
2023
Australasia
Children's University is
part of the
Children's Universities Worldwide and operated in
Australia by The University of Adelaide.
"On the Job" is
an Australasia Children's University Online Learning Destination!
Get your students to
investigate!
Here below are activities for the
Australasia Children's University participants.
There is a direct link to the
activities page for each Job
described on the website for the whole process - step by step
or
Please feel free to photocopy the linked Word docs describing the activities
but you will need to go to the website to do the detailed activity (ies)
Primary:
aimed at students from Years 5 - 7
Middle:
aimed at students from Year 7 - 9
Job |
Activities |
September
Holidays
Pest Controller
 |
Activity 1:
Introduced Species: Pest or Resoource? A Matter of Degrees - A
philosophical exercise for family and friends
Primary
Middle
Secondary
Process Word doc
Introduced Species - Information doc
Activity 2: Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH - The
Next Chapter
Primary
Middle
Word Doc - What to do
|
August
Feedlot Manager
This link will take you straight to the Activities page
 |
Activity 1: The Feedlot Manager’s
Working Life: what s/he needs to know: A SWOT Analysis
Middle
Secondary
Students are presented with a detailed article
from the Dept of Agriculture & Fisheries looking at the feedlot
profitability. They are to analyse the article and write up as many
questions as they can after brainstorming. They have to pose at
least one mathematical question. As a class, they are to discuss the
big question: What does a feedlot manager need to know?
Activity 2: Solid Wastes in the Feedlot –
What of it?
Middle
Secondary
Students are given an article from The Meat
& Livestock Association Australia about waste management
particularly manure in a feedlot. Students are to answer a number of
mathematical calculations about the amount of manure produced; how
much needs to be taken away; a comparison with the sale of cow
manure; and, the overall cost of turning this waste product into a
resource.
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July
Holidays
|
Jigsaw
Bingo - Can you match the cartoon to the name? Word docx
40 Matches

66 Matches

66 Matches - in French
 |
June 2023
Auditor

This link will take you to the
website and the detailed activities.
|
1.
Household Toilet Paper - An Audit

2. The Cost of Rubbish Removal at School - any
alternatives?

3. The Dead Tree Detective
 |
May 2023
Food Process Worker

This link will take you to the
website and the detailed activities. |
Activity 1:
Tastes like Chicken: How much chicken do you consume each week?
Primary
Middle
After watching BTN, you are to create a timeline for the
processing of chickens. You are to then investigate at the local
supermarket the cost of different chicken products, create an Excel
spreadsheet and work out best value for money.
You are to
do some research about the amount of chicken consumed by Australian
families and survey the class about this consumption.
Activity 2: Thomas Foods International – their
business explored!
Primary
Middle
Secondary
After an introduction to Thomas Foods, you are to create a
Lucid Flow Chart showing the process of the production of meat from
Paddock to Plate. This activity can be challenging as the video with
the information of the process of production starting at the Plate!
Thomas Foods donate 4,300 kilos of sausage meat each month to
Foodbank. You are to work out the donation and respond via a
letter to this donation.
Activity 3 : Building a Conveyor Belt (from Try
Engineering)
Primary
Middle
Secondary
You are to work in teams to design and build a conveyor belt system
out of everyday materials to transport pieces of candy/sweets 120cm.
2 – 3 lessons of 45 mins are required. As a group
you are asked to reflect
on their achievements and interactions with each other – good soft
skills activity involving creative thinking skills within the team. |
Easter
Holidays
Let's Analyse
Word doc |
Let's
Analyse
Primary
Years 5 - 6
In this activity, you are asked to look at a video singing about all
sorts of jobs. You are to match up the job with its name, analyse
and see if there is a balance between male and female, old and
young.
Look at the Gamer and see if it is true that this job seems to
always show a male.
Then you are to select one category in On the Job and see if it is
balance and offer some recommendations. |
March 2023
Surveyor

This link will take you to the
website and the detailed activities.
|
Activity 1: Measuring distances using
Google maps
Primary
Middle
Secondary
This activity gets students to use Google Maps
to work out measurements that they would normally encounter – eg.
the distance between school and their sporting activity. They are
also asked to go to Google Earth – Education to select one of the
activities shown there – Gridlines in Earth with Carmen Sandiego;
Immersive Global Imagery; and, Timelapse.
Activity 2: How ancient Babylonian land
surveyors developed a unique form of Trigonometry – a 1000 years
before the Greeks.
Secondary
Using an article from The Conversation – 5
August 2021, students are to investigate the facts and figures of
the Babylonians developing a unique form of trigonometry and
challenging the idea that the Greeks were the initial inventors.
They use the Retrieval Chart Strategy to summarise the data and hone
their presentation and communication skills by explaining to another
group what they have learnt.
|
February
2023
Data Analyst

This link will take you to the
website and the detailed activities.
|
Activity 2: Data Analysis &
Evaluation (developed by NSW Dept of Education)

Students find measures of location (mean, mode, median,)
for small sets of data. Display in frequency table, stem and leaf
plot or dot plot. Interesting activity in finding out about Year 8’s
texting behaviour.
Suggestion of finding out how many TikToks students have watched in
a week.
Activity 3: Big Data: What are you saying?
(developed by Try Engineering)

Students act as R&D entrepreneurs, learning
ways to research variables affecting the market of their proposed
(hypothetical) products.
Activity 4: Chemical Safety in Schools: a
Data Analysis

Using an Excel spreadsheet, students are to
investigate the chemicals found in schools – staff kitchens,
technical classrooms, cleaner’s storerooms, etc. They are to then
compare with the current Safety Data Sheets and analyse any
discrepancies.
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