The K-W-H-L thinking tool can be used throughout a lesson or unit. It serves as an aid to ensure a student’s interest is catered to and helps to determine what needs to be taught. The chart is introduced at the beginning of the topic, and can only be completed once a student have finished their investigation of the topic. The chart can also be used as an assessment tool. This thinking tool can be integrated into a number of subject areas as the focus is on developing general capabilities and 21st century skills. Students will be able to represent and communicate ideas and findings in a variety of ways.

Students will investigate what an ecological footprint is by using an online activity that calculates their ecological footprint. Students will then think about what actions they can take to reduce their footprint. They’ll understand what an ecological footprint is, know how to use an online tool to calculate their own ecological footprint and be able to list actions they can take to reduce their ecological footprint.

Students collect junk mail from home and bring it to the class to conduct a mathematical investigation. Students engage in a range of mathematical investigation around their junk mail, including counting the number of pieces of junk mail collected, weighing the mail, measuring the length and area the mail covers. The class will then make their own ‘no junk mail’ sign to take home. Students will know what junk mail is and why it is used, recognise the environmental impacts of junk mail and know some actions they can take to reduce the negative impacts of junk mail on our environment.  Students will know a range of ways we can use maths to measure real world objects, be able to think critically about junk mail, measure, sort and compare objects mathematically, as well as participate in class discussions and activities.

In this activity students get out into an ecosystem and record the sounds that they hear. The sounds can be recorded (e.g. on a tablet), or through drawings or brief explanatory notes.Students will understand that living things can be grouped on the basis of observable features and can be distinguished from non-living things and can observe and catagorise a range of living things.

Students conduct an investigation into the important resources of fresh water. They examine some of the current issues and compare different views about managing water resources. Students then critically analyse what they have discovered by responding to a set of questions. Students understand that some of Earth’s resources are renewable, but others are non-renewable and that water is an important resource that cycles through the environment. They identify questions and problems that can be investigated scientifically and make predictions based on scientific knowledge. Students will be able to research an issue using reliable sources, iidentify a range of resource management issues around water and articulate the complexities of a single water issue, giving at least two opposing perspectives.

In this lesson, students research and design water education posters and present them to younger students at their school. They work to represent and communicate ideas and findings in a variety of ways such as diagrams and physical representations. Students plan, draft and publish imaginative, informative and persuasive texts demonstrating increasing control over text structures and language features and selecting print, and multimodal elements appropriate to the audience and purpose. Students will be able to research the answers to water questions using reliable sources, draft an informative poster appropriate for younger students and ensure the images in their poster complements a written message.

In this lesson, students examine how water is used in the school. They identify how it is used, ways it might be wasted and their tip or tips for reducing the waste of water. They will conduct a range of investigation types, including fieldwork, ensuring safety and ethical guidelines are followed.Students will summarise data from their own investigations and secondary sources. Students will be able to identify a range of water users in the school, collect and interpret data from a school water use audit and can identify solutions to reduce water use in their school.

Students will explore some of the amazing colours that can be found in nature. They are asked to stand or sit in one spot, and to see how many colours they can see in nature from that spot. Students will then create an artwork based on the colours they observe in nature. Students will be able to observe colours in nature and understand that there are many colours in nature. They will be able to identify a range of colours.

In this lesson, students investigate the concept of a species. They will work in small groups and access information from the internet, library and/or textbooks in order to define a species, investigate how species are scientifically named and why is it important and provide examples of plants and animals living in your area that are indigenous, domesticated and introduced. Students understand that there are differences within and between groups of organisms; classification helps organise this diversity. They’ll summarise data, from their own investigations and secondary sources, and use scientific understanding to identify relationships and draw conclusions. Students will be able to define what a species is, in their own words. Students can accurately write the scientific names of a variety of species and identify and categorise a variety of species as Indigenous, domestic or pests.

Students set up a conservation project that will assist local biodiversity by providing local wildlife with a safe place to drink water. They will measure and compare the lengths and capacities of pairs of objects using uniform informal units, give and follow directions to familiar locations and participate in different types of guided investigations to explore and answer questions, such as manipulating materials, testing ideas, and accessing information sources. Students will be able to use a set criteria to select an appropriate location for a bird bath and make simple measurements in regards to the set up and up-keep of a bird bath.

Students can use this essay planner to organise their ideas before writing and expository or persuasive essay.

Students investigate the issue of a sustainable fresh water supply. They examine some of the issues and compare different views about managing water resources. Students then write an essay about a water issue of their choice. They use comprehension strategies to interpret, analyse and synthesise ideas and information, critiquing ideas and issues from a variety of textual sources. Students analyse and evaluate the ways that text structures and language features vary according to the purpose of the text and the ways that referenced sources add authority to a text. Students will be able to research an issue using a variety of reliable sources. Students can analyse a range of resource management issues around water and can articulate the complexities of a single water issue, giving at least two opposing perspectives.

In this activity, students decide how they would like to help the plants that live around them to survive. Students make a promise that can apply in their home and at school and illustrate these promises. They will create short imaginative and informative texts that show emerging use of appropriate text structure, sentence-level grammar, word choice, spelling, punctuation and appropriate multimodal elements, for example illustrations and diagrams. They will represent and communicate observations and ideas in a variety of ways such as oral and written language, drawing and role play.

Through class discussion and independent exercises, students explore some of the big environmental issues associated with the current trend of drinking bottled water, and learn that tap water is a safe, tasty, environmentally friendly and cost-effective alternative to bottled water. Students will understand that some of Earth’s resources are renewable, but others are non-renewable. They will use scientific knowledge and findings from investigations to evaluate claims. Students will be able to independently research the issues around bottled water, contribute to a discussion about the issues around bottled water. Students can communicate their research findings with other students

In this lesson students explore the concept of solid waste by analysing three quotes. Students work independently or in pairs to analyse quotes that can be applied to the concept of solid waste and to answer a series of questions about these quotes, and then work to create their own quote about waste.

In this activity students look at how the climate around the world has changed over time by creating a climate change timeline. Students work in three groups; one groups looks at historical changes to climate; another group looks at predicted future changes; and the third group creates the timeline and a class wide glossary on the topic.

Students are introduced to the topic of energy by analysing research articles and creating a Wordle cloud. Wordle is a free word art tool that crunches any chunk of text and produces a visual representation of the content. The resulting word cloud emphasises the most common words by amplifying their size based on frequency. Students will develop knowledge of subject-specific vocabulary and use this knowledge to create an energy limerick.

In this lesson students explore the concept of biodiversity. They begin by working in groups to conduct research in order to investigate a topic relating to ecosystem diversity, species diversity and genetic diversity. Then they work in new groups to create a communication product that explains the importance of biodiversity.

In this lesson, students will explore the importance of saving energy and identify ways in which they can do so. They will then create guidelines for energy saving within their classroom.

In this lesson students create explore the major types of ecosystems and create a class mural to represent each.