Protecting Australian Food Production Systems through Biosecurity Education

• This is an important resource for studies of agriculture and biosecurity within the context of the year 5 science curriculum. Many of the unit's activities especially those focusing on pests or including practical investigations are particularly relevant for content descriptions across the three science strands. Such content descriptions refer to living things having structural features and adaptations that help them to survive in their environment; scientific knowledge being used to solve problems and inform personal and community decisions; identifying, planning and applying the elements of scientific investigations to answer questions and solve problems; and constructing and using a range of representations to represent and describe observations.
• Although the unit is intended for year 5 students, many of the activities and linked resources may have value for the year 9 geography unit 'Biomes and food security'. They would support content descriptions about environmental factors that influence crop yields in Australia, challenges to food production for Australia, and the capacity of the world’s environments to sustainably feed the projected future global population.
• This unit alos supports the Sustainability cross-curriculum priority in the Australian Curriculum. Unit activities support a range of the organising ideas, especially the idea that designing action for sustainability requires an evaluation of past practices, the assessment of scientific and technological developments, and balanced judgements based on projected future economic, social and environmental impact.

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