Lessons for years 7 and 8

Lessons overview

This page contains engaging lesson plans that can be used to create a gender neutral learning environment.

The Drone Search lesson is one that was specifically written for The GiST and includes Girls in Focus recommendations.  

A selection of lessons have had Girls in Focus recommendations added. 

The other lessons on this page are considered to be relevant STEM approaches which you may use to apply the Seven Principles for Gender Inclusive Lessons. 

Girls in Focus lessons

  • Turtle in the sand surrounded by rubbish

    Impact of climate change on Flatback turtle populations

    The lesson follows an inquiry process in which students use a dataset to answer relevant questions about the turtle population. They consider how to analyse and display the data in order to effectively examine the impact of rising global temperatures on flatback turtle populations. They design a method of raising public awareness.

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  • Two humpback whales in the ocean

    Humpback whales: What the data reveals

    The lesson follows an inquiry process where students use the dataset to answer relevant questions about the whale population. They consider what other data they would need in order to effectively examine the impact on humpback whales of sonar activity and noise from development.

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  • Pink, yellow and green soft toys with light up eyes

    Light up soft toy with Lilypad

    This project will explore two ways of controlling the flow of current to a LED using a button and switch. No programming is initially expected in this project, however once students are comfortable with connecting or sewing their circuits and attaching lights, a follow-up project that involves using a pre built Arduino program to light up a series of lights in order would be a useful next step.

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  • Turtle swimming along the ocean floor

    Exploring data in turtle population dynamics

    The number of eggs a female turtle lays in her lifetime influences the health of that species population. In this lesson we look at modelling data related to the number of eggs a female turtle lays in her lifetime, using real scientific data. Explore ways to model, interpret, represent and present data, creating an infographic to raise awareness about turtle conservation.

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Suggested lessons

  • Ivy growing on a wall

    Water for our vines

    Design and build a prototype of a water delivery system, including design options and plans to ensure that all the vines on a sloping land are watered to the level they require.

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  • Solar panels on the roof of a house

    My energy efficient house rules

    Re-design the given plan of an old house to make it more energy efficient within the existing property boundaries.

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  • Rows of budding plants in a garden

    Our own garden

    Design a model of a garden given the available space. Include a planting guide for your garden based on certain constraints.

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  • Turtle in the water with a tracker on its back

    Exploring data tracking turtle movements

    By gathering data on marine turtles, scientists have evidence that helps them work out where turtles migrate and the journeys they take. Scientists can then help to reduce the threats to the turtles’ survival. In this lesson we look at satellite tracking using real scientific data. Explore ways to model, interpret, represent and present data.

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  • Science experiment to conduct electricity

    Game design

    This sequence of lessons integrates game design using scratch and a Makey Makey programming board.

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  • Science experiment with circuitry of an AC remote

    Hot bots

    In this series of lessons, students are set a design challenge to create a program to automatically switch on an air conditioner. For this project, students are introduced to the Arduino microcontroller and Arduino integrated development environment for programming. However, other similar microcontrollers could be used instead following a similar process. This lesson was designed by Cindy Thornton, Flinders Island District High School, Tasmania.

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  • Light up sphere toys in a row

    Sphero young inventors

    In this lesson students will explore the use of Sphero in the everyday world by adding accessories to invent solutions to workplace or other problems or simply by inventing an adaptation to the device. In each case, they are to build the accessory and create the code required for the device to serve a particular purpose. This lesson idea was created by Celia Coffa.

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  • Minecraft house

    Minecraft Sustainable House

    Students plan and build a sustainable house in Minecraft.

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  • Green tree frog on a branch

    Frog Habitats and Adaptation

    Students explore habitats and investigate the adaptations different frog species need to survive in that habitat. They use the FrogID app to identify local frogs and design their own frog pond to meet the needs of local species. This project led by a female scientist: Dr Jodi Rowley.

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  • Solar powered single-person vehicle

    Engineering Materials for a Greener Planet

    This set of STEM activities for primary and secondary students explores how engineers can solve significant environmental problems

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  • Four gliders above a wheat field

    Biomimicry - Lessons from Nature

    This unit of work introduces students to biomimicry. They learn how to look at nature for inspiration to solve engineering and design problems. Students learn about linear and closed loop systems and design a lamp using principles of biomimicry.

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  • Solar oven

    Solar Oven Design Challenge

    Students design and build a solar oven using passive solar design principles.

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  • Gecko paw close up

    Gecko Tape

    Students learn about nanotechnology and make and test ‘gecko tape’. They create their own design for new products.

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  • Black and white sketch of the moon lander

    Lunar Lander

    Students design and build a lunar landing module to ensure survival of the crew. They compare their model’s performance with an actual moon landing and take risk factors and budgeting into account.

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  • Climate change protest

    Climate Change

    This STEM Careers Pack is design to teach students about making well reasoned judgements about empirical and ethical matters. Students explore the science of anthropogenic climate change, and whether we have a responsibilty to future generations.

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  • Compressed Air And Water Rocket being set off in a field

    Compressed Air and Water Rockets

    Students design a water rocket to fit a rocket launcher. They test their rockets and evaluate changes to iterate on their design.

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  • Fish swimming through plastic waste in the ocean

    Deep blue: innovation for the future of our oceans

    Select student activities related to the future of oceans that link to the Australian Curriculum for science, technologies, mathematics, and the arts.

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