Biological Diversity Study Days 2024

Provide your students with an opportunity to explore complex aspects of this topic by engaging in inspiring activities with New South Wales' top scientific institutions.

Students will examine fossils, specimens, live animals and plants to understand biological diversity by explaining the relationships between a range of organisms in terms of specialisation for selected habitats and evolution of species.

This program has been developed by the Botanic Gardens of Sydney, Australian Museum and Taronga Zoo to meet aspects of the New South Wales Stage 6 Biology Syllabus for Module 3: Biological Diversity. The 2024 program will take place in five locations around New South Wales as well as a virtual excursion via Zoom. Read more about each location, find a program date and book a session on the Australian Museum website.

Students will spend half the day (two 60-minute sessions) at the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney, and the other half (two 60-minute sessions) at the Australian Museum. There is a 60-minute break for lunch and walk between the venues.

Botanic Gardens of Sydney educator-led session where students engage in field work using the site’s Eucalypt specimens to examine the role of divergent evolution in biological diversity. In learning about the way plant species are identified and classified and observing their adaptations, students develop an understanding of biological diversity and the theory of evolution.

Taronga Zoo educator-led session provides students the opportunity to engage with live animals while learning about the Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection. They will explore the impacts that selection pressures have on population dynamics. Students will discover how adaptations increase an organism’s chance of survival while interacting with a selection of Australian animals.

Australian Museum educator-led session where students investigate fossils, skeletons and DNA data from Australian animals to learn how comparative anatomy and genetics support the Theory of Evolution.

Australian Museum self-led session where students will be given an inquiry-based task centred in the Wild Planet exhibition. The task will require students to use deductive reasoning and their working scientifically skills to investigate extinct and extant specimens.