The first picture was the school in 2015, before it was refurbished and an extension was added on. The second picture shows what the school now looks like as well as showing its surroundings.

As the school was refurbished due to high income of pupils in surrounding areas, a huge amount of the land had to be taken away to make space for the 17 classrooms and nursery. The grass areas were covered in tarmac to allow the extension to take place which has left the new senior playground as complete concrete. The infant playground is separated from the senior by a fence and it also concrete but has small grass patches around the edge.  I feel that the space given for the playgrounds could have been bigger and more educationally focused, rather than just a concrete space but due to the extension not much could have been done. Children are given chalk in the infants to draw on the ground but other than this, they are confined to their imagination in the small space. As for the senior playground, they have benches to sit and talk but nothing else.

The school I attend for placement show a lot of interest in sustainable development . The school are green Eco flag holders due to the work of their Eco committee. It consists of 17 children, one from each class in the school. The school is very focused on their recycling and it shows through the amount of recycling bins they have in the classroom, halls and outside. Every morning 2 primary 7 children would go round every class and empty the recycling bins The Eco committee created a litter picking rota, where a child from senior and junior sections will buddy and clean the playground. The school held a trashion show, designing, making and modelling fashion items using a rubbish only, to show how rubbish can be reused in fun ways. The school also participates in ‘walk to school week’ every year, promoting children to walk to school rather than using cars. The school also have a new composting bin set in place for all foods that they have been recently been learning about.

When I discussed with the children about what their school does, they were fast to shout out with many answers, it has shown that the school is very interested and involved in keeping not only their school but their environment clean.

The pupils told me how they have created signs for every light switch in the school to remind people not to waste electricity. They have also introduced monitoring of the energy usage. To do this, the janitor monitors the energy usage and reports back to the school to allow them to make any changes needed. This has been the schools most recent project .

Even though there is a proof of a lot of aspects of sustainable development, I still feel the playground space lets the school down. Maybe allowing a small garden to be put in place where children can plant and water their own flowers or vegetables, or allowing an insect hut or something similar to make the playground more education.

Today we were introduced to the topic of energy. The first thing we explorer was Fossil Fuels. I did not realise how much of my life depended on fossils:

• Generation of Electricity -coal, oil or gas
• Transport Fuels – petrol, diesel, kerosene,lpg
• Cooking and heating – natural gas
• Plastics – polythene, pvc, polyurethane

We did a quick activity of things that morning that we used that would have needed fossil fuels and everyone in the class was stunned t the amount. This would be a good activity to try with a primary class, most likely upper to ensure understanding.

We then went into  a debate about wind energy and wind mills. We all did our own research and brought it together. We were then split as a class and asked to debate against each other.  The debate, I feel, is a really good task to try in class, for any subject. I allows children to practice their researching skills, team work skills, presentation skills and debating skills.

Then in Andrew’s workshop, we looked at the electrical side of energy. Various experiments included solar power, hydrological power,static energy and battery power. 

All the experiments I attempted would be suitable for the classroom, however not all suitable to be left to the children. The battery experiment involves a small flame which would not be suitable however that does not stop the teacher from showing the class and letting them set up a circuit.

The skills I gained here were rather different to the skills I thought I would gain. I gained technical skills, learning how to set up a circuit  and how to use water to create power. Again all these activities promote team working skills.

Today we introduced to the topic of disasters. We were shown some videos of the worst disasters that have happened and discussed the sensitivity of such things. As primary teachers we have to take into consideration the childrens age and background when deciding what to teach and how much depth to go into.

We discussed the preparing, responding and recovering stages that countries affected by disasters take. We discussed different scenarios of different people across the world and what they would feel like and do. I felt this was a very appropriate task as it allowed me to think of other peoples perspectives.

We tried many different experiments in Andrew’s workshops to do with disasters:

• Testing rocks with acid – Not for children – acid is dangerous

• Effects of heating and cooling rocks –  crystallising on slides, easy and fun to do in class
• Baking soda and vinegar volcano – messy but appropriate for primary children
• Fossils – fun for children, could lead into a topic of prehistoric times  or dinosaurs.
• 

  All of the above, apart from the one involving acid would be great experiments to do in class. Some skills gained through science I have found are:

  • be open to new ideas and linking and applying learning
  • think creatively and critically
  • develop skills of reasoning to provide explanations and evaluations supported by evidence or justifications
  • make predictions, generalisations and deductions
  • draw conclusions based on reliable scientific evidence.

The following week each group in the class was given a different disaster and asked to make a presentation on this, my group was given tsunamis. The presentation on disasters is a great classroom activity, it promotes team work as well as individual, presentation skills, public talking, research skills. I feel all these skills were gained during this presentation and that it was very successful. Learning about disasters through your peers is also a fun way to learn.

Unfortunately I was unable to attend the farm trip but from my peers I heard that they were taught a lot of useful information on farming. This is a trip that I experienced first hand as a primary student and I think it is a great idea  for a school trip. They visited  two farms which are complete opposite, I feel this would be appropriate for a school class as it allows the children to give their own opinion on both farms and tell you the differences or similarities. After the visit, it could be moved further to the children creating a presentation on the differences between the farms and which farm they prefer. For the lower school, this could be made into an art project. Children could make paintings or models of what they seen at the farm, with a written explanation of what they made.

In the second workshop we were given a group task, we were asked to work in groups to create a poster on fishing in Scotland:

• Biodiversity
• Economy and Industry
• Community Impact
• Political elements

As this is a topic I had no knowledge, I had no idea what to expect. In our groups, we were given different websites and youtube videos to watch. We picked out the main facts of these to do with the four aspects in order to make our prezi poster. https://create.piktochart.com/infographic/saved/25439909# This activity allowed us to build on not only our team working skills but researching and summarising skills. This type of activity would be a good to use in the upper school as a researching task for their topic work. It allows them to be creative in making their own work through the use of technology. This could be done in a group or individually in a classroom setting.

Climate Change

Climate change is where the average weather over the year starts to change or is no longer constant.  The effects of climate change have worryingly increased and became more to the attention of the public in the past few years. Climate change causes things such as rising sea levels, increased temperatures, droughts, extinction of species and many more.

Greenhouse gasses are a huge factor in climate change. Gasses such as carbon dioxide, which is being over produced by humans, traps the heat in the atmosphere. That led to the increased temperatures across the planet, otherwise known as global warming.  Before learning about this topic, I wasn’t completely sure what climate change actually was. I knew about the polar ice caps melting but I wasn’t sure why this was happening and this module has really helped me to understand on what is going on in the world.

In today’s workshop, we were shown and allowed to do some experiments that would be useful to try in the classroom. The first experiment I tried was to make a tornado in a jar. I added water, washing up liquid and food colouring into a jar and was asked to swirl the jar in a circle. The result of this was that a small swirl that looked just like a tornado. This experiment was to show how tornadoes are formed in a similar way, by hot and cold air combining and cause a spin.

The second experiment was a water front experiment. This was to show that warm air rises and causes less pressure as cold air. As the air cools, it becomes denser,  so it sinks and pushes down with great pressure.  The experiment consisted of 2 cups of water, one warm and one cold, both filled with different food colouring. The cups of water were dropped into a tub of water at room temperature. As the water came out the cups, the warm water rose to the top of the tank and the cold water stayed at the bottom.

We also discusses the politics behind climate change and how the leaders of the world are trying to have an positive impact on bringing climate change down. Many powerful individuals in the world have spoke out about how important it is to decrease climate change and to educate the public about the effects. We were given a task to put our self in the position of a stakeholder from a specific area, in my case it was a mother from Queensland, Australia. I had to think about what is important to my stakeholder in this issue, what actions do you want my government and other governments to take and what is your reasoning for why this should happen. This was a very tricky but thought provoking activity which took some research. Overall, it was very interesting to see all the different worries from different people on the topic of climate change.

Finally, we learned and calculated our carbon footprint. My carbon footprint was 122%, which was a lot higher than I expected. My highest factor was travel as I drive and I had been on a plane 3 times this year. To bring this down, I could take more public transport instead of driving. The WWF website is very helpful on giving tips to reduce your footprint. Some of these tips include, eating more local food, having a varies diet, energy saving light bulbs and many more. I have realised I need to act more carefully towards global warming and climate change as I can still make a difference, no matter how small.

Climate change has become a very worrying and prevalent issue over the past few years. It comes with many consequences such as the ice caps melting , sea level rising, animal extinction and many more. This is why leaders across the world have been working together to try and tackle this. In Scotland, the government has created a legislation to attempt to reduce the amount of damage we are doing to the earth. The target of this act is to ensure that the net Scottish emissions account for the year 2050 is at least 80% lower, which is a huge percentage to achieve. New plans are being put into place to help with this act such as electric cars and 5p carrier bags.

After taking the WWF footprint calculator, I found out my carbon footprint was 122% which I was surprised at. I didn’t think I was harming the environment that much but the website allowed me to see where my errors were.

I found that  the highest of my score was from travel. This was due to the amount of times I traveled by plane this year, which was 3 times return. Although I only drive between 2 and 5 hours a week as I walk to uni every day and every chance I get to walk I do, therefore I don’t feel like this can be helped. Although I could use local transport occasionally instead of driving when I need to. I do as much as I can to recycle and safe energy in the house which makes me feel a lot better about my footprint as it could be much higher if I wasn’t as cautious. However, I am partial to have the heating on when its not  necessarily needed. As for food, I feel  that I need to eat a bigger variety of foods, especially from local areas,  and have a more colourful plate. I was shocked to learn how much pollution food prouction caused, “Every year wasted food in the UK represents 14 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions. In total, these greenhouse gas emissions are the same as those created by 7 million cars each year.”  However, WWF  provides a helpful guide to eating and living well:

• Eat more plants
• Eat a variety of foods
• Waste less food
• Moderate your meat consumption, red and white
• Buy food that meets a credible certified standard
• Eat fewer food high in fat, salt and sugar

My total annual carbon emission was calculated to be 12.5 tonnes which I hope to reduce after reading all the useful tips available on the WWF website.

The website gives a insight into climate change in great detail. It has allowed me to see the changes I need to make in my life to ensure I am doing my part in helping save the world.

My urban environment, Lanark, is a small town situated in the middle of Scotland. The population in the town is around 8800. Lanark has a vary of different buildings, ranging from shops, houses, flats, school, sports centres, churhces and farms.  Lanark still has many old, original buildings which outweighs the newer builds. There are many green spaces in the outskirts of the town due to farms and there are various parks and grass areas need schools and housing estates.  However, in the middle of the town there is a lack of greenery due to the upraise of buildings.  A lot space in the town is taken up by our 4 schools as well as 3 large supermarkets . Alongside,  Lanark’s highstreet is full of local stores with the only train station situated at the top.  Lanark now has a new sports centre and gym but this has left the old sports centre abandoned, making it an eyesore to the pubic. Other community spaces include, churches, the library, the YMCA, Lanark Loch and the local racecourse which accommodates an equestrian centre and many local football teams. As Lanark is rather small town, people tent to walk a lot more than people would in cities, instead of jumping in a taxi to get somewhere, walking is the main choice of transport. Buses and trains are available for transport into cities like Glasgow and Edinburgh at almost any time during the day. Taxis are rarely seen for daily use in Lanark, however, as there are people without cars or licenses taxis are essential to  go about their routines.  There are many nature walks and hikes around and in the town which makes the people or Lanark much more active as well as allowing them to appreciate their environment. The air pollution in Lanark is very low due to a lack of industrial buildings, it is only marked as a 1 which is very good. There is only one factory in Lanark, Borders biscuits, and this is on the outskirts of the town to stop such things.  As for noise pollution, this is not a problem in my town as the roads are rather quiet throughout the year and the trains run out of Lanark instead of through it.

To introduce and teach urban environment with a primary 5 class, I would take them out into their environment to get them to physically engage with what they are learning.  I would allow them to explore different types of house, shops and  community spaces  in the area.  you could allow them to do their own research as homework and maybe create class projects on how their environment differs to each others or even other countries. Then you could gradually increase the thought of transport and see how it affect the environment, maybe even allow the children to experience different forms of transport in due time.

Lecture – As this was our first lecture, we were told about how the module would pan out.  We learned about things such as Equality vs Equity, how sometimes giving everyone the same help or materials isn’t enough.  We then went onto discussing our environment and what this meant.  Most of us suggested it was the area around us and where we live. When I looked up the definition of environment it suggested the same, “The surroundings or conditions in which a person, animal, or plant lives or operates.” . I learned that people are more likely to care about their environment if the interact with it, which is why children who spend a lot of time outdoors will be less likely to want to destroy it than others.  We discussed how people aren’t very supportive of the upkeep of their environment and the people who are, are stereotyped as  “tree huggers” or “hippies”.

Workshop 1 – In my first workshop I experienced outdoor learning first hand.  We were given multiple tasks over the period of time which linked with the topics we were doing. The first task I encountered was a leaf and bug treasure hunt like game. This task was to get my team mates and myself thinking about why there were certain leaves and bugs in or not in Ayr. Since this was a hands on experience, it was much more engaging rather than just researching things online. The second task I undertook was a sensory walk, to allow myself time to look at the detail of nature.  We found a lot of litter and even some graffiti around the uni environment, as well as a lot of smokers polluting the air and leaving their cigarettes all over the ground. Lastly, I looked at the different types lichen in the area and why it was causes. There was a reasonable amount of lichen on the trees all of different colour. This thought us that the air pollution in the area must be rather low due to the amount of lichen.

Workshop 2 – —In this workshop I learned about plants and Living things. I learned all about how plants are formed and even got the chance to dissect some flowers. In this I also found out that the leaves collect sunlight to photosynthesise and provide food for the plant as sugars. There were various other stations where you could examine snails and do other types of quizzes. I was able to go outside to examine different types of leaves by making rubbings of them and comparing.  We researched the different parts of the leaves and found out the names of them. We used a card game to distinguish between living and non living things which was a good exercise to get you thinking and would be good to use in a classroom. Overall, the different stations made to workshop more interesting and engaging.