Lockdown doesn’t mean you can’t take your students to study a coastal rockpool, look at the lives of child convicts or explore the cultural landscape of Kakadu National Park.
A range of cultural and scientific institutions from the Museum of Sydney to the ABC offer a range of “virtual excursions”, worksheets, talks, Q&As and engaging videos that are geared to the curriculum. Other resources can be used as a circuit breaker from remote learning and boost student engagement.
SeaLife Sydney has created the Wild at Home Hub, a collection of resources to share with students to assist in the learning from home experience.
It’s a highly engaging site for all school ages covering a wide range of key living-world topics including life cycles, conservation, habitats, adaptations, accompanied by teacher guides, worksheets, videos, games and activities.
Welcome to the jungle
Taronga Zoo has put together free Lockdown Lessons, a morning and afternoon session on Tuesdays and Fridays, that explore the zoo’s animals, their habitats, needs, the challenges they face for survival and the amazing adaptations.
Led by a qualified member of the zoo’s education staff, the virtual sessions, such as Amazing Amphibians, Feathered Friends and Majestic Marine Animals, are hosted by the Taronga Website, via Vimeo Livestream. No download is required, the livestream can be watched on a webpage link that will be emailed after registering and Vimeo allows multiple devices to be active at one time.
The website also includes the ever-popular enclosure cams spying on the penguins, meerkats, lions and elephants among others, as well as entertaining and informative videos on Taronga TV via YouTube.
Powering science
As part of National Science Week, the Powerhouse will host the Sydney Science Festival, free and online from 14−22 August, 2021. Leading Australian and international scientists (including Dr Karl!) will join the Powerhouse in conversation to discuss subjects such as “Our Deadly Science”, which celebrates our first scientists – from bush medicine, astronomy, engineering and forensic science to chemistry, land management and ecology. Also explore the ecosystems of our oceans and the origins of COVID-19. See the full program line-up here.
Easy as ABC
The ABC is a recognised go-to source for educational materials on its Education TV site, with thousands of free curriculum-linked resources for K-12 teachers and students.
It has material to support learning from home and a full program can be found here to watch on ABC Me or iView including favourites Behind the News (BTN), Catalyst, Koumi’s Animated Picture Book, Wacky Numbers Songs, and the more recent Ms Represented.
Students can learn about migrant experiences, the lives of child convicts, and the living cultural landscape of Kakadu National Park among many history topics. Other online resources include literacy and numeracy digibooks, maths topics, games and more.
The State Library website is literally chock-full of remote learning ideas and resources. Click here to see what it has to offer. For starters, there’s a virtual excursion to meet “Amazing Women in Australian History”.
Living history
The Museum of Sydney is hosting a series of online events and curator talks as part of its History Reflected exhibition. takes visitors on an unexpected journey through moments of change in NSW’s history.
The exhibition profiles 25 of the most iconic, treasured and curious items from the NSW State Archives Collection alongside bold contemporary reflections from artists, writers, curators and commentators. See the museum’s online program here.
Archie at Home
While NSW Art Gallery’s doors are closed it is bringing students and teachers ways to learn, be inspired and get creative at home and online. With “Archie at Home” explore the faces, stories and voices of the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes 2021 and Archie 100 exhibitions.