Speak with anyone who grew up in Australia during the 1970’s and 1980’s and they’ll remember the Curiosity Show! From 1972 to 1990, Deanne Hutton and Rob Morrison astounded audiences across Australia with explanations of strange phenomena and curious science with memorable demonstrations using household items. There were plenty of times when I would be begging my parents to get materials together after watching a segment of the show!
The brilliance came from the show’s simplicity, where there was no need for special effects or high energy presentations. Both Deanne and Rob brought authenticity to their presentations, where a measured rhythm and an inquisitive tone combined with top-notch experiments was all that was needed to engage kids of all ages. Let’s be honest, adults loved the Curiosity Show too!
I’m absolutely certain that the show inspired me to be involved in teaching science. More importantly, it helped me always to remember to include simple experiments in every school workshop or show, not just the whizz-bang ones. Additionally, creating a sense of wonder whilst being clear in communication was something that the presenters on the show were masters of. They didn’t cause additional confusion and were able to explain concepts simply and effectively.
On reflecting on the impact of the Curiosity Show, I suspect that there are thousands of teachers across the country who were at least indirectly influenced by the content let alone directly. In Australia, we often remember the great Julius Sumner Miller or still listen in awe to Dr Karl Kruszelnicki AM on ABC radio. Considering how influential the Curiosity Show was, I believe that the team that pulled together the show for nearly two decades also have their special place in Australian science communication.
So, what does this mean for us as teachers? Emulate the greats!
- Think about how your lesson structure helps the learner understand the concept.
- Can you use simple materials to help students connect with the content?
- Does your lesson overly rely on theatrics? Often you can let science do the work for you!
- Include variable testing in your demonstrations.
If we can keep these ideas in mind as educators, our work in inspiring the new generation of students will have that much more impact.
Brilliant work!
Calendar of Events
HIGH SCHOOL Science@Home 4-Week Membership 12PM: March 2024
Feb 26, 2024 - Mar 29, 2024
12PM - 12PM
Price: $50 - $900
PRIMARY Science@Home 4-Week Membership 2PM: March 2024
Feb 26, 2024 - Mar 22, 2024
2PM - 2PM
Price: $50 - $900
Light and Colour Online Workshop, Jan 18 PM
Jan 18, 2024
2PM - 3PM
Price: $50
Light and Colour Online Workshop, Jan 18 AM
Jan 18, 2024
9AM - 11AM
Price: $50
Lego Robotics, Sydney Olympic Park Jan 2024
Jan 24, 2024
9AM - 12PM
Price: $50
Creative Coding, Sydney Olympic Park Jan 2024
Jan 24, 2024
1PM - 4PM
Price: $50
Creative Coding, Sydney Olympic Park July 11 2023
Jul 11, 2023
9AM - 4PM
Price: $100
Fizzics Education STEAM Day: Robots vs Dinosaurs, Lalor, Apr 14
Apr 14, 2023
9AM - 12PM
Price: $45 - $50
Creative Coding, Sydney Olympic Park April 14 2023
Apr 14, 2023
9AM - 4PM
Price: $100
Science@Home After School 4-Week Membership: March 2023
Mar 06, 2023 - Mar 31, 2023
4PM - 5PM
Price: $40 - $1200
Featured Articles
Topics
- Books [3]
- Farming [1]
- Outdoors [36]
- Sport [8]
- careers [11]
- UN SDGs [4]
- collaboration [1]
- Engineering [4]
- US Education [1]
- China [1]
- Food [5]
- Outreach [35]
- STEM [230]
- Physics [6]
- Global [2]
- K to 2 education [1]
- Virtual reality [2]
- citizen science [1]
- Churchill Fellowship [19]
- Gaming [8]
- Ozscied [2]
- Teaching [267]
- Chemistry [5]
- International [1]
- Photography [1]
- Play [1]
- numeracy [1]
- Cleveland [1]
- Gifted [7]
- Podcasts [119]
- Television [2]
- design thinking [8]
- Chinese student visits [1]
- Parenting [4]
- preservice teaching [5]
- Higher order thinking [1]
- Club [4]
- History [4]
- Pop Culture [4]
- Toys & Gadgets [1]
- project-based learning [5]
- Science & Technology Camps [1]
- Lesson ideas [1]
- Comedy [2]
- Philosophy [1]
- Coding [14]
- Indigenous [3]
- Preschool [24]
- Video Conferencing [40]
- family [2]
- Design [2]
- Lab Tech [1]
- math [1]
- Pakistan [1]
- Cooking [3]
- Kids [36]
- Remote Education [18]
- Virtual Excursions [9]
- Inclusive education [6]
- Oceans [6]
- Leadership [1]
- Electricity [1]
- Agritech [1]
- Dinosaurs [7]
- Kids Parties [5]
- Robotics [12]
- Edutech [26]
- Classroom management [1]
- video conference [1]
- special needs [1]
- scholarship [1]
- Botany [1]
- Apps [11]
- Distance Education [52]
- Kitchen Chemistry [7]
- Safety [2]
- Distance Learning [19]
- Student encouragement [2]
- online [5]
- image [1]
- Africa [1]
- English [1]
- Agriculture [4]
- Eastershow [2]
- Maker Space [11]
- Scicomm [141]
- primary education [46]
- STEAM [10]
- virtual [2]
- gamification [2]
- Asia Pacific [1]
- Art [17]
- Edchat [223]
- Maths [14]
- Scied [34]
- literacy [8]
- Higher education [4]
- Child online safety [1]
- Esports [1]
- Easter [1]
- Augmented Reality [4]
- Edtech [68]
- Media [18]
- Science [6]
- secondary education [45]
- teacher [1]
- dis [0]
- biotechnology [1]
- curriculum [2]
- AussieED [1]
- Education [215]
- Museums [31]
- Science News [4]
- Christmas [1]
- Vacation care [1]
- Film [1]
- computational thinking [2]
- high [1]
- Awards [14]
- Educhange [5]
- Music [3]
- Social Media [8]
- experiments [6]
- middle school [2]
- Inquiry-based learning [5]
- digital technologies [5]
- Earth science [1]
- Big History [1]
- Environment [39]
- NASA [6]
- Soils [1]
- seasonal [1]
- Artificial Intelligence [4]
- List [1]
- Games [1]
- Medicine [1]
- Biology [44]
- Events [45]
- National Science Week [3]
- Space Science [34]
- competitions [13]
- Sustainability [12]
- Student investigation [2]
- Social Emotional Learning [3]
- CAST test [1]
Comments