Welcome to a special update from CSIRO Education and Outreach.
We are here to support you as our lives and the usual classroom adapts to the complex and evolving challenges the COVID-19 outbreak presents. In this special edition email we have included a range of online CSIRO resources that are curriculum aligned and use best practice STEM teaching methods that we hope you will find useful whether you are a teacher, student or parent.
We also want to help support young readers in their learning, including those spending more time at home so we’ve put together a handy list of children’s resources from our friends in CSIRO Publishing.
We’re working on some new initiatives to support you and your students and will share these updates with you when they come online.
Registrations for the current challenge have now closed but students from Years 3-12 can test their skills and improve their computational and critical thinking skills using question sets from past rounds of the Bebras Australia Computational Thinking Challenge with Bebras 365.
Express your interest in being part of CyberTaipan - an Australian cyber security competition modelled on the US Air Force Association's CyberPatriot program. The competition puts teams of high school aged students in the position of newly hired IT professionals, tasked with managing the network of a small company.
Teams compete for a chance to represent their school or community group in the National Finals. CyberTaipan is open to anyone between 12-18 years of age with an interest in cyber, defence, puzzles and code breaking.
A free virtual laboratory where students can investigate the impact that healthy and unhealthy diets have on DNA. The simulation takes approximately 30 – 45 minutes to complete and features two different interactive experiments, short videos, digestion animation, molecule visualisations, quizzes and access to theory pages all of which is based on scientific research conducted by CSIRO Health and Biosecurity.
Simulation is suitable for Year 10 – 12 students and covers topics in senior biology, health and human development.
To gain access to the simulation teachers and parent will need to receive a link to give to your students. Registration is free. Parents please answer ‘no’ to ‘Are you a teacher? and enter ‘parent’ or ‘homeschool’ in the school name/organisation field.
Contribute to Australia's largest online database of more than 55 million species of flora and fauna. Free educational resources with step-by-step user guides are available on how to access and contribute to this online database. Suitable for all year levels.
Access to real-world research CSIRO datasets and use the free teacher guides to develop a range different data skills. Resources include providing ideas on how to craft questions that can be answered by gathering and exploring data, identifying and examining some common traps in presenting and interpreting data.
Free educational resources including lesson plans, blogs and case studies by teachers who sailed on board our state-of-the-art marine research vessel, RV Investigator.
Example units include ‘Catch my drift’ which focus on plate tectonics in the context of the Australian – Antarctic break up as well as lessons on taxonomic classification and species data collection.
Free educational program for primary and secondary students that combines the latest in climate science with education in sustainability. Units and lessons focusing on Biodiversity, Sustainable Energy for all and Feeding a Hungry Planet are just some of the topics that students can engage in.
To gain access to the resource material teachers and parents will need to register. Registration is free. Parents: please answer ‘no’ to ‘Are you a teacher? and enter ‘parent’ or ‘homeschool’ in the school name/organisation field.
Looking for interesting science, technology, engineering and maths ideas? For our latest news, hands-on activities, quizzes and brainteasers, visit the Double Helix blog. This includes some recent articles explaining COVID-19 for young readers.
Double Helix Extra: Sign up to receive our fortnightly wrap-up email, summarising the latest Double Helix blog posts.
Packed with fun, exciting and quality articles, Double Helix magazine is created to inspire young readers at home. It covers a range of topics across science, technology, engineering and maths.
The CSIRO Publishing education resources catalogue features great options for young children, high schoolers, and beyond. Many books are available digitally as well as in print. Visit our How to Order page for more details on purchasing print books, or our eBooks page for an overview of our digital retail partners.
Teacher’s Notes a selection of these are available as free PDFs online.
Check out the virtual tours of our Energy Centre, RV Investigator, and Murchison Radio-Astronomy Observatory.
Thank you for your patience.
Like many educational institutions across the country, the CSIRO Discovery Centre in Canberra is closed until further notice. We will provide an update on its reopening on our website when we know more.
We’d like to reassure you that we are working on your enquiries and still processing Publishing and Double Helix orders. Much of our work can continue with additional safety measures, and our people are known for creative solutions in difficult times.
If you have any questions about our Education and Outreach programs, please contact education@csiro.au
If any other programs or services are disrupted, we will let you know as quickly as possible via our website or by email.
Until next time, stay safe.
CSIRO Education and Outreach Team