Primary school incursions
Book from a range of exciting and powerful STEM programs to ignite your students' curiosity!
At Swinburne, our PrimeSCI! School Outreach team offers interactive on-site and online classroom lessons for primary schools, designed for maximum hands-on participation.
All lessons are aligned with the Victorian Curriculum across Science, Technologies, Geography and Health & PE:
Regular On-site Incursions (one hour)
- $470 + GST for two sessions of the same topic (minimum)
- $235 + GST for each additional session (up to five per day)
Note: Incursions are conditional based on current COVID-19 restrictions at the time.
Hands-on Virtual Incursions (one hour)
- $350 + GST for 60 students
Demonstration-only Virtual Incursions (one hour)
- $200 +GST for 60 students
Prep to Grade 2 incursions
Chemical sciences
Bend Stretch Twist*
Learn how changing the shape and temperature in materials result in dramatic changes in their behaviour. Work with amazing materials like nappies and oobleck. Highly engaging and hands-on.
Mix and Unmix*
Why do some things mix with water while others do not? How do we separate mixtures to get what we want? This delightful hands-on session will draw children into the world of chemistry and engineering as they explore the phenomena of dissolving, crystallisation and make colourful discoveries with materials from around the house.
Physical sciences
Toys in Motion*
Explore forces and motion through the properties of toys. By the end of the session, students will understand the concepts of push, pull, friction and gravity. Links scientific language to familiar experiences and observations.
Sound and Light*
Students learn to explain how they see and hear. Through hands-on activities, the students explore how light and sound travel, bounce and move through objects. Try to catch a rainbow!
Earth and space sciences
Our Blue Marble*
Explore how Planet Earth is ideal for supporting life within the Solar System with its temperature, atmosphere, and water cycle. Students learn about how planets rotate and orbit, they measure temperature, experience air pressure and snow, and make their own planets in a cup.
Earth's Resources
What do we dig up from the Earth? Students identify samples from Australian mines and work out the uses of these minerals in our everyday lives. We can’t keep digging up and chopping down Earth’s resources forever, so students work in groups to make their own recycled paper.
Biological sciences
Life Cycles
Discuss and explore what defines a living thing and identify different life stages of freshwater invertebrates in a pond water sample. Best taught in Terms 1 and 4 for greatest waterbug variety.
Secret Life of Plants
Discover the secret of magic beans in this activity-packed session. Students will identify and dissect seeds, and find out how plants can take over the world!
Dinosaur Detectives
Become a palaeontologist and examine our special fossil collection. Make casts of real fossils and discover what we can learn from ancient teeth and claws.
Meet Mr Bones
Learn to name bones in the body, explore what makes bones strong, and identify real skeletons of animals in this popular session.
Digestive System*
Follow food along the digestive tract, and learn about how we taste, digest, and move food along our gut. Make poo to understand why it is important to eat enough vegetables. Touch real animal tongues and stomachs (real animal organs used)!
Digital technologies
Bee Bots
How do we speak to robots? Students communicate with the robots and give them instructions to complete simple tasks. An introduction to robotics and programming for students.
Edison Robotics
How do we speak to robots? Students communicate with the robots and give them instructions to complete simple tasks.
*Can be run as an online session
Grade 3 to 4 incursions
Chemical sciences
States of Matter*
Learn about states of matter and the kinetic theory by engaging all senses. Students gain knowledge from explosions, dancing colours, and peculiar oobleck. It’s solid, liquid and gas, plus so much more!
Plastic Fantastic*
Explore the world of plastics, molecules and polymers, and learn the unique uses of each plastic type. Students make their own plastic and will be impressed by the amazing shrinking plastic. Go beyond looking at plastics as waste materials that can be recycled.
Physical sciences
Hot! Hot!*
Learn what heat is, the different ways it is produced, and how heat can be transferred through cleverly designed activities and exciting demonstrations. This session covers everything your students need to know about the physics of heat.
Forces in Motion*
This powerful, fast-paced session will frame students understanding of forces and how they interact. Learn the role of gravity, friction and magnetism in making objects move faster than the speed of sound.
Earth and space sciences
Our Place in Space*
Learn the latest in space science as students travel into outer space to understand planetary rotations and orbits, model the gravitational effects of our Moon, and use the language of numbers to understand the wonders of our Universe.
Weather and Weathering (NEW for 2022)
Why doesn’t saltwater become salt rain? What is the difference between weather and weathering? Students explore the importance of the Earth's water cycle and the rock cycle.
Biological sciences
Freshwater Habitats
Investigate different pond water samples to identify freshwater invertebrates. Discuss the needs of animals that live in a pond. Learn about and distinguish between living and non-living factors that influence life in a freshwater environment. Best conducted in Terms 1 and 4 for greatest variety of waterbugs.
Secret Life of Plants
Discover the secret of magic beans in this activity-packed session. Students will identify and dissect seeds, and find out how plants can take over the world!
*Can be run as an online session
Grade 5 to 6 incursions
Chemical sciences
States of Matter*
Learn about states of matter and the kinetic theory by engaging all senses. Students gain knowledge from explosions, dancing colours, and peculiar oobleck. It’s solid, liquid and gas, plus so much more!
Physical and Chemical Change
Explore the differences between physical and chemical change through a series of exciting investigations, and learn to explain how everyday phenomena occur at the particle level.
Physical sciences
Light and Colour
Explore the magic of light as students catch, bounce, bend, split, and focus light. Students will love using the assortment of torches, mirrors, and lenses.
Earth and space sciences
Our Place in Space
Learn the latest in space science as students travel into outer space to understand planetary rotations and orbits, model the gravitational effects of our Moon, and use the language of numbers to understand the wonders of our Universe.
Natural Disasters
Explore layers within the Earth, tectonic plate movement, and the causes of natural disasters like earthquakes, volcanoes, and tsunamis. Take part in hands-on activities that teach about Earth’s mantle layer and its movement.
Biological sciences
Freshwater Habitats
Investigate different pond water samples to identify freshwater invertebrates. Discuss the needs of living organisms, distinguish between living and non-living objects in the pond.
Our Circulatory System*
Learn about how the heart works non-stop, study dissected lamb hearts, and listen to your own heart with a stethoscope. Find out about heart diseases and the medical procedures involved (real animal organs used).
Our Breathing System*
Understand the breathing process and how it is affected by asthma. Go through a breathing obstacle course, explore inhalation and exhalation, and investigate your own lung capacity. Get up close with this spongy organ and watch it inflate (real animal organs used).
Our Brains*
Dissect this delicate organ and be amazed at how this jelly-like structure is responsible for the way we work, think and behave (real animal organs used).
Our Digestive System*
Follow food along the digestive tract, and learn about how we taste, digest, and move food along our gut. Make poo to understand why it is important to eat enough vegetables. Touch animal tongues and stomachs (real animal organs used)!
Digital technologies
Electrical Circuits
This fun-filled session bridges simple circuits to the world of complex electronics and robotics. Students learn about electricity and electrical conductivity in the context of atomic structure, and assemble simple circuits with motors, LEDs and solar panels. At the end of the session, students apply newly acquired skills to construct machines that jiggle and dance!
Renewable Energy
Understand the physics of electricity generation, with focus on how energy is transformed to meet our needs. Use hands-on activities to explore renewable energy technologies currently used in Australia.
*Can be run as an online session
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Professional learning workshops for teachers
Gain the confidence to deliver the national science curriculum through Swinburne's professional learning workshops.
Book your classroom
To book your incursions, please complete the following form.
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More information
| Learning Areas | Science Understanding | Curriculum | PrimeSCI! incursions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Science | Chemical Sciences | Objects are made of materials that have observable properties | Bend Stretch Twist* |
| Everyday materials can be physically changed or combined with other materials in a variety of ways for a particular purpose | Bend Stretch Twist* Mix and Unmix* |
||
| Physical Sciences | The way objects move depends on a variety of factors including their size and shape: a push or a pull affects how an object moves or changes shape | Toys in Motion* | |
| Light and sound are produced by a range of sources and can be sensed | Sound and Light* | ||
| Earth and Space Sciences | Observable changes occur in the sky and landscape; daily and seasonal changes affect everyday life | Our Blue Marble* | |
| Earth's resources are used in a variety of ways | Our Blue Marble* Earth's Resources |
||
| Biological Sciences | Living things have a variety of external features and live in different places where their basic needs, including food, water and shelter, are met | Life Cycles Secret Life of Plants Dinosaur Detectives Meet Mr Bones Digestive System* |
|
| Living things grow, change and have offspring similar to themselves | Life Cycles Secret Life of Plants Dinosaur Detectives |
||
| Digital Technologies | Identify and explore digital systems (hardware and software components) for a purpose) | Bee Bots Edison Robotics |
|
| Follow, describe and represent a sequence of steps and decisions (algorithms) needed to solve simple problems | Bee Bots Edison Robotics |
*Can be run as an online session
| Learning Areas | Science Understanding | Curriculum | PrimeSCI! incursions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Science | Chemical Sciences | A change of state between solid and liquid can be caused by adding or removing heat | States of Matter* |
| Natural and processed materials have a range of physical properties; these properties can influence their use | Plastic Fantastic* |
||
| Physical Sciences | Heat can be produced in many ways and can move from one object to another; a change in the temperature of an object is related to the gain or loss of heat by the object | Hot! Hot!* | |
| Forces can be exerted by one object on another through direct contact or from a distance | Forces in Motion* | ||
| Earth and Space Sciences | Earth's rotation on its axis causes regular changes, including night and day | Our Place in Space* | |
| Earth's surface changes over time as a result of natural processes and human activity | Weather and Weathering (NEW for 2022) |
||
| Biological Sciences | Living things can be grouped on the basis of observable features and can be distinguished from non-living things | Freshwater Habitats Secret Life of Plants |
|
| Different living things have different life cycles and depend on each other and the environment to survive | Freshwater Habitats Secret Life of Plants |
*Can be run as an online session
| Learning Areas | Science Understanding | Curriculum | PrimeSCI! incursions |
|---|---|---|---|
| Science | Chemical Sciences | Solids, liquids and gases behave in different ways and have observable properties that help to classify them | States of Matter* |
| Changes to materials can be reversible, including melting, freezing, evaporating, or irreversible, including burning and rusting | States of Matter* Physical and Chemical Change |
||
| Physical Sciences | Light from a source forms shadows and can be absorbed, reflected and refracted | Light and Colour | |
| Energy from a variety of sources can be used to generate electricity; electric circuits enable this energy to be transferred to another place and then to be transformed into another form of energy | Electrical Circuits Renewable Energy |
||
| Earth and Space Sciences | Earth is part of a system of planets orbiting around a star (the Sun) | Our Place in Space | |
| Sudden geological changes or extreme weather conditions can affect Earth's surface | Natural Disasters |
||
| Biological Sciences | Living things have structural features and adaptations that help them to survive in their environment | Our Digestive System* Our Circulatory System* Our Breathing System* Our Brains* |
|
| The growth and survival of living things are affected by the physical conditions of their environment | Freshwater Habitats | ||
| Digital Technologies | Investigate how forces or electrical energy can control movement, sound or light in a designed product or system | Electrical Circuits | |
| Investigate how people in design and technologies occupations address competing considerations, including sustainability, in the design of solutions for current and future use | Renewable Energy |
*Can be run as an online session
Please ensure you read our booking Terms and Conditions that apply to all incursion bookings.
Contact us
To find out more or to provide feedback on a lesson contact the PrimeSCI! Office.