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Games children play

This Learning Activity includes a sequence of two student activities and a downloadable word documents for teachers’ programming requirements. In Activity 1, students use seven photographs from the State Library of NSW collection to compare games and activities from the past. Activity 2 focuses on sports played in the ...

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How to fly around the world without fuel

Imagine if we could fly day and night using only solar energy. The expertly engineered Solar Impulse plane is flying around the world delivering a powerful message: clean technologies can achieve the seemingly impossible. Powered by a dream, determination and breakthrough engineering, this flying adventure aims to inspire ...

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How to build a Mars rover

Imagine if you were building a robot to help you explore Mars. That's exactly what these engineering students are doing. Watch this video to find out about their design process. How important do you think it is to test and review the final product after it has been built?

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Catalyst: Can you solve the 'travelling salesman problem'?

Imagine you are a salesperson having to travel between multiple locations. How would you achieve this in the quickest way possible? This is a problem that has stumped mathematicians for decades, and there is even a prize for anyone who can come up with an algorithm to solve it. In this video, three methods are used to try ...

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Graphene: The new wonder material

Graphene is perhaps the most significant new material produced in recent years. It has many potential applications in electrical devices, biomedical technology and solar energy. Graphene is a form (allotrope) of carbon with some special chemical and physical properties. Watch this clip to explore the molecular structure, ...

Online

Archives ACT: find of the month

This topic-based collection of primary source material provides a rich and varied source of official documents, guides and background information on the civic history of Canberra and the Australian Capital Territory. Produced monthly, this eclectic collection covers topics including the history of monuments, architecture, ...

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Different paper plane designs

How many different paper plane designs are there? Lots! Watch as Dylan Parker, paper plane expert, demonstrates some of his favourites. Notice the way the different shapes and features of the planes cause them to move through the air in different ways. Which one do you like the most? Why not have a go at making something similar?

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How is your personal information kept secret on the internet?

Lots of private data is exchanged over the internet. What are some examples? As Mia Epner explains, cryptography allows for the secure transfer of data online. How does encryption work? And what is a key? Today information is encrypted using 256 bit keys. This keeps information safe because it means there are way too many ...

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How do computers get hacked?

What are some examples of cyber crime? Watch this clip to find out how viruses, denial of service attacks (DDoS) and phishing scams work. What is a botnet? And how are they used by hackers to bring down websites? Most of the time computers get hacked because of simple mistakes users make. What can users do to better protect ...

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Gaps and opportunities for perennial crops

This is a video about the scientific breeding of perennial crops as described at a 2013 workshop, 'Perennial crops for food security', held by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). After giving the big picture regarding perennial crop research, the 16-minute video focuses on the breeding of perennial wheat and its ...

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Building spaghetti bridges

Have you ever tried making a bridge out of dried spaghetti? What about a spaghetti bridge that can support a roadway and small car? Watch as teams of first-year university students reveal and test their designs. How did they decide what kind of bridges to build? Have a go at designing, testing and building your own spaghetti ...

Interactive

Design thinking across the curriculum

This cross-curriculum resource is designed to introduce Stage 2, 3 and 4 students to the design thinking process through a series of videos and interactive activities. This resource is also downloadable as a SCORM file: the downloaded version will only work if you upload it to a webserver, such as Moodle or Canvas.

Online

Who was Quong Tart?

In this sequence of two activities, students learn about Quong Tart's contribution to Australian life by examining photographs and responding to questions. Based on Quong Tart's tea house, students redesign their classroom to create their own tea house experience.

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How do solar panels work?

The Earth intercepts a lot of solar power: 173,000 terawatts. That’s 10,000 times more power than the planet’s population uses. So is it possible that one day the world could be completely reliant on solar energy? Richard Komp examines how solar panels convert solar energy to electrical energy. This TedEd animation (4:58 ...

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And now for the Sun's weather

The Sun is the primary source of energy on Earth and plays a major role in the weather we experience, but how does it affect weather in space? Watch this animation showing what happens when there is solar wind, solar flare and even a solar storm. Find out about their impacts on our planet and on us.

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What is a meat safe?

Before fridges were invented, people used meat safes to keep their food cool. But what is a meat safe? Watch this clip to find out! What was the meat safe made out of? How was it designed to keep bugs out? And how did the meat safe actually keep food cool? Think about the way we keep food cool today. How do the fridges ...

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An olden day toilet

In the olden days, there were no toilets inside the house. Why do you think that was? Instead there was a "potty" for the children and a commode chair for the parents. Would you be brave enough to help empty the potty in the morning? How did people in the olden days wash their hands if there was no tap? Buckingham House ...

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Create your own card game

Grab a deck of cards and a bunch of friends and create your own card game. What sort of rules will you decide on? Get a pen and some paper out and brainstorm some possibilities. You might decide on something like 'If I draw a red card, I get a point' and 'If I draw a black card, you get a point.' What other rules can you ...

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Building a weather satellite

Designers and engineers improve upon existing products all the time. How important do you think it is to update and enhance something like a weather satellite? Can you think of some other objects that could be improved upon?

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Learning from design 'mistakes'

Finding the solution to a design problem involves generating creative ways to address a need or difficulty. Design is the key and it often involves an engineer. In this clip, explore what an engineer is and what they do, and see an example of how NASA engineers might plan, create and test an idea to fix a space station.