Online lessons

Feedback required

During 2023 the Field of Mars Environmental Education Centre is participating in external validation.

We are looking for feedback from teachers who have used our lessons, activities and videos that were created to support learning from home and in the classroom. We are also asking for your postcode so we have an idea of where the resources were used.

This feedback will be used as evidence to support external validation and to help develop our future directions.

The survey should take less than 5 minutes to complete.

https://bit.ly/3icbL4U

The needs of living things

Early stage 1

Science and technology

Inquiry question

• What are the needs of living things?

This resource will help students learn about the needs of living things. It contains twelve activities with supporting videos and resources that encourage students to explore the natural world.

Students will learn about the needs of people, prepare for an adventure, explore the needs of animals, work as scientists to investigate the needs of plants and go outside to take care of themselves by practising mindfulness breathing and yoga.

• Student activities

Special places

Early stage 1

Geography

Inquiry question: What makes places special?

This resource will help students learn about the special places found at home, school or abroad. It contains seven activities with supporting videos and resources that encourage students to explore the natural world.

Students will play nature bingo, create pictures with natural materials, build a cubby, create a map and follow the adventures of frog.

• Student activities

Features of places

Stage 1

Geography

Inquiry question: What are the features of natural places?

This resource will help students learn about features of natural places. It contains ten activities with supporting videos and resources.

Students will use maps, explore 360º images, record observations, make bush creatures and explore the natural world. 

• Student activities

Watch it grow

Stage 1

Science and technology

Inquiry question: How do living things grow and change?

This resource will help students learn about the life stages of living things. It contains ten activities with supporting videos and resources.

Students will learn about the life stages of plants, observe plants grow from seeds, create photo grids, match life stages of animals, collect invertebrates and identify their life stages.

• Student activities

Schoolyard safari

Stage 1

Science and technology

Inquiry question: Where do animals live and what are their features?

This resource will help students learn about the places animals live and their features. It contains fourteen activities with supporting videos and resources.

Students will learn about animal homes, how to safely collect invertebrates, draw the features of invertebrates and make a model.

• Student activities

Ranger for a day

Stage 1

Science and technology

Inquiry question: Where do animals live in the natural environment?

This resource will help students learn about the habitats animals live in and how to improve them. It contains five activities with supporting videos and resources.

Students will learn about animal habitats and environments, how to create a habitats and how to check the health of a habitat.

• Student activites

Eucalypt forest

Stage 2

Geography

Inquiry question: How does the environment support the lives of people and other living things?

This resource will help students learn about how eucalypt forests are used by animals and people. It contains six activities with supporting videos and resources.

Students will learn about the features of eucalypt forests and how animals use the layers of a forest.

• Student activities

Feathers, phasmids and leaves

Stage 2

Science and technology

Inquiry question: How can we group living things?

This resource will help students learn about how we can classify things. It contains ten activities with supporting videos and resources.

Students will create groups of similar things, collect and classify invertebrates, use the iNaturalist app to identify a living thing and develop their own classification key.

• Student activities

Factors that shape places

Stage 3

Geography 

Inquiry question: How do people interact with urban bushland?

This resource will help students understand the value of urban bushland. It contains sixteen activities with supporting videos and resources.

Students will use 360º images, create a field sketch, investigate virtual fieldwork, conduct a survey, create a catchment story and a digital poster and go on a sign hunt.

• Student activities

Fact sheets

This resource contains fact sheets that provide an overview of flora and fauna species found in the Field of Mars Reserve, surrounding areas and parts of NSW. 

The text has been written to target Stage 2 students and is suitable for other stages.

• Fact sheets

NSW Environmental and zoo education centres primary learning hub

Early Stage 1, Stage 1/2/3

This learning hub contains a library of digital learning resources created by the environmental education network to support primary teachers.

• Resource link

Virtual fieldwork

Stage 5/6

Science and Geography

This resource will help students participate in virtual fieldwork to support the Science and Geography syllabus.

Students will use 360º images, topographical maps, aerial photography, historical photos and fieldwork data.

• Resource link

Biophysical interactions

Stage 6

Geography 

This resource will help students participate in virtual fieldwork following the geographical inquiry process. 

Students will use spatial technologies, 360º images, topographical maps, aerial photography, historical photos and fieldwork data.

• Resource link

Ecosystem dynamics

Stage 6

Biology

This resource will help students participate in virtual fieldwork to support the Biology syllabus.

Students will use 360º images, topographical maps, aerial photography, historical photos and fieldwork data.

• Resource link

EES virtual fieldwork

Stage 6

Earth and Environmental Science

This resource will help students participate in virtual fieldwork to support the Earth and Environmental Science syllabus.

Students will use 360º images, topographical maps, aerial photography, historical photos and fieldwork data.

• Resource link

NSW Environmental and zoo education centres secondary learning hub

Stage 4/5/6

This learning hub contains a library of digital learning resources created by the environmental education network to support secondary teachers.

• Resource link