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TITLE
EPA Educational Resources
LEARNING OBJECT
As an example of how this portal could provide a source of a Learning Object: students could be directed to the multimedia unit on Water Pollution at https://www.epa.ie/researchandeducation/education/educ/cleanwater/waterpollution/
The object is a group
The object is a group
WEBSITE OF THE PRODUCT
NAME OF AUTHOR(S)
Environmental Protection Agency
NAME OF PRODUCER
Environmental Protection Agency
DATE OF PRODUCTION
2004
TYPE OF PRODUCT
Web Site/Portal, Downloadable material
SUBJECT TAUGHT
Natural Science, Biology
LEVEL OF KNOWLEDGE
Basic
TARGET GROUP AGE
10 – 13 years old
TUTORIAL SUPPORT
Yes
DESCRIPTION
The Environmental Protection Agency’s education programmes are designed for primary and secondary schools students. These resources aim to encourage thought, debate and action. The following environmental resource materials are available on their web site:
Primary School Resources: (aged 8-12 in English and Irish)
Topics include:
Waste, Natural Resources, Nature, Impacts and Pollution and Environmental Care.
Each section is designed with a download pack including Teacher’s Notes and a series of Worksheets
Each Worksheet outlines the following:
Theme, Objectives, Curricular Strands, Skills, Time, Links, What you need, What you do and Discussion Questions.
Second Level Multimedia resources (in English and Irish)
Subject Areas include Civic, Social & Political Education, Geography, Science and Transition Year Topics.
Various Goals are identified for each topic examples for Civic, Social & Political Education include:
Limiting & Adapting to Climate Change, Clean Air, Clean Water, Protected Soil & Biodiversity
Sustainable Resource Use and Integration & Enforcement
Resources include a series of video clips, associated pdf documents containing student exercises and Lesson Plans to support the above topics.
Leaving Certificate Geography multli-media pack(in English and Irish) & Science and Technology In Action Pack is also available with online lessons. Resources www.STA.ie
Additional Educational Resources include:
Ireland’s Environment which is an extensive national resource providing the latest information available. Links on how to get informed and get involved are included.
My Local Environment interactive map helps students identify what is in their neighbourhood.
Links to websites such as splash, the national bathing and water information site.
Animations and video’s produced by television on related topics are presented.
Finally links to upcoming conferences and events are displayed.
An interesting initative also available is citizen science. This involves members of the public volunteering to collect scientific data. This research often focuses on monitoring biodiversity, invasive species and climate.
All of these resources are correlated collectively to give both teachers and students the ability to utilise and discover lessons, outlining the benefits which the Environmental Protection Agency can give in supporting teachers and students within the Irish Education System.
Primary School Resources: (aged 8-12 in English and Irish)
Topics include:
Waste, Natural Resources, Nature, Impacts and Pollution and Environmental Care.
Each section is designed with a download pack including Teacher’s Notes and a series of Worksheets
Each Worksheet outlines the following:
Theme, Objectives, Curricular Strands, Skills, Time, Links, What you need, What you do and Discussion Questions.
Second Level Multimedia resources (in English and Irish)
Subject Areas include Civic, Social & Political Education, Geography, Science and Transition Year Topics.
Various Goals are identified for each topic examples for Civic, Social & Political Education include:
Limiting & Adapting to Climate Change, Clean Air, Clean Water, Protected Soil & Biodiversity
Sustainable Resource Use and Integration & Enforcement
Resources include a series of video clips, associated pdf documents containing student exercises and Lesson Plans to support the above topics.
Leaving Certificate Geography multli-media pack(in English and Irish) & Science and Technology In Action Pack is also available with online lessons. Resources www.STA.ie
Additional Educational Resources include:
Ireland’s Environment which is an extensive national resource providing the latest information available. Links on how to get informed and get involved are included.
My Local Environment interactive map helps students identify what is in their neighbourhood.
Links to websites such as splash, the national bathing and water information site.
Animations and video’s produced by television on related topics are presented.
Finally links to upcoming conferences and events are displayed.
An interesting initative also available is citizen science. This involves members of the public volunteering to collect scientific data. This research often focuses on monitoring biodiversity, invasive species and climate.
All of these resources are correlated collectively to give both teachers and students the ability to utilise and discover lessons, outlining the benefits which the Environmental Protection Agency can give in supporting teachers and students within the Irish Education System.
COMMENTS
Points of strength
This resource brings a series of topics together in one location, making it possible for teachers to reference one single point of information thus avoiding the endless searching for resources throughout the web.
Points of weakness
Not all topics are inlcuded so the resouce is limited to the important topics identified by the Environment Protection Agency.
Reviews are not available by teachers who have engaged with these resources which may help in the evaluation of the resource for a selected classroom.
Scientific reliability
Depending on the topic selected reliability is dependant on how the activities are implemented and the findings recorded.
Pedagogical value
Each lesson plan is well structured with points such as Theme, Objectives, Curricular Strands, Skills, Time, Links, What you need, What you do and Discussion Questions included.
This resource brings a series of topics together in one location, making it possible for teachers to reference one single point of information thus avoiding the endless searching for resources throughout the web.
Points of weakness
Not all topics are inlcuded so the resouce is limited to the important topics identified by the Environment Protection Agency.
Reviews are not available by teachers who have engaged with these resources which may help in the evaluation of the resource for a selected classroom.
Scientific reliability
Depending on the topic selected reliability is dependant on how the activities are implemented and the findings recorded.
Pedagogical value
Each lesson plan is well structured with points such as Theme, Objectives, Curricular Strands, Skills, Time, Links, What you need, What you do and Discussion Questions included.
INNOVATIVE WAY OF USING THE DIGITAL TOOL
The portal can be utilised for groupwork and presentations and the individual units and student comprehension files lend themselves to the jigsaw method of collaborative learning.
Students could be directed to the multimedia unit on Water Pollution at https://www.epa.ie/researchandeducation/education/educ/cleanwater/waterpollution/
The object is a group presentation on what they have learned from the video. This presentation could be in multimedia format.
They watch a video clip, then they try the comprehension exercise. This exercise is structured using the jigsaw method, where the students are divided in to 4 groups and tasked as follows:
Group 1: Make a list of all of the causes of pollution mentioned in the film.
Group 2: Make a list of all of the creatures that Martin finds in the water sample in the film.
Group 3: What is said about the EPA?
Group 4: You are going to write Martin’s diary for the day - note down all of the facts in relation to
his day.
The best value from the tool is when all the groups reassemble so that one person from each group is added to a new group - 1,2,3,4 -working together to teach each other what they have learned.
They should prepare a group presentation to share their learning. This can be multimedia.
Students could be directed to the multimedia unit on Water Pollution at https://www.epa.ie/researchandeducation/education/educ/cleanwater/waterpollution/
The object is a group presentation on what they have learned from the video. This presentation could be in multimedia format.
They watch a video clip, then they try the comprehension exercise. This exercise is structured using the jigsaw method, where the students are divided in to 4 groups and tasked as follows:
Group 1: Make a list of all of the causes of pollution mentioned in the film.
Group 2: Make a list of all of the creatures that Martin finds in the water sample in the film.
Group 3: What is said about the EPA?
Group 4: You are going to write Martin’s diary for the day - note down all of the facts in relation to
his day.
The best value from the tool is when all the groups reassemble so that one person from each group is added to a new group - 1,2,3,4 -working together to teach each other what they have learned.
They should prepare a group presentation to share their learning. This can be multimedia.
TEACHERS’ COMMENT
The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) Educational website is a multi school level available resources, starting from eight years old. The aim is to provide educational resources by papers, different materials, graphs and tables of an huge environmental indicators of Ireland.
The site, in English and Irish, is divided in four mainly sections: Primary Level Students, 2020 Vision Second Level Resources, Other Second Level Resources, Environmental Posters, each of them also divided into more specific topics.
In general, the resources are available for download for printing and using in classroom. In addition there are videos or links to other websites.
The Primary Level Students packs are oriented to teacher who want to provide a basic introduction to the weather and weather-related topic for students, by discussing on five different topics in environmental. Each pack consists in different pdf documents that help the teachers to introduce, discuss, understand with students typical environmental issues, as waste, natural resources, impacts and pollution, nature and environmental care. The packs also include activities designed to encourage primary students to engage in active learning through exploration and investigation of basic meteorological principles..
The Secondary schools page is more confidential and good looking for students. The resources are divided into six mainly topics: Limiting & Adapting to Climate Change, Clean Air, Clean Water, Protected Soil & Biodiversity, Sustainable Resource Use and Integration and Enforcement. For each topic we can find "explorer resources" that provides video clips, exercises, transition units (to link more than one units) and Lessons (used after viewing the clips to complete the exercise).
The video clips are interesting and appropriate to the environmental issue. The exercises for students, in pdf format, are organized into groups activity with very simple questions but very focused into the issues.
The lessons allow to clarify some aspects of the topics and have questions to comprehension and some other activities, for example to work individually, in pair, reaching other website to elaborate on a specific environmental problems.
In general, the students are motivated to investigate further in that topic.
The Other Secondary Level Resources are provide some other links into the EPA website and a very interesting resource should be the Science And Technology In Action program, with also an own external link, where students and teachers should have the possibilities to download all the edition of the lessons, but it seems that the links to www.sta.ie website do not work.
The Environmental Posters are about fifteen posters to download in “View and download for use in your school, classroom or home". Some of them are very creative and with a big impact.
We think that, even if the resources are using information only for Ireland, the site is well organized and with a big effort for all the teachers. The style is not very attractive for students but the focus on environmental issues is well declared and recognized and teachers could address young students researching the materials.
We appreciate both English and Irish languages.
The site, in English and Irish, is divided in four mainly sections: Primary Level Students, 2020 Vision Second Level Resources, Other Second Level Resources, Environmental Posters, each of them also divided into more specific topics.
In general, the resources are available for download for printing and using in classroom. In addition there are videos or links to other websites.
The Primary Level Students packs are oriented to teacher who want to provide a basic introduction to the weather and weather-related topic for students, by discussing on five different topics in environmental. Each pack consists in different pdf documents that help the teachers to introduce, discuss, understand with students typical environmental issues, as waste, natural resources, impacts and pollution, nature and environmental care. The packs also include activities designed to encourage primary students to engage in active learning through exploration and investigation of basic meteorological principles..
The Secondary schools page is more confidential and good looking for students. The resources are divided into six mainly topics: Limiting & Adapting to Climate Change, Clean Air, Clean Water, Protected Soil & Biodiversity, Sustainable Resource Use and Integration and Enforcement. For each topic we can find "explorer resources" that provides video clips, exercises, transition units (to link more than one units) and Lessons (used after viewing the clips to complete the exercise).
The video clips are interesting and appropriate to the environmental issue. The exercises for students, in pdf format, are organized into groups activity with very simple questions but very focused into the issues.
The lessons allow to clarify some aspects of the topics and have questions to comprehension and some other activities, for example to work individually, in pair, reaching other website to elaborate on a specific environmental problems.
In general, the students are motivated to investigate further in that topic.
The Other Secondary Level Resources are provide some other links into the EPA website and a very interesting resource should be the Science And Technology In Action program, with also an own external link, where students and teachers should have the possibilities to download all the edition of the lessons, but it seems that the links to www.sta.ie website do not work.
The Environmental Posters are about fifteen posters to download in “View and download for use in your school, classroom or home". Some of them are very creative and with a big impact.
We think that, even if the resources are using information only for Ireland, the site is well organized and with a big effort for all the teachers. The style is not very attractive for students but the focus on environmental issues is well declared and recognized and teachers could address young students researching the materials.
We appreciate both English and Irish languages.