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Listed under:  Science  >  Forces and energy  >  Mechanical energy  >  Motion  >  Rotational motion  >  Orbits
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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.

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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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Stomp Rocket Design Challenge

This resource provides a scaffold for students to complete a design challenge. The design challenge requires students to create a stomp rocket that can travel to a chosen planet in the solar system. The design challenge can also be used to investigate forces and energy. It can be delivered over a number of lessons, or it ...

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It’s Alive: Conditions on Earth

In this resource, students investigate and measure the conditions of planet Earth. They explore temperature, gravity and the needs of living things. Students also discuss how some conditions on Earth are constant, while other conditions regularly change, and how living things have adaptations to survive these changes.

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Beyond Earth: Colonising Space

This resource provides a scaffold for students to respond to a persuasive writing task. The persuasive writing task requires students to determine where humans should create the first space colony, using prior learning and research to justify their decisions.

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Gravity and orbits

This is an interactive teaching and learning resource that years 7 to 10 secondary students can use to simulate the orbits of the Earth, Moon and a space station while altering the physical quantities involved. Orbital pathways, velocity and force vectors can be displayed in either scale or cartoon views. The mass and velocity ...

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The Milky Way

What do you know about the Milky Way? Did you know that there are hundreds of billions of stars in it? Before you embark on your stargazing expedition, watch this video to learn how you can use just your hands and a compass to locate stars in the sky! What is the unit of measurement used when you're measuring distances ...

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BTN: The Moon landing

Some say landing on the moon is as one of humanity's greatest achievements. Learn about the history of the moon landing and some of the challenges faced by scientists. See actual footage of the astronauts on the moon as part of the Apollo 11 mission.

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A long history of planet Mars

Mars, the fourth planet from the Sun, is a cold, dry, desert-like place with a thin atmosphere and no signs of existing water or life. However, evidence suggests that its surface might once have looked very different, and that it possibly contained bodies of water. Watch this animation showing what Mars may have looked ...

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Triple J: Why is Pluto not a planet?

Watch this clip and learn why Pluto was taken off the official list of planets. Dr Karl Kruszelnicki explains the three criteria that must be met before planets can be called planets. What are they?

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An eclipse of the Moon

The phases of the Moon and lunar eclipses occur due to the Moon's orbit of Earth, and its position in relation to both the Earth and the Sun. Watch this animation showing a model of the Moon's orbit, its phases and a lunar eclipse. Discover what a total lunar eclipse is and what causes the red colour of a 'blood moon'.

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A long history of the Moon

The Moon is a familiar object in the night sky and impacts life on Earth as it orbits our planet. Watch this animation showing how the moon has changed since its formation 4.5 billion years ago. See how the Moon's surface altered over time as volcanoes and asteroids created the basins and craters present on the Moon today.

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ABC News: Dr Karl discusses mining asteroids

Imagine an asteroid, half the size of a football field, hurtling towards Earth at a speed of 28,000 kilometres per hour! Watch this clip to find out about Asteroid 2012 DA14 and whether it poses any threat to Earth. You will also discover why mining prospectors are keen to capture asteroids such as this one. Could the next ...

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Why do the stars move across the sky?

If you stand still and look up at the night sky for hours on end, you'll notice that the stars will move across the sky westwards. The truth is, it's not the stars that are moving, it's us! Do you know how the Earth moves in space? What do we orbit?

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Spacewalk game

This is an interactive resource that explores the International Space Station through a Station Spacewalk Game in which participants conduct virtual NASA repair work on the International Space Station. In the game, participants leave the airlock and complete tasks executed by astronauts to help power up the space station ...

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Kamay – looking up

This resource explores the navigation techniques used during the journey of the Endeavour and contrasts these with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander navigational and astronomical systems that have been in place for many thousands of years. This learning sequence contains activities suitable for Year 7 - Year 10 science ...

Interactive

My solar system

This is an interactive resource exploring the orbital motion of a system of planets. Using the orbital simulation, students can build their own system of planets and watch the gravitational ballet. They can set initial positions, velocities, and masses of 2, 3, or 4 bodies, and then see them orbit each other. This interactive ...

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Why we can see some planets but not others

In this planetarium demonstration, the air has been sucked out of the sky to give us a black sky so we can actually see the planets that are above us. Why is it that we can't always see the planets? How does our proximity to the sun affect how visible a planet is to us?

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Phases of the moon

Can you name the different phases of the moon? Watch this video and learn about the phases, how long a full lunar cycle is and why the moon looks larger at times.

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ABC News Dr Karl discusses the Earths heat video

Discover the activities deep within the Earth that could seriously impact life on Earth far into the future. Watch this video to find out about the sources of the Earth's own heat. Dr Karl explains clearly just what is below the Earth's surface and what is happening there. As well, he talks about changes in the Sun and ...