Drone search lesson
Students explore drone photography and its applications. They create a 'dronie', and use aerial photography to assess a model of a disaster zone. They design their own application of drone photography and create a model to demonstrate their idea.
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Create dichotomous keys
Students engage in a hands-on exploration of local diversity. They learn how to create dichotomous keys and translate their keys into a wildlife discovery app prototype.
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TikTok science stories
Students learn about the diverse roles of science communicators and are challenged to create their own science communication text in a contemporary medium.
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Bias in science
Students are often unaware of biases that operate in society and the ways in which these biases can limit the contributions of diverse Australians. In this lesson they have an opportunity to explore the ways women have been written out of science history, and to take action to highlight the importance of diversity in STEM.
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Physics of video games
Students build a simple Pong game in Scratch and consider the physics involved in the game play. They then apply their understanding of force and motion to design their own video game concept.
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Industrial design challenge – separating materials
This lesson is a great introduction to the idea of separating mixtures and enables students to consider separation as a process that operates on macroscopic levels. It provides students with an opportunity to engage in hands-on engineering using recycled materials.
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Biofabrication – communicating STEM frontiers
Students learn about biomedical engineering and the emerging field of biofabrication. Students explore a range of media showing new biofabrication techniques and consider how interdisciplinary teams are developing new approaches to supporting a range of medical issues.
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Biomimicry glider
What can we learn from various animals about solving the challenges of flight? Students explore the dynamics of flight by examining animal adaptations and apply their learning to think like an aeronautical engineer and design their own glider
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Engineers think outside the square
Students explore the brainstorm and iterate phases of the engineering design process, with a particular emphasis on the importance of trying different ideas to ‘build a better mouse trap’.
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Sandcastle ratios
Students think like geotechnical engineers, exploring the properties of sand and the ways in which those properties can be used in building and construction.
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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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Game design
This sequence of lessons integrates game design using scratch and a Makey Makey programming board.
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Impact of climate change on Flatback turtle populations
The lesson follows an inquiry process in which students use a dataset to answer relevant questions about the turtle population. They consider how to analyse and display the data in order to effectively examine the impact of rising global temperatures on flatback turtle populations. They design a method of raising public awareness.
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Humpback whales: What the data reveals
The lesson follows an inquiry process where students use the dataset to answer relevant questions about the whale population. They consider what other data they would need in order to effectively examine the impact on humpback whales of sonar activity and noise from development.
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Light up soft toy with Lilypad
This project will explore two ways of controlling the flow of current to a LED using a button and switch. No programming is initially expected in this project, however once students are comfortable with connecting or sewing their circuits and attaching lights, a follow-up project that involves using a pre built Arduino program to light up a series of lights in order would be a useful next step.
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Exploring data in turtle population dynamics
In this lesson we look at modelling data related to the number of eggs a female turtle lays in her lifetime, using real scientific data. Students explore ways to model, interpret, represent and present data, creating an infographic to raise awareness about turtle conservation.
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Water for our vines
Design and build a prototype of a water delivery system, including design options and plans to ensure that all the vines on a sloping land are watered to the level they require.
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My energy efficient house rules
Re-design the given plan of an old house to make it more energy efficient within the existing property boundaries.
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Our own garden
Design a model of a garden given the available space. Include a planting guide for your garden based on certain constraints.
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Exploring data tracking turtle movements
In this lesson students look at satellite tracking using real scientific data. Students explore ways to model, interpret, represent and present data.
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Hot bots
In this series of lessons, students are set a design challenge to create a program to automatically switch on an air conditioner. For this project, students are introduced to the Arduino microcontroller and Arduino integrated development environment for programming.
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Sphero young inventors
In this lesson students will explore the use of Sphero in the everyday world by adding accessories to invent solutions to workplace or other problems or simply by inventing an adaptation to the device.
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Minecraft Sustainable House
Students plan and build a sustainable house in Minecraft. Students can develop multiple cognitive skills through designing and building a sustainable house in Minecraft.
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Frog Habitats and Adaptation
Students explore habitats and investigate the adaptations different frog species need to survive in that habitat. They use the FrogID app to identify local frogs and design their own frog pond to meet the needs of local species. This project led by a female scientist: Dr Jodi Rowley.
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Engineering Materials for a Greener Planet
This set of STEM activities for primary and secondary students explores how engineers can solve significant environmental problems.
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Biomimicry - Lessons from Nature
This unit of work introduces students to biomimicry. They learn how to look at nature for inspiration to solve engineering and design problems. Students learn about linear and closed loop systems and design a lamp using principles of biomimicry.
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Solar Oven Design Challenge
Students design and build a solar oven using passive solar design principles. The aim of the design is to cook or dehydrate food as sustainably as possible. Students need to take sustainability into account when researching the materials for their design.
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Gecko Tape
Students learn about nanotechnology and make and test ‘gecko tape’. They create their own design for new products.
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Lunar Lander
Students design and build a lunar landing module to ensure survival of the crew. They compare their model’s performance with an actual moon landing and take risk factors and budgeting into account.
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Climate Change
This STEM Careers Pack is design to teach students about making well reasoned judgements about empirical and ethical matters. Students explore the science of anthropogenic climate change, and whether we have a responsibilty to future generations.
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Compressed Air and Water Rockets
Students design a water rocket to fit a rocket launcher. They test their rockets and evaluate changes to iterate on their design.
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Deep blue: innovation for the future of our oceans
Select student activities related to the future of oceans that link to the Australian Curriculum for science, technologies, mathematics, and the arts.
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