Educational Activities

Schools can benefit greatly from Canberra’s open spaces, which are well positioned to assist teachers explore the natural surrounds in a meaningful way through the school curriculum.

Get Out There! Exploring Canberra’s Parks

The activities in the following Teaching Packs are designed to support the Every Chance to Learn: Curriculum Framework for ACT Schools P-10 and encourage education about and in Canberra’s parks and open spaces. 

• Years K-6 Teaching Pack ( PDF 1.2 Mb)
• Years 7-10 Teaching Pack ( PDF 1.1 Mb)

Birrigai Outdoor School

Birrigai Outdoor School (also known as ‘Birrigai at Tidbinbilla’) offers a range of dynamic experiential day and residential programs that support the Australian Curriculum, particularly in relation to the cross-curriculum priority, ‘Sustainability’.  Programs aim at fostering positive action for the environment and promoting community awareness and responsibility.  Professional development for school staff groups and courses for the corporate and community sectors are also available.  Contact Birrigai on 02 6205 6748 or email Birrigai@tidbinbilla.com.au for more information

• Birrigai @ Tidbinbilla: Situated next to Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve 45 minutes from the city centre, Birrigai offers excellent facilities and services (including on-site catering and accommodation for up to 198 people) in a picturesque bushland setting with an abundance of native wildlife. A range of exciting learning programs include Indigenous studies, wetland ecology and biodiversity, endangered species and early settlers’ history.
• Birrigai @ Australian National Botanic Gardens: Situated adjacent to the City centre, the focus of this program is on early childhood and an introduction to environmental education.  Booking subject to availability at the site.  

Further infomation on Tidbinbilla  is found here

Australian Alps Education Kit 

There are eleven national parks and reserves in the Australian Alps that cross State and Territory borders, collectively known as the Australian Alps national parks. The Australian Alps Education Kit  was produced by the Australian Alps Liaison Committee to help increase awareness of the Australian Alps, and is primarily intended as a resource for Secondary School Teachers and Students in New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory and Victoria.

The Value of Parks

The Value of Parks is a publication produced by Parks Forum, the industry peak body for parks management agencies throughout Australia and New Zealand. The publication outlines the value of parks, contains stunning pictures and the language level is suitable for use with confident readers.

Feral Focus

Feral Focus provides teachers with a web based education resource which explains the characterisitcs of pest animals and the complexities of dealing with them in Australia. All activities, interactive problem solving scenarios, debates and detailed research projects present links to current Science and SOSE curriculum profiles. This resource was produced by the Institute for Applied Ecology at the University of Canberra.

Further infomation and educational ideas

• Links to other Park Agencies