Under The Sea

PROJECT SUMMARY:
80 pupils across classes from 1st to 5th Le Chéile N.S. Limerick city completed a healthy ocean project in the ocean literacy creative project category from September 2023 to February 2024.

BACKGROUND:
Le Chéile N.S. is a DEIS band 1 school in Limerick city. Many of the pupils in this school have had little exposure to costal environments or marine education. We wanted to develop ocean literacy amongst our pupils but in order to do this we had to first embark on an exploration of the ocean with them to increase their knowledge of marine life and the marine environment. To do this we engaged with materials and resources from the following explorers programmes:
• Cephalopod science investigations
• The Good the Bad and the Ugly
• Turtle talk
• Ocean Literacy
To conclude our project and bring all our learning together We decided to create a mega marine diorama. This large scale art installation proved a catalyst in inspiring as to what can be achieved when working collectively under theme based units of work. It also showcased the learning that went on in each class with the school community and was the source of many conversations about life under the sea for pupils, parents, staff and visitors to Le Chéile N.S.

PROJECT OBJECTIVE:
We wanted to increase our pupils knowledge and experience of the marine environment.We wanted to engage our pupils to work collaboratively and sharing their learning with the wider school community. We wanted to introduce our pupils and teachers to the key competencies of the new draft curriculum framework and show teachers how working thematically can be an effective and efficient way of introducing and achieving these key competencies.

PROJECT DELIVERY AND METHOD:
We worked with 5 mainstream classes from 1st-5th class. To begin with each class started by learning about a particular marine species/environment. They learned about the life cycles, physical characteristics and adaptations of marine species as well as engaging in many cross curricular activities related to their particular species/environment in subjects such as english, maths, science, history, geography, SPHE, music and visual art.
The topics chosen for each class were as follows:
﹣ First class: Whales
﹣ Second class: Turtles
﹣ Third class: The seashore
﹣ Fourth class: Deep sea species
﹣ Fifth class: Cephalopod Science Investigations

In order to share the learning from each individual class we created a Mega Marine Diorama with each class taking responsibility for a different ocean zone. Each class took responsibility for the ocean zone where the species of their particular focus of study can be found. These were as follows:
﹣ First class: Midnight
﹣ Second class: Twilight
﹣ Third class: Sunlight
﹣ Fourth class: Hadal/Trenches
﹣ Fifth class: Abyssal

PROJECT OUTCOME:
Please see video attached for samples of work.
The children all worked on their own class based projects and activities under the guidance of their teachers. All pupils thoroughly enjoyed all activities and there were lively discussions and debates throughout each session. Many of the children in this school started on this project with very limited knowledge of the marine environment. A quick survey of one class showed that 25% of the class expressed an interest in becoming a marine biologist in the future. To further inspire these children we made contact with Dr. Mark Jessopp from UCC. Mark, a marine biologist and lecturer in zoology answered all their questions in a child centred manner and encouraged and inspired them to continue learning about the ocean.