Waterways Ireland | Learning Zone

Engineers Week 2020 - Have you booked your space?

Engineers Week will take place from 29^th February to the 6^th March 2020. Waterways Ireland is delighted to take part in this popular nationwide event once again in 2020. Plans are afoot to host site visits and workshops in Monasterevin, Jamestown, Enniskillen and Portna with engineering teams on hand to ignite the imaginations of the next generation of engineers! Be sure to contact our Education Officer, Manus Tiernan, at learning@waterwaysireland.org if you would like to get involved.

NI Science Festival 2020

Northern Ireland Science Festival 2020 runs from the 13^th- 23^rd February. Waterways Ireland was delighted to be part of the event once again this year! Schools took part in our 'Waterways Wildlife Wonders' workshops at our HQ in Enniskillen and at the Lock Keepers Cottage in Toome. We teamed up with Educational ecologist Billy Flynn, Source to Tap and the RSPB to deliver the workshops, which explored some of the living things found in and along Lough Erne and the Toome Canal. The focus of the workshops was discovery, with groups working together to identify some aquatic creatures, learn to identify some plants and trees and get familiar with some birdsongs and calls. Check out the Northern Ireland Science Festival website https://www.nisciencefestival.com/event.php?e=75 to find out more about the event!

Celebrating Science Week 2019!

Science Week 2019 – took place 10^th – 16^th November 2019. Our Education team partnered with Midland Science Festival and the Irish Peatland Conservation Council to deliver a series of biodiversity workshops as part of Science Week. The workshops were rolled out to 166 primary school children form 5 midlands schools in conjunction with Portlaoise and Edenderry Libraries. This event introduced science and the world around us in an informative but also fun and interesting way. Students had the opportunity to learn and discuss the journey rivers take from source to sea and compare this with the man-made structure of the Grand Canal. As these two features within the Irish landscape pass through our towns and villages the workshops then turned its focus on the variety of wildlife that call these waterbodies their home. The young people taking part had an opportunity to experience life from beneath the water surface with a live freshwater invertebrate identification session. The event provided a great example of how WI strives to be actively engaged in the communities where we operate while promoting the importance of science education to local young people.

Bugs & Beasties Halloween Workshop 2019!!

Waterways Ireland along with Source to Tap hosted our "Bugs and Beasties" Halloween workshops at our HQ in Enniskillen last week.

The workshops brought to life the vast array of species which can be found along our waterways from animals and plants to mini-beasts. Six schools from Fermanagh took part in the workshops on Thursday 24^th & Friday 25^th October last. Each group learned about the importance of biodiversity and fully functioning ecosystems and discussed the relationships between organisms within food webs. The schools children also got the opportunity to get hands on with a pond dipping exercise and were challenged to identify the various species they found! Feedback from schools who took part in the workshops has been very positive. Both students and teachers were full of questions and eager to impart their local knowledge about their local waterway.

Happy Halloween everybody!

LELP & Share Centre Schools Convention

Waterways Ireland was delighted to be part of the schools convention at Share Discovery Village as part of their LELP project in September. The aim of the convention was to provide primary schools pupils with a unique opportunity to learn and participate in the natural and built heritage of Upper Lough Erne, to develop skills and to learn how to conserve and be a part of their natural environment.

Over 350 local children from 15 schools, mainly in Primary 6, had the opportunity to spend half of the day out canoeing on the lough with Share Discovery Village and Erne Paddlers and the other half of the day was spent attending nature based educational workshops with specialist organisations.

The event was a great opportunity to network with other organisations who work with schools throughout Fermanagh including: the RSPB, Fermanagh Beekeepers Association, Butterfly Conservation, Bug Life, Source to Tap, Marble Arch Global Geopark and Fermanagh and Omagh District Council.

Exploring Devenish Island 2019

We were delighted to be back on the beautiful Devenish Island for our Island Explorers Programme this Autumn. The programme took place in September with everybody fresh after summer break and eager to participate. In excess of 50 Students from 2 Primary schools, St. Joseph's Ederney and St. Mary's Newtownbutler took part in this year's programme. St. Joesph's PS had just completed a project about the monastic settlement on Devenish while St. Mary's PS were studying the Vikings. Both schools were delighted to have the opportunity to take part in the hands on and interactive Island Explorers Programme which linked directly and complimented their curriculum based class work. This programme introduces participants to the rich ecological and heritage value of the iconic island on Lough Erne complimented by the physical activity of rowing a traditional currach.

Feedback from both schools was very positive: "An absolutely fabulous day. Well organised. All staff were so knowledgeable and welcoming. We would go again in the morning! Well done". Liam Moanghan, Principal, St. Josephs's PS Ederney. "The programme was wonderful, very informative and exciting". Paula Kelly Principal St. Mary's PS Newtownbutler.

Looking forward to returning the Devenish in 2020!

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