Children in P6/7 at Dalbeattie Primary were excited by the arrival of the Channel Five news crew to capture a climate action lesson.
The school’s eco action plan already includes climate action as one of the chosen topics. Because so many people, including the school’s eco group, had signed up for classes to take part in the Eco Schools Scotland’s Climate Action Week of online learning, Keep Scotland Beautiful's Eco Schools team got in touch to see if their participation could be filmed.
P6/7 teacher Mrs Campbell rose to the challenge and prepared some interesting science experiments, inspired from activities suggested by Eco Schools, to explore further the topic of the effect of climate change on our oceans.
The pupils were highly motivated by the challenge to design their own islands which would then be used to record the effect of melting glaciers and ice caps on sea level. This was followed by a second experiment to create a chemical reaction to see CO2 in action for the children to better understand how its presence in water is affecting coral reefs. The faces of the learners said it all; they were all so engaged and motivated in their learning.
Mrs Duncan was asked about the school’s approach to educating the young people around the issues of climate change and outlined the aim of equipping learners with the skills and knowledge to enhance their understanding in order to form their own opinions.
Eco School’s climate action week resource has been a most useful vehicle in which the school has been able to explore the issues still further in a meaningful yet sensitive way for learners.
After the lesson was over, some of the pupils reflected on their thoughts on climate change and related them to their learning in class.
The piece was filmed just before lunchtime and the children were excited to see it on the Channel 5 news at 5pm the same evening.
