Education

Gilberts Colouring Competition

Gilbert says a big thank you to all the young artists who participated in his colouring in competition. We received some fantastic entries and it was a tough decision to pick just two winners from so many!

Congratulations to our two talented winners, 12 year old Claudia Spittle from Esperance and 5 year old Tahnee Wilson from Exmouth.

Check out the HDZ photo gallery to see their amazing entries and some of the other highly commended entries who will be awarded a Horizon Discovery Zone stationary pack.

Horizon Discovery Zone Website
The HDZ website is a platform for teachers and students to interactively explore electricity generation, how electricity works, saving energy and being sage with electricity. The interactive design of the website encourages students to explore and learn through discovery. It is full of games, quizzes and other fun activities for students of all ages as well as informative PDFs and lesson materials for teachers.

Teacher Resource Books
Both our teacher resource books are designed to assist teachers deliver lessons about electricity. All lessons link to the Curriculum Framework and combine Science and Literacy learning area outcomes.

• Discovering Electricity 
  The first of our resource book Discovering Electricity is intended for upper primary students in year’s four to seven; however lessons can easily be modified to suit varying ability levels. There are 30 comprehensive lessons ranging from investigating batteries, magnets, circuits and more to conducting safety audits and exploring renewable energy sources like solar, wave and wind. It can be accessed through the Department of Education Portal http://det.wa.edu.au/k12resources/middlechildhood/detcms/portal/.
• Discovering Junior Electricity
  The Discovering Junior Electricity book is aimed at students in Kindy to year three and is also linked to the Australian Curriculum. There are 16 stimulating and practical lessons which encourage students to explore electricity and their use of it. It can be accessed through the Department of Education Portal http://det.wa.edu.au/k12resources/earlychildhood/detcms/portal/.   

Supporting each of these resource books are our Discovering Electricity and Discovering Junior Electricity resource kits which are free to hire for one term to all schools in our service area. These kits include the resource books as well as most of the equipment you will need to teach the lessons. Please contact our Education Officer to make a booking or find out more about these kits.

School Incursions
These workshops are conducted free of charge by our Education Officer and are designed to actively engage students in discovering electricity. There are two workshops available;

1. Upper Primary (Years 4-7) – This one hour workshop explores how electricity is created, the journey it takes homes and how to be safe around electricity.  Students make electrical generators, handle cables and learn about circuits, conductors and insulators.
2. Junior Primary (K to Year 3) – This half hour workshop introduces students to the science and terminology of electricity and communicates messages in energy efficiency and electrical safety.

With the nature of our service area being geographically vast we aim to visit our towns and communities over a two year cycle. To find out when we are coming to your town or to register your school’s interest please contact our Education Officer.