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©Australian Teacher
Creative and Original Thinking Suitable for whole-class discussion or as a writing exercise.
The Wise Crow (a fable of Aesop) It was a very hot day. A crow wanting to quench his thirst searched the forest but he could not
find water anywhere. “I’m going to die of thirst if I don’t find some water soon, ” he thought.
At last, he came across a pitcher at the edge of the forest. There was a little water in the bottom
of the pitcher. But the neck of the pitcher was very narrow. The crow could not reach the
water. The crow being very clever soon had a plan.
He went about collecting small stones and started to drop the stones inside the pitcher one by
one. Slowly the water in the pitcher started to rise, till it came up to the brim.
The crow was delighted. “At last I can quench my thirst,” thought the clever crow. He drank the
water from the pitcher and flew away happily.
Moral: Every problem has a solution.
Do you agree with the story’s moral that every problem has a solution or do you
think there are some problems that don’t? Back up your view with one or more
examples.
————————————————- Science and Technology Inventors and Inventions: Ideas and Methods If you want to invent, look at what is wrong with things you use now.
It is often said that every inventor dreams of making a better mousetrap.
The US Patent Office alone has more than 4 000 mouse-catching devices on file and patent
offices around the world continue to report the improved mousetrap as the most commonly
registered entry.
Many inventors lack the skills they need to let people know what they have created and why
their invention is better than previous inventions.
You may be able to invent without understanding reading, writing, maths, history and science.
However you are not likely to profit from inventing without sound skills in most of these areas.
©Australian Teacher
You need to be able to read well to learn new skills. A good idea is useless if you do not have the
writing skills to be able to tell other people how and why your invention is valuable. You often
need maths to figure out how to make your invention and you always need maths to figure out
the cost to make and sell the invention. You almost always need science to make the invention at
the lowest cost; it is important to be able to make the invention at a price that people can afford.
Before creating something you should meet with different people. Talk with them about how
they would use your invention. What do they like about it? What don’t they like about it? This
will help you decide if your invention is worth pursuing or not.
Talk about or Write about
(justify your responses with explanations and examples wherever possible)
1. Why might mousetraps be such a popular invention?
2. Apart from the mousetrap, can you think of another simple invention that inventors try to
continually improve?
3. If you were interested in inventing a machine that could clear city streets of litter more
effectively than current methods say which people you would need to speak with about your
proposed invention. Include those whose permission you may need as well as those whose
opinions you would seek regarding the positive and negative attributes of your device.
4. What could an inventor do if he/she was not skilled in marketing their invention?
5. If someone is planning on inventing a new type of golf club whose advice should they seek
prior to redesigning the current model?
—————————————————– Citizenship and Ethics Can of Oil Wherever he went, the old man carried it with him. If he found a door that was squeaking, he
would put a spot of oil on the hinges; if a neighbour’s sewing machine wasn’t running
smoothly, he was always ready with his oil can; and all the boys in the neighbourhood knew
whereto go if their bikes were needing attention.
As the old man went through life, he and his oil can were always there to make life pleasanter
and easier for those with whom he came into contact.
Perhaps some of the people we meet have problems that make their life difficult. And perhaps,
like that old man, we can lubricate it with the oil of kindness, gentleness and thoughtfulness.
If we have our own can of oil ready for such occasions, what a difference it can make!
Talk about or Write about
©Australian Teacher
1. What adjectives can you think of to describe the character of the old man with the can of oil?
2. The old man made others’ lives better by carrying around a can of oil. A person with a special
talent (drawing, singing, dancing, playing a musical instrument, ….) can enrich others’ lives and
lift their spirits by putting their talent on show willingly and freely, expecting nothing in return.
Do you know anyone -child or adult- who has done this? (if you don’t know of anyone personally
you may be able to think of a celebrity who has brought pleasure and joy to others).
3. The can of oil in this passage is used firstly in a literal sense and, at the end, in a metaphorical
way. What is the difference between literal and metaphorical?
4. Smiles, nice manners and random acts of kindness are three ways we can lubricate the lives of
others. What are random acts of kindness?
———————————————— English and Literacy Acrostic Poem An acrostic poem is a special kind of poem.
The fist line begins with the first letter of the title, the second line with the second letter of the
title, the third line with the third letter of the title, and so on.
Here is an example of an acrostic poem:
Storms Skimming the sky
The clouds build up
Over the mountains
Rain, thunder and lightning
Make people stay inside
See them listening and waiting
Now write your own acrostic poem, with a subject of your choice.
———————————————————- Society and Environment Europe
©Australian Teacher
Europe is one of the seven traditional continents.
Though it’s the second-smallest continent in area (Australia is smaller) it is the third-largest
(after Asia and Africa) in population.
Europe gets its name from Europa who was a princess in Greek mythology.
OriginallyEuropa stood for mainland Greece but by 500 BC its meaning had been extended to
lands to the north.
Eighty to ninety per cent of Europe was once covered by forests, which stretched from the
Mediterranean Sea to the Arctic Ocean.
Though over half of Europe’s original forests disappeared through the centuries of deforestation,
it still has over one quarter of its land area as forest.
Talk about or Write about (suggested solutions in grey)
1. What do you think might be a reason(s) why Europe, a small continent in area, has a large
population? suitable lands to cultivate and inhabit; (others)
2. What might have been the reason that the name Europa came to extend northwards from
Greece? Greek influence may have spread north
3. What do you think could have been reasons for Europe losing so much of its forests? people
needed more land for farming and settlement
4. What kind of animal and plant species may have been affected by Europe’s loss of
forest? birds, tree-dwelling mammals, plants needing shade, etc
©Australian Teacher
5. a) Perhaps you have a European heritage. Would you care to share that with us? b) Have you
visited Europe? If so, where did you go and what were some highlights?
———————————————————- Creative and Original Thinking Two Famous People Thomas Edison, one of the most prolific inventors in history, produced more than 1 000
inventions in his workshop in New Jersey, USA.
Edison’s desire was to create devices that could be useful to a majority of people.
He is credited with developing the phonograph, used to record and play back music. Another
invention attributed to Edison is the motion picture camera.
Probably Edison’s most famous invention is the light bulb, used all over the world in homes,
businesses, factories and towns.
————————————
Walt Disney, cartoonist, animator and film producer, created many unforgettable characters,
loved by children in lands near and far. Probably the most famous Disney characters are Mickey
Mouse, Donald Duck, Pluto and Goofy.
Walt Disney also made many outstanding films, including Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,
Jungle Book, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Cinderella, Treasure Island, The Shaggy Dog and
Pollyanna.
Disneyland theme parks, another initiative of Walt Disney, have given pleasure to millions of
families.
In your opinion which of these two men have made the most difference to
humans’ lives? How would the world be different without Edison’s
inventions? How important to people are Disney’s characters, films and theme
parks? Who do you think, Edison or Disney, would be more satisfied with their
contribution to humanity? Whose work would you have liked doing the most,
Edison’s or Disney’s?
———————————————— English and Literacy Poetry: Tarantella (Hilaire Belloc) Do you remember an Inn, Miranda?
Do you remember an Inn?
©Australian Teacher
And the tedding and the spreading
Of the straw for a bedding,
And the fleas that tease in the High Pyrenees,
And the wine that tasted of tar?
And the cheers and the jeers of the young muleteers
(Under the vine of the dark verandah)?
Do you remember an Inn, Miranda,
Do you remember an Inn?
And the cheers and the jeers of the young muleteeers
Who hadn’t got a penny,
And who weren’t paying any,
And the hammer at the doors and the Din?
And the Hip! Hop! Hap!
Of the clap
Of the hands to the twirl and the swirl
Of the girl gone chancing,
Glancing,
Dancing,
Backing and advancing,
Snapping of a clapper to the spin
Out and in –
And the Ting, Tong, Tang, of the Guitar.
Do you remember an Inn,
Miranda?
Do you remember an Inn?
Never more;
Miranda,
Never more.
Only the high peaks hoar:
And Aragon a torrent at the door.
No sound
In the walls of the Halls where falls
The tread
Of the feet of the dead to the ground
No sound:
But the boom
Of the far Waterfall like Doom.
Talk about or Write about
©Australian Teacher
-What is Tarantella about? -How is the poem similar to other poems?
-How is it different?
-Both rhyme and rhythm are strong features of Tarantella. What is the difference between
rhyme and rhythm? -Choosing two or three lines from the poem show by finger-tapping or hand-clapping how
Hillaire Belloc varies the rhythm.
Teachers may wish to ask their students about any techniques used by the poet (metaphors, similes, etc). Some may like students to make up their own
poem where the rhythm varies.
———————————————————- Mathematics and Numeracy Famous Mathematicians: Isaac Newton
Isaac Newton was born in England in on Christmas Day, 1642.
His father (also Isaac) was a farmer whose property and animals made him quite a wealthy man.
Isaac senior was completely uneducated and could not sign his own name.
©Australian Teacher
Isaac was orphaned at a very young age and was brought up by his grandmother. His childhood
was not at all a happy one. At school the young Newton was at first ‘idle and inattentive’ and
showed little interest. However, he soon developed a passion for making models of machines
such as clocks and windmills. As a young adult he began studying mathematics seriously and by
age 25 his work had revolutionised mathematics, optics and physics.
For example, after passing a thin beam of sunlight through a glass prism, Newton saw that light
can be broken down into a spectrum of colours; he argued that white light is really a mixture of
many different types of rays, each producing a different colour when refracted.
Newton’s greatest achievements were in physics, in particular concerning laws on motion and
gravity. He found that the gravity of the earth tends to pull the moon toward it but the
centrifugal force (caused by the motion of the moon around the earth) keeps the moon in its
orbit. Newton later asserted that the planets are attracted to the sun and, what’s more, all matter
attracts all other matter. It is the force of this attraction that we know as gravity.
Newton found that the force of gravity between two objects gets bigger as their masses increase
but smaller as the distance between them increases.
A person’s weight is the gravitational force between them and the planet they happen to be
standing on. If your mass should double, the gravitational force would double. The same would
be true if the mass of the planet you were standing on doubles.
On the other hand, the further you are from the centre of the planet, the weaker the pull
between the planet and your body, and this force gets weaker rapidly. If you double your
distance from the planet, the force is one fourth.
If you triple the distance, the force is one-ninth. Ten times the distance, one-hundredth the
force. See the pattern? The force drops off with the square of the distance.
Example 1: The force of gravity on the moon is 0.17 times the force of gravity on Earth. How
much would a 40kg person weigh on the moon? 40 x 0.17 = 6.8.
Solution: the person would weigh 6.8 kg on the moon. Example 2: If the gravitational pull exerted by the sun on the Earth is 100 units, what would the
gravitational pull exerted by the sun on the earth be if the Earth suddenly moved twice as far
away from the sun?
100 x ½ x ½ =25
Solution: the gravitational pull of the sun on Earth would be 25 units Challenge Questions:
1. The force of gravity on planet Jupiter is 2.5 times the force of gravity on Earth. How much
would a 60 kg person weigh on Jupiter?
©Australian Teacher
2. Jenny weighs 100 kg on Jupiter, which has 2.5 times the gravitational pull of Earth.
How much does Jenny weigh on Earth?
3. How much does Jenny weigh on Pluto, with a gravitational force only 0.06 times that of
Earth? 4. Jeremy’s mother would weigh 10 kg on the moon which has a gravitational force 0.17 times
that of Earth. How much does Jeremy’s mother weigh on Earth? 5. On Earth Bob weighs twice as much as Bill. How many times Bill’s weight would Bob be on
Jupiter which has 2.5 times Earth’s gravitational pull?
6. The gravitational pull of planet Jupiter on a huge asteroid is 90 units. How much would the
gravitational pull of Jupiter on the asteroid be if the asteroid tripled its distance from Jupiter?
7. As a comet passes close to Earth the gravitational pull of Earth on the comet is 100 units.
What is the gravitational pull of Earth on the comet when the comet is ten times further away? 8. An astronaut notices that his capsule is being pulled toward a planet with a
gravitational force of 50 units. What will be the gravitational pull when the
astronaut’s distance from the planet is halved? 9. Two identical planets, P1 and P2, are discovered in another solar system. It is calculated that
P1 is only one quarter of the distance from its sun than is P2.
If the gravitational force of the planets’ sun upon P1 is 128 units what is the
gravitational force of the sun upon P2? 10. In the space of a few days two giant meteors move ten times as close to one another.
By how many times does their mutual gravitational attraction increase? Solutions:
1. 150 kg. 2. 40 kg. 3. 0.24 kg or 240 gm.
4. 58.8 kg. 5. 5 times Bill’s weight. 6. 10 units. 7. 1 unit. 8. 200 units. 9. 8 units. 10. 100 times.
———————————————————- Society and Environment Famous People in History Quiz
©Australian Teacher
1) What was the first name of Bonaparte, the French military and political leader?
2) _______ Polo walked from Italy to Asia where he had a series of adventures; he returned
after 24 years.
3) Vice Admiral Horatio _________ won several military victories for Britain, including the
Battle of Trafalgar.
4) This ancient Greek philosopher was a student of Socrates and teacher of Aristotle.
5) Julius ________ was a military and political leader in ancient Rome. 6) Louis_______ invented a method of reading for blind people. Solutions:
1) Napoleon 2) Marco 3) Nelson 4) Plato 5) Caesar 6) Braille
———————————————————- English and Literacy Writing Practice: Curious Combinations Use the table below to write a story based on the combination of birthday months particular to
you. You may (but don’t have to) use your combination as the title.
Example 1: If your birthday is in June, your mother’s is in January and your father’s is in
September, you would write a story about Mr Wilson’s absolutely huge chess set (and your
title -if you wanted- could be ‘Mr Wilson’s Absolutely Huge Chess Set’).
Example 2: If your birthday is in December, your mother’s is in April and your father’s is in
February, you would write a story about Sylvia Morris’s gigantic red refrigerator (and your
title -if you wanted- could be ‘Sylvia Morris’s Gigantic Red Refrigerator’).
My
Birthday
Month Whose?
My
mother’s
Birthday
Month Descriptor
My
father’s
Birthday
Month Inanimate
Object
Jan Aunty May’s Jan
absolutely
huge Jan boomerang
©Australian Teacher
Feb
The Benson
Twins’ Feb magical pink Feb refrigerator
Mar My Mar
ugly-looking,
useless Mar spoon
Apr
Old Mrs
Hamilton’s Apr gigantic red Apr letter box
May Uncle Tony’s May broken-down May table lamp
Jun Mr Wilson’s Jun brand new Jun chimney
Jul
Ned the
Builder’s Jul
incredibly
cool Jul bicycle
Aug
Professor
Pumpernickle’s Aug
unbelievably
shabby Aug shoes
Sep
The Alien
invader’s Sep prize-winning Sep chess set
Oct Jimmy’s Oct
mysterious
silver Oct watch
Nov Dr Smithers’ Nov
unpredictable
purple Nov book
Dec Sylvia Morris’s Dec ever-so-tiny Dec computer
———————————————————- Australian & American Spelling Here are the principal differences in spelling between Australian and American English.
Australian American
Final -l is always doubled after one vowel in
stressed and unstressed syllables in Australian
English but usually only in stressed syllables in
American English, for example:
rebel>
rebelled
travel >
travelled
rebel>
rebelled
travel >
traveled
Some words end in -tre in Australian English
and -ter in American English, for example:
centre
theatre
center
theater
Some words end in -ogue in Australian English
and -og in American English, for example:
analogue
catalogue
analog
catalog
©Australian Teacher
Some words end in -our in Australian English
and -or in American English, for example:
colour
labour
color
labor
Some verbs end in -ize or -ise in Australian
English but only in -ize in American English, for
example:
realise,
realize
harmonise,
harmonize
realize
harmonize
———————————————————- Creative and Original Thinking Suitable for debate, class discussion or as a written exercise.
“The Traditional Indigenous Lifestyle is better than the Modern Western Lifestyle.” Present a good argument saying why you agree or disagree with the above
statement.
Note to Teachers: Information, thoughts and ideas for this topic may be found at the ‘Our First People’page under
the heading Dreamtime and Dreaming. Click here to go to that page.
———————————————- Mathematics and Numeracy Child Prodigy: Zerah Colburn Zerah Colburn (1804-1839) was a child prodigy of the 19th century who gained fame as a
human calculator.
Zerah Colburn was born in Cabot, Vermont (USA) in 1804 and educated at Westminster School
in London.
Apparently Zerah had six fingers on each hand and 12 toes on each foot.
©Australian Teacher
He was thought to be mentally retarded as a very young child. However, after six weeks of
schooling his father overheard him repeating his multiplication tables. His father wasn’t sure
whether or not he learned the tables from his older brothers and sisters but he decided to test
him further on his mathematical abilities and discovered that there was something special about
his son when Zerah correctly multiplied 97 by 13.
When he was seven years old he took six seconds to give the number of hours in thirty-eight
years, two months, and seven days.
By age eight Zerah was able to carry out amazing feats of mental arithmetic. When asked the
question, “How many seconds in 2 000 years?” he replied, “730 000 days which is 1 051 200
000 minutes which is 63 072 000 000 seconds.”
Zerah’s abilities developed rapidly and he was soon able to solve such problems as the product
of 12 225 and 1 223, or the square root of 1 449.
Zerah could solve complex problems. For example, to find whether the number 4 294 967 297 is
prime or not Zerah calculated in his head that it was not because it can be divided by 641. (the
other divisor is 6 700 417 and can easily be found using a calculator).
His father soon began to capitalize on his boy’s talents by taking Zerah around the country and
eventually abroad, demonstrating the boy’s exceptional abilities.
Although Zerah’s schooling was rather irregular he also showed extreme talent in languages.
Zerah Colburn died in 1839 aged just 35.
———————————————————- English and Literacy Writing Practice: Creative Thinking Here are the beginnings of some stories. Choose one and finish it. Additional instructions..(1)
have two main characters; (2) if you wish, you may make your story fun/humorous
(3) include an animal of your choice in your story
- Suddenly, the sky lit up…
- He limped toward the waiting train..…
- There was a loud bang and then…….
- The young musician walked nervously on stage.…
- A huge black bear lumbered toward the highway…
©Australian Teacher
- Out of the darkness and into the light of the campfire came…
- A piercing scream was heard…
- I didn’t believe in magic spells, but…..
- The huge crocodile opened its jaws wide…
- The express train roared on into the night…
- The tornado moved slowly toward the Jacksons’ house.
- The tiny boat slowly pulled away from the shore…
- Under a blazing hot sun an empty road stretched far into the distance.
- The army sergeant roared…
- There, right in my own backyard, was…
- His name was Ludwig.
- A strange, unusual smell came from the swamp…
- I felt my body shrinking, shrinking…
———————————————————- Science and Technology Inventors and Inventions: Patents If someone has a good idea or invention, they may not want others to copy it. They need a patent
so no one can copy their idea and make money from it.
To stop someone from copying their invention, inventors apply for a patent from the
government. The government gives them a patent if their invention is new and useful.
When a patent is granted no one can copy that object, pattern or design.
Anyone can apply for a patent, as long as the idea is new.
A patent cannot be written material; books are protected by copyright not patents.
The life of a patent depends on what kind it is, but it is usually at least ten years.
©Australian Teacher
A lawyer can help an inventor find out if anything about their invention is already protected by
another patent and can also assist by helping them to fill out the right papers for a patent.
If an inventor has an idea for a new or improved product, he/she needs to know: (1) Is there a
patent? (2) Can all or just part of it be claimed as new? (3) Which parts are new?
Talk about or Write about
(justify your responses with explanations and examples wherever possible)
1. What could happen if there were no such things as patents?
2. How likely do you think it is that two people might apply for a patent for exactly the same
invention?
3. Why would someone want to copy another person’s invention?
4. Why might governments welcome new inventions from their people?
5. What might be something that an inventor might wish to improve only a part of?
——————————————————— Society and Environment World Cities
Chloe and her little brother Jack are going on a world trip with their family next year and they’ll
be visiting 10 major cities.
©Australian Teacher
The cities are: (1) England’s capital (2) France’s capital (3) Switzerland’s largest (4) Poland’s
capital (5) India’s largest (6) China’s largest (7) Japan’s capital (8) Canada’s largest (9) Brazil’s
capital (10) New Zealand’s largest
Answer true or false:
a) One city begins with A and one begins with Z. True (Auckland, Zurich)
b) Two of the cities begin with vowels. False (Auckland)
c) Two of the cities begin with T. True (Tokyo, Toronto)
d) One city begins with the same letter as its country. True (Brazil/Brasilia)
e) Three cities are in the southern hemisphere. False (Brasilia, Auckland)
f) Four of the cities have 6 letters in their name. True (London, Zurich, Warsaw, Mumbai)
g) Two of the cities have 4 syllables in their name. False (Brasilia)
h) Seven of the cities have 2 syllables in their name. True (London, Paris, Zurich, Warsaw,
Mumbai, Shanghai, Auckland)
i) Three of the cities are in Asia. True (Mumbai, Shanghai, Tokyo)
j) More than 7 of the cities are on the coast. False (Mumbai, Shanghai, Tokyo, Auckland)
———————————————————- English and Literacy Conjunctions: Joining sentences with ‘when’ Two sentences can be joined by using when at the beginning or in the middle.
Example: The light turned green. The bus drove on.
When the light turned green the bus drove on.
The bus drove on when the light turned green.
Activity: Join each pair of sentences in two ways:
1. The wind blew. The sea became rough.
2. The performance finished. We all applauded.
3. We collected wood. We lit a fire.
4. The dog came. Its owner called.
Solutions:
1. When the wind blew the sea became rough. The sea became rough when the wind blew.
2. When the performance finished we all applauded. We all applauded when the performance
finished.
3. When we collected wood we lit a fire. We lit a fire when we collected wood.
4. When its owner called the dog came. The dog came when its owner called.
———————————————————