Geological Survey Ireland is proud to announce the launch of our curriculum-aligned educational resources. These include resources for both Junior Cycle and Leaving Certificate level. The resources have mostly been jointly developed with iCRAG.
One set of Junior Cycle resources were also developed in conjunction with JCT STE(A)M, and were initially presented as a CPD workshop. The other resource is a suggested approach to Classroom Based Assessment 1: Geography in the News and is endorsed by Junior Cycle Geography teachers. The Leaving Certificate resources are the result of a pilot programme where resources are co-created by Leaving Certificate teachers and geoscience practitioners. Both have been designed to be able to be picked up and used straight away, and bring real, Irish scientific research directly into the classroom in a way that is useful and important to students. They are all freely available and you can find them here.
Geoscience for Leaving Certificate Geography Teachers Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Programme
The resources were co-created by teachers and the geoscience experts that they were partnered with during the 2021 CPD programme. The resources cover a broad range of curriculum facing geoscience topics, from seismicity to groundwater to geothermal energy and more! They take the form of two module plans, three lesson plans and a fieldwork guide. They are predominantly targeted towards leaving certificate level students, though some are also appropriate for transition year students too.
The launch of resources created during the 2021 iteration of the course also marks the beginning of our search for teachers to join the 2022 CPD programme! This year, the programme will run from September to December with sessions taking place once every two weeks. The sessions will be held online between 7pm and 8:30pm. The course comes highly recommended. Previous course participants have said:
"I found it (the course) completely fascinating, not only what I have learned but to gain the opportunity to work with such experienced people and the accomplishment of working on and producing a resource with them. I would certainly love to be involved in some way with similar again, as it was again an excellent experience."
"Thank you so much for everything over the last number of weeks. Was very interesting and I learnt a lot, definitely stuff I will use in my classes moving forward."
If you would like to take part in Geoscience for Leaving Certificate Geography Teachers 2022, please let us know by filling in this expression of interest form.
Pictured: The teachers, geoscience experts and facilitators that took part in the 2021 CPD programme