SYDNEY SEA LIFE AQUARIUM

Learning Experience 1 - "Design a Habitat"

Subject focus: Geography 

Learning Intentions:

• Understand what animals need to survive in their habitats.

• Explore and describe marine environments at the Sydney Sea Life Aquarium.

• Use knowledge to design an ideal marine habitat.

Instructions:

1. Students begin by exploring the Sydney SEA LIFE Aquarium - physically through a school excursion, over a 2 hour period. They can take notes of facts and learning resources to aid their knowledge. Students may focus on specific zones such as the Great Barrier Reef, Penguin Expedition, or Shark Valley, observing the features of the animals and the environments they live in.

2. Back in class, students work in small groups of 3-4 students to choose one marine animal observed (e.g. seahorse, penguin, or shark) and research its needs e.g. shelter, food, space, and threats (all of which are available to learn at the aquarium). Using iPads, books, and aquarium brochures and notes, they may gather information collaboratively.

3. Each group will then design a model habitat using craft materials (e.g. posters, paint, pen/pencil, yarn, fuzzy wire), digital drawing tools (e.g. Book Creator or Seesaw), or Minecraft Education Edition. They must justify their design choices based on what they learned from the aquarium.

4. Finally, students will present their habitat to the class, explaining how it meets the animal’s needs and mimics the natural environment as well as incorporating preventative methods for threats the creature faces. They will reflect on how aquariums help protect sea animals and share ideas about conservation.

Assessment: Observation of group collaboration, oral presentation, and evaluation of habitat design for accuracy and creativity.

Learning Experience 2 - "Mapping our Marine World"

Subject focus: Geography 

Learning Intentions:

• Identify natural and human-made features of places.

• Use basic mapping tools to represent places.

• Understand how to locate and describe places in the environment.

Instructions:
1. Before visiting the Sydney SEA LIFE Aquarium, students should learn basic map features such as symbols, keys, compass directions, and grid references. Teachers can model how to read and create simple maps using classroom objects or the school playground as a base start point. Students can take note of these examples and bring this with them to the aquarium as a guide.

2. During the aquarium tour, students will be given a printed map of the aquarium layout. They will practise using this map to navigate from one exhibit to another using methods they learned in their first practice with their teacher (e.g. from Shark Valley to the Dugong Island). Teachers can prompt questions such as:

• “What direction are we heading now?”

• “What is a natural feature we see in this exhibit?”

• “What is a human-made feature here?”

3. Back in the classroom, students will create their own map of the aquarium based on their recognition of the area using the practice they had previously. They should include at least four exhibit zones, use symbols, a title, and a legend. They can also draw arrows to indicate walking direction and label key animals or environments.

Assessment: Student-created maps assessed for use of symbols, labels, and ability to identify features of places. 

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Learning Experience 1 - RESOURCES

DIGITAL: SEA LIFE Sydney offers free 24/7 livestreams which are available to access through their website. These livestreams include observing the penguins and feeding the sharks. Additionally, the aquarium's website offers a range of activities available to download, including "what's for lunch?" where students can match photos of specific creatures to the food that they eat. Students can complete these tasks either prior or post the trip. These resources will enhance their knowledge and may provoke inquiry questions surrounding the aquarium and its inhabitants. The resources also support differentiated learning as students can learn at their own pace and they include trial and error for learning progress. 

VISUAL: Similarly, the SEA LIFE website offers a range of excursion worksheets, available for teachers to download and distribute among students. These worksheets can be completed during the guide of the centre or even after the visit is completed. Worksheets cover topics such as habitats and animal features and include key inquiry questions, vocabulary, pre and post visit activities, fun facts about the animals there as well as many more features. Students are able to use the written information as well as the visuals of marine habitats to assist them in accurately designing their own habitat. 

Learning Experience 2 - RESOURCES

PHYSICAL: Ocean triorama is a physical, three‑dimensional diorama kit (tri‑orama) that lets students build a layered model of a marine environment. The kit provides base panels, cut‑out marine life and habitat elements (e.g. seaweed, fish, coral, substrate) that can be arranged in the three layers (foreground, middle, background). Students can use this as a tactile mapping tool: each layer can represent different “zones” (e.g. shallow reef, mid‑water, deep sea) and they can physically arrange features to represent their map. The tri‑orama also helps students visualise spatial relationships (which animals live near which features) and choose symbols for their maps.

WEB-BASED: A web-based resource available for teachers to use can be accessed at the National Geographic Kids site through their learning tool "Marine Life of Australia's Coast". This online resource introduces students to creatures (e.g. humpback whales, parrotfish, octopus, corals) that live around Australia’s coastline, and includes maps and mapping tasks (e.g. tracing migration routes, locating habitats) integrated into the content. This resource supports inquiry-based learning as students are able to make decisions about what to display on their maps. It also supports visual and interactive engagement through the tools which are offered on the site, also encouraging digital learning skills.

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Critical Reflection

The use of SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium as a community resource offers a powerful, authentic learning experience that supports both the conceptual strands of the HaSS (Humanities and Social Sciences) curriculum and the development of core geographical and historical thinking skills in Stage 1 students. Aligned with the Australian Curriculum’s focus on inquiry-based learning, the aquarium functions not only as a place of environmental discovery but as a pedagogical tool that enhances conceptual understanding, student engagement, and curriculum integration.

Through the learning experiences “Design a Habitat” and “Mapping Our Marine World,” students engage deeply with the geography strand of the HaSS curriculum. Specifically, they address outcomes such as HSI-GEO-01, which centres on understanding how people connect to and care for places and environments. By observing real marine habitats and interacting with live species, students move from abstract understandings of "place" to concrete, sensory-rich experiences. This supports the development of spatial awareness, environmental responsibility, and critical thinking (Taylor, Fahey, Kriewaldt, & Boon, 2012).

Field-based experiences such as excursions are widely recognised as crucial to the development of place-based learning in geography education. Rickinson et al. (2004) emphasise the long-term cognitive and emotional benefits of outdoor learning, noting that such experiences promote deeper learning, empathy, and sustained interest in environmental topics. The SEA LIFE Aquarium, with its immersive exhibits like the Great Barrier Reef and Penguin Expedition, provides precisely this type of authentic, embodied learning opportunity.

Importantly, the resource supports the conceptual strands of HaSS through knowledge, understanding, and inquiry. Students investigate the needs of animals (cause and effect), spatial distribution (location and place), and conservation (sustainability and stewardship), which reflect broader HaSS concepts. The inclusion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives - acknowledging the Gadigal people as traditional custodians of the land - further aligns with the cross-curriculum priority of embedding Indigenous knowledge and understandings.

From a pedagogical standpoint, the resource also supports differentiated and multimodal teaching. The digital tools provided on SEA LIFE’s website (e.g. livestreams, interactive worksheets) allow students to learn at their own pace and revisit information, supporting varied learning styles and reinforcing content through multiple exposures. The use of visual worksheets, physical tri-oramas, and interactive mapping platforms like National Geographic Kids promotes visual, tactile, and digital literacy - key 21st-century learning skills (Beetham & Sharpe, 2013).

These multimodal resources also align with Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory of learning, which posits that students learn best when they are actively engaged, collaborating, and working within their Zone of Proximal Development (Vygotsky, 1978). The group tasks - such as creating habitat models and maps - promote cooperative learning, discussion, and justification of ideas, all of which are foundational to HaSS inquiry skills.

In conclusion, SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium serves not merely as a community-based excursion site, but as a dynamic educational resource that effectively supports the teaching and learning of the HaSS curriculum. It fosters conceptual understanding, integrates geographical inquiry with sustainability education, and engages students through rich, multimodal experiences. By combining experiential learning with digital and physical resources, it encourages students to become curious, informed, and active participants in their learning and in caring for the world around them.

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