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Transportation Though the Ages: Science as a human endeavour

Humans are constantly working to develop and improve our technology and understanding. This resource provides step-by-step instructions to help students consider why innovative design and improvement is important. Students firstly identify as many types of transport they can think of and then discuss why new types of transport ...

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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.

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Investigate: cane toads

This unit of work is designed to help students understand cane toads and their threat to the Australian environment and agricultural production. Why some animals are to be protected and others need to be eradicated. The resource includes a teacher guide, student learning journal and a PowerPoint presentation.

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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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Going nuclear

In this unit students are guided to complete a short investigation into the considerations of siting a nuclear power station and then submitting a brief report and reflection.

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BTN: Animal recognition system

We have all heard of human face recognition systems, but have you heard of animal recognition technology? Watch this clip to discover how an 'animal recognition gate' is being used to separate the sheep from the goats. Find out how this innovative application of a popular technology might help farmers manage pest animals ...

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Catalyst: River porpoise rescue

Can you imagine seeing porpoises leaping out of the water in a river near you? Sounds unlikely, doesn't it, but that's what people living along the banks of the Yangtze River in China often used to see. These Yangtze finless porpoises are now rapidly disappearing. Find out why and what Chinese scientist Professor Wang Ding ...

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Climate change and the rising sea level

What is the correlation between global warming and the rising sea level? This animation explains the link between the two and the consequences of a continual sea level rise. How are some communities combating this problem? Can you think of some other ways we could address this problem?

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Stateline: Saving the northern hairy-nosed wombat

Just what is going on with the northern hairy-nosed wombat? Find out why scientists are working hard to understand more about this elusive Australian mammal. Watch this clip to find out about the ecology of this wombat species and to view some field and laboratory research aimed at saving it. You will also see some footage ...

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Coral bleaching

This is a detailed plan for teaching a unit on coral bleaching. It includes a unit outline, overview and aim, learning outcomes, inquiry questions, background information about coral bleaching, lesson plans and a guide to assessment. The lesson sequence is based on the inquiry based 5Es approach to teaching Science, with ...

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Foreign Correspondent: Siberian tigers

Imagine a world where the only place Siberian tigers lived was in captivity. Watch this clip to learn more about the natural habitat of Siberian tigers and the things that threaten their survival in the wild. Chinese scientists are breeding this endangered species in captivity and zoologist, Liu Dan, explains his hope that ...

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Carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases

Have you heard of greenhouse gases? What do you think they are? (The word 'greenhouse' is a big clue!) The delicate balance of greenhouse gases has been affected by the addition of an unprecedented amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) to our atmosphere in the last 150 years. Watch this video to find out how CO2 is being added ...

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Measuring gravity

Did you know you can measure gravity? The more mass an object has, the more gravity it has, so by measuring the mass of something, you can figure out its gravity. Why do you think climate scientists may want these measurements? Watch this NASA animation to find out.

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Endangered species - marine turtles

This is a detailed plan for teaching a unit on endangered species - marine turtles. It includes a unit outline, overview and aim, learning outcomes, inquiry questions, background information about the marine turtles, lesson plans and a guide to assessment. The lesson sequence is based on the inquiry based 5Es approach to ...

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Sustainable table: the coming famine

This is a website about the key issues related to global food insecurity. It contains sections on the scarcity of primary resources; land degradation; land scarcity; waste; climate change; consequences of inaction; and proposed solutions. Photographs, statistics, graphs, maps and figures support the information. This resource ...

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Save our catchment – virtual excursion

This virtual excursion offers twelve video lessons that form a sample investigation of pest species invading Australian riparian zones. Filmed on Bundjalung Country, the excursion traverses mid north coast NSW Upper Clarence River Catchment, connecting each video to companion classroom and field learning tasks. The invasive, ...

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Our role in ocean acidification

This is a colour video clip of marine scientist Abby Smith discussing the effects of increased levels of carbon dioxide on marine animals. Smith is a teacher and researcher at the University of Otago, New Zealand.

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Green packaging lesson

This lesson plan engages students in finding ways to reduce plastic waste in food packaging. Students investigate problems created by plastic waste then observe ways these issues are being addressed. They design new packaging for food items that currently produce excessive waste then test their designs objectively. The ...

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What have we got here: feral goats

This three and a half minute snapshot video looks at the environmental impacts of feral goats in the western NSW region of the Murray-Darling Basin. The video looks at the problems created by the estimated 2.5 million feral goats in western NSW such as native vegetation destruction, soil compaction and erosion. It explains ...

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Cockles' role in food webs

This is a colour video clip of marine scientist Stephen Wing, from the University of Otago in New Zealand, discussing the role cockles ('Austrovenus stutchburyi') play in marine food webs in New Zealand. (Classification - Phylum: Mollusca; Class: Bivalvia; Order: Veneroida; Family Veneridae.)