STEM Showcase

On the 12th of May 2023, Talbot students will be showcasing the work they have done in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths!

 

We will have a whole school Zoom meeting and each class will share a project with the school!

 

Pocket Forests!

Pocket Forests worked with The Green Team to prepare a patch of ground on the far side of the track for the planting of 11 native trees and shrubs.

Pocket forests get funding came from the Woodland Support Fund to plant our smallest native forests (just six square metres or the size of a carparking space) in schools.

In September we did a soil preparation workshop. In January we planted 11 trees. 

  1. PREPARE

Working with the Green, team students and teachers, marked out the area of the forest. We prepared the soil with garden forks, and plenty of organic matter.


  1. PLANT

We plant between 11 species of trees and shrub layer plants and mulched them with organic mulch to keep other plants from out-competing the young trees.

  1. PROSPER

The young forests need watering in dry weather and some light weeding for the first two to three growing seasons, before becoming self-sustaining.

See time lapse video below!

Plastics Workshop

Yesterday, Ali from SFI Curious Minds visited Mr O’ Donnell’s 4th class to do a “Plastic” workshop!

They looked covered lifecycle of plastic, types of plastics that exist, problems plastic causes, unnecessary plastic use such as bananas in supermarkets wrapped in plastic!

They looked at plastic in landfill, discussing how long it takes for plastics to decompose, plastic harms wildlife and marine life.

They learned about STEM and how it can help us deal with the plastic problem.

 

Climate Heroes

 

Yesterday, Ms Ward’s 5th Class took park in a Workshop focused on Climate Change run by SFI Curious Minds

  • They learned about the difference between weather and climate. How weather is the day-to-day changes but climate is the long term patterns over time. PowerPoint and discussion on how the climate crisis is driven by humans.
  • Greenhouse gases – Where do green house gases come from? What three issues are you going to focus on as the President of Ireland – Energy Industries, Residential, Public services, Transport, Agriculture, Commercial services etc.  Need to tackle the highest percentage of issues. Eg. Petrol, cutting down trees, burning of oil.
  • Melting Ice – Comparing 2 pictures with different sea levels. How they have risen from 1880.
  • Animals that are affected.
  • What can STEM do? Scientist can use a range of resources to calculate the dept of the rivers, resources to soak up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere etc.
  • Young people involved in climate change – Greta Thunberg.
  • Flossie Donnelly – Organises beach cleans.
  • Lesein Mutunkei – Combining his love of football, everytime he scored a goal, he would plant 11 teams, one for each member of his team.

Activities:

  • True or false game. Children had to work in groups to decide whether or not each statement on the climate is true or false.
  • Explore the affects of climate change – Poster. Match the card with the pictures on the poster. (Ie. Seas get hotter, more rivers flooding, coral reefs bleach or die, higher air temperature, glaciers shrink, ice sheets melt, less snow on mountains which melts earlier.. )
  • What can we do to help tackle the climate crisis – Discussion in groups.
  • Reduce, reuse and recycle – Take more public transport, turning off lights, eat more fruits and vegetables, Renewable energy, not wasting water.
  • Map of your school, Draw a map of where you would plant trees. Maths to see how much carbon dioxide could be absorbed depending on how many trees are planted.
  • Each child got to plant cress seeds in a paper cup.