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School-wide Understanding Our World® implementations

Are you considering implementing our integrated HASS+Science program, but getting a tad confused by the pricing? Our subscription model didn’t not provide a So nowstraightforward calculation for a whole school or year-level. However, it generally works out to $4.40 (inc.GST) per student. So now we’re providing this as an option directly: implement our integrated HASS+Science program school-wide from just $4.40 per student. Easy!

Just like with the subscriptions, we do price on the basis of at least 100 students, which means that very small schools see an effective higher cost per student compared to the above stated. However, we’ve done a few projections and because of composite classes and the like this approach often still works out cheaper than the old subscription system. Plus, our materials provide for multi-year integration which are a lot of work to achieve. So you get proper solutions for your education needs, and at an unbeatable price.

Try our calculator with the numbers for your school!

Helping Migrants to Australia

The end of the school year is fast approaching with the third term either over or about to end and the start of the fourth term looming ahead. There never seems to be enough time in the last term with making sure students have met all their learning outcomes for the year and with final reports to be prepared. The OpenSTEM® Understanding Our World® program takes the stress out of the fourth term as far as possible, ensuring that all curriculum items are covered well before the end of term and students are kept occupied with consolidation tasks so that teachers can prepare reports.

In units for Years 5 (Shaping Society, Working Together) and 6 (We Are One, But We Are Many), students have an assignment on a topic from Australian history and several of the suggested topics cover migrants to Australia, especially those from Asian countries. There is also a discussion about why people might become refugees, through factors such as war and natural disasters, or choose to migrate for a range of other reasons. Students in most year levels are examining cultural diversity and the make-up of Australian society.

In the news this week there is a story that has some relevance to these topics. Migrants and refugees from Asia make up a small but significant part of the numbers of people who come to Australia and find a home here, just as they have done since early colonial times. Many migrant and refugee women have experienced trauma and/or have come from countries where women’s place in society is very different than in our own. Some of these, just as in the rest of society, are single mothers or women at risk. However, they often face extra hurdles resulting from their history in their country of origin. For example, many women from Asian and African countries can not drive, either because they have not had the opportunity to learn, or it may even have been culturally inappropriate. The lack of a driver’s licence severely impacts their ability to get a job and transport themselves and their children to activities, including school and sports.

Access Community Services in Logan, south of Brisbane, has a Women at the Wheel program to help women prepare for a driving test. Currently there are women from Afghanistan, Burma and Somalia in the program and there is a very long waiting list for places. The program tries to match women with instructors who speak their native language to help them to understand the nuances of Australian road rules clearly. The women are delighted with the program, reporting that they find it very empowering and citing that having a driver’s licence will help them to find employment and transport themselves and their children as needed, making them independent and contributing members of the community.

In a way, these women finding a role for themselves in the community through learning to drive cars is almost reminiscent of the Afghan cameleers of the 19th century (shown above), who came to Australia to lead camel caravans, assisting explorers and taking the goods produced by farmers in isolated areas to market. Some of these people, from many places across the Asian subcontinent, chose to stay in Australia and adapted with the changing society, finding new roles for themselves and contributing to society in a range of ways, not least culturally and by enhancing the range of food and restaurant options available. The strength of Australia lies in the way that we pull together when times are tough and people need help. Aussies have always had a reputation for helping those in need and it is great to see this spirit continue today as people work together to build a better society.

This Week in Australian History

Black Wattle flowers — Black wattle flowers – photo, John Tann

The end of August and beginning of September is traditionally linked to the beginning of Spring in Australia, although the change in seasons is experienced in different ways in different parts of the country and was marked in locally appropriate ways by Aboriginal people. As a uniquely Australian celebration of Spring, National Wattle Day, celebrated on 1 September since 1910, celebrates the flowering of these uniquely Australian trees, as well as Australian identity.

Not strictly speaking within this week, but close enough to be included: it was 22 August, 1770, when James Cook claimed the East Coast of Australia for Britain, planting a flag on the island he called “Possession Island“.
On 29 August, 1862, Andrew Fisher, who became the 5th Prime Minister of Australia after Federation and served 3 terms (1908-1909; 1910-1913 and 1914-1915) was born in Scotland in the UK. Fisher had started working in coal mines at the age of 10 and went on to be the leader of the Australian Labor Party between 1907 and 1915. Fisher came out to Australia and worked on the gold mines at Gympie. The cottage in which he lived is a heritage-listed building and can be visited as part of the Gympie and District Historical Society Mining Museum.
On 30 August, 1835, John Batman, with a party of settlers including John Pascoe Fawkner, landed at the mouth of the Yarra River and established a settlement on the site where the current Melbourne Immigration Museum is situated. This settlement later became the city of Melbourne.
Also on 30 August, 1853, the last convict ship to travel directly from Ireland to Australia, the Phoebe Dunbar, arrived in Fremantle, Perth. England continued to send convicts for another 15 years.
31 August, 1933, the township of Stuart in the Northern Territory was renamed Alice Springs.
1 September, 1874, was the day that the General Post Office opened in Sydney. It was the first building purpose-built as a post office in Sydney and was controversially positioned over the Tank Stream, which had provided early Sydney with its drinking water.
A rather unique incident occurred on 1 September, 1846. John Ainsworth Horrocks was an explorer who founded the village of Penwortham in South Australia. Whilst on an expedition in north-west South Australia, he stopped to reload his shotgun. He was busy with this task when a sudden lurch from Harry, his camel, discharged the gun, fatally injuring Horrocks.

From a celebration of Spring to a man who was shot by his camel, there are plenty items of potential interest to students this week. These can also be aligned to aspects of the Australian curriculum. Why not celebrate wattle day in your classroom? Have the students bring in wattle flowers. Younger students can talk about changing seasons, Australian celebrations and draw the flowers; older students can examine Australian identity, Federation and the creation of a separate identity from Britain in the early 20th century. Students in Victoria and New South Wales can also examine the events of particular significance to their state.

Rising sea levels and our children’s future

Global warming and sea level rise sometimes seems like a lot of hype bandied about by the media and politicians. However, it has a different level of importance for scientists in a range of disciplines around the world. The Australian Curriculum emphasises that students should study sustainability and environment issues in HASS and Science subjects, from lower primary school up. This is not just because its fashionable at the moment, but rather because even casual reading of the science tells us that these are going to be some of the most critical issues faced by our children in years to come. The world has already lost inhabited islands to sea level rise, with communities being moved out of their flooded homes. Eight of these islands are in the Pacific. In the Solomon Islands one inhabited island has already lost 75% of its houses to the sea, since 2011.

Global warming and sea level rise are related because a warmer global environment melts the ice at the poles and causes the sea level to rise. The same thing happened at the end of the last Ice Age, 12,000 years ago. In a paper just published in the respectable journal, Nature, Australian scientists (with some international colleagues) present two alternatives for the future of Antarctica (and thus for the future sea level rises around the world). The two lead authors (from the CSIRO and Monash University) have also published a slightly simpler version of this paper, highlighting the key points. The two scenarios explored are based on the kind of action that we all take now to reduce global warming, greenhouse gas emissions and human impacts on the fragile polar environments. The authors argue that actions need to take place within the next decade.

Scenario 1 has us take sudden, urgent action to reduce global warming and greenhouse gas emissions worldwide, as well as putting policies in place to control and reduce human impacts on the poles, and Antarctica in particular (reducing numbers of people in Antarctica, as well as their impact there). The situation 50 years from now (a time scale chosen to reflect the lifetimes of today’s children) has Antarctica enjoying a similar environment to today. The ozone hole has been repaired and the climate remains similar to that of the 20th century. The rate at which the ice has thinned has remained constant, instead of accelerating, and the acidification of the sea water has been kept low. The sea ice has decreased by “only” 12% and the ice on land by “only” 8%. Marine animals and birds show only small declines in population. Antarctica has been protected from invasive plants and animals through decreased human access and impact and maintenance of the harsh climate. Global air temperature has risen by less than 1 degree Celsius. Overall the sea level will rise by just under 1 metre, of which only 6cm comes from melting ice in West Antarctica.

Sea level rise Ade — Sea level rise in Adelaide.

Scenario 2 has us take very little to no action to reduce global warming, greenhouse gases and human impacts on Antarctica. Fossil fuel use and deforestation have continued and there has been no regulation of human access to Antarctica. Global air temperatures have risen by more than 3.5 degrees Celsius. The oceans have warmed and become more acidic – at levels that corrode marine shells and the exoskeletons of marine animals. Ice shelves in Antarctica have collapsed, accelerating the melting of ice and icebergs pose a continual risk to fishing, tourist and commercial shipping fleets. Sea ice is reduced by almost half. In this scenario, global sea levels rise at rates similar to that at the end of the Ice Age, gaining 3 metres by the year 2300 and more than half a metre in the first 50 years alone. Fisheries around the world are collapsing, and animals (such as penguins, seals and whales) who depend upon fish are in sharp decline. Antarctica has been colonised by invasive species of plants and animals, further disrupting the ecosystem and preventing ice from reforming in some areas. Antarctica is also being denuded of its original nature by rampant harvesting of resources, including mining, and the arrival of about 1 million tourists per year, who come to try to catch a glimpse of what Antarctica used to be, before it all disappears.

Sea level rise B — Sea level rise in Brisbane.

This sounds like a doom and gloom scenario, but it is one of the most likely scenarios, with the impact on our way of life being severe. Websites are now available to examine what sea level rises mean for our coastal cites. The impact varies in different cities, with Adelaide and Cairns being amongst the worst affected, although Brisbane’s port and airport are also in trouble. None of our coastal cities are exempt. These pictures show a 1.1m sea level rise by the year 2100 – close to the best case scenario mentioned above! They also do not take into account storm surges, erosion and other effects as our weather systems continue to be disrupted by the changing world environment. Now imagine 3 times that amount of impact, as forecast by the worst case scenario!

This is our children’s future. We need to prepare them well for handling these disasters. They need to understand how these have happened and what can be done to mitigate the effects of these changes. It is the job of all parents and educators to guide our children to develop the skills to interpret, understand and act in creative and innovative ways when tackling problem-solving and to start discussing these issues of their future now. Science, and the Scientific Method in particular, is an essential tool and the only hope that we have of both tracking what is happening and monitoring the efficacy of possible solutions.

This Week in Australian History

Today we introduce a new category for OpenSTEM® Blog articles: “This Week in Australian History”. So many important dates in Australian history seem to become forgotten over time that there seems to be a need to highlight some of these from time to time. For teachers of students from Foundation/Prep/Kindy to Year 6 looking for material to engage students around Australian history we recommend the OpenSTEM® Understanding Our World® HASS + Science program, which is filled with curriculum-aligned topics specifically designed to capture the interest of students. Whether you use our program or not, one can still connect with students by finding content applicable to their current lives which aligns with curriculum requirements. Here are some suggestions for this week:

6th June: This year Wednesday 6 June was marked by the opening match of the annual State of Origin rugby league series between the NSW Blues and the Qld Maroons. Whilst rugby league has its own fascinating history, closely allied to Australia’s colonial history, and the first match between Qld and NSW was played on 11 July, 1908, the date of 6th June has another significant historical association for both states. It was on 6th June, 1859, that Queensland became a colony of Britain, separate from New South Wales. Officially referred to as “Queensland Day”, this date was celebrated with parades and festivals all over the state at its centenary in 1959. I’m sure many Queenslanders would like there to be more widespread recognition of their state’s “birthday”. Students in Years 5 and 6, in particular, with their focus on colonial and Federation history, might enjoy looking into the birthday of their own state, and the OpenSTEM resources on the history of each state can be used to good effect, see here for links: New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania.

10th June: A more tragic event in Australian history is the Myall Creek Massacre, which took place on 10 June 1838 in central New South Wales. About 30 unarmed indigenous Australians were killed by a group of 12 convicts and former convicts, working as stockmen in the area. No reason was given for the massacre apart from the expansion of European settlers into the area. The incident was notable in that it actually came to trial (a rare event at the time). After the jury refused to convict “a white man for killing a black” (letter to the editor of The Australian newspaper, 1838), the Attorney-General convened a second trial for 7 of the 11 men held in custody. All 7 were found guilty and hanged. The remaining 4 men were remanded to the next court session, but after the sudden disappearance of the chief Aboriginal witness against them (who was never seen again), they were released. One of them later committed suicide. The event and trial were extremely controversial, further polarising the colonial population. Today a memorial stands on the site and an annual commemoration is held. The curriculum offers the opportunity for students in Year 5 to study massacres in Australian history in the context of colonial history.

11th June: On this day in 1770, Captain James Cook encountered the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Australia. Unfortunately, Cook’s ship, The Endeavour, ran aground on the reef now named for Cook’s ship, near Cape Tribulation (which was named by Cook for this unfortunate event) at 11pm at night. This incident led to Cook and his crew spending 7 weeks ashore, near modern Cooktown, repairing their ship. As a result of this time, the word “kangaroo” entered the English language and the stage was set for Australia to later become a British colony. In 1969, 6 cannons, ballast and an anchor, tossed overboard in an attempt to get the ship off the reef, were discovered and one of the cannons is on display at the Australian National Maritime Museum in Darling Harbour, Sydney. Today, with the Great Barrier Reef under extreme threat from warming, coral bleaching, pollution and increased carbon dioxide, we would do well to remember its part in our history.

Some events in history are pleasant and can be embraced with excitement, whilst others are more sombre. However, all contain lessons for our modern lives. Students love to discuss wide ranging topics, especially if these can be made relevant to their own lives. The OpenSTEM® Understanding Our World® HASS + Science program offers a vast range of engaging ways to help teachers gain interest in these topics from their students and to stimulate enquiry and problem-solving, as well as introducing basic research skills which will stand them in good stead for life. Why not make your classroom a vibrant hub for curious young minds by implementing our programs next term?

Nellie Bly – investigative journalist extraordinaire!

May is the birth month of Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman, better known as “Nellie Bly“. Here at OpenSTEM, we have a great fondness for Nellie Bly – an intrepid 19th century journalist and explorer, who emulated Jules Verne’s fictional character, Phileas Fogg, in racing around the world in less than 80 days in 1889/1890. Not only was she a bold individual with a keen eye for detail and a gifted wordsmith who could capture an audience with her tales of her exploits, but she was also a thoroughly investigative journalist with a sharp interest in social justice.

She was born 154 years ago in a part of Pittsburgh, USA, named after her father, Michael Cochran, who had worked his way up from being a labourer to a major landowner, postmaster and respected justice. A passionate advocate for women’s rights from the age of 16, her eloquence landed her a job as a writer for the local newspaper. At the age of 21, she served as a foreign correspondent in Mexico, later publishing her experiences in a book. She was forced to flee Mexico after criticising the Mexican government for imprisoning a local journalist.

Emboldened by this experience, she decided to embark on an even more dangerous assignment and, with the support of Joseph Pulitzer’s newspaper, the New York World, she feigned insanity to go undercover inside a women’s mental asylum and report on the conditions there. After 10 days, the World intervened to have her released and her damning report, later published as the harrowing account: “Ten Days in a Mad-House” did lead to an increase in funding for these institutions and some reforms.

Nellie’s next exploit was to attempt to match the journey from Jules Verne’s novel “Around the World in 80 Days”. The attempt became a race with a rival newspaper fielding another candidate, travelling in the opposite direction. As in the novel, using steamships and railways, Bly started on 14 November, 1889 and travelled through England, France (where she met Jules Verne), Italy, Egypt, Sri Lanka, Penang, Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan (as well as a visit to a leper colony in China). She sent short updates on her progress by telegraph from most places, now connected by submarine cables for the new electric telegraph network. She returned victorious to New York a mere 72 days later, on 25 January, 1890, also beating her rival by 4 1/2 days. Her success inspired a board game, no doubt helping 19th century children with their Geography knowledge!

She went on to marry a millionaire manufacturer, many years her senior, whom she succeeded in business as his health failed, becoming a renowned industrialist in her own right. She was responsible for several innovations and inventions (such as a new milk can and a stack-able garbage can) and was a staunch supporter of the Women’s Suffrage movement.

Nellie Bly features as one of the explorers in our Women Explorers series. She is included in the list of explorers for the OpenSTEM® Understanding Our World® Unit 5.2 for students in Year 5, although her adventures are suitable for examining historic methods of transport with students in Years 2 and 3, as well as social issues surrounding women’s suffrage and industrialisation for students in Year 6.