Project
Title: Flora and Fauna Around You
Contact Details
Name: Vincent
McMahon, Stokane N.S., Enniscrone, Co. Sligo
About the Teacher
Vincent McMahon is
principal of Stokane N.S., a two-teacher primary school
in rural County Sligo. He studied history at degree level
in St. Patrick's College of Education, Drumcondra, and
makes extensive use of the local environment close to the
school to enable his pupils discover facts about their local area through
using class tours as a springboard to further meaningful
study. He is an IT tutor with Mayo Education Centre and
Sligo Education Centre. He also holds a Diploma in
Special Education, and finds the environment a
particularly useful aid to teaching pupils with special
needs.
Project Overview
This project uses
technology and the web in a child-friendly way at primary
level. Based in the school environment, children aged
nine and over will work together in a meaningful way to
study their immediate locality. The role of the teacher
is to set out the objectives and through the use of IT,
the pupils will locate additional information sources,
select relevant factual material and record results. The
emphasis is on using concrete materials such as flowers
and insects as a basis for conversation initially, and
later moving on to the graphic and textual representation
of same.
Aims and Objectives
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to increase
pupils' knowledge and awareness of their local
area, and to enable them to enjoy its flora and
fauna;
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to facilitate
collaborative learning among pupils, in a
constructivist context, and to enable them
perform meaningful experiments;
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to foster
problem-solving skills among pupils;
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to present
pupils with opportunities to develop reading
comprehension, vocabulary and oral language
skills;
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to provide
opportunities for integrated follow-up activities
in a variety of subject areas
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What you need
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Word processor,
digital camera, scanner, internet connection,
together with old maps of locality, Register of
Electors, access to local sites of historical
interest.
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Games may be
saved to local computer and played offline.
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It is envisaged
that the pupils would use the internet to follow
links, which in turn would have links to other
interesting information to be sought at home or
under supervision at school.
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Class time of 10
to 15 hours recommended, including time on local tour.
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School site with
flora and fauna (or trays with plants and
container for wormery, tapoles), paper, note
book, jars, bottles etc. for experiments
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Curriculum Addressed
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This project
addresses the following strand units for third to
sixth classes, as specified in the NCCA SESE and
Geography curriculum guidelines: Working
scientifically: Observing, Predicting,
Investigating and experimenting, Questioning,
Estimating and measuring, Analysing, Recording
and communicating; Living things: Plants and
animals; Energy and forces: Light, Sound;
Environmental awareness and care: Environmental
awareness, Science and the environment, Caring
for the environment
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This project
addresses the following strand units for third to
sixth classes, as specified in the NCCA English
curriculum guidelines: Competence and confidence
in using language, Developing cognitive abilities
through language and Emotional and imaginative
development through language
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This project
addresses the following strand units for third to
sixth classes, as specified in the NCCA Visual
Arts curriculum guidelines: Making drawings,
Painting
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The Students
This project is
suitable for students from third class up in primary
school, and can be adapted for pupils with a wide range
of ability levels. The recording and art/craft/photographic
activities may be farmed out so that children of mixed
abilities will be a meaningful part of the team -- just
as in real life!
Teacher Comments
Teachnet.ie is the
first real opportunity for Irish teachers to reach
national and international audiences and to receive
feedback to further enhance learning in Irish primary and
secondary schools. Many teachers feel isolated at times
in that they know other teachers are producing quality
material which could be beneficial if shared among pupils
in other schools -- schools shouls share. Sites such as
Teachnet.ie provide a source of pen-pals for pupils in
that pupils would have fora and topics to write to other
schools about. The past has shaped the present, and we
write our own history too (just as every other generation
does) to be inherited by future generations -- Teachnet.ie
gives us an opportunity to walk together.The internet is
full of often useless information, and often posted with
unsuitable advertisements – Teachnet.ie gives
teachers the opportunity of demonstrating how useful
pages can be put together in an imaginative, informative
and stimulating way, and the Teachnet.ie support team are
most willing to help teachers post their better material
on the site.
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