the back of the playground which children tend not to play on. There is a garden, however, it is out of bounds as the weeds and nettles have become unmaintainble and harmful to the children.

• Consideration of actual play space for children and its suitability.

-Again, because of the situation of the school – in the middle of a housing estate  – the school is lacking in in a lot of greenery. A large proportion of the playground is concrete however the school have had games printed on it to do their best considering what they have. The grass area at the back is well kept however it has no games or materials for the children to play with.

• Discussion with children on these aspects of sustainable education.

-Upon speaking to the children, I observed how unhappy they are with their playground. One child was even stung by a nettle because of the unruly bushes. They told me that there are no designated litter pickers and that they would be interested in doing their bit to help. A group of primary 5 girls even told me that they think a great idea would be to designate a year group a month to do litter pics and make it  competition. I think this is a great idea as it would allow children to take pride in their playground and work hard to gain a reward. They also told me that they wish the school would invest in a climbing frame or assault course so they could play in the grass more.

 1 – Bin 1

2- Bin 2

3 – Mainly used play area which is concrete

4- Grass field

5 – Overgrown garden area

6- Carpark

7- Entrance to school

Note school is situated in amongst a housing estate.

After learning knowledge about disasters and researching some political stances on the matter, we were asked to do a micro teaching exercise. My group had earthquakes. We worked together to create a powerpoint presentation on the definition, recovery, preventions, responses and then gave our peers some possible lesson plans and E’s and O’s. My section focused on the responses to earthquakes, and relating back to our politics input, I compared earthquakes in LEDC’s (less economically developed countries) and in MEDC’s (more economically developed countries). There was quite a clear different in response and I concluded myself that It was completely dependent on the wealth status of the country. This is because the amount of wealth in a country determines alliances, quality of infrastructure and access to supplies which are all vital when an earthquake hits.

From doing this research and teaching lesson I learned some very valuable skills. One of them being my research skills. As I’ve always been an avid lover of politics, I know that today a lot of media outlets are biased towards a viewpoint. When researching earthquakes, I was careful to use legitimate sources which proved more difficult that I anticipated.

Another skill that this presentation made me aware that I have to develop is my confidence. Going into the task my nerves were alright, it wasn’t until I stood in front of the class that I started to get nervous. This caused me to mess up some words and create paused in my slide. To help solve this, I will practice speaking into a mirror so I am used to hearing myself speak.

This week in sustainable development we had a change of scenery and went outdoors to visit 2 farms. The purpose of us visiting 2 farms was so that we could see the similarities and difference between them. The first farm that we visited was Strandhead Farm in Machine. As soon as I walked in, I observed how advanced and impressive this farm really was – it was like nothing id ever seen before. It used state of the art technology to feed the cows a specifically mixed nutritional feed, and was used to detect and clean any mess in their pens. Another thing I noticed from the beginning was the large amount of cows in the pens. We were then told that the cows don’t get to go outside all year round. It was quite shocking for me to hear this – as an avid animal lover – because these animals were so large and were surrounded by acres of green land. We were then told why they are kept inside and it all seemed less harsh and shocking. Keeping them inside limits infections from the grass and their surrounding environment and allows the farmers to regulate exactly what goes into their diet and how often their eating to produce the highest possible milk yield. In production of the farm, they had even considered how harsh the Scottish weather conditions can be. The walls were essentially steel blinds which were self regulating depending on the weather, so the cows were always kept at a nice temperature.

Another piece of technology which showed us just how advanced this farm was, was the milking process. As shown in the pictures above, the cows were milked by robot. The cows chose at what time they wanted to be milked and the machine milked them and was able to analyse their quality of yield at the same time.

Overall, I was extremely surprised at how advanced a farm could be and was so impressed by how efficiently this farm ran.

The next farm we went to was completely different. It was a family run, organic farm. The farm was called Mossgiel Farm which is also in Machine and this farm had a much more ‘hands on’ approach.

The farmer allowed his cows to go outside despite of the risks of infections in order for the milk to be more fresh. There was no fancy machinery to milk the cows, the are hand fed and are milked by an old traditional machine as shown in the picture.

The farmer told us that he has been under a lot of scrutiny because he does not take the ‘normal’ approach to farming. One of these approaches is letting the baby calves be with their mothers from birth. In the farming world, this is avoided as it can cause a lot of infection and problems, however he has experienced no issues with this and only sees the positive effects.

By going on this trip, my observational skills have developed considerably. In these farms – a bit like a classroom – there was many chaotic things going on round about me. Instead of getting anxious about this, I was absorbing everything around me. Although a strange analogy, I suppose I was watching the cows all around me to make sure they weren’t doing anything strange, just like I have to watch children in a classroom.

As well as this, I learned more about the benefits of active learning which we have previously discussed. Being outdoors, the whole uni group were generally very excitable and keen to learn. I think for one, kids will be so excited to be in a setting outside of the classroom. And when its a setting such as a farm, the kids would learn so much putting their theory into practise and seeing these animals up close in person.

Observational skills and active learning are both something I fully intend to cooperate into my teaching career and I think that class trips are a great way to do this.

The purpose of this weeks lecture and tutorials was to explore climate change. In the lecture, we learned that the definition of climate is an average weather given at a point and time of year, over a long period (typically 30 years).  What I didnt know what that we expect the weather to change a lot from day to day but we expect the climate to remain relatively constant. I thought that our every day weather was our climate and could change daily. When our climate does change and doesn’t remain constant – we call this climate change. Within climate change we discussed the debate about whether it is man made or natural. Personally, I am still unsure about my stance on this, but I do know that now, the effects of climate change are greatly due to human activity.

We also learned about how a climate change is detected and some examples of this are weather recordings, ice cores, rocks and fossils and analysis of pollen and trees. We then discussed the effects and impacts of climate change on the world and I realised how distressing these can be to our environment. One example which really shocked me was agriculture. Through climate change, deserts and areas of land can become completely unstable through desertification. In addition to this, costal land becomes at risk, sea defences become under stress and crops are wiped out due to flooding. Because of all of the huge effects climate change has on us as people and the environment, it really relayed to me how important it is to teach the next generations about how they can help these situations.

For our first tutorial, we went back to the science labs with Andrew to learn about biomes. Biomes are a large area of land and vary from grassland, rainforest and tundra.

We were then given a biome – desert- and were asked to fill in a worksheet on how we would survive on a desert if there was a plane crash and we were stranded there. This helped me understand the biome in much more depth and when we were thinking about ways to survive, we had to consider the climate and resources that a desert posses.

After this, we moved round stations to further explore climate change. One of the stations was exploring temperature. There was a large tank of room temperature water. We then filled up two cups with water – one with hot water and one with cold. We identified the temperatures by using red and blue food colourings. When we dropped both cups in the tank, we seen that all of the hot water raised to the top of the tank, whilst the cold water sank to the bottom. This activity – although it has a deeper meaning – allows children to visually and interactively see the hot water rising and cold water sinking,

The second tutorial took a political stance on climate change and discussed the links between them. We were given some government policies, and discussed their effectiveness. We were then given a location and role and as a government, had to discuss the methods to help this individual. My groups situation was a single mother living in Queensland. Upon research we found that due to rising temperatures, there are a lot of forest fires in Queensland, and to stop this, an idea we had was to invest more in our fire prevention and brigade services.

I never thought that learning about climate change would affect me as much as it has. I never knew that our actions could have such an impact on the wider world. As a future educator, I will make sure to educate children on this issue through fun, creative ways like we have experienced in university.

On our first day of sustainable development I really had no idea what to expect. In our lecture we talked about what the purpose of the module was in education, what sustainable development is and how we can teach our children – as future educators – about the impact we are having on our environment. The Scottish Government have defined sustainable development as ‘The goal of sustainable development is to enable all people throughout the world to satisfy their basic needs and enjoy a better quality of life without compromising the quality of life of future generations’ (Gov.scot, 2017). As our children are the next generation, it is our job to educate and inform them of actions they can take to improve our world.

In our first workshop we went to the science lab with Andrew where mini stations were set up for us to try. These stations were examples of activities we could do with children to teach them about their environment. The stations included dissecting flowers and viewing them through microscopes, analysing snails and discussing misconceptions. We also went outside to the University’s Japanese garden to learn about different types of trees. To do this wee took tree rubbings and leaf rubbings. I think this could be a great way to get children interested as it takes them outside the classroom in a creative and exciting way.

After this, we went outside with Louise and had various tasks to complete. The first task my group opted for was an insect checklist. We went around our university environment and tried to find insects in the grass and in the ‘bug hotel’. We then done the same for lichen, we went around looking for the different typed checking them off on our worksheet. Our last activity was to go a walk around the gardens of the university, being mindful and thinking about all of the things we experienced using our 5 senses. For the first time, I could hear things I couldn’t usually hear such as birds singing and leaves rustling. I think from all of these experiences and tasks, children in classrooms could have many sequences of follow up lessons. The activities could be transferred into maths with data collection, or into Literacy with creative writing.

These tutorials and activities have really made me have a think about outdoor learning in children. I researched this further so I could really explore the benefits that this style of teaching has on children. ‘Outdoor play also supports children’s problem-solving skills and nurtures their creativity, as well as providing rich opportunities for their developing imagination, inventiveness and resourcefulness'(lotc.org.uk, 2017). In the future, I will definitely make sure that my classes are taken outside frequently to allow them to optimise their learning and mindfulness in school.

References –

Gov.scot. (2017). Sustainable Development. [online] Available at: http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Environment/SustainableDevelopment [Accessed 30 Sep. 2017].

lots.org.uk. (2017). Benefits for Early Years of Learning Outside the Classroom. [online] Available at: http://www.lotc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Benefits-for-Early-Years-LOtC-Final-5AUG09.pdf [Accessed 30 Sep. 2017].

Since I can remember, the words ‘climate change’ have always been a controversial and topical issue. Many individuals have very strong opinions on this topic – which is to be expected – when this issue is the reasoning for extreme natural disasters, a rise in temperature and the endangerment of our animals. A huge debate, and potentially the most prevalent debate, is whether climate change is caused by nature or if it is man made. Recently, we discussed the recent tragedy of hurricane Irma. It travelled through Florida and the Caribbean and was to blame for taking many lives, homes and possessions. This tells us that despite the cause of climate change, it is a real issue that is happening and needs to be prevented.

Carbon Footprint

After using the WWF carbon footprint measure, I had a score of 183%. This was very surprising to me as it is a very high score. I think part of this is because I live at home and have never taken responsibility in energy saving measure in my own home. I also care share to university due to the price of public transport. If the government were to decrease the price of public transport, I would reduce my carbon footprint.

The Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009

This act is an Act of the Scottish Parliament to set a target for the year 2050. There is an intermediate target for 2020, and a target to also provide annual targets. These targets aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, to educate on advice for Scottish Ministers relating to climate change and provides baselines for emissions. The Scottish Ministers must ensure that the net Scottish emissions account for the year 2050 is at least 80% lower than the baseline.  To me, I think its great to see that our country are taking actions to in trying to reduce the effects of climate change. For example, the introduction of the 5p plastic bag charge in October 5th 2015. This scheme predicted that their would be a carbon savings of £13 million Gov.uk. (2017). If I am being completely transparent, I never knew that this scheme would make as much of an impact. To think that such a small charge could potentially aid in saving the planet is an unquestionable change that is rightly implemented. From now on, I will always remember a bag for life and save the use of even more plastic bags.

As a future influencer in education, I will make sure to fully involve and expose my children to the dangers of climate change and help them with tips to aid in this prevention.

References-

Gov.uk. (2017). Carrier bags: why there’s a charge – GOV.UK. [online] Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/single-use-plastic-carrier-bags-why-were-introducing-the-charge/carrier-bags-why-theres-a-5p-charge [Accessed 12 Oct. 2017].

Overlooking the Isle of Arran and Ailsa Craig, Troon is situated on the north Ayrshire coast and is home to stunning, sandy beaches with amazing seaside views. The beach is ideal for walking, cycling and outdoor family activities. Troon is also home to 8 golf courses and even held The Open Championship last year. Due to this, there is a lot of tourism and green space. In Troon, the buildings range from very old to brand new, such as a new Marr College being built in 2017.

In Troon, there are cycle lanes all around the town, a train station, bus routes and many lovely places to go for walks such as Fullarton woods, the beach and along the golf courses.

Troon has 5 primary schools, one being a catholic primary school and has 1 secondary school which has recently been renovated and expanded this year. Troon also has a community centre which is used as a venue for scouts and brownies and many exercise classes. We also have a town library. We also have allotments at Fullarton woods where people grow fruit and vegetables. Troon also has 4 churches which run local kids clubs, brownies and scout groups. Troon also has 3 gyms, a swimming pool and astro turf pitches for sports such as rugby, hockey and football. Every year, Troon also holds an event called live@Troon in which artists and musicians come from all over the country to Troons own music festival.

Despite Troon being such a small town, there are many opportunities for work. We have retail shops, many cafes, charity shops and restaurants. Troon Harbour is now a fishing port, yachting marina, seasonal passenger ferry port and Ro-Ro ferry terminal for timber and containers. The shipbuilding industry at Troon Harbour ended in 2000.

Over the years, Troon has become a very urbanised town and is forever modernising to meet the demands of a growing population and growing tourism.  Fullarton Estate is one of Troon’s hidden gems. It offers something for everyone. Play areas, pony tracks, woodland walks, seating and picnic areas are hidden away in this Estate. The estate has a long and interesting past with links to King James 1st, Louis Napoleon and the poet Robert Burns.

I was quite surprised to find that Troons air pollution was measured at a 3 – low (Air Quality in Scotland, 2017). I assumed it would be lower as Troon has so much green space, has a beach and has so many outdoor recreational spaces. I think it must be low due to the growing population and need for public transport.

Thinking of a lesson I could do with a primary 5 class, I had a look at some Curriculum for Excellence Social Science learning outcomes. Having explored the ways journeys can be made, I can consider the advantages and disadvantages of different forms of transport, discussing their impact on the environment (SOC 2-09a). To do this, I would take the children outside of school and to the train station, which is beside a bus stop and cycle path. Another activity I could use would be having the kids stop at 3 different points and count the cars that went by. This would explain why pollution would be higher in the town and lower as you moved further out and from this the kids could discuss the advantages and disadvantages of cars in comparison to walking or cycling. Additionally, the kids could research why someone might use a certain type of transport and the benefits of each.

REFERENCES

Air Quality in Scotland, 2017. [Online] Available: www.scottishairquality.co.uk [Accessed: 24 September 2017]

Curriculum for Excellence: Social Studies Experiences and Outcomes [Online] Available:  https://www.education.gov.scot/Documents/social-studies-eo.pdf [Accessed 24 September 2017]