A virtual visit behind the scenes in Palaeontology
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Audience
Children and families, Primary school, Teachers -
Learning stage
Stage 2, Stage 3 -
Learning area
English, Science, Technology -
Type
Learning resources
On this page...
Inspire your students with this virtual tour behind the scenes to visit the Palaeontology collection at the Australian Museum. Using fossils from extinct animals in the Australian Museum collection, students will investigate classification and adaptations. They will meet our experts, view the collections, and find out about scientific technologies used to research palaeontology. Enjoy the experience through your web browser or download the Situ360 app and enter the code cd3ef6 to view in virtual reality.
Using your browser
You can explore the Australian Museum's spaces using your browser. Navigate the experience by clicking and dragging with your mouse. The experience works best when using Google Chrome.
To find out about the palaeontology collections, fossils, scientific technologies and our experts, click on the pictures to watch videos, the book to read glossaries, or the icons to move through to the next room.
Using virtual reality
Download the Situ360 app on your phone and enter the code cd3ef6 to go to behind the scenes in palaeontology. Distribute phones and headsets to your students to explore the Museum's spaces in VR.
The app is available on the Google Play Store.
You will be introduced to this behind the scenes experience by Mat and Fiona from our Education team. They will welcome you to the Museum in the Crystal Hall and help you get familiar with the controls!
Once you make it to 200 Treasures of the Australian Museum in the Westpac Long Gallery, Dr Matthew McCurry and Dr Patrick Smith will introduce you to their research areas in vertebrate and invertebrate palaeontology. Follow them to go behind the scenes in the collection and learn more.
Finally, in the Workshop, you can learn more from Matt, Pat and Thomas about drilling, transport, scanning and digitisation of the collection.
Through this virtual experience, students will:
- learn about vertebrate and invertebrate palaeontology and relevant fossils.
- understand animal adaptations and investigate how the structural features of extinct animals supported their survival.
- learn how palaeontologists group extinct living things.
- compare features of living things and relevant fossils.
NSW curriculum outcomes: ST2-4LW-S and ST3-4LW-SA
This experience was completed in partnership with the Technology 4 Learning (T4L) team at the NSW Department of Education. A very special thanks to Laurens, Jacob, Eric and Anh from T4L.
If you are interested in this experience, you can learn more about the collaboration between the Australian Museum and T4L here. You can also find out how to support your students to produce their own films and develop their an experience of their own.
