Victorian Curriculum Link – Science understanding, Earth and space sciences, Observable changes occur in the sky and landscape; daily and seasonal changes affect everyday life (VCSSU046).

Engagement Factor – giant lightning bolts and sounds from Tesla Coil.

Potential uses of this resource within a unit – teaching children about the clouds, storms and lightning. 

Group Reflection – Students understand how clouds, storms and lightning work. 

Iliada F

Potential uses of this resource within a unit - 

Students experience things and can reflect on their learning from their experience.
JM

·     ‘Winging It’ mini show – presented in the dome.

·     Forces are demonstrated by conducting experiments. An experiment is also carried out to show a chemical reaction taking place.

 

·     Foundation Level, Level 1, Level 2.

·     The way objects move depends on a variety of factors including their size and shape: a push or a pull affects how an object moves or changes shape (VCSSU048).

 

·     Students would find this super engaging, as they are invited to the front to help conduct the experiments on forces.

 

·     Students can physically see how forces are used (gravity, drag and lift).

·     Students learn how gravity pulls objects down to the ground by dropping various objects, so on.

·     Students learn how the height and weight of an object impacts when it hits the ground.

·     Students also see a chemical reaction experiment – where an aspirin tablet and water are mixed in a film canister.

 

Elysse Phipps

Above and Beyond is a Special Exhibition hosted at Science works related to aerospace. It has information and exhibits created by both NASA and Boeing, most of which are interactive such as Designing and Flying your own plane, riding a space elevator, etc.

Levels 3 & 4 (Physical Sciences) "Forces can be exerted by one object on another through direct contact or from a distance"

Levels 3 & 4 (Science as a human endeavor) "Science knowledge helps people to understand the effects of their actions"

Above and Beyond represents aerospace topics in an interesting and engaging way, most exhibits are interactive and are both informative as well as being fun. exhibits such as Full Throttle have students design and fly their own plane which helps them understand what factors affect flight whilst also being an engaging experience.

This exhibition would be useful in a unit about physical sciences as it could build on principles learned in the classroom such as what kinds of forces affect flight (both on earth and into space.) or it could even be used near the start of a unit to provide students an engaging experience that introduces them to some physical science concepts

 

 

A free self directed interactive room for F - 6 students, operates Monday til Friday with a maximum of 60 students. Aims to teach how the body operates in different circumstances by highlighting the body’s strengths and weakness. 

Students can rock climb, run, snowboard, push, pull and kick on different equipment.

Physical Science from F – 6

Being healthy safe and active F - 6

            Digital Technologies F – 6

The activities are many and varied which provides autonomy for students. It’s a hands on experience that students can participate in pairs, groups or individually. The activities don’t need a lot of explanation and its fun, safe environment. There are many self directed options to explore that will spark interest for all students.

An excursion to Sportsworks at Scienceworkds exhibit would be an ideal way to spark interest in forces. The exhibition could be used in any of the 5E’s model phases Engage, Explore and Explain.
DT/J

Engagement Factor – Excitement of the lightning room. Audience participation and involvement.

Potential uses of this resource within a unit – This resource would fit in a unit about weather and seasons. Students learn about how clouds and lightning are formed, linking in with observable changes in the sky/season.

Hope

Physical Science from F – 6

Engaging factors:
There are many activities that students can explore. The activities are hands on, where they are able to participate individually or in pairs. The activities are very straight forward and fun for all students of many abilities.

Potential use as Resource
This learning resources has connection to forces, this could be used under the physical science. Students can explore and reflect on their excursion. 

s3645473

VCSSU081

Energy from a variety of sources can be used to generate electricity; electric circuits enable this energy to be transferred to another place and then to be transformed into another form of energy 

·       investigating how moving air and water can turn turbines to generate electricity 

·       investigating how solar panels can generate electricity 

VCSSU081 | Science | Levels 5 and 6 | Science Understanding | Physical sciences

Engagement Factor 

The engagement factor of this activity is the PDA board itself. Kids can play different games related to energy consumption, different ways to create renewable energy, etc.

Potential uses of this resource within a unit 

This resource would fit in a unit about energy/renewable sources of energy. 

Maria Elena Gómez Sousa
S3739872

The show itself is very engaging and hands on for a select few chosen audience members.  The presenter throughout the show called on the audience to answer questions as a whole, engaging every member of the audience as part of the show.

Potential uses of this resource within a unit:

 It may lead to student inquiry into various aspects of weather events and inventions to harness lightning, predict weather outcomes, different aspects of the weather (cloud types, weather systems) or allow students to create their own device to protect against lightning using the concepts they have learnt (Faraday Cage).

-Tamara 

Engagement factor:
The children can observe the ice-core replicas and observe the significant changes and the factors - including fossil fuels, natural disasters which increased the CO2 levels in the air. The students can compare the changes over the years over time with a table and note down the various effects.
Potential uses of this resource within a unit:
Get children to experiment hands on by seeing the effects of the different levels of carbon dioxide can have on plants. This will be a way for students to have a hands on and personal model of what excessive levels of carbon dioxide is doing to the earth
Group reflection:

The part of this resource where you can see the ice core light up will be an engaging way for student to see the effects of volcanic activity and hence, carbon dioxide has on the environment. Parts of this resource could be slightly hard to engage with - particularly if students are poor readers.
- Olivia Di Giorgio

Teaching resource / School program 

The 'Electrical energy, safety and lightning' school program is a 40 minute presentation that is held in ScienceWorks purpose-built high voltage laboratory/theatre. It demonstrates energy transfers and transformations involving electricity. Students find out about static electricity, conductors and insulators, electric circuits, fuses and safety switches. 

Science / Levels 5 and 6 / Science Understanding / Science as a human endeavour: Scientific understandings, discoveries and inventions are used to inform personal and community decisions and to solve problems that directly affect people’s lives 

Science / Levels 5 and 6 / Science Understanding / Physical sciences: Energy from a variety of sources can be used to generate electricity; electric circuits enable this energy to be transferred to another place and then to be transformed into another form of energy 

Identify level & related curriculum outcome(s) 

Students are engaged whilst they are learning through the highlights of the presentation of  a hair-raising encounter with a Van de Graaff generator, making light with a pickled onion and the biggest Jacob's Ladder display in the country. The show then finishes with a spectacular demonstration of lightning strikes engaging the students whilst providing them with information and tips for safety strategies in lightning storms. 

Potential uses of this resource within a unit 

This resource can be used at the start of a unit, serving as a 'hook' to introduce a unit revolving around lightning and electricity 

The presentation can pique students' interest in the topic and allow them to view an up close occurrence of lightning, as opposed to simply watching a video on the topic. This would increase student interest in the topic that would be delved into further, therefore enhancing student learning.

Hannah Konstantinidis and Jade Guy

A 45-minute session that makes full use of the Planetarium’s distinctive technology to present scientific data from astronomical organisations around the world. The result is a journey through the most complete and accurate 3D atlas of the universe ever made.

 

These datasets, which have been compiled by the American Museum of Natural History's Hayden Planetarium with support from NASA, clearly show the different scales and structures of the Universe, such as:

·         the satellites surrounding our Earth, including the GPS system

·         the Solar System and a better understanding of Pluto and the other dwarf planets

·         the distances between our Sun and neighbouring stars

·         the structure of the Milky Way galaxy

·         the types and distribution of galaxies throughout the universe

·         and the far-away echo of the Big Bang.

·         Earth is part of a system of planets orbiting around a star (the Sun) (VCSSU078)

·         Scientific understandings, discoveries and inventions are used to inform personal and community decisions and to solve problems that directly affect people’s lives (VCSSU073)

·         Earth’s rotation on its axis causes regular changes, including night and day (VCSSU061)

·         Earth’s surface changes over time as a result of natural processes and human activity (VCSSU062)
 

 Students can relate themselves to the world, who they are and where they are in the universe and discover which planets, stars and constellations are easily seen from a Melbourne backyard and how our view of the sky changes, night by night.
 
Potential Use of Resource

During the ‘ticket to the universe’ experience students are able to ask questions in-which the exhibitionist can answer and provide a detailed view of using the technology. This experience directly links to earth/space sciences allowing students to express discovered thoughts which evidently benefit their knowledge acquisition. A classroom activity involving the distance between planets using the planetarium would be insightful to students. 

 

In reflecting upon the Science Works experience, I believe that the ‘Ticket to the Universe’ experience would provide students with an abundance of new knowledge and skills which links directly to the ‘5E model’ of Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate. Evidently, this would benefit student learning. 

Coen Fitzgerald (s3663835)

I chose to focus on the interactive projected sustainable games. Students stand on a red strip of carpet and move around in different ways depending on the aim of the game. Either make wind power, move rubbish to the appropriate bins, funnel water into water tanks etc… students will have a lot of fun being active and learning about different ways to help the planet.
 
 Victorian Curriculum Link 

VCSSU081

Energy from a variety of sources can be used to generate electricity; electric circuits enable this energy to be transferred to another place and then to be transformed into another form of energy 

· investigating how moving air and water can turn turbines to generate electricity 

· investigating how solar panels can generate electricity
 
 Engagement Factor 

The students will love this activity as they get to see themselves on the screen completing the required tasks, however when taking a whole class or large group, students may get bored waiting for a turn and decide to skip the exhibit.
 
 Potential uses of this resource within a unit 
 This resource would work wonderfully in a unit based on sustainability or energy.  
Teagan Juniper 
S3719764 

Engagement factor
The planetarium as it is in a large theatre room with the screen above us makes it really attractive for children. I have also went to the science works whilst on placement and children will talk about how amazing the theatre room was and how much they enjoy the movie 'Tycho to the moon'. 

Potential uses
Students can go on this excursion during science week and at the start, middle or end of an inquiry unit.


S3668303, S3668430, S3666539.