Page 1 of 12

Birrigai Learning Descriptors The following pages offer brief descriptions of the core Birrigai program offerings. Specialised or tailored programs can be negotiated to ensure your visit maximises learning outcomes for your students.

Environment Heritage Outdoor Adventure Birrigai @ Tidbinbilla Biodiversity – Protecting Life on Earth Bushwalk Carbon Cycle Hey, Frog! Enviro Trail Grassland Detectives Indigenous Perspectives – Grass Trees and Bogong Moths Sustainability Challenge Teddy Bears’ Picnic Time Trek Web of Life Wetland Wonders Wetland Friends Wetland Connections Wetland Detectives

Early Settlers Life on the Diggings Gold Rush Democracy Day

Abseiling Campfires Crate Climb Escape from Bull Ant Flat Flying Fox Giant Swing Glider Possum Leap of Faith Low Ropes New Leaders Photo Orienteering Team Initiatives Team Rescue Vertical Playpen & Dangle Duo

Page 2 of 12

Birrigai @ Tidbinbilla (Foundation – Adult)

Birrigai can deliver a range of programs at Tidbinbilla, including wetland ecology, Ngunnawal knowledge and early settler heritage.

Visit the Sanctuary @ Tidbinbilla. The ‘Sanctuary’ is a world class wetland environment that provides an insight into the natural world. Get a ‘duck’s eye view’ of the wetlands in the below water-level weir, search for platypus along the boardwalk, scramble over the granite outcrops, see research in action at the Vet centre and get up close and personal with our reptiles. It may be possible to catch a glimpse of a platypus and find out about its unique features.

Biodiversity: Protecting Life on Earth (Years 3-6) Take on the role of a scientist and investigate habitat health in a small area at Birrigai. Collect real data and discover the meaning of biodiversity in a fun and engaging way. Catch insects and use our excellent microscopes to take a closer look. Learn about the threats to biodiversity and how to protect life on earth.

Bushwalk (Foundation – adult) Explore the bush at Birrigai and Tidbinbilla, rich in biodiversity. Find out about the amazing flora, fauna and geology of the area. Build a connection with the natural world through drawing, earth walk activities, history of the Ngunnawal Peoples. Visit the granite tors for breathtaking views and explore the sheltered caves. There is also an orienteering challenge using either photo clues and /or compass directions.

Page 3 of 12

Carbon Cycle

(Years 3-6) Carbon is the building block of life. Join in a carbon cycle game as the atmosphere, a herbivore or a plant and act out the carbon cycle. Molecules are built and split as they are cycled around. Find out what happens to the natural system when extra carbon dioxide is introduced.

Calculate how much carbon dioxide is stored in a tree by completing a tree passport. Explore the importance of soil as a carbon store, mimic the action of weathering and erosion to create your very own soil.

Grassland Detectives (Years 2 – 6) Discover the connections between the grasslands, wildflowers and insects. Use a net to explore the insect biodiversity of the grassland habitat. Use our wonderful microscopes to have a closer look at the special features of the plants and insects of the grasslands. Shake a tree and investigate the rich variety of leaf dwelling bugs.

Hey, Frog! (Years 3-4) The amazing Northern Corroboree Frog is an endangered frog from our region. Play a dynamic game to find out what threatens the frogs’ survival, how the threats can be reversed and what can be done to help. Visit the Tidbinbilla Visitors Centre to view the frog. Listen for frogs at the Sanctuary and learn about the successful breeding program that has been established there.

Indigenous Perspectives – Grass Trees & Bogong Moths (Year 2 – Adult)

Could you survive in a mini Ice Age living off the land and sheltering under massive granite boulders?

Learn why Tidbinbilla is a significant place for Ngunnawal Peoples for over 20,000 years. Discover bush food and medicines and learn how to find an animal by observing tracks and scats. Learn about the amazing Bogong moths and their flight to the mountains each year.

Sustainability Challenge (Years 3 - 6) Through the construction of bolt- together cubbies, work as a team to explore clean energy alternatives. Make choices and complete tasks to enhance cubby sustainability. Visit the Learn and Earn table with innovative energy saving ideas. Explain team choices to the Sustainability Inspectors and receive an energy rating for your cubby. Find out how sustainable futures are shaped by our behaviours and how our actions impact on the earth.

Time Trek (Years 3 - 5) Investigate the history of life on the planet and discover how the earth has changed over time. As a team set up a camp and earn the Earth Key and map. Dig up a time capsule and present your findings to a famous scientist from the past. Link your discoveries to the magnificent Birrigai mosaic, ‘This Planet we Share’, and find the matching symbol.

Page 4 of 12

Web of Life (Year 3 – 7)

The Web of Life simulation game is one of the most popular environmental activities at Birrigai.

The game explores the interrelationships between animals and Australian ecosystems and examines the effect of disturbances as they resonate throughout the whole food chain.

The Web of Life simulation game could be incorporated into a module on environmental education, sustainability, ecology, Australian flora and fauna, native and introduced animals.

Wetland Wonders (Preschool) Have fun exploring wetland environments and the animals that live there. Build a model wetland with an ecology kit and develop techniques for catching and identifying macro invertebrates in a safe environment. Use our wonderful microscopes to see water bugs up close. Join in a picnic with the some of the wetland animals and find out what they like to eat.

Wetland Friends (Foundation – Year 2) Investigate wetland habitats with a particular emphasis on animal adaptations. Play the relay game ‘Match the beak’ and learn how each bird has a beak specially adapted to catch or collect its food. Discover the wetlands on a binocular walk and dip in the water to catch macro invertebrates. Use our wonderful microscopes to discover how the water bugs are adapted to live in the wetlands. Find out how they breathe, move and eat. Model a clay animal with special features to live in the wetlands.

Page 5 of 12

Wetland Connections (Years 3 - 4)

Explore wetland food webs and interrelationships. Join in an animal identification walk and discover some of the amazing wetland creatures using binoculars. Become a wetland animal and get tangled up in a model web of life. Find out who eats whom in the wetland food chains.

Catch macro invertebrates and investigate them under our amazing microscopes. Learn ways to care for wetland ecosystems

Wetland Detectives (Years 5 - 6) Collect evidence to assess the health of the water system. A guided walk through the wetlands, water testing and a quantitative and qualitative assessment of the macro-invertebrates will assist you to make this assessment. Use the microscopes to identify species. Examine the ecological role of wetlands and the need to conserve such ecosystems.

Teddy Bears’ Picnic @ the Botanic Gardens (Kindergarten) Bring your Teddies to discover what they and all animals need to survive in the bush! Play Teddy Bear Tag and Musical Trees to learn how trees provide us with the needs of life. Go on a special kind of bushwalk and use your senses to explore the bush around you. Don’t lose your Teddy or you will have to go on a hunt to find them! Enjoy a picnic under the shady trees with your Ted and friends. End the day by planting a seed because you now know what we need to do to make sure we always have trees.

Page 6 of 12

Environmental Trail @ Birrigai or the Botanic Gardens

(Years 1 and 2) Learn how the sun is necessary for all life on earth. Discover the perils our native animals face by playing the ‘Cat & Bilby’ game. Distinguish between our survival ‘needs’ and our ‘wishes & wants’ in an energetic relay game. Discover the smells, sounds and sights of the bush, home to our wonderful wildlife and plants. Take the role of an animal and search for your food & water in a mini ‘Web of Life’ game.

Early Settlers (Years 3-6) Experience the life of the early Australian explorers, facing the challenges of the new world. Join an expedition as a navigator, botanist, artist or geologist. Cook delicious damper, twisted on a stick, over an open fire. Role play a child in the old bush school room complete with slates and chalk. Fulfil the requirements of homesteaders in the new Settlement of Paddy’s River to receive your land grant. Work in teams to fence your land, put up a shelter and exchange your crops for supplies.

Life on the Diggings (Years 3-6) Pitch a tent on the ‘goldfields’ and try panning, cradling and prospecting for gold. Learn about the challenges faced by the women and Chinese miners at the diggings. Put on a costume and travel back in time to line up for school in the slab hut. Write with nibs and ink and play some of the old time games such as marbles and bush billiards. Build a camp fire and cook damper like the diggers. Visit the assay office and swap your gold for pounds and join in the trial of the bushranger accused of grand theft.

Page 7 of 12

Abseiling (Year 5 to adult)

Visit a spectacular rock face and experience the challenge by choice and peer support opportunities offered by an abseiling session. Various rock faces suitable for all year levels are easily accessible at or from Birrigai.

Build natural surface abseiling in to your group’s outdoor challenge program.

Campfires (Year 3 – adult) Building a campfire is a wonderful opportunity to work as a team. Learn how to become a master chef and cook damper twists to perfection. Discover the basics of fire safety and how to work together to complete the task.

Crate Climb (Year 4 – Adult) The Crate Climb involves two participants working together to build (and ascend) a tower of milk crates. Partners need to steady each other as they ascend, particularly as the tower grows in height. The remaining team members assist with construction from the ground. Each attempt at the Crate Climb is terminated when the tower topples. A typical attempt takes approximately eight minutes, allowing different partners in the group to have a go.

Page 8 of 12

Escape from Bull Ant Flat

(Year 2 – Adult)

Sharpen leadership, communication, cooperation and organisational skills as part of either the Sting or Pincer team. Personal qualities such as bravery, strength, balance, and stamina will be required to complete a series of 8 challenges including Knock- Ems and Rolling Thunder.

Points are earned for teamwork, lateral thinking, team support and encouragement, style and artistic movements.

Flying Fox (Year 3 – Adult) Flying Fox addresses active team participation and support for fellow team members. Flying Fox is a challenge-by-choice activity and operates on the principle of team haul-up. The participant is towed to a starting position of their choice, where they then activate a release rope to commence their ride along a cable. For Yr 6 – adult, groups may choose Flying Fox Off the Pole for a more individual challenge. Extra support harness available for students from Specialist Schools.

Giant Swing (Years 3-adult) Experience Birrigai’s exhilarating Swing-By-Choice. Participants choose the height they are hauled by their team and release themselves for a Swing allowing views over the Paddys River Valley to the Bullen ranges. Extra support harness available for students from Specialist Schools.

Page 9 of 12

Glider Possum (Year 3 – Adult)

The Glider Possum is an exciting high ropes activity resembling a giant pendulum in which the participant is first raised and lowered, and then swung into the air, resembling a “glider possum” in flight.

The element operates on the principle of team haul-up: a single participant is raised and lowered by a team of peers.

Extra support harness available for students from Specialist Schools.

Leap of Faith (Year 7 – Adult) The Leap of Faith activity provides a challenging culmination to an adventure training program. A single participant at a time climbs to a platform seven metres in height before leaping off the platform and attempting to touch a suspended ball.

Low Ropes (Year 4 – Adult) Low Ropes is a fantastic challenge-by- choice activity that develops trust and communication in small teams. Have fun working together to complete the nine elements that constitute the course. Swing on the bosuns’ chairs and balance on the swinging log. Learn the safety system and step out of your comfort zone in a supported environment.

Page 10 of 12

New Leaders (Year 5 - Adult)

Birrigai’s natural environment is a great setting for developing a true sense of team and leadership.

Experience opportunities to develop both team and self through planning, problem solving, decision making and goal setting in a fun, challenging and open way.

Step outside of your comfort zone, build trust and challenge your capabilities.

Page 11 of 12

Photo Orienteering (Year 3 – 6) Photo Orienteering is a fun, action packed activity focusing on cohesion and communication in a small team. Work in groups to complete as many orienteering courses as possible in the timeframe provided. To complete each course, teams must locate four orienteering clips using a sequence of photos from the surrounding landscape.

Team Initiatives (Year 3 – Adult) The Team Initiatives course is a dynamic way to learn about leadership, problem solving, cooperation and communication in small groups. Discuss ideas and formulate solutions to each of the initiatives and have fun putting the ideas into action.

Team Rescue (Years 3 – adult)

Using a rescue scenario, teams are challenged to negotiate a series of obstacles. Success requires a high level of cooperation and lateral thinking.

The level of challenge is set with reference to the age level and required outcomes sought by the group.

The Vertical Playpen & Dangle Duo

(Year 3 – Adult) The Vertical Playpen and the Dangle Duo (Giant Ladder) both operate with two participants ascending at once. Partners will need to assist each other as they climb the structure. The Dangle Duo in particular requires a large degree of cooperation between the two climbers. The remaining participants comprise the belay team with three people belaying each climber.

For more information about Birrigai programs and to see how they map against the Australian Curriculum,

go to our website at www.tidbinbilla.com.au/birrigai

Page 12 of 12