
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 |
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.
|
Christmas
Holidays 2022-23
Naval
Officer
This link will take you to the
website and the detailed activities.
 |
Word Doc:
Giving an overview of the activities as below
Activity 1: Australian
‘Battleship’
Primary
Years 5 - 6
Middle
Years 7 - 9
In this activity, students are to create their
own game of ‘Battleship’ using the Royal Australian Navy’s own ships
after investigation. There is graphing involved.
Activity 2: Knots & Knots: What Sailors
ought to know!
Primary
Years 5 - 6
Middle
Years 7 - 9
Students are to study a range of knots, work
out as a class (or family) the simplest to the hardest, select one
knot to practice; create the knot 3 times – collate all the times as
a class; graph the results and compare these results to their
earlier conjecture.
Activity 3:
Telescoping Periscope
(from Try Engineering.org)
Primary
Middle
Secondary
Students are to design and build their own
periscope and test it out.
Activity 4:
Navy
Cadets: STEM Activities
Primary
Middle
Secondary
The Bebras Challenge is available on the CSIRO’s
Digital Careers Program. The Navy uses this program to promote the
cadets’ Critical and Creative Thinking. There are challenging
puzzles (with answers) for students to complete.
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