School Excellence Fund Project
Developing the skills of Working as a Scientist through a sustained exploration of a local habitat
As part of the School Excellence Fund project the teachers of Scoil Realt na Mara have teamed up with the Science department of Kilkee Community School to develop a cross sectoral project which will be of huge benefit to both schools.
Our project involves the pupils in both our local primary and secondary school deepening and developing their scientific investigative skills through the use of our local area. This project targets pupils from fifth Class to 2nd Year and engages them in a staged exploration of our local marine habitat. The content is built upon each year as pupil’s progress through the curriculum from fifth Class to 2nd Year.
Content will be delivered in a modular manner, which we hope will transfer across a variety of habitats. Our key area of focus in the development of this project will be in identifying the methodologies needed to enable the pupils to work as scientists throughout the study.
While the project focuses on fifth class to 2nd year it is envisaged that the skills learnt by the teachers in how to engage in Habitat Exploration will ensure that methodologies and knowledge gained will be used throughout both schools with all class levels.
While the focus will be on the development of higher order science skills this project is dependent on the development of IT Skills also, we will be using IT to conduct background research and out on the field.
This project will link in with the Local area studies in the Geography Curriculum at primary level and the Field Study at second level also as well as giving the pupils a sense of pride and belonging in their local community.
As part of our project, we are hoping to implement a peer-tutoring model whereby the older pupils will become involved in tutoring/supporting the younger pupils in Field Studies.
The project is planned over a three-year period. Year one involved the application process along with budgeting and collection of baseline data.
Progression of year two has been delayed due to restrictions associated with Covid 19. It will involve initial development of the skills of skills of Working as a Scientist, Enquiry Based Learning and Investigative Learning as well as learning about our local habitat both in the classroom and in the field.
Year three develops these skills further and at the end of year three, we will be reviewing our base line data and concluding on any developments we have found.
It is envisaged that a module will be developed at the end of the three year project which could be used by any of our feeder primary schools to prepare their children for science at Second level.