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Listed under:  Technologies  >  Design
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Beyond Earth: Shelter from the Elements

This resource provides a scaffold for students to undertake a design challenge. The design challenge requires students to develop a shelter that protects humans from the hostile conditions on another planet. Students draw on their existing scientific understanding (for example, conductors and insulators), along with their ...

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Travel Times

Life would be very different today if we did not have modern transport. In this activity, students calculate the time it would take for humans to travel long distances through different modes of transport. They then analyse the impact of these technological developments.

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Fighting floodwaters

This is an illustrated story retelling the real-life engineering decisions made to mitigate flood damage to a Queensland town that experiences frequent, dangerous flooding. It focuses on the value of being an engineer and how It benefits local communities. The downloadable PDF includes classroom activities.

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Engineering from farm to table lesson

In this lesson students are invited to become food and fibre engineers to research how wheat, the largest agricultural crop in Australia, gets from the farm to the table. Students take an in-depth look at the wheat industry in Australia exploring how wheat is grown, harvested, processed, utilised, and exported. Students ...

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Food innovation and molecular gastronomy lesson

In this lesson, students explore connections between science, design, and technologies through the lens of food innovation and food science. Students look at interesting and unusual food products, using food textures as a jumping off point to explore the relationship between chemistry and food. Students then experiment ...

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When the dam runs dry

This is an illustrated story retelling the real-life engineering decisions made to provide water to a Queensland town when its dam, the only source of water, ran dry. It shows the creativity, innovation and collaboration required to provide a solution that delivers a sustainable water supply. The downloadable PDF includes ...

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Transportation Though the Ages: Science as a human endeavour

Humans are constantly working to develop and improve our technology and understanding. This resource provides step-by-step instructions to help students consider why innovative design and improvement is important. Students firstly identify as many types of transport they can think of and then discuss why new types of transport ...

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Industrial design challenge – separating materials lesson

is lesson provides a great introduction to the idea of separating mixtures and enables students to consider separation as a process that operates on macroscopic levels. Students also learn about waste management and recycling processes in Australia. The lesson provides students with an opportunity to engage in hands-on ...

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Climate-resilient homes lesson

In this lesson, students explore how architects consider sustainability factors when designing innovative climate-resilient homes. Students then design their own climate-resilient home for a location of their choice. In their designs they are asked to consider many factors such as the climate of the location, orientation ...

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Moving a town

This is an illustrated retelling of the engineering decisions made to relocate a town from low to high ground following a dangerous flooding event. Based on a real-life event, the story shows the creativity, innovation and collaboration required to manage the process and focuses on the value engineers brings to the local ...

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Sphero slalom lesson

In this lesson students explore slalom sports and how competitors maximise speed when completing a course. Students research different slalom sports and then share their findings with the class. Students investigate the impact of distance and friction on time to complete a course through digital and unplugged activities. ...

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Cross age making a robot

This lesson sequence is a cross-age project that can be used for students in year 5/6 in collaboration with students from years 1-2. In this project, students collaborate on a code for an unplugged robot. They design, test and modify the robot and create instruction manuals.

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Home automation programming (yrs 5-6)

Investigate home automation systems, including those powered by artificial intelligence (AI) with speech recognition capability. These suggested activities provide a level of differentiation to cater for students’ range of programming skills. They were developed in collaboration with the Digital Technologies Institute.

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Coding for GUIs Lesson 2: Controls for input

This is the second in a series of lessons to incorporate graphical user interfaces (GUIs) into your general-purpose programming. The series follows on from the Visual To Text Coding lesson series.

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Weather forecast from the stratosphere

This lesson sequence is designed to introduce students to data analysis using a spreadsheet such as MS Excel. The project is based on a real world problem and a real data set from a weather balloon launched in Australia earlier this year. The project consists of 5 lessons of variable length, each with a different focus. ...

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Sphero: Catch me if you can

By years 5 and 6 many students may have had some experience with a visual programming language such as Scratch or Blockly that is the basis of the Hour of Code. Sphero will take the screen based control of an image to the next level by introducing a robotic device controlled by a visual programming language. This lesson ...

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Creating a Space AR poster using Unity

In this lesson, students explore how to design and implement a simple Augmented Reality (AR) poster experience using Unity 3D and Vuforia SDK for Unity 3D. This lesson is within the context of a Space-themed example, however, it could be used for other contexts such as Biology, Geography, Art or more.

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Exploring AR Space Rocks

In this lesson, students undertake a research project about “space rocks”. They devise a research question to investigate something they would like to know about space rocks and communicate their ideas within an AR or Virtual Reality (VR) experience.

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Whimsical Whirligigs

This activity invites students to design and make Whimsical Whirligigs, kinetic contraptions that can be powered by wind, crank, or motor. Students can create wind-powered paper creatures or machines with moving parts. A The activity includes a list of tools and materials required, assembly instructions, inspiration and ...

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Tiny Theaters

This activity invites students to tell stories inside cardboard boxes using craft materials and light. Turn on and off LEDs using a homemade switch and a circuit made with copper tape. The activity includes a list of tools and materials required, assembly instructions, inspiration and ideas, and encourages a tinkering mindset.