STEM
Browse STEM resources by subject area or take a look at integrated STEM resources below.
Integrated STEM Resources
PASS Climate Resilience Design Sprint
There are many challenges created by climate change that could negatively impact our communities. This means, as design thinkers, you have the opportunity to design many wonderful and innovative solutions to help our communities be more resilient in the face of climate change. This design sprint looks specifically at storms.
Developed in collaboration with Australia-Pacific Climate Partnership, the Climate Resilience Design Sprint aims to deepen students’ understanding of climate resilience and the role of design thinking in preparing a community to be more resilient in the face of climate change.
Through the design thinking process, students will deepen their empathy by looking at past storm events and their impacts on our communities so we can predict what might happen in the event of powerful storms and prepare ourselves for the impacts.
PASS Climate Resilience Sprint_Learning Journal.pdfPASS Climate Resilience Project
Become a Climate Leader
Climate change and its impact on our communities is a real challenge for all of us. We know that while it is important that global and national governments and organisations need to be working on this problem, you can also be climate leaders in your own communities. You are more powerful than you know! You can raise awareness of climate change in your community, collect information to better understand the impacts and design brilliant solutions to reduce them.
The Climate Resilience Project aims to help PASS schools learn more about climate change and climate resilience so that students can become climate leaders in their communities to help reduce the impacts of climate change.
Climate Resilience Project - Facilitator Guide.pdfPASS School and Community Citizen Scientists Project
Skul na Komuniti Save Projek
Students will participate in a global bird conservation project that will develop their STEM knowledge and skills. They will conduct science investigations that involve action research and data collection. They will use technology and mathematics to analyse and represent their data. Students will then focus on an environmental issue affecting birds in their local area and increase their community’s understanding. Designed and delivered by Port Moresby Nature Park and Zoos Victoria, this PASS Student Learning Activity will use the Connect-Understand-Act teaching framework and the eBird citizen science platform to engage your students in real-world STEM education.
Teaching Guide_School and Community Citizen Science Project.pdfStudent Workbook_School and Community Citizen Science Project.pdfPASS STEM and the Environment
STEM Na Envairement
Developed by Zoos Victoria in partnership with Port Moresby Nature Park for PASS, this course uses the Connect–Understand–Act education and behaviour change framework developed by Zoos Victoria to deliver a teaching and learning activity on local species conservation for students.
Through this course, teachers will:
Gain proficiency in using design thinking to develop STEM teaching and learning activities
Be able to use Zoo’s Victoria Connect-Understand-Apply STEM pedagogy
Experience how to use real world local environmental issues like species conservation in STEM curriculum
Expand their skills to better engage girls in STEM
Deepen their understanding of conservation issues for PNG fauna
In undertaking this activity, students will:
Use and develop STEM knowledge and skills to help solve a problem for Port Moresby Nature Park
Use Design Thinking to conduct research and deepen their understanding about animals in PNG’s environment and at the Nature Park
Work in teams to think of ideas and choose one to prototype, test and refine
FAQs_STEM and the Environment.pdfPASS STEM, Coding and Student Enquiry
The STEMPunks workshop delivered as part of the November PASS program in Brisbane was designed to deliver a hands-on example lesson focused on student-centred, design-thinking-led STEM. Participants then drew on this experience to design their own STEM units to add to the Learning Bank. Click here to see the STEM units designed by PNG and Australian teachers.
Each educator in the workshop was given a Microsoft Micro:bit kit to take back to their school. See MakeCode for ideas on using the kit in the classroom. You can access this resource offline by clicking here.
Each school also took home a Merge Cube. The Merge Explorer app includes over 100 interactive science simulations that cover a wide range of science topics. You can make your own MERGE CUBE to access classroom activities. See resources here.
Tinkercad is a free web app for 3D design, electronics and coding. Find 3D design, circuits and codeblock activities and resources for students and teachers here. Classroom resources support teachers in setting up an online classroom - including a Google Classroom - for students to use Tinkercad. Also, find step-by-step lessons and tutorials for teachers, including designing a flood solution, redesigning classroom furniture and creating a solar-powered invention.
A Lesson on DNA Barcoding
DNA barcoding is a genetic technique that scientists use to identify species and measure biodiversity. Use this series of 8 video modules developed by the Australian Museum to learn more about laboratory 'tools of the trade', good scientific practice, and technologies such as the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), gel electrophoresis and DNA sequencing.
Then put your skills and knowledge to the test with the DNA barcoding activity! You can use real DNA sequences from scientists in the Australian Museum Research Institute (AMRI) and bioinformatic tools in 'DNA Subway' to solve a scientific puzzle. The modules and activities can be completed over a series of lessons or set as part of a longer unit.
The Discover and Learn section of the Australian Museum website have many more curriculum units like this on STEM subjects.
Australian STEM Video Game Challenge
Official website of the Australian STEM Video Game Challenge: A free game design and development competition for Australian students in Years 5-12.
Bristlebots Design Workbook
The Bristlebots Design Workbook is created to aid educators to easily integrate Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) into their curriculum. The workbook introduces various activities and lesson plans that works to stimulate minds of students and encourages them to “think outside the box.”
Bristlebots Workbook.pdfCool Australia
Cool Australia resources have a unique action-based approach, are free to access for teachers, available online via the Cool Australia website and are endorsed by leading education bodies.
Crash Course YouTube Channel
Crash Course offers high quality educational videos for free, including STEM videos.
Development for a Better Future
Development for a Better Future immerses students in ‘real-world’ contemporary opportunities and challenges in international food and nutrition security, using scenarios and examples from The Crawford Fund and Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR).
Year 9 and 10
Educator Guide - Year 9 and 10:
Crawford Fund_Educator-Guide-Years-9-10-2021.pdfModules:
Seven modules for Years 9 and 10 have been developed under the themes of:
Module 1: Climate Change, Food and Nutrition Security
Module 2: Climate-Smart Technologies
Module 3: Covid-19 and Food and Nutrition Security
Module 4: Australia – A Powerhouse for Agricultural Research
Module 5: Gender dimensions in agriculture
Senior Secondary
Educator Guide - Senior Secondary:
Crawford Fund_Senior-Secondary-Educator-Guide.pdfModule:
Crawford Fund_Senior-Secondary-Education-Material.pptxFuseSchool YouTube Channel
The FuseSchool YouTube Channel provides fun & easy-to-understand videos in Chemistry, Biology, Physics, Maths & ICT.
Girls in STEM Toolkit (GiST)
The GiST provides resources to inspire and inform girls, schools and families in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM). Explore activities, resources, case studies, lessons, study pathways and careers.
How do Solar Panels Work?
Is it possible that one day the world could be completely reliant on solar energy?
This TED ED talk and Lesson Plan has been viewed over 6 million times. It examines how solar panels convert solar energy to electrical energy. The resource has four sections:
WATCH the short TED ED talk about solar panels
THINK about the talk – answer a quick quiz
DIG DEEPER – learn more about solar energy and
DISCUSS – join students from around the world in a discussion on solar energy. Over 42,000 students have asked questions on this topic to date.
iSTEM Resources
The STEM Industry School Partnerships program at the NSW Department of Education shares a range of resources designed to support the different modules that make up the iSTEM course structure, including some on STEM Fundamentals, Mechatronics, Aerodynamics, Motion and Biomedical Innovation.
iTeachSTEM – STEM Learning and Teaching Resources for Teachers
iTeachSTEM provides Australian teachers with an extensive library of free resources and learning materials to support their delivery of STEM lessons in the classroom.
SolarBuddy
Run your own SolarBuddy program in your school, and lead your students through the solar lights and water bucket assembly process. Materials include:
An education program kit, with an introduction to SolarBuddy, your responsibilities, and Frequently Asked Questions.
The SolarBuddy Lesson Detail, explaining the series of activities for you to run in your school, together with an annotated PowerPoint presentation for you to use when running the lesson.
The SolarBuddy Lesson Activities, for you to print for your students to use.
Education Program Kit Overview.pdfSTARPortal
The STARPortal: spark your student's curiosity in STEM
The STARportal is Australia’s first centralised national portal for exciting and engaging STEM activities from around the country offered by the Office of the Chief Scientist in Australia. It is the most comprehensive collection of STEM resources including links to great sites like Careers with STEM and STEM curriculum units like three new First Nations-led teacher resources for Australian and New Zealand teachers. The Careers with STEM: Indigenous Teacher Resources were produced with INDIGI LAB and CORE Education and supported by Google. They have been developed to incorporate First Nations content and careers into a contemporary curriculum and utilise the Careers with STEM: Indigenous magazine in classrooms. They use activities and concepts from a First Nations Science perspective and can be accessed at here.
Setting up and Running a School Garden Manual
Setting up and running a school garden – a manual for teachers, parents and community
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) is a specialised agency that leads international efforts to defeat hunger. Their goal is to achieve food security for all and make sure that people have regular access to enough high-quality food to lead active healthy lives. The FAO has developed a manual to provide advice on setting up a school garden. Food systems are the unifying concept – from plot to pot! Students learn how to grow, harvest and prepare nutritious seasonal produce. The experience promotes the environmental, social and physical well-being of the school community and fosters a better understanding of the natural world that sustains us.
Setting up and running a school garden_United Nations FAO.pdf