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Video

Dingo secrets

This 9 minute video segment from Catalyst shows a biologist is finding out about how a family of multi-coloured dingoes is challenging our very idea of these animals. Technology has been invaluable in learning how young dingoes are taught adult behaviour and survival behaviours of the pack.

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Sunfish seekers

This ABC In Depth feature article is an interesting and lengthy account of this highly unusual fish and the reason it is threatened, despite its enormous reproductive capacity. Issues with difficulty in tracking these animals and the need for further research are explained.

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Sampling Technique

Students use this resource consisting of four slides with diagrams, written explanation and voice-over to understand some different methods of collecting animals in the wild. There is a two-question quiz and a summary slide.

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Science Talk 2007: Martina Doblin

An interview and lab tour with Dr Martina Doblin, a phytoplankton ecologist at UTS. Martina talks to students and their teacher from Concord High School about her work studying microscopic organisms such as the toxic algae that make up harmful algal blooms.

Video

Cloud seeding

This nine and a half minute video segment from Catalyst describes how researchers from Monash University have hard evidence that cloud seeding can produce good amounts of extra rainfall. Data collected over a long period of time has give hope to scientists and environmentalists who are trying to reduce the impacts of droughts ...

Video

Aerial Orang Utans

This 11 minute video segment form Catalyst shows that although the orang-utans of Borneo are threatened with extinction, we don't know exactly how many are left or where they are. The use of helicopters to locate their nests and estimate population size has helped to challenge our thinking about the requirements of this ...

Video

Too cold for cane toads

A new study reported in this video segment has looked at how temperatures impact cane toad movement and has aided in the development of a model that indicates that their geographical spread is limited. An excellent example of the use of mathematical modelling in scientific research and how scientists have tried to address ...

Video

Artificial shark birth

A five and a half minute video segment from Catalyst that explains why Grey Nurse Sharks are in danger, especially on Australia's east coast where only a few hundred individuals are thought to exist. However, in a world first, researchers at the NSW Department of Primary Industries have built an artificial uterus, which ...

Interactive

Macrobiotica – science @ the lakes

In this resource students work as scientists while exploring their local environment in the real world of scientific endeavour. Games and animations are used to model the real experience of investigating a freshwater lake. This version of the Macrobiotica resource has been modified for Internet use by removing Teaching ...

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Sites2See: Insects and Spiders

This page links to a range of materials from the Australian Museums' Bugwise program, with additional materials and activities, including a resource about invertebrates in freshwater.

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Catchment Detox

Students play the game and make decisions about the development of a catchment with competing economic and environmental demands. Students receive feedback on how sustainably their catchment has been managed.

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Science Talk 2007: Tim Entwistle

An interview and tour of the Royal Botanic Gardens of Sydney and its herbarium with Dr Tim Entwistle, a plant scientist and the NSW Government Botanist. Tim talks to a pre-service teacher from Macquarie University about his love of plants, in particular freshwater algae. In the herbarium we find out why it is so important ...

Video

Coal Gas

This 12 minute video segment from Catalyst outlines how for decades, scientists have worked to develop technologies that can unlock the energy from coal while reducing the risks of digging it up and burning it. Now entirely new industries are booming as they tap into coal seams either too gassy or too deep to be mined by ...

Video

Management of the northern savanna

Around the world, tropical savannas are in serious trouble. This clip from 2007 explores the use of Aboriginal technology for sustainable management of the environment in Australia's huge northern tropical savanna. Hear from two environmental scientists why traditional fire-management practices may reduce the incidence ...

Online

Low-emission energy technologies: an introduction

This is a teaching unit, designed for year 10, aimed at engaging students in investigations about low-emission energy sources. A unit outline, teacher guidelines, student activity and an assessment task are provided.

Online

How is a frog able to swim in trees?

This is a teaching-learning resource containing teaching strategies and student activities about the dependence of plants and animals on each other and the environment for survival. The resource has seven tabs, six of which are relevant. The first four set out the steps in the suggested pedagogical sequence and include ...

Video

Sea Urchins

This 7 minute video segment from Catalyst describes an excellent example of how biologists have worked to investigate and solve a problem of an invading species of sea urchin that was devastating a marine ecosystem. The scientific approach to develop a biological control needed to rely on technologies such as radio tracking ...

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Landforms from space

This is an online resource containing satellite images of nine distinctive landforms across Australia. The images, taken from the Landsat satellite series, are of the landforms: Roper River, NT; Lake Eyre, SA; Gulf Country, Qld; Channel Country, Qld; Cairns, Qld; Liverpool Plains, NSW; Snowy Mountains, NSW; Gippsland, Vic; ...

Video

Weedy Seadragons

This five and a half minute video segment from Catalyst demonstrates how tagging is being used to study populations of sea dragons. The Weedy Seadragon is one of the most visually striking creatures in the sea but we still have a lot to learn about them.

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Ant safari

This ABC In Depth feature article includes some good advice for exploring local ant populations as well as an excellent information report on Australian ants: the different types and their roles.