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Video

Fossil Shell Stories

This video presents examples of shell fossils that help us to understand where oceans were located in Australia millions of years ago. The shells lived in shallow marine environments before they died and became part of the rocks formed from sand and silt at the bottom of the water. Brachiopods from Woolshed Creek in Canberra ...

Video

Why are river pebbles round? Sugar shake: erosion experiment

This short video introduces the concepts of weathering and erosion by investigating why river pebbles are often rounded. Students can undertake an activity which demonstrates the process of erosion using sugar cubes. They are asked to predict what might happen (a hypothesis) and then observe what does happen and relate ...

Video

Liquefaction In Action

This short video examines the process of liquefaction and its impact on buildings and other structures. The video encourages students to investigate some of the ways engineers lessen the impact of earthquakes on buildings and to make their own liquefaction demonstration and extend it into an inquiry activity.

Downloadable

See how they run

This activity introduces lava viscosity and influence on volcanic cone shape. The download includes background information for teachers and an activity sheet for students. The activity involves making lava slime and racing this down a slope. Participants are asked to predict how lava viscosity might influence volcanic shape ...

Downloadable

Make your own microbit seismometer instructions and classroom activities

This 12 page guide explains how to set up a micro:bit as a mini seismometer that will detect shaking, and how to collect and display the data. The guide also includes classroom-ready activities on how to introduce and explore vibrations and earthquake monitoring.

Downloadable

Analysis of earthquakes using real map and data sets

This teacher guide provides information about earthquakes and online portals to download real world earthquake data, as well as two student inquiry activities. Each activity includes instructions on how to access and use the relevant portal as well as questions that prompt students to find, record, and interpret the data. ...

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Work sample Year 2 Science: Science in daily life

This work sample demonstrates evidence of student learning in relation to aspects of the achievement standards for Year 2 Science. The primary purpose for the work sample is to demonstrate the standard, so the focus is on what is evident in the sample not how it was created. The sample is an authentic representation of ...

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Biosecurity surveillance at school

This activity outlines the process to undertake a biosecurity surveillance of a school environment. The teacher guide, slides and student sheets identify some invasive pests that represent a threat to NSW agriculture including cane toads, fire ants and exotic bees. The activity could be adapted for other locations.

Video

DTiF in conversation with Save the Bilby Fund – Background information on the Save the Bilby Fund

Kevin Bradley, CEO of Save the Bilby Fund, and Cassandra Arkinstall, a researcher and volunteer at Save the Bilby Fund, explain why the bilby is an important indicator of the health of an ecosystem, and how their decline impacts other wildlife. This video gives an overview of what the Save the Bilby Fund does as they work ...

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Travel Times

Life would be very different today if we did not have modern transport. In this activity, students calculate the time it would take for humans to travel long distances through different modes of transport. They then analyse the impact of these technological developments.

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Beyond Earth: Shelter from the Elements

This resource provides a scaffold for students to undertake a design challenge. The design challenge requires students to develop a shelter that protects humans from the hostile conditions on another planet. Students draw on their existing scientific understanding (for example, conductors and insulators), along with their ...

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Space Exploration: Community of Inquiry

In this resource, students participate in a community of inquiry to consider the implications of human space travel. This process gives students the opportunity to come to a full, shared understanding of the concepts and issues around human space travel.

Online

Catchment management: water sustainability

Water is an important resource, and is required by all living species to survive. Water is also important for many industries and businesses. This activity investigates the different land uses over time across your local catchment. OUTCOMES are for children to: understand the natural and urban water cycle; learn about the ...

Downloadable

Solar still activity

In this activity students create a solar still and use a predict-observe-explain strategy to investigate how coloured salty water transforms into clear unsalted water. This activity is useful for exploring changes of state (evaporation and condensation) and water cycles.

Online

Creating an Indigenous plant-use garden: plant list

For thousands of years, First Nations peoples across Australia have been growing and cultivating plants. Plants are grown for many different purposes, including food, tools, medicine, shelter, clothing, hunting, carrying, water craft, ceremony and land management. Everything they needed to survive is provided by the bush. ...

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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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Naked Egg

This activity invites students to use a giant cell (a de-shelled chicken egg) to explore the comings and goings of cellular substances. 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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Shell Shifts

This activity invites students to explore how the pH of a solution dictates whether carbon is present in the form needed to make seashells. 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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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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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.