Celebrate our Reefs

There are a great series of FREE virtual excursions with Reef Education from the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority coming up. World Turtle Day is on 23 May, World Environment on 6 June and World Oceans Day on 8 June. There is something for everyone.

Close up of a Turtle for World turtle day
© Commonwealth of Australia (Reef Authority)

Turtle Connections Let’s celebrate World Turtle Day, 2024. Join our marine educators to gain an understanding of the biology and adaptations of sea turtles. Using examples from our aquarium’s Turtle Hospital, we will examine the impacts of marine debris and look at how sea turtles are affected by other human threats worldwide and what actions are being taken to help protect sea turtle populations.

Thursday 23 May at 1.30pm AEST

Friday 24 May at 8:00am AEST

Ecosystems of the Great Barrier Reef Celebrate World Environment Day with educators from Reef ED to learn about the diversity of ecosystems found within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and beyond. Discover some of the iconic wildlife that can found within these ecosystems, and how they are all interconnected. We’ll consider some of the threats facing these environments, and what we can all do locally and globally to help reduce these impacts.

© Commonwealth of Australia (Reef Authority)

Wednesday 5 June at 9.30am AEST

Thursday 6 June at 8:00 am AEST

Introduction to the Great Barrier Reef In recognition of World Oceans Day, Reef ED are shining the spotlight on the world’s largest coral reef ecosystem. Learn about corals as the building blocks of the Great Barrier Reef and the roles that various organisms play within the Reef community. Gain an understanding of the importance of various relationships between organisms such as corals and their symbiotic algae, and anemones and anemonefish. Explore the simple actions that you can take regardless of where you live, to help protect the Great Barrier Reef and the animals that call it home.

Great Barrier Reef
© Commonwealth of Australia (Reef Authority)

Wednesday 12 June at 1:00 pm AEST

Thursday 13 June at 8.00am AEST

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority acknowledges the continuing sea country management and custodianship of the Great Barrier Reef by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Tradition Owners whose rich cultures, heritage values, enduring connections and shared efforts protect the Reef for future generations.

Coastcare Week 2021

Coastcare Week 2021 is about discovering what you can do to help protect our coasts and marine environments. Virtual Excursions Australia has a range of FREE programs to provide learners access to educational content to achieve this goal.

Where the rivers meet the sea

Explore of the interactions between the land and sea. Eighty-five percent of Australians live within 50km of the coast. This session looks at the waste that washes downstream in our catchments, the impacts it has on our estuaries, wetlands and coastal areas where the rivers meets the sea.

Mangroves on Georges River Sydney

Deep Blue Oceans

Dive into the science of the sea with Fizzics Education. Explore the physical factors that determine life underwater and along our coastlines.

Amanda scuba diving

Marine Life

Take a journey beneath the waves with Karen from Australian Environmental Education to explore Australia’s amazing marine life. Discover different marine habitats and the animals that live there.

Clockwise: male White’s seahorse, stars and stripes puffer, mourning cuttlefish and common stingaree
© John Turnbull

How to conduct a beach survey

Recognise Coastcare Week by learning how you can conduct a beach survey. Our coasts are impacted by our actions on land. Rubbish and microplastics can be found washed up on almost every Australian beach. Join Karen from Australian Environmental Education to learn more about micro plastics and how to conduct a beach survey.

Detail of hands holding colander with microplastics on the beach

Coastcare Week is about working together to care for our coastal and marine environments. Find out more about the Impacts on plastics in our oceans.

Supported AMP Tomorrow Fund grants

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Virtual Excursions with Sydney Jewish Museum

The Sydney Jewish Museum is Virtual Excursions Australia’s newest content provider. The Sydney Jewish Museum is an institution that gives history a voice through collecting and preserving historic objects, commemorating and educating, with a mission to challenge visitors’ perceptions of morality, social justice, democracy and human rights. 

History LIVE: Behind the scenes with a curator

Have you ever wondered about all the different artefacts in a museum? Did you know that not all of them are on display at the same time? Behind the scenes, many more artefacts are waiting to tell their stories.

Wednesday 17 November at 2 – 3pm

FREE

Stage 3 & 4 school students

Discovering Chanukah for Primary Students

Ever wondered about the Jewish festival of Chanukah? What do the candles represent and what is a dreidel? Candles, dreidels and even fried foods are all important parts of the Jewish festival of lights, Chanukah! This year Chanukah, which is celebrated over 8 nights, will begin in late November.

Thursday 25 November at 2pm

FREE

History – Stage 1 & 2: Community and Remembrance

Digital program and online resources

Sydney Jewish Museum has a range of program to engage your students virtually in an interactive workshop. Benefit from the expertise and experience of our team of educators to create an engaging, thought-provoking experience for your students.

Find out more about these programs

Online resources

The Sydney Jewish Museum offers free curriculum-linked teaching resources underpinned by rigorous research and expert subject knowledge. Discover a range of lesson plans, videos, worksheets and activities available for you to download and incorporate into your classroom.

Many of our resources offer a sneak peak behind the scenes of the Museum to discover a range of case studies, videos, objects and images that will help you bring history to life for your students.

Find resources for your students

Free virtual excursions this November

Virtual Excursions Australia has a range of FREE virtual excursions on offer between 1 – 26 November. ClickFest is an annual virtual excursions festival run in November highlighting the diversity and scope of virtual excursions available to students across Australia.

There are live, interactive and engaging virtual excursions from some of Australia’s best online content providers. Topics and programs will vary over the virtual excursions festival to provide flexibility for teachers and students. There is something to suit everyone this November.

ClickFest 2021 enables learners from across Australia to have access to high quality innovative educational content.

Supported AMP Tomorrow Fund grants

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Children’s Week

Virtual Excursions Australia has a range of FREE programs for Children’s Week 2021. Children’s Week celebrates the right of children to enjoy childhood.

Children's Week promo with girl

Natural Disasters

A hands-on science workshop where we investigate all manner of natural disasters and the science behind them.

Under the Sea

Take a journey beneath the waves to explore Australia’s amazing marine life. Discover different marine habitats and the animals that live there. 

Liquid Nitrogen Show

A “super cool” science show where we freeze things, explode things and explore just what happens when objects are rapidly cooled or heated.

Fascinating Frogs

Did you know that there are 240 species of frogs found across Australia? Find out how you can identify the frogs in your local area.

Children’s Week celebrates the right of children to enjoy childhood.

Supported AMP Tomorrow Fund grants

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After School Programs

We have some great after school programs to support your kids learning during National Science Week. Fizzics Education and Australian Environmental Education are delivering FREE online sessions.

SciFest 2021

After School Science Show – 16 – 19 August at 4pm

Food Science Show

Delving into food chemistry is designed by Fizzics Education for the 2021 National Science Week theme which is Food: Different by Design. This fun science show makes food science visible and memorable.

  • What is molecular gastronomy and how is used in modern food design?
  • Just how much energy is food – let’s release it with fire!
  • How is food preserved and why don’t we notice some preservatives when we eat it?
  • How can we tell that there are nutrients in food?
  • Making healthy choices in our diet

Backyard Biodiversity

Join Karen from Australian Environmental Education to talk about Backyard Biodiversity. Discover some of the amazing animals living in your local area and find out what you can do to protect them. Live Insects and a Live Green Tree Frog with join Karen during this event.

  • Classification: Living Things: Vertebrates and Invertebrates, Arthropods
  • Identification: Common groups Animals and Invertebrates, Habitats and Comparing features
  • Hands on investigation: Field works practices, Applying geographical tools and Observation
  • Sustainability: Protecting habitats and Saving species

Book Now

Supported AMP Tomorrow Fund grants

AMP tomorrow fund

Celebrating NAIDOC Week

Celebrate NAIDOC Week 2021 with some amazing virtual excursions. There are some amazing programs and resources available for you and your students.

NAIDOC Week celebrations are held across Australia each July to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. NAIDOC is celebrated not only in Indigenous communities, but by Australians from all walks of life. The week is a great opportunity to participate in a range of activities and to support your local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community.

NAIDOC Week Virtual Excursions

Heal Country 

These sessions from the Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney will focus on the theme Heal Country and how you can incorporate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander understandings and perspectives of Country into your lessons. The week of programming provides great opportunities to participate in and celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples and their cultures.

Sessions available 22 – 24 June

Dreaming stories and traditional string making with Aunty Kim

Join Aunty Kim, a proud Joondaburri woman, as she gives her special Acknowledgment of Country in the beautiful Badu wetlands at Sydney Olympic Park. She will also teach the students how to give a traditional Wangal welcome that they can all do together!

Students will have the opportunity to hear the Dreaming Story about how Garrigan got his blue tongue and scales. This Dreaming Story will then be linked to a practical activity where the students will learn a traditional string making technique and make friendship bracelets.

Tuesday 13 July 9.15am, 10.15am & 11.15am

2016 Events

We had a big year of events 2015 with Virtual Excursions Australia delivering hundreds of session reaching 10’s of thousands of students across Australia and the world. We finished up the year with the reVEAl conference in December bringing 120 delegate together.

reVEAL had delegates join at the Australian Museum in Sydney, the Australian Centre of Moving Image in Melbourne and though the live web stream. The full day program had a variety of sessions for content providers and teachers.

ALIVE exhibition documentation

In 2016 Virtual Excursions Australia will host a variety of event including:

  • Harmony Day in March
  • World Environment Day 5 June
  • NAIDOC week 27 June – 1 July
  • SciFest throughout August
  • Threatened Species Day 7 September
  • Sea Week September
  • Earth Science Week October
  • ClickFest November

With 20 member organisations there is plenty of variety to suit every curriculum area and engage your students.  See the DART Connections or CONNECTme calendars for sessions and bookings. Please let us know if there are other topic are you would like us to be involved with.

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Get roving video conference robots at your school or museum!

There has been much talk around the video conferencing robot at the National Museum of Australia. Developed in collaboration with the CSIRO and the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, the telepresence robot roving the NMA’s floors has allowed multiple remote schools and libraries to simultaneously connect to an onsite educator to ask questions as well as explore the exhibits themselves using the panoramic cameras that create a 360 degree view with zooming capability. The only issue is that whilst the technology is very exciting the associated price tag makes it difficult for other sites to attain easily.

 

Double Robotics
Double Robotics iPad robot seen in Atlanta at ISTE 2104

There are low cost options that have been roaming educational halls and hospitals for years and represent an exciting way to scale the concept for Australian needs. During my Churchill Fellowship tour I came across a couple of these solutions and was very impressed with how easy they are to operate and the attainable price for implementation. The New York Hall of Science uses a VGO robot as a way for remote learners to interact with summer science camps occurring within the galleries. The learner is able to log onto the robot and control its movement, effectively acting as an autonomous student. There are other models available too; a popular one in schools is the one from Double Robotics that is effectively an iPad rolling on a small version of a Segway. In both cases these VC robots have found uses in hospital systems for bed ridden patients to provide virtual mobility as well as in schools for remote students to participate in lessons. The remote site simply downloads an app and controls the robot from their location. The result is the ability of a remote student to move around the school or similar and interact with classes… not unlike ‘Shelbot’ seen in the Big Bang Theory comedy series! At Fizzics Education we had a Double Robot roaming around our offices for a bit… even my 5 year old daughter was able to control easily although it did freak out my two year old when she moved it towards him 🙂

Schools have been using these systems to allow sick kids still attend classes, even for students to present their oral presentations to their class whilst on an excursion. The technology also be used as a way of giving visitors a virtual tour of your site before they even step foot on your grounds – as a former boarding school student I reckon this also presents an interesting possibility for families looking to get an idea of where they are sending their kids! Regardless of how you look at it, these robots and other similar products add yet another dimension to an already exciting field for distance education!