What

Museum Staff-led

When

Terms 1 to 4, Monday to Friday

Duration

90 minutes

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Curriculum links & Accessibility

Year level

Years 9 to 10

Minmum student numbers

Minimum 15 students

Maximum student numbers

Maximum 30 students

Cost

Free for government schools as part of Victorian Challenge and Enrichment Series

Booking information

Bookings 13 11 02

School visit information

Explore the theory of evolution by natural selection by looking at the fossil record.

Students will experience

• Begin the program in the Learning Lab studio, and be guided by a museum learning expert.
• Explore the 600 million years: Victoria evolves exhibition and examine the fossil record to find evidence for evolution.
• Visit the Research Institute Gallery and Gandel Gondwana Garden to see how current research relates to our understanding of evolution.
• Researching themes across multiple galleries to deepen their understanding of evolution.

Students will learn

• How Australia was once part of Gondwana, and how this influenced the present biodiversity.
• How the evolution explains past and present biodiversity and demonstrates how all organisms have some degree of relatedness to each other.
• That fossils, found in different times and difference places, have contributed to our understanding of the evolution of species.

Students will be provided

• All resources and materials to complete all of the tasks in the program.

Other key information

• This program has been developed for high-ability students in Victorian government schools. The activities in the program cover the Victorian Curriculum and are designed to engage, challenge and extend students’ learning.
• This program is free for government schools as part of Victorian Challenge and Enrichment Series.

Victorian Curriculum links

Biological sciences: Levels 9 and 10

• the theory of evolution by natural selection includes the processes of variation, isolation and adaptation and is supported by evidence including the fossil record, biogeography and comparative embryology; the theory explains past and present biodiversity and demonstrates how all organisms have some degree of relatedness to each other
  VC2S10U05

Science Inquiry

Questioning and predicting

• investigable questions, reasoned predictions and hypotheses can be used in guiding investigations to test and develop explanatory models and relationships
  VC2S10I01

Evaluating

• arguments based on a variety of evidence can be constructed to support conclusions or evaluate claims, including consideration of any ethical issues and cultural protocols associated with accessing, using or citing secondary data or information
  VC2S10I07