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Listed under:  Science  >  Scientific inquiry  >  Observations (Data)
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The Manual: Butterfly Gardening in South Australia

This Manual assists teachers and students establish butterfly gardens in their schoolgrounds. It provides information about butterfly lifecycles, habitats, adaptations, and requirements to live. The manual also provides local Indigenous perspectives of butterflies, along with useful links to websites. The manual accompanies ...

Interactive

Indigenous weather knowledge

An interactive map of traditional weather and climate knowledge that has been developed and passed down through countless generations by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The site provides descriptions of the sixteen seasonal calendars used by First Nations peoples across Australia.

Downloadable

Unit for Year 3 to 4 Butterflies: Engaging with nature

This unit of work engages students in preparing butterfly gardens in their schoolgrounds. It explores scientific entomology, features of caterpillars and butterflies, the lifecycle of butterflies, survival requirements, and the characteristics of butterfly gardens. The unit includes worksheets, assessment ideas, pictures, ...

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Balance

This activity invites students to explore the phenomena of balance and investigate the question, 'Can you find at least three different ways of balancing three identical weights on a balance board?' Students work with a simple balance (e.g., a ruler as the balance board, a toilet-paper-tube fulcrum, and coins as weights), ...

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Pendulums

This activity invites students to explore the phenomena of pendulums and investigate the question, 'What happens to the swing speed of your pendulum when you change one of the variables?' Students test one variable at a time to figure-out the effect of length, weight, and release point on how long it takes the pendulum ...

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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 ...

Video

Different paper plane designs

How many different paper plane designs are there? Lots! Watch as Dylan Parker, paper plane expert, demonstrates some of his favourites. Notice the way the different shapes and features of the planes cause them to move through the air in different ways. Which one do you like the most? Why not have a go at making something similar?

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Environmental and Zoo Education Centres – primary school resources

A collection of digital resources for primary school teachers and students to support teaching and learning from home, with a particular focus on geography, science and history. The resources were developed by Department of Education teachers from 25 Environmental and Zoo Education Centres in NSW and include Google Sites, ...

Online

reSolve: Sport Stats

In this lesson, students examine sporting scores and explore the concept of the average of a set of scores. Students collect sporting scores from real and hypothetical games, use blocks to visualise an even distribution of scores across matches and then explore how to calculate the average of a set of scores. The lesson ...

Video

Catalyst: How will fire change the climate?

Considering the impact of a changing climate on the severity and frequency of fires is one thing, but how about the impact of fires on climate? Why does Professor David Bowman describe this scenario as a 'fire spiral'? What are the consequences of a world with fewer forests? As Professor Craig Allen explains, drought and ...

Video

Catalyst: Supercapacitors: new battery technology

Discover how nanotechnology is contributing to the creation of new, improved batteries that may soon be used in all our mobile phones and portable music devices - even in cars and trams. Catalyst's Tanya Ha looks at how traditional batteries produce electricity and how their efficiency may be increased by tiny devices known ...

Video

Colourful Weather, Ep 1: What shape is a rainbow?

All you need is water, the sky and sunlight and you’ve got something that’s colourful – with a pot of gold at each end. What is it? A rainbow! Find out what happens to sunlight inside a raindrop, why rainbow colours are always in the same order and the real shape of a rainbow. Tip: it’s not an arch!

Video

Could you make a unicorn by crossing DNA?

Good question! Find out whether this is possible by watching as biologist at MIT, Dr Sera Thornton explains. What is a genome? And why do genomes need to be decoded? If the rhino genome was successfully decoded and the part that described the rhino horn was isolated, what would the process be for creating a unicorn?

Video

Sam the Lamb: Does wool burn?

This short entertaining video, narrated by ‘Sam the Lamb’ and 'Professors' Madeleine and Daisy test which fabrics burn easily and which fabrics are the most flame resistant. Sam and his science team test the flammability of a range of synthetic and natural fabrics including polyester, polar fleece, cotton and wool.

Video

How do solar panels work?

The Earth intercepts a lot of solar power: 173,000 terawatts. That’s 10,000 times more power than the planet’s population uses. So is it possible that one day the world could be completely reliant on solar energy? Richard Komp examines how solar panels convert solar energy to electrical energy. This TedEd animation (4:58 ...

Interactive

DIY Sun Science - iTunes app

Try some hands on investigations that relate to learning about the Sun. Follow step-by-step procedures, read through explanations to find out why things happened and also view related video clips. Free when reviewed on 12/5/2015.

Video

Catalyst: What is a megafire?

Join Catalyst reporter Anja Taylor as she visits the Jemez Mountains in New Mexico and discovers the impacts of recent megafires on the landscape there. What is a megafire? And how is a megafire different from a regular wildfire? How have recent fires permanently transformed the landscapes that Anja and Professor Craig ...

Video

The power of science photography

Visual art and science are often considered to be separate fields. Watch as Phred Petersen talks about the way he combines his passions of photography and science. What is the role of technology in enabling this crossover? What kinds of scientific discoveries can be assisted by high-speed photography? And how can scientific ...

Video

The physics of invisibility cloaks

Could an invisibility cloak actually work? Prashanth and Maria from MIT explore this idea and demonstrate the cool ways that light bounces, bends and mixes. How do the wings of the Morpho Butterfly give clues about how an invisibility cloak could work? How would light need to be channelled in order for something to seem invisible?

Video

Elliot and the Surfing Scientist: Red cabbage pH experiment

It might sound 'un-sciencey', and have a bad smell, but red cabbage is actually very useful for testing the pH of liquids. Added to well-known liquids like lemonade or vinegar, red cabbage juice changes to 'pretty colours'. In this clip, Surfing Scientist Ruben Meerman explains the colour changes and how red cabbage juice ...