"Online Interactive Learning: Providing a Minerals Industry Context for Secondary Student Learning" Workshop

CSRP has teamed with the Minerals Council of Australia (MCA) and partners Murdoch University and Parker Centre to offer a series of interactive, online workshops for secondary school teachers. MCA Education Officer, Nola Shoring, introduces teachers to the theory and practical application of the interactive "Down to Earth" series of programs, new rich science-based learning experiences, called ‘learning objects’, utilising the Australian minerals industry as a context for self directed learning. The MCA has produced the first four of six learning objects in the Series, which provides opportunities for secondary students to develop their potential in a high-tech and innovative learning environment.

Rock Back in Time

Students become ‘virtual time travellers’ as they investigate the evolving geology and environment of the Australian continent over the past 545m years. Students can ‘discover,’ from a time and space perspective, how selected rocks and mineral deposits have formed in the Australian environment.

Palaeotraveller

‘Virtual time travel’ enables students to view the movement of crustal plates and track the changing location of the Australian continent. Students can view over 70 images depicting how the landscape of Australia evolved and access information about the changing environments over time.

Metal Matters

Students use a ‘virtual metal detector’ to discover the metal composition of selected everyday objects around the house. By activating a commodity calculator they can gain a quantitative chemical analysis of objects of their choosing. This information can extrapolated to assess local, regional and global demand for the various commodities in the selected items.

Oresome Froth

Students to have a virtual on-site experience as a metallurgist at a minerals processing plant and are able to:

undertake on-the-job training through staged tutorials demonstrating the science underlying the processes involved
apply their understanding of the variables to run the processing plant
observe the consequences of their actions on the efficiency and sustainability of the operation
interact with on-site staff to discover more about a range of careers in the minerals industry.

Generally two, 90-minute computer laboratory sessions are interspaced with hands-on mineral processing work presented by the Murdoch University Extractive Metallurgy staff. A luncheon and afternoon social function round out the day. The costs are underwritten by CSRP, Murdoch University Extractive Metallurgy, the MCA and Parker Centre.

More Information

> contact Dr Dan Churach, Education Manager, on (08) 6436 8735 or email dan.churach@csrp.com.au

> view the Teacher PD Program past courses and photographs