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Water is precious

In this activity, students are introduced to the concepts of everyday water use and water conservation. They discover the importance of water through story and discussion.

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Indigenous Astronomy and the Solar System

In this classroom activity, students will come to understand some of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander names of the planets, their movement across the sky, and the concepts of ecliptic, zodiac, and retrograde motion. They will focus on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander observations of these things and discuss ...

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Billabongs

Understanding life cycles and the seasons allowed Indigenous Australians to survive. In this resource students will learn about life cycles involved with billabong species alongside seasonal calendars to understand the way their natural world works. In this activity students will work in groups to research an organism, ...

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Shadows

This activity invites students to explore the phenomena of shadows and investigate the question, 'How can you change shadows?' Students work with shadow phenomena outdoors, indoors, or both to figure out how to change the size, shape, and position of a shadow. The activity is designed for use at home or in a classroom and ...

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Ramps and rollers

This activity invites students to explore the phenomena of rolling objects down a ramp and investigate the question, 'What happens to a roller when you change the ramp by making it steeper?' Students experiment by rolling balls or cylinders down a ramp, and observe how the ramp's steepness affects how far their roller rolls ...

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Critical angle

This activity invites students to explore how light is reflected from the underside of a water surface. The activity includes a list of tools and materials required, assembly instructions, what to do and notice, an explanation for the underlying science of what students observe and suggestions for further activities.

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Mirror reversal

This activity invites students to explore the directions that mirrors reflect images. The activity includes a list of tools and materials required, assembly instructions, what to do and notice, an explanation for the underlying science of what students observe and suggestions for further activities.

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Output of a Solar Cell

This activity invites students to measure the efficiency of solar cells as they convert sunlight to power. The activity includes a list of tools and materials required, assembly instructions, what to do and notice, an explanation for the underlying science of what students observe and suggestions for further activities.

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Separation Anxiety

This activity invites students to explore colour chromatography, a technique that uses capillary action to separate different types of ink at different rates. The activity includes a list of tools and materials required, assembly instructions, what to do and notice, an explanation for the underlying science of what students ...

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Convection Currents

This activity invites students to explore convection currents in water. Warmer water rising through cooler water bends light, allowing students to project its motion onto a screen and observe the flow. The activity includes a list of tools and materials required, what to do and notice, an explanation for the underlying ...

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See Inside a Seed

This activity invites students to examine the baby plants inside the seeds we eat and explore the various structures that protect and feed a developing plant embryo. The activity includes a list of tools and materials required, what to do and notice, an explanation for the underlying science of what students observe and ...

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Seed Germinator

This activity invites students to explore the process of seed germination and the early phases of plant development. The activity includes a list of tools and materials required, what to do and notice, an explanation for the underlying science of what students observe and suggestions for further activities.

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A Little Atmosphere

This activity invites students to model the scaled thickness of the atmosphere on a globe using sheets of transparency material. The activity includes a list of tools and materials required, what to do and notice, an explanation for the underlying science of what students observe and suggestions for further activities.

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Water-Bottle Membranophone

This activity invites students to make a membranophone, an instrument that produces sound from a vibrating stretched membrane. The activity includes a list of tools and materials required, assembly instructions, what to do and notice, an explanation for the underlying science of what students observe and suggestions for ...

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Bottle Racer

This activity invites students to engineer a bottle racer: a plastic water bottle propelled by energy stored in a wound-up rubber band. The activity includes a list of tools and materials required, assembly instructions, what to do and notice, an explanation for the underlying science of what students observe and suggestions ...

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Organ Pipe

This activity invites students to make a model organ pipe and explore how to amplify a tuning fork by holding it over the pipe and changing the length of the pipe. They investigate how at certain pipe lengths, the pitch made by the tuning fork sounds very loud as it resonates with the air column in the pipe. The activity ...

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Designer Ears

This activity invites students to design and make 'better' ears for themselves using card. They explore how their ears relate to different shaped ears for different animals and how the structure is related to their function. The activity includes a list of tools and materials required, assembly instructions, what to do ...

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Paper Circuits

This activity invites students to use copper tape and surface-mount LEDs to make creative circuits on a flat surface, like a piece of paper. Students can make light-up greeting cards or create three-dimensional pop-up paper sculpture that have working lights in them. The activity includes a list of tools and materials required, ...

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Balancing Sculptures

This activity invites students to explore balance and stability by designing and building whimsical kinetic sculptures that tilt, slide, and suspend everyday objects and ordinary materials into surprising arrangements. Students explore stability, centres of gravity, balanced forces and symmetry through this hands-on, tactile ...

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Cranky Contraptions

This activity invites students to make Cranky Contraptions, kinetic sculptures that animate a character or scene when a handle is turned. These automata are powered by a simple crank slider mechanism which provides the basic motion. Everyday materials around can be repurposed into these contraptions. The activity includes ...