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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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Bathymetry of Australia

This video is a flythrough around the coast of Australia shows the major topographic features of the seafloor around the continent. Starting in the south west the viewer can see the continental shelf and slope of the southern coast followed by the seamount chains and the Great Barrier Reef to the east. Continuing around ...

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Earthquake monitoring

This video introduces earthquake monitoring using seismometers and seismographs. It also features the National Earthquake Alert Centre. Students are asked to try making earthquakes at home using the accelerometers in their smartphones.

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Weathering, erosion, landforms and regolith - Teacher notes and student activities

This 112 page booklet explores the processes of weathering, erosion and deposition. It highlights the different types of weathering, erosion and transport and provides examples of famous landscapes to enhance the understanding of these processes. It includes case studies about the formation of many Australian landforms ...

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Ice Power

This activity demonstrates how much water expands when frozen. Students quantify water's expansion when it freezes and establish how this can lead to weathering (breakdown) of rocks in areas exposed to frequent freezing and thawing temperatures. It is best to set up the demonstration one day ahead and examine the results ...

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Living world

This collection of resources focus on biology concepts in year ten. The resource includes a learning sequence that allows students to investigate the requirements for plant growth using an inquiry-based learning activity. There are also links to external resources that focus on meiosis and body systems.

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Locating the Earth’s shadow zone

The lesson involves modelling observations that scientists made when analysing earthquake waves and their movement through the interior of the Earth; and then interpreting the information to propose the internal structure of the Earth.

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To mine or not to mine

In this activity, students outline the choices that need to be made when considering whether to use scientific and technological advances to obtain a resource from Earth's spheres.

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Working scientifically and physical world – The cooling rate of water

This activity challenges students to plan and undertake an investigation into what affects the cooling rate of hot water. The task is intended to be a formative skill-based task which aims at providing feedback to students as well as allowing students the opportunity to self-reflect on the completion of a practical task.

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Volcanic hazards: What would an Emergency Manager do?

This activity examines a hypothetical city and its vulnerability to volcanic hazard risk. It includes background information for teachers, PowerPoint presentation, student activity sheet and worked answers.

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Sugar Shake: Erosion experiment

This activity introduces weathering and erosion by investigating why river pebbles are often rounded. The download includes background information for teachers and an activity sheet for students. The activity demonstrates the process of erosion using sugar cubes. Students are asked to predict what might happen (a hypothesis) ...

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Stellar scintillation

This resource explores a concept belonging to the Meriam (Mer) people of the Torres Strait who have long understood the importance of stellar scintillation to their lives. and the ways it can prove useful in understanding our environment. This activity involves watching a video of an elder playing a Meriam star song and ...

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Identifying Minerals - Determining Density

This short video demonstrates how to determine the density of a mineral sample. The video explains how to calculate density, then shows students how accurately measure the mass and volume of a mineral sample.

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Earthquakes - Teacher Notes and Student Activities

This 85 page booklet explores earthquakes. The booklet includes the causes and types of earthquakes, how earthquakes are recorded, magnitudes of earthquakes and case studies of significant Australian earthquakes. The booklet contains a glossary, links to online resources, activity ideas and experiments for students and ...

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Engineering solutions for platypus protection

Students learn about the important role engineering plays in conservation. They explore how engineers, industrial designers and ecologists collaborate to mitigate the impact of human activity on different species.

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Volcanoes : Teacher notes and student activities

This 80 page booklet covers a range of topics concerning volcanoes. It includes information about causes of volcanic eruptions, volcano types, where volcanoes are found and why, Australia's hot spot volcanoes and the hazards and benefits of volcanoes. Activities cover the science of eruptions and their impact on people, ...

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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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The Australian Coast - Teacher notes and student activities

This 100 page booklet explores the major physical environmental characteristics of the Australian coast. It also provides an outline of the major physical processes which shape the coast and introduces the human-induced processes which impact upon Australia’s coast. The booklet contains a glossary, links to online resources, ...

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Spaghetti Quakes

This activity explains commonly used magnitude scales, provides background information on earthquake intensity and includes an extension task to map the impact of an earthquake. The worksheet activity can be adapted for student needs.

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Geography: Landscapes and Landforms

Join Shona from Geoscience Australia and explore the formation of Australia's coastal, desert and mountain landforms and landscapes.