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Schoolyard Scientist

Follow the adventures of a sugar glider and do real science from your schoolyard or backyard, inspired by our own scientists!


•    Collect plants and create your own herbarium
•    Discover and experiment with pollinators
•    Create your own bird journal
•    Run your own seed experiment

STAGE 1 Science 
Living  World :


OUTCOMES:
A student: 
•    observes, questions and collects data to communicate and compare ideas
•    uses materials, tools and equipment to develop solutions for a need or opportunity
•    describes observable features of living things and their environments
•    identifies how plants and animals are used for food and fibre products

SKILLS
Working Scientifically
Planning and Conducting Investigations
•    explore and answer questions through participation in guided scientific investigations (ACSIS025, ACSIS038) 
•    collect data from observations 
•    record observations accurately and honestly using observational drawings, labelling, informal measurements and digital technologies (ACSIS026, ACSIS039)
•    make safe choices when using materials and equipment 
•    compare observations with those of others(ACSIS041, ACSIS213)

Processing and analysing data 
•    use a range of methods to sort and collate information 
•    represent information using drawings and simple tables 

Design and Production
Researching and planning
•    generate ideas for design solutions for a defined purpose
•    develop design ideas in response to defined brief
•    record design ideas using labelled and annotated drawings including simple digital graphic representations(ACTDEP006)

Producing and implementing
•    effectively manage a variety of tools
•    manipulate a range of materials for a purpose
•    consider safety, sustainability and time constraints when producing solutions(ACTDEP007)
•    segment and sequence steps for making designed solutions

Key Inquiry Questions
•    What are the external features of living things?
•    How can we improve a local environment to encourage living things to thrive?
•    How do living things change as they grow?
•    How do humans use plants and animals?

CONTENT:
External features of living things

Students:
•    describe the external features of a variety of living things (ACSSU017)
•    identify and group plants and animals using their external features, for example: native and introduced plants and animals, worms, insects, fish, reptiles, birds and mammals

Living things live in different places
Students:
•    identify that living things live in different places that suit their needs(ACSSU211) 
•    design and produce an environment to cater for the needs of a living thing, for example: encourage the growth of a plant, eg greenhouses, hydroponics
•    encourage the return of a living thing to a local habitat
•    recognise that people use science and technology in their daily lives, including when caring for their environment and living things(ACSHE022, ACSHE035) 

Living things change
Students:
•    explore how living things grow, change and have offspring similar to themselves(ACSSU030) 
•    record the changes in growth of a common plant or animal, using uniform informal units and appropriate 

Plants and animals used for food and fibre
Students:
•    identify some plants and animals that are grown and used for food production(ACTDEK003) 

STAGE 1 Geography
Outcomes:

A student:
•    describes features of places and the connections people have with places (GE1-1)
•    identifies ways in which people interact with and care for places (GE1-2)

Key Inquiry Questions:
•    What are the features of, and activities in, places?
•    How can we care for places?
•    How can spaces within a place be used for different purposes?

Content:
Features of Places

Students:
•    investigate features of places and how they can be cared for
o    description of the natural and human features of places
o    consideration of how a place can be cared for 

Weather and Seasons
Students:
•    investigate the weather and seasons of places
o    description of the daily and seasonal weather patterns of a familiar place
o    discussion of how weather can affect places and activities
 
  • Literacy capability
  • Numeracy capability
  • Information and Communication Technology capability
  • Critical and Creative Thinking capability
  • Personal and Social capability
  • Ethical Understanding capability
  • Intercultural Understanding capability.
Create your own herbarium
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Collect and count pollinators
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Start a bird journal
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Run a seed experiment
 
Websites:
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Meet Saffron , a sugar glider who grew up in the bush at Mount Annan and has spent her whole life watching the plant scientists busy at work there. She decides she wants to be a scientist too, but she doesn’t know how. So, she decides to go find out, and sets off on a grand adventure- let’s join her on our own scientific adventures in our own schoolyards or backyards!

Conclusion of the story

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