This powerpoint guide prepares students for a design task. Discuss with students what they have read or observed about robots helping to improve the quality of life of people with disabilities, or for use in medicine or in hospitals. The task is to design a robot that can help someone. Students label each of the robot’s parts or features and then write a paragraph on how their design could have a positive impact on the quality of a human’s life. Students include a comment predicting whether humans will accept or reject the new robot and why.

This is a 15 slide powerpoint that takes students step by step through an investigation into lava viscosity. Students will work in teams to mix different viscosities of flour and water then pour their mixture onto a paper plate to investigate flow. This investigation leads into a discussion on how different volcanoes take their shape dependent on lava flow. The powerpoint concludes with a focus on the possibility of past volcanic activity in Australia.

Students will examine images about Uluru to see how it has been affected by weathering, erosion and human activity. Students will carefully examine 6 images and describe the possible causes for the shape of the landform. Which type of weathering or erosion has caused the landform to change? Students record their ideas on the worksheet. Students draw a diagram predicting how the landform of Uluru might look 100 years into the future. At completion of the written task gather the students together to share their findings. This activity could be used as an assessment task to conclude a unit of work on erosion and weathering.

This erosion investigation can be carried out in the school sand pit to investigate the effects of water on sand. Students can investigate what happens to a sandcastle when they pour differing amounts of water onto it. The powerpoint details the steps required for students to conduct their investigation. Students use the 'investigation planner' to determine variables and record their measurements and findings.

Students set up a bug zapper in the evening at their own home to conduct their own 'fair test'. All the information you need is explained on the word document - investigation question, materials, procedure, analysing and explaining the results and extension ideas.

1. Ask students to define stormwater. Record their ideas in the Class Science journal or on the whiteboard. 2. Show students a video clip explaining what is stormwater. Discuss the need to keep our waterways free from pollution. 3. Take students on a tour around the school to identify drains, gutter, downpipes and grates etc. 4. Use the powerpoint to guide students through their written responses.

Heat producers or heated by something else?? This lesson package includes 1. A powerpoint presentation to identify and discuss with students when an object producers it's own heat or is heated by something else. 2. A hands on team investigation to identify various heat sources set up around the classroom using objects sourced in the classroom or brought in by the students or class teacher. 3. This task is the assessment component. Students need to identify images that produce their own heat and images that are heated by something else and sort them onto their T chart. 4. An assessment rubric to accompany the worksheet component.

Heat producers or heated by something else?? This lesson package includes 1. A powerpoint presentation to identify and discuss with students when an object producers it's own heat or is heated by something else. 2. A hands on team investigation to identify various heat sources set up around the classroom using objects sourced in the classroom or brought in by the students or class teacher. 3. This task is the assessment component. Students need to identify images that produce their own heat and images that are heated by something else and sort them onto their T chart. 4. An assessment rubric to accompany the worksheet component.

This is a lesson plan, powerpoint and an accompanying worksheet about water pressure. The first investigation is with the teacher demonstrating how water stops flowing out of a plastic cup that has holes in it when it is dropped from a height. In the second investigation the students conduct their own trial by allowing water to be released from a hole in the bottle one at a time and measuring how far the water comes out at. There is also a challenge activity for the students to discuss on youtube.

A guide to setting up hydroponics using a 2 litre bottle. Materials e.g. cocopeat or clay balls, pH digital monitor and nutrient mix to be purchased at a hydroponics store. This is the first part in a series of three files. This as part of a unit of work looking at how humans will be providing food for the future. Students considered implications of growing our own food on Mars as in 2025 the first human settlement is planned for Mars through the Mars One project. Students can learn more about this by exploring the Mars One website. The first file explains the method involved in setting up a hydroponics system. The second file is a daily recording sheet to monitor water levels and pH. The third file is to conclude the activity after the students have been nurturing their plant for several weeks and it is a journal to record their findings. I referred to the Epic Gardener website for many of the ideas and found it most helpful.

This is a resource to set up on display in your science classroom. Each fortnight a different photo is displayed. The students guess what the photo is and submit their entries. This resource includes labels to set up your Mystery Science Photo display poster, how to construct the poster and how to make the shoebox for the entries. The resource includes enough photos for a 10 week term or two terms if you choose to put up one photo per fortnight. Before placing you photo on display be sure to snip off the answer located at the bottom of the page and place it someone safe so that you will remember what the answer is.

Students common household utensils and collage materials to imitate beaks and food as well as eye droppers and cups to imitate nectar. Students investigate by using the utensils to pick up various objects in their tray. The eye dropper is to collect water and deposit it in the other cup for nectar. Students match each beak on the worksheet to a common household tool. Challenge the students to use google images to find a bird that has the same beak as on the worksheet. Conclude by sharing their findings.

Teacher preparation - Collect two buckets of soil from two different locations. Put the students into teams. Each team takes a cup of soil and tips the contents onto a piece of large butchers paper. In each corner of the paper write - plants, animals, soil, other. Students use tweezers, paintbrushes and magnifiers to carefully examine their soil sample and move their findings into one of the four corners. Record their findings on the worksheet. Gather students together to conclude the activity by sharing their findings.

The students collected ants in the school yard to bring back to class and observe more closely. Students were given this text on ants to read. The students then, completed a written task about the ants text in their science journals. They had to write about the body structure of an ant, their habitat and how ants protect themselves from predators.

The students set up their own bread mould investigation to observe and record over the period of one week. This worksheet accompanies the investigative activity. There is also a powerpoint to accompany this activity - ‘Investigating bread mould powerpoint’.

This is a powerpoint of fungi images found in Perth Bushlands in Western Australia. It accompanied the IWB lesson on mushrooms from the Children's University of Manchester. Students were given several specimens of &'shop bought mushrooms&'; to draw and label.

Students were taken to the school woodland and encouraged to take time to reflect and enjoy the woodland environment. Students completed four different tasks - a Y chart to draw on their senses, sketches of trees, leaves, bark etc and a search for habitats.

This is a rare sight - Uluru or Ayers Rock in the rain. The students viewed this powerpoint as part of a unit on desert biomes and how rain in the desert is a very rare event.

I organised to borrow a fossils kit from Scitech Perth. The kit contained various fossils - pleuroceras,ammonite, tribolite. The students had to examine the fossils and then record their findings on the table.

I teach a small group of students once a week and they work independently in teams of two to plan and conduct their own Science Inquiry question. to conclude the parents are invited to a presentation morning. The students prepare their own powerpoint presentations about their project. This powerpoint is a gude to setting up their presentations so that all components to their project are covered in the final presentation.