Royal Australian Mint, Canberra, for Stage 2

Further to our unit on Financial Literacy, here are some useful Youtube clips about the Royal Australian Mint in the ACT (Australian Capital Territory) for Stage 2 students.

A tourist interprets the displays and machinery at the Mint:

Royal Australian Mint

The current range of commemorative and collectible coins are showcased here:

Royal Australian Mint 2012 Product Launch

A tourism specialist has prepared this narrative-free, persuasive clip about the Mint’s experiences available for visitors:

Royal Australian Mint – grasshoppertravel.com

Although this clip is about the 2008 coin releases, it has several sequences which illustrate the processes of coin design and manufacture:

Royal Australian Mint 2008 Products Launch

The original tourist, from the first clip, mints her own commemorative $1 coin. (Spend $3.00 to create $1.00!)

Making Money at Royal Australian Mint

Who will buy?

Stage 2 students are studying the topic “Who will buy?” The TaLe learning object, Fish market: explore trading is gain proving popular with the students, who are playing it on IWBs and at home. It is code X01DI on the Tale4Students site. They enjoy attempting to secure a rare fizzer tropical fish.

Fizzer
Buy and sell fish in trading markets in a range of Australian and New Zealand cities. Compare market prices, supply and demand. Explore a range of traders to find the best deals and open up new markets. Find a rare fish. Maximise your profit and reputation as a smart trader. This learning object is the first in a series of two objects that progressively increase in difficulty.

This Youtube video clip about a toy hovercraft uses persuasive language techniques to encourage children to want the product:

Buy me that: Helping kids understand toy ads

Magic Art Reproducer

After seeing this advertisement in US comics over many, many years, Magic Art Reproducer finally turned up in a local Magnamail mail order catalogue. Mr McLean’s mother agreed to order him one for his birthday (he was about 14), and the result was very underwhelming, especially the tiny box it arrived in! While it appears to be a large, commercial overhead projector (only just starting to become popular in schools in the 70s), it was extremely tiny and required no power source to operate.

The ad misleadingly shows the artists using the device from a distance, but the barely-visible superimposed image you are supposed to trace can only be seen on the paper if you press your eye to the viewer. (Then you can’t really control your pencil very well.) Mr McLean’s device had a hairline crack in the base, where the upright pole was supposed to connect, so there was enough wobble to be annoying. When copying a 2D artwork, the source material had to be pinned upside down on a wall. It was hopeless trying to get enough light to fall on a 3D object. The trickiest thing was directing light across the source material to illuminate the image clearly – he spent a long time trying to direct a goosenecked desk lamp at the right angle (that he had to return to to his Dad’s desk as soon as possible).

Mr McLean used the device once, then hid it in a drawer.

All downhill from here!

The penultimate batch(?) of completed persuasive slideshows: Guided Inquiry Endangered animals (Stage 3 science & technology).


by Harry & Olivia


by Maria, Kira, Elyse & Tori


by Hamish & Amber


by Raina, Kahn, Elias & Jaymz


by Nicole, Emily, Binta & Kayla

Enjoy! Share! And please feel free to comment.

As mentioned previously, just a few points to consider with Photo Peach: Use it as judiciously as you would a series of Youtube clips. Don’t permit students to do open browsing; Photo Peach is a Web 2.0 facility that is open to anyone, and the slideshows are “unrated”. Also, if you notice that new comments have been added to a slideshow you’ve made, please preview the slideshow again before using it with students so you can monitor (and moderate/remove) unwanted comments. (Or close off comments altogether.) Consider a subscription to Photo Peach, which enables you to add your own or Creative Commons music, a wider range of transitions, and the capacity to download slideshows to your hard drive, web space or a CD.

Latest persuasive presentations

A few more groups of Stage 3 students have completed their persuasive slideshows from the storyboards they created in Term 2: Guided Inquiry Endangered animals (Stage 3 science & technology).


by Suresa, Emma, Sarah & Lily


by Tahlia, Christina, Corey, Angela & Christian


by Chloe, Cecelia & Marcya


by Jayde G & Rhys

Enjoy! Share! And please feel free to comment.

As mentioned previously, just a few points to consider with Photo Peach: Use it as judiciously as you would a series of Youtube clips. Don’t permit students to do open browsing; Photo Peach is a Web 2.0 facility that is open to anyone, and the slideshows are “unrated”. Also, if you notice that new comments have been added to a slideshow you’ve made, please preview the slideshow again before using it with students so you can monitor (and moderate/remove) unwanted comments. (Or close off comments altogether.) Consider a subscription to Photo Peach, which enables you to add your own or Creative Commons music, a wider range of transitions, and the capacity to download slideshows to your hard drive, web space or a CD.

Four more for the road!

Just in time for the last school day of Term 2, here are four more Guided Inquiry Endangered animals (Stage 3 science & technology).


by Max, Mikahla & Kaelin


by Naomi, Bernise & Quinn


by Monique, Courtney, Patrick & Milo


by Tristan & Luke
Compare the above slideshow with the students’ original storyboard.

Enjoy! Share! And please feel free to comment.

As mentioned previously, just a few points to consider with Photo Peach: Use it as judiciously as you would a series of Youtube clips. Don’t permit students to do open browsing; Photo Peach is a Web 2.0 facility that is open to anyone, and the slideshows are “unrated”. Also, if you notice that new comments have been added to a slideshow you’ve made, please preview the slideshow again before using it with students so you can monitor (and moderate/remove) unwanted comments. (Or close off comments altogether.) Consider a subscription to Photo Peach, which enables you to add your own or Creative Commons music, a wider range of transitions, and the capacity to download slideshows to your hard drive, web space or a CD.

Twice more, with puppets

My bargain store collection of endangered animal puppets is getting a work out this week. Here are our next two Guided Inquiry Endangered animals (Stage 3 science & technology).


by Kaleece, Zohra, Kodi & Sulieti


by Jade, Lauren & Kiesha

Once again, enjoy! Share! And please feel free to comment. More slideshows will appear as the term comes to a close. Please see the previous post re using Photo Peach with students.

More, more, more!

Here are some more Guided Inquiry Endangered animals (Stage 3 science & technology); three more of the students’ digital slideshows have now been uploaded to the world.


by Monica, Jacob & Caleb


by Zain, Will & Rhianna


by Jayde J., Madilyne & Ben

Enjoy! Share! And please feel free to comment. More slideshows will appear as the term comes to a close.

As mentioned previously, just a few points to consider with Photo Peach: Use it as judiciously as you would a series of Youtube clips. Don’t permit students to do open browsing; Photo Peach is a Web 2.0 facility that is open to anyone, and the slideshows are “unrated”. Also, if you notice that new comments have been added to a slideshow you’ve made, please preview the slideshow again before using it with students so you can monitor (and moderate/remove) unwanted comments. (Or close off comments altogether.) Consider a subscription to Photo Peach, which enables you to add your own or Creative Commons music, a wider range of transitions, and the capacity to download slideshows to your hard drive, web space or a CD.

Stage 3 Guided Inquiry: almost there!

Well, we are finally on the downhill stretch for our Guided Inquiry Endangered animals (Stage 3 science & technology). After weeks of being immersed in the concepts – and being exposed to, and evaluating, any number of professional, persuasive texts and images – and then several more weeks of individual research, and then the designing of group-negotiated storyboards, the first three of the students’ digital slideshows have now been uploaded to the world:


by Trent, Michelle & Latisha
Compare the above slideshow with the students’ original storyboard.


by Tamara, Nandita & Riley
Compare the above slideshow with the students’ original storyboard.


by Jeremy, Lisa, Kayla, Emily & Phoebe
Compare the above slideshow with the students’ original storyboard.

Enjoy! Share! And please feel free to comment. More slideshows will appear as the term comes to a close.

By the way, just a few points to consider with Photo Peach: Use it as judiciously as you would a series of Youtube clips. Don’t permit students to do open browsing; Photo Peach is a Web 2.0 facility that is open to anyone, and the slideshows are “unrated”. Also, if you notice that new comments have been added to a slideshow you’ve made, please preview the slideshow again before using it with students so you can monitor (and moderate/remove) unwanted comments. (Or close off comments altogether.) Consider a subscription to Photo Peach, which enables you to add your own or Creative Commons music, a wider range of transitions, and the capacity to download slideshows to your hard drive, web space or a CD.

Persuasive examples

Stage 2 students are chugging along with preparing their “Why is my body part important?” skits/speeches/presentations and I wanted a few more examples of persuasive media from Youtube:


Bill Nye the science guy – “Whatta brain”


How many germs actually live on your hands?

Since none of the groups were able to choose the brain (we’d all agreed it was already “the most important body part”), and no one was tackling anything related to handwashing and germs, these clips should be motivational for the groups formulating their oral presentations. We’ve also discussed the elements of persuasive texts and images, and popular television game shows where individuals are eliminated after having to “perform” a task for a panel of judges. How will the groups ensure that their body part(s) can be “more important”?