Ecosystem explorers incursion | Stage 2 Science and Technology | Field of Mars EEC

Cost, risk assessment and details

Cost	DoE $27 per student – GST free Non-gov $37 per student – GST free, min charge $750 per class Schools outside Greater Sydney – minimum charge $750 per class Program costs may change. Bookings are charged at the cost confirmed when you book.
Risk assessment	Risk management plan
Classes	Recommended maximum 6 classes.
School preparation	If Ecosystem explorers is being conducted on school grounds, provide a large learning space with a screen or projector, such as a hall. This space should accommodate all classes or half of them depending on the timetable structure. If using local bushland or natural areas outside of your school, ensure all class teachers have visited the site and are familiar with the route from your school to it. If leaving school grounds, ensure teacher to student ratio of 1:15.
Bring (if leaving school)	Sports uniform, backpack, medication, low-waste food, water bottle, sunblock, raincoat, hat, sturdy shoes, reusable name tag.
Watch	Preparing for your excursion Eucalypt forest learning resource
Welfare	May not suit recently unwell participants. For medical or special needs notify staff prior to program.
Extreme or wet weather	Program may be modified, postponed or cancelled due to predicted extreme temperatures, bush fire danger, heavy rainfall, high winds or dust storms.
Booking policy	Confirm student numbers and classes 7 days in advance.
Cancellation and rescheduling	Cancellation or rescheduling with less than 30 school days’ notice before the booking date – $650 Cancellation with less than 14 school days’ notice before the booking date – full program cost Cancellation due to unsafe weather or fire danger – $0

Activities

Activities may vary depending on student needs, timing and weather.

Nature journal

Students identify the four spheres of Earth’s environment using visual prompts and examples from your school or local natural site and sketch one feature for each sphere.

Living and non-living

Students collect small loose items from the ground and sort them into living and non-living categories, justifying their decisions using clear criteria. Students select one item to record as a watercolour drawing in their journal.

Animal evidence

Students use a field guide to locate and identify evidence of animals in their school. Students record observations in a table that links evidence to the animal, tally counts and the habitat layer where it was found.

Habitat investigations

Students investigate a habitat tree from base to canopy, sketching and labelling features that support animals, such as hollows, shelter, pathways and food sources.

Invertebrate investigations

Students collect and observe invertebrates from a variety of habitats. Students record observations in their nature journal.

Interactions

Students create food chains to demonstrate the transfer of energy between plants and animals.

Explore related fact sheets

Use these student-friendly fact sheets before or after your Ecosystem explorers incursion to support learning about living and non-living features, food chains and ecosystem interactions.

• ⁠Eucalypt forest ecosystem fact sheet – Learn about a forest ecosystem with living and non-living features, habitats and food webs.
• ⁠Field of Mars Reserve fact sheet – Explore local bushland, creeklines, habitats, plants, animals and environmental management.
• ⁠Habitat fact sheet – Learn how living and non-living features create places where organisms can survive.
• ⁠Tree habitats fact sheet – Discover how habitat trees support animals from the base to the canopy.
• ⁠Leaf litter habitats fact sheet – Explore forest-floor habitats where decomposers, invertebrates and small reptiles live.
• ⁠Invertebrate fact sheets – Explore insects, spiders, worms, molluscs and other small animals connected to food chains.

Suggested timetable

Nature reserve timetable
Time	Activities
9.30 – 11.00 Session 1	Introduction Bushwalk and activities
	Recess
11.30 – 1.00 Session 2	Bushwalk and activities Conclusion
	Lunch

School based timetable
Time	Activities
9.30 – 11.00 Session 1	Invertebrate investigations or ecosystem activities
	Recess
11.30 – 1.00 Session 2	Ecosystem activities or invertebrate investigations
	Lunch

Times and session duration varies depending on school timetables, location choice and number of classes.

Please include your school's bell times in the notes section of your booking form.

Tier 2 and 3 vocabulary

connections, investigate, classify, interpret, depend, evidence, impact, ecosystem, habitat, food chain, predation, herbivore, carnivore, hydrosphere, biosphere, atmosphere, lithosphere

Syllabus outcomes and content

Science and Technology K-6 Syllabus (2024)

Physical and living systems depend on energy

Outcomes

• Uses information to investigate the solar system and the effects of energy on living, physical and geological systems ST2-SCI-01
• Uses and interprets data to describe patterns and relationships ST2-DAT-01

Content

Living things depend on energy and materials to survive

• Identify the systems of Earth that make up environments: air – atmosphere, land – lithosphere, water – hydrosphere, living things – biosphere
• Describe how the needs of living things are provided by the atmosphere, hydrosphere and lithosphere
• Describe the relationship between habitat, ecosystem and environment
• Observe and describe living and non-living things in a habitat
• Describe how Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ practices support habitats to survive
• Describe the transfer of energy between plants and animals using food chains, Tier 2 and Tier 3 vocabulary

Science and Technology K-6 Syllabus © NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) for and on behalf of the Crown in right of the State of New South Wales, 2024