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Listed under:  Arts  >  Design
Listed under:  Technologies  >  Design
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I am an inventor lesson

In this lesson, students explore the life, work and times of Rube Goldberg. The lesson uses Rube Goldberg’s work to teach students about simple machines, how they function and their design principles. Working in groups, the students then design and create a Rube Goldberg machine that can complete a simple task. Students ...

Online

Beautiful biomes

In this lesson students learn the features of the five main biomes, and use ClassVR headsets and CoSpaces to design and create a virtual biome to explore. They research and identify the features of a biome and then create their own virtual environment. The resource explores the human impacts on biodiversity and explore ...

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Engineering from farm to table lesson

In this lesson students are invited to become food and fibre engineers to research how wheat, the largest agricultural crop in Australia, gets from the farm to the table. Students take an in-depth look at the wheat industry in Australia exploring how wheat is grown, harvested, processed, utilised, and exported. Students ...

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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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Creating art and meaning from waste

Welcome to Marina DeBris's exhibition, "Beach Couture: A Haute Mess". How would you describe Marina's art? What are the ideas she communicates through her artworks? How do the processes, materials and techniques Marina works with contribute to the creation of meaning in her art? Do you agree with Marina's belief that art ...

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Catalyst: What are modular farms?

Modular farms are flexible and self-contained systems that allow you to grow herbs and vegetables without the need for soil or sunlight. What are some advantages of modular farms? What may be some of the disadvantages?

Online

Design dilemma

This series of lessons aims to develop awareness of the needs of diverse commuters on our public transport system. Students investigate the challenges involved in getting on and off public transport for users with additional needs, for example commuters in wheelchairs. They work collaboratively in teams to investigate possible ...

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What are pixels?

Meet Kevin Systrom and Piper Hanson as they explain how digital images work. What are pixels, those tiny dots of light, made from? How are colours created and represented? What does Kevin say about the way mathematical functions are used to create different image filters. What is the difference between image resolution ...

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BTN: Yes, fashion designers need maths skills!

Are you interested in becoming a fashion designer? Or an architect? Or a pilot? Did you know that you need maths skills to succeed in all of these careers? Watch this video to learn how fashion designer Cristina uses maths in her work. How does architect Thomas use it? And why is maths important to pilot Paul? Can you think ...

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Use your creative thinking skills!

Ashwini Ranjithabalan from Women in Engineering and IT at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) sees engineering as the business of solving future problems. What are some of the challenges we (and our societies) might face in the future? Get some friends together and see if you can brainstorm a list. Now choose one ...

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Food for thought

Food security, or sufficient access to safe and nutritious food, is of rising global concern. Watch this animated clip to discover the main problems facing food security, and to see some suggestions for solutions that might incorporate strategies like waste management practices and emerging technologies.

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Hour of Code: Saloni on the If/Else block

The Hour of Code is a one-hour introduction to computer science, designed to demystify code and show that anybody can learn the basics. In this video, Saloni explains what an If/Else statement is and looks at how If/Else blocks can be used to program the movement of a zombie character. This is the fifth of seven clips in ...

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Building a weather satellite

Designers and engineers improve upon existing products all the time. How important do you think it is to update and enhance something like a weather satellite? Can you think of some other objects that could be improved upon?

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Hour of Code: Mark Zuckerberg teaches Repeat Loops

The Hour of Code is a one-hour introduction to computer science, designed to demystify code and show that anybody can learn the basics. In this instructional video, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg explains what a Repeat Loop is and how to use the repeat block. This is the second of seven clips in the Hour of Code tutorial. To ...

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For the Juniors: Boats made from different materials

See how boats can be made from wood, fibreglass and aluminium. Watch film of some Aboriginal men making a bark canoe. See how a special mould is used to make boats made from fibreglass. Find out why aluminium is a useful metal for making boats.

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For the Juniors: Getting your boat into shape!

A ball of plasticine sinks. Could you change its shape to make it float? Watch this clip to see some plasticine being made into different shapes. Find out which shape floats. Take a look at the shape of a motor boat. Why is it pointy at the front?

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What makes these paper planes fly?

Have you ever wondered what makes a paper plane fly? Think about the design of the paper plane as well as external factors like the various forces that are at play, then make a list of the design considerations and a list of the different forces.

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Building spaghetti bridges

Have you ever tried making a bridge out of dried spaghetti? What about a spaghetti bridge that can support a roadway and small car? Watch as teams of first-year university students reveal and test their designs. How did they decide what kind of bridges to build? Have a go at designing, testing and building your own spaghetti ...

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Know your robotics materials

Sean, a robotics mentor for FIRST Robotic Competition's 3132 'Thunder Down Under', worked on the robot's intake system which allows it to take in the 'boulder', or the ball, so it can then shoot into the high goal or the low goal. What were some of the challenges he faced in designing and building this feature?

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Design thinking across the curriculum

This cross-curriculum resource is designed to introduce Stage 2, 3 and 4 students to the design thinking process through a series of videos and interactive activities. This resource is also downloadable as a SCORM file: the downloaded version will only work if you upload it to a webserver, such as Moodle or Canvas.