In Australia, the unique biodiversity and fragile ecosystems make understanding human impact on the environment especially crucial. Teaching students about human impact not only fosters environmental awareness but also encourages responsible citizenship. To support educators in Australia in this task, a variety of teaching resources tailored to the local context are available. In this blog post, we will explore some valuable human impact teaching resources designed specifically for schools in Australia.

Why Teach About Human Impact in Australia?

Australia’s diverse landscapes, from the Great Barrier Reef to the Outback, are home to countless unique species and ecosystems. However, these environments are increasingly threatened by factors such as climate change, habitat destruction, and pollution. By educating students about human impact, we can empower them to appreciate and protect Australia’s natural heritage. This knowledge can inspire future generations to make eco-friendly choices and advocate for environmental conservation.

Top Human Impact Teaching Resources for Australian Schools

1. Educational Websites

Cool Australia

Description: Cool Australia offers a wide range of free educational resources, including lesson plans, videos, and interactive activities focused on sustainability and environmental conservation.

Features: Curriculum-aligned content, teacher guides, and resources that highlight Australian-specific environmental issues.

Eco Warriors

Description: Eco Warriors provides engaging online resources, games, and activities designed to educate primary school students about environmental stewardship.

Features: Interactive learning modules, printable worksheets, and multimedia resources with an Australian context.

National Geographic Kids

Description: National Geographic Kids offers a range of articles, videos, and interactive activities that explore environmental issues and human impact.

Features: Engaging content, quizzes, and classroom resources suitable for primary school students.

Books

“The Lorax” by Dr. Seuss 

Description: This classic children’s book explores the consequences of environmental destruction in a whimsical and memorable way.

Features: Engaging storytelling, vibrant illustrations, and valuable lessons about conservation and stewardship.

“The Great Kapok Tree: A Tale of the Amazon Rainforest” by Lynne Cherry

Description: This beautifully illustrated book introduces students to the concept of deforestation and its impact on rainforest ecosystems, providing a global perspective on human impact.

Features: Rich illustrations, a compelling narrative, and themes that resonate with Australian environmental issues.

“Possum Magic” by Mem Fox

Description: While not strictly an environmental book, “Possum Magic” celebrates Australian wildlife and landscapes, making it a great starting point for discussing human impact.

Features: Charming illustrations, a captivating storyline, and opportunities to explore themes of conservation and biodiversity.

“One Plastic Bag: Isatou Ceesay and the Recycling Women of the Gambia” by Miranda Paul

Description: This inspiring true story introduces students to the concept of recycling and the importance of community involvement in environmental conservation.

Features: Beautiful illustrations, a compelling narrative, and themes of empowerment and sustainability.

Interactive Workshops and Programs

Ocean Life Education

Description: Inspirational hands on learning with live marine animals and knowledgeable marine educators delivering engaging incursions and excursions throughout SE Queensland and northern NSW. Based on the Australian curriculum or tailored to special interests.

Features: a diverse range of live marine animals, artifacts and resources.

Kids Teaching Kids

Description: Kids Teaching Kids is a national education initiative that empowers students to become environmental leaders through peer-to-peer learning and collaborative projects.

Features: Student-led workshops, environmental action projects, and opportunities for schools to connect and share ideas across Australia.

Earthwatch Australia

Description: Earthwatch Australia offers immersive citizen science programs that allow students to participate in hands-on research projects focused on local environmental issues.

Features: Field-based learning experiences, expert-led expeditions, and curriculum-aligned resources that encourage scientific inquiry and environmental advocacy.

Curriculum Guides

Ocean Life Education

Description: Inspirational hands on curriculum based programs complemented by resources, supporting schools and childcare settings to teaching curriculaum topics.

Learning with live marine animals and knowledgeable marine educators delivering engaging incursions and excursions throughout SE Queensland and northern NSW. Based on the Australian curriculum or tailored to special interests.

Features: Aligned with the Australian Curriculum, includes practical tools for implementing sustainability initiatives. Educators arrived with a diverse range of live marine animals, artifacts and resources and host events as well as incursions and excursions.

ResourceSmart Schools

Description: ResourceSmart Schools offers a comprehensive sustainability program with curriculum resources, professional development opportunities, and support for schools across Australia.

Features: Aligned with the Australian Curriculum, includes practical tools for implementing sustainability initiatives, and fosters whole-school engagement.

CERES Education

Description: CERES Education provides hands-on sustainability education programs, resources, and workshops tailored to Australian schools.

Features:Curriculum-linked activities, teacher guides, and student-led projects that promote environmental awareness and action.

Summary

Teaching primary school students about human impact in Australia is essential for nurturing a sense of environmental responsibility and stewardship. With the help of these tailored resources, educators can engage students in meaningful learning experiences that highlight the importance of conserving Australia’s unique ecosystems and biodiversity. By integrating these teaching tools into the curriculum, we can inspire young Australians to become informed and active participants in shaping a sustainable future for their country and the planet.

Our Programs

We will work with you to ensure that our programs are tailored to suit your needs.

Click here to learn about our inspirational programs.

Useful links

Here’s a link to our other news

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Australians are considered to be the second highest consumers of textiles in the world. Clothing prices are often relatively low and many of us get a buzz from frequently wearing new clothes. But does striving to have the latest designs come at too high a cost to the environment? Read on to as we explain why fast fashion is a problem for the ocean.

What is Fast Fashion?

Fast fashion refers to trendy clothes that are mass produced and made and sold quickly and cheaply, enabling people to buy new clothes often. In order for the clothes to be sold cheaply, the workers who make these clothes are often paid very low wages and the materials are poor quality.

In the past, the fashion industry released new designs on a seasonal basis – four times a year. Nowadays some big fashion houses release a new line every week, producing almost twice the amount of clothing today than they did in 2000. Alarmingly, many of these garments are hardly worn at all and up to 85% go into landfill each year. In Australia that is thought to be enough to fill an area the size of Sydney Harbour. So, this is obviously a big issue.

The Role of Social Media in Fast Fashion

Social media has created social shopping and enabled fashion sellers to reach their audiences (the buyers) quickly, easily, constantly and cheaply. Most of us have been attracted to make a purchase by a quicky snappy offer and most of us enjoy a bit of retail therapy from time to time. But do we actually need all this stuff, or are we just on the fast fashion tread mill and being told what we need and making purchases without really thinking about it too much?

The Fashion Industry

Creating trendy clothing takes a huge amount of resources. The fashion industry is one of the largest producers of carbon, the world’s largest user of water and produces 20-35% of the microplastics in the oceans.

Materials & Ocean Microplastics

Textiles used by the clothing industry fit into two broad categories: natural and synthetic. Natural materials such as cotton and wool are made from plant and animal sources and tend to be more expensive and last longer. Fast fashion relies on low-cost materials and quantity over quality, so synthetic, plastic- based materials such as polyester, acrylic and nylon are preferred. These synthetic materials produce non-biodegradable waste that is a major source of pollution in our oceans. Each time these garments are washed, thousands of tiny fibres are released from them and travel through our water ways to the ocean. Up to 75% of ocean creatures may have ingested ocean microplastics and suffer long term issues as a result.

How You Can Help Reduce Fast Fashion Waste

Obviously, the fashion industry need encouragement in the form of policy to encourage a refocus on making things that last and so encourage reuse and recycling. But if we don’t buy those garments in such quantity in the first place, we can make a significant difference ourselves.

The first and most simple thing you can do to help reduce fast fashion waste is to take a step back and think about whether you actually need the item. Do you already have something similar? Why not save the money? From here you can start changing your behaviour by simply shopping more mindfully.

Tips for Combatting Fast Fashion

-Think before you buy – do you actually need it and put the money to better use?

-Avoid buying new items cheaply each season, and instead be prepared to invest in high quality pieces that will last

-Start looking further into the brands you buy from and investigate their eco-credentials. Do you actually want to give them your money if they don’t care about the environment?

-Be prepared to ‘make do and mend’ – maybe you already have the item, but it needs a stitch or two?

-Check out the bargains in the op shops

-Share what you learn with your friends and others

-Support charities and organisations that are tackling fast fashion

Of course, there is no one simple solution to the issue of fast fashion but shopping mindfully and thinking about what that cheap items represents and whether you actually need it is a very good place to start.

Further reading

For more information about Human Impact on the Ocean, check out our website for courses and free resources

Sources

nature.com

greenpeace.org

Check out our Marine Biologist for A Day Program – Ages 7-12 years

Our Goal

Ocean Life Education’s goal is to educate children about how our lives are interconnected with our ocean and to inspire them to feel a responsibility to take action to protect it.

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Education is key to understanding the ocean and how crucial it is to our existence, as well as inspiring people to want to protect it. So, the role of a marine teacher is a very important one. But what do marine teachers do?

The Role of a Marine Educator in Schools

The crucial role of a marine educator is to foster curiosity, imagination, knowledge and enthusiasm. As humans, we only generally care about what we know, so education makes a big difference if you want people to connect with and protect the ocean. Creating awareness at an early age is crucial in the creation of life-long ocean guardians.

We aim to do this through introducing children to our diverse range of live marine animals and presenting engaging lively ocean-experience activities that teach all ages about marine science and ocean conservation.

Ocean Life Education’s Marine Educators

Ocean Life Education’s lead marine educator, Richard Coward, is a qualified Marine Biologist and heads our crew of marine educators who travel around southern Queensland educating kids. Not only are they all very knowledgeable but they are also passionate advocates for the ocean and engage kids to want to learn.

Qualifications to Become a Marine Teacher

Marine teachers have a minimum degree and frequently a master’s in marine biology. They often undertake extensive research projects and have wide-ranging first-hand experience…and fascinating stories to tell!

Specialist Teaching Roles

An estimated 80% of all life on earth is found under the ocean surface and more still inhabits coastlines. So, as you can imagine teaching roles include many fascinating specialisations. Consider the range of animals alone, from the tiniest microbes and plankton to the massive blue whale! There will always be a need for marine teachers to pass on their knowledge about these things.

 Where do Marine Teachers Work?

As the ocean covers over 70% of the planet, you will find marine teachers all over the globe, from the icy north and south poles to the warm tropical waters of the Caribbean. In Queensland, marine educators may work on the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park or as expert guides on whale watching tours. Other areas of work include:

• conservation and marine parks
• fisheries and the fishing industry
• planning and management
• universities
• museums and zoos
• marine science institutions
• power generation (sustainable please!)
• engineering and consulting
• government and industry.

Interested in Becoming a Marine Teacher?

Read our blog to find out How to Become a Marine Biologist in Queensland

Information about teaching in Queensland Marine Teachers Ass QLD 

Check out our Marine Biologist for A Day Program – Ages 7-12 years

Our Goal

Ocean Life Education’s goal is to educate children about how our lives are interconnected with our ocean and to inspire them to feel a responsibility to take action to protect it.

The post What Do Marine Teachers Do? appeared first on Ocean Life Education.

As Director of Education at Ocean Life Education, I have been educating children about my passion, the ocean, for nearly sixteen years. My lively team of qualified marine educators and I visit schools, early learning centres and events inspiring young people to appreciate and want to protect the ocean with our live animal incursions in Brisbane and beyond.

I firmly believe in the old adage that “you only protect what you love”. How can you expect children to appreciate the ocean if they rarely or never experience it?

Bringing Ocean Education to the Classroom

Unfortunately, many children are unable to get to the ocean or even experience an aquarium. By bringing the ocean into the classroom or to an event we are able to influence many children who would not normally get the opportunity to see marine animals in their ocean habitat.

It’s very clear that this experience is really significant to them. Interactions with the animals are meaningful as they link to theoretical learning and children are immediately engaged and fascinated. You can see it on their faces and tell by the awesome and varied questions they ask!

Our marine educators arrive with a host of live marine animals, artefacts, games and information and blend ‘hands on’ interaction with science and humour, so our incursions are very lively and fun.

 Live Marine Animal Incursions

 We have a very varied team of marine animals that generally include the following diverse bunch…

 Baby Bamboo Shark, Fresh Water Turtle, Blue Linckia Seastars, Thorny Seastars, Tropical Sea Cucumber, Black Sea Cucumber, Sea Urchins.

Children are able to observe the animals in tanks and get the opportunity to feel their unique textures and learn about why and how they have adapted to be the way they are.

We are very mindful of the welfare of our animals and the wellbeing of the children and work to strict guidelines on sourcing and sustaining live animals.

Our crew

Our marine educators are a very lively bunch, each with a specialisation in the marine environment and most are qualified marine biologists, like myself. I have worked as a marine biologist in a variety of roles in Australia and overseas. I’m passionate about the ocean and my vision is to protect that environment for future generations to enjoy too.

Meet our crew

School incursions in Brisbane

School incursions offer students a break from their usual school routine and are designed to stimulate and extend their learning experience. They provide children with a hands-on educational experience without the need for extra supervision or safety planning.

Ocean Life Education provides curriculum-aligned and captivating school incursions which are the perfect accompaniment to a study block, bringing the subject to life.  The programs are tailored to the needs of the particular class, ensuring the children get to learn exactly what is required and the school achieves its learning goals.

We cover a range of curriculum topics in our school ocean life incursions, plus anything specialist that needs to be added in. Topics might include: Habitats, Life Cycles, Human Impact, Classification, Adaptation and Animal Behaviour and we can focus on a specific animal such as sharks – always very popular!

We also have extensive resources and supporting material at hand, such as videos, activities and worksheets, and offer flexible learning online courses for children who prefer to study in their own time. 

Early Learning Incursions in Brisbane

Early learning incursions are a great way to bring the real outside world into the childcare centre. The change in routine really helps restore focus and maximises learning by giving children the ability to participate in an engaging ‘learn as they do’ educational experience.

Younger children up to 2.5 years will discover a wide range of facts including:

• Animals have colours, patterns, shapes and textures
• Shells are protective houses once used by living marine creatures
• Marine animals look & feel different for a reason
• Animals breathe & exist under water
• Sea creatures have mouths, stomachs and legs like humans, but they are very different in appearance
• How to handle, care for, and protect live animals

WE then begin to introduce more depth to the information and introduce the following concepts to the older children (3-5 years):

• The importance of caring for the environment for the future
• The grouping of living things according to their features (Classification)
• Who eats who! (Food chains)
• The relationships between living organisms and their environment (Ecology)

 Our Goal

Ocean Life Education’s goal is to educate children about how our lives are interconnected with our ocean and to inspire them to feel a responsibility to take action to protect it.

More about Richard

 Our Programs

https://www.oceanlifeeducation.com.au/programs

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Every winter, anyone along the East Coast of Australia gets a front row seat for one of nature’s most spectacular shows.

The stars are humpback whales – massive marine mammals that like to steal the limelight.  These traveller performers drop by on their 25,000 kilometre round trip between Antarctica and their breeding grounds in the tropics.

These acrobatic animals are definite crowd pleasers – playing to an appreciative audience….

Just the sight of a spout is enough to cause a commotion…and little wonder.  After holding their breath for twenty minutes, humpbacks can exhale several metres into the air…..

But it’s really just the warm up – the opening act can be pectoral fin slaps…. When their five metre long appendages slam onto the ocean surface – a wakeup call for anyone close by.

Tail slaps are another great way to grab attention. One is never enough.  It’s an opportunity to show off their personal fluke pattern – the best way to identify a humpback….

If they sense they’re losing their audience, the whales can opt for a spy hop – raising their head out of the water to assess the world around them….

But the absolute shop stopper is the full body breach – when up to 30 tonnes of mammal is launched into the air and slams back down.  The impact is phenomenal – seen and heard from kilometres away.

There’s lots of different theories as to why whales perform this manoeuvre – some feel it’s a way to communicate with other humpbacks close by; others believe it’s like a giant stretch after a long rest – a signal they’re about to get active again.

Either way its unforgettable – and can only be topped if there’s an understudy in tow.  Young calves accompany their mothers on the trip back south, eager to try out their performance skills as well.

At just five metres long, they’re only a fraction of their Mum’s size but still capable of making their presence felt.  Drinking 400 litres of milk a day, these youngsters grow quickly and by this time next year will be ready to go solo.

In a final bow to the crowd, the whales lift their tails and disappear from stage – diving deep and leaving the audience wanting more, with no indication where and when their next performance will be.

Even if you miss the show, you can learn more about these magnificent animals in one of Ocean Life Education’s Marine Mammal presentations.  Click here for more details.

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With a little assistance from Ocean Life Education, our Blue Linckia’s, along with the rest of our marine life menagerie, have temporarily migrated away from the coast to help students who rarely get to see the sea understand more about the challenges these animals face.

In a road trip lasting 3 days and covering close to 500 kilometres, Ocean Life Education is making sure children in Blackbutt, Nanango and Kingaroy don’t miss out on the chance to touch and learn about our wonderful animal ambassadors.

The Ocean to Outback initiative is supported by the State Government through its Advance Queensland Engaging Science Grant.

Why go to such extreme lengths to facilitate these encounters?  Oceans cover almost three quarters of our planet and produce more than half of the oxygen on earth while absorbing harmful carbon dioxide.

Ocean currents also move such a large body water between the equator and poles, they help to regulate the global climate which impacts all of us – even those that live well beyond the shoreline.  Keeping the oceans healthy is in everyone’s best interest.

But travelling with a crew of sea stars, sea cucumbers, sea urchins, hermit crabs and a shark is not without its challenges as water quality and oxygen levels are vital to their survival, especially in the hostile bush environment.

One thousand litres of salt water have been transported along with the animals to ensure they are stress free on their little adventure.

But all the planning, all the logistics have been worth it just to see the excitement on the faces of a whole new batch of ocean lovers, who may rarely hear the waves crash or smell the salt in the air but know the importance of caring about the underwater world – even this far from the coast.

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Clayfield College Year 4 student

By Richard Coward

Wow what a Science Week we’ve just had, a fantastic initiative to get kids engaged in all things science.

No better way to love science than to learn all about our amazing marine creatures, why they are important and why we should look after them.

Participating Schools

Some huge thanks go out to Clayfield College, St Joseph’s School Nundah, Parklands Christian College and Brisbane Adventist College for hosting us during Science Week.

Every one of the kids were an absolute pleasure to share knowledge with, they enjoyed the close contact with our animals absorbing all aspects of their existence.

Program learning focus

With volumes of information available about creatures from the sea, the main focus of learning were in there areas of:

• Adaptation
• Classification
• Habitats; and
• Human impact

Each school program is extremely engaging and fun to cover, the latter an increasingly important topic within schools as we strive to understand and protect our surrounding environment under the pressure of an ever increasing population.

Memorable moments shared

Visiting these schools provided many memorable moments, too many to share in a short blog post. Here is a small sample from our schools visited this week.

• Total participation and enthrallment at explaining why sharks attack humans  (Yr 4 Clayfield College)
• The fun and challenge of delivering 5 different presentations to every year level throughout the whole school day (P-6 St Josephs)
• The thrill and enjoyment on the faces of the Prep children as they interacted with our live animals (Parklands Christian College)
• Total engagement of children with good background knowledge and amazing intelligent questions at the presentation’s conclusion. (Yr 1 Brisbane Adventist College)

Invaluable Experience

Science Week provides children the chance to see that science is a fun and cool subject to learn.

It is important to keep encouraging children to pursue science throughout their academic lives and continue to produce creative successful scientists of the future.

Children are often scared off by science and all its jargon, but at Ocean Life Education we break down that barrier, make understanding animals and their natural environment simple and easy to remember. This empowers children and encourages them to dig deeper in search for answers.

Once again we would like to thank the schools who included our incursion into their celebration of Science Week, we look forward to seeing them again in future and encourage all schools to jump on board and enlighten their children towards a brighter scientific future.

We strive to provide an invaluable experience propelling the school kids of today into the scientists of tomorrow.

For great conversation, videos and more, visit the National Science Week website.

To book your next Science Week incursion with Ocean Life Education, contact us.

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