Minibeasts live in the Ecolinc wetland and surrounding grassland. The term ‘minibeasts’ covers a wide range of small animal species including macroinvertebrates found in the Ecolinc wetland, and compost critters found in the Ecolinc compost bin. Sampling and identifying minibeasts provides opportunities for students to observe a range of animal species, features and behaviours.

Warning: Students will be handling compost in this program. Whilst students will be wearing gloves and all care is taken, students may come across egg shells, nuts and other food waste products. If students have a known allergy to any food items, please ensure that you advise the Ecolinc Education Officer taking this session.

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Key Learning Question

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Learning Intentions

In this activity students will:

• Understand the terms living things, minibeast and habitat
• Learn that minibeasts live in different habitats and have a variety of external features to survive in these habitats.

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Activities

Students will:

• Explore the Ecolinc wetland and grassland trail to find minibeast habitats
• Identify a range of wetland macroinvertebrates and their features
• Identify a range of compost bugs and their features
• Design a bug to suit a particular habitat and discuss the features that enable them to survive.

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Victorian Curriculum

Science – Biological sciences

• Living things have a variety of external features and live in different places where their basic needs, including food, water and shelter, are met (VCSSU042 [1])
• Living things grow, change and have offspring similar to themselves (VCSSU043 [2])

Science – Science Inquiry Skills

• Participate in guided investigation, including making observations using the sense, to explore and answer questions (VCSIS051 [3])

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Learning Continuum

The following Learning Continuum is a guide for teachers to show the links between the programs Ecolinc offers onsite, online and through outreach. The Learning Continuum can be used to access Ecolinc resources to support the development of units of work.

Ecolinc Learn Online [4] is an online learning management system offering interactive online courses for students and teachers. These courses can be undertaken either as a pre-visit, post-visit or stand-alone. Students are encouraged to do the pre-learning course before coming to Ecolinc for an onsite program.

Outreach programs are conducted by an Ecolinc education officer at your school. They are available to moderately disadvantaged primary schools in the Geelong, Ballarat and western suburbs areas (or within 100km radius from Bacchus Marsh)

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