At Swinburne, our PrimeSCI! School Outreach team offers interactive on-site and online classroom lessons for primary schools, designed for maximum hands-on participation. 

All lessons are aligned with the Victorian Curriculum across Science, Technologies, Geography and Health & PE:

Either in person or online, our interactive incursions are scheduled to run for 60 minutes depending on school timetabling. The sessions include exciting demonstrations and hands-on learning activities for students. Our online sessions also include interactive polls and the opportunity to ask science questions to be answered by our PrimeSCI! presenters. 
 
Incursions are conducted within COVIDSafe guidelines. 
On-site Hands-on Incursions (one hour) – effective from Term 2 2024
  • $510 + GST for two sessions of the same topic (minimum)
  • $255 + GST for each additional session (up to five per day)

Prep to Grade 2 incursions

Chemical sciences

Bend Stretch Twist

Learn how changing the shape and temperature in materials result in dramatic changes in their behaviour. Work with amazing materials like nappies and oobleck. Highly engaging and hands-on.

Mix and Unmix

Why do some things mix with water while others do not? How do we separate mixtures to get what we want? This delightful hands-on session will draw children into the world of chemistry and engineering as they explore the phenomena of dissolving, crystallisation and make colourful discoveries with materials.

Physical sciences

Toys in Motion

Explore forces and motion through the properties of toys. By the end of the session, students will understand the concepts of push, pull, friction and gravity. Links scientific language to familiar experiences and observations.

Sound and Light

Students learn to explain how they see and hear. Through hands-on activities including torches, prisms and mirrors. The students explore how light and sound travel, bounce and move through objects. 

Earth and space sciences

Our Blue Marble

Explore how Planet Earth is ideal for supporting life within the Solar System with its temperature, atmosphere, and water cycle. Students learn about how planets rotate and orbit, they measure temperature, experience air pressure and snow, and make their own planets in a cup.

Earth's Resources

What do we dig up from the Earth? Students identify samples from Australian mines and work out the uses of these minerals in our everyday lives. We can’t keep digging up and chopping down Earth’s resources forever, so students work in groups to make their own recycled paper.

Biological sciences

Life Cycles

Discuss and explore what defines a living thing and identify different life stages of freshwater invertebrates in a pond water sample. Best taught in Terms 1 and 4 for greatest waterbug variety.

Secret Life of Plants

Dissect seeds, identify parts of plants and investigate germination to explore the secret world of plants. Plant your own bean seed to keep at school or take home.

Dinosaur Detectives

Become a palaeontologist and examine our special fossil collection. Make casts of real fossils and discover what we can learn from ancient teeth and claws.

Meet Mr Bones

Learn to name bones in the body, explore what makes bones strong, identify and investigate real skeletons of animals.

Digestive System

Follow food along the digestive tract and learn about how we taste, digest, and move food along our gut. Make poo to understand why it is important to eat enough vegetables. Students are given the opportunity to touch real animal tongues and stomachs!

Digital technologies

Introduction to Robotics

Robots are performing more and more tasks to help humans. Learn about communicating with robots, giving instructions and programming, as you use the Bee Bots and/or Edison Robots to complete different challenges on your classroom floor. 

Edison Space Code Quest

Head to the Moon with little Edison Robots! Learn about space research and exploration while using coding. Program the robots to complete challenges in small groups, take parts to a lunar rover and detect precious minerals. Laptops or iPads with internet access to be provided by school. Beginners can be taught offline.

View Prep to Grade 2 curriculum links
Prep to Grade 2 Science Incursions
Flyer

Prep to Grade 2 Science Incursions

PrimeSCI!'s hands-on science workshops for primary school-aged children program.

Grade 3 to 4 incursions

Chemical sciences

States of Matter

Learn about states of matter and what goes on inside different molecules. Students gain knowledge from explosions, dancing colours, links to the water cycle and peculiar oobleck.

Plastic Fantastic

Explore the world of plastics, molecules and polymers, and learn the unique uses of each plastic type. Students make their own plastic and will be impressed by the amazing shrinking plastic. Go beyond looking at plastics as waste materials that can be recycled.

Physical sciences

Hot! Hot!

Learn what heat is, the different ways it is produced, and how heat can be transferred through cleverly designed activities and exciting demonstrations. This session covers everything your students need to know about the physics of heat.

Forces in Motion

This powerful, fast-paced session will frame students understanding of forces and how they interact. Learn the role of gravity, friction and magnetism in making objects move faster than the speed of sound.

Earth and space sciences

Our Place in Space

Learn the latest in space science as students travel into outer space to understand planetary rotations and orbits, model the gravitational effects of our Moon, and use the language of numbers to understand the wonders of our Universe.

Weather and Weathering

Why doesn’t saltwater become salt rain? What is the difference between weather and weathering? Students explore the importance of the Earth's water cycle and the rock cycle.

Biological sciences

Freshwater Habitats

Investigate different wetland water samplesto identify freshwater invertebrates. Discuss the needs of animals that live in these habitats as you learn about living and non-living factors that influence life in our local waterways. Best taught in Term 1 and 4 for greatest waterbug diversity. 

Adapt and Survive

Discover more about the biodiversity of plants and animals using our special collection of artefacts. Use dichotomous keys to identify living things with adaptations that help them to survive in their environments. Explore genetic diversity and survival of species using a tassie devil mock-DNA case study.

Secret Life of Plants

Discover the secret of magic beans in this activity-packed session. Students will identify and dissect seeds, and find out how plants can take over the world!

Digital technologies

Edison Space Code Quest

Head to the Moon with little Edison Robots! Learn about space research and exploration while using coding. Program the robots to complete challenges in small groups, take parts to a lunar rover and detect precious minerals. Laptops or iPads with internet access to be provided by school. Beginners can be taught offline.

View Grade 3 to 4 curriculum links
Grade 3 to 4 Science Incursions
Flyer

Grade 3 to 4 Science Incursions

PrimeSCI!'s hands-on science workshops for primary school-aged children program.

Grade 5 to 6 incursions

Chemical sciences

States of Matter

Materials around us can be grouped according to their properties. Students gain knowledge from explosions, modelling molecules, dancing colours, links to the water cycle and peculiar oobleck. It's solid, liquid and gas, plus so much more!

Physical and Chemical Change

Explore the differences between physical and chemical change through a series of exciting investigations, and learn to explain how everyday phenomena occur at the particle level.

Physical sciences

Light and Colour

Explore the magic of light as students catch, bounce, bend, split, and focus light. Students will love using the assortment of torches, mirrors, and lenses.

Electrical Circuits

This fun-filled session bridges simple curcuits to the world of complex electronics and robotics. Students learn about electricity and electrical conductivity in the context of atomic structure, and assemble simple circuits with mortors, LEDs and solar panels. At the end of the session, students apply newly acquired skills to construct machines that jiggle and dance!

Earth and space sciences

Our Place in Space

Learn the latest in space science as students travel into outer space to understand planetary rotations and orbits, model the gravitational effects of our Moon, and use the language of numbers to understand the wonders of our Universe.

Natural Disasters

Explore layers within the Earth, tectonic plate movement, and the causes of natural disasters like earthquakes, volcanoes, and tsunamis. Take part in hands-on activities that teach about Earth’s mantle layer and its movement.

Biological sciences

Freshwater Habitats

Investigate different wetland water samples to identify freshwater invertebrates. Discuss the needs of animals that live in these habitats as you learn about living and non-living factors that influence life in our local waterways. Best taught in Term 1 and 4 for greatest waterbug diversity.

Our Circulatory System

Learn about how the heart works non-stop, study dissected lamb hearts, and listen to your own heart with a stethoscope. Find out about heart diseases and the medical procedures involved (real animal organs used).

Our Breathing System

Understand the breathing process and how it is affected by asthma. Go through a breathing obstacle course, explore inhalation and exhalation, and investigate your own lung capacity. Get up close with this spongy organ and watch it inflate (real animal organs used).

Our Brains

Dissect this delicate organ and be amazed at how this jelly-like structure is responsible for the way we work, think and behave (real animal organs used).

Our Digestive System

Follow food along the digestive tract, and learn about how we taste, digest, and move food along our gut. Make poo to understand why it is important to eat enough vegetables. Touch animal tongues and stomachs (real animal organs used)!

Digital technologies

Electrical Circuits

This fun-filled session bridges simple circuits to the world of complex electronics and robotics. Students learn about electricity and electrical conductivity in the context of atomic structure, and assemble simple circuits with motors, LEDs and solar panels. At the end of the session, students apply newly acquired skills to construct machines that jiggle and dance!

Micro:bit Disaster Alert

Digital technology can be used to alert us to natural disasters like earthquakes and heatwaves. Use Micro:bit minicomputers to monitor and transmit information about destructive forces of nature, as simulated in your classroom. Laptops with internet access to be provided by school. 

Renewable Energy

Understand the physics of electricity generation, with focus on how energy is transformed to meet our needs. Use hands-on activities to explore renewable energy technologies currently used in Australia.

Edison Space Code Quest

Head to the Moon with little Edison Robots! Learn about space research and exploration while using coding. Program the robots to complete challenges in small groups, take parts to a lunar rover and detect precious minerals. Laptops or iPads with internet access to be provided by school. Beginners can be taught offline.

View Grade 5 to 6 curriculum links
Grade 5 to 6 Science Incursions
Flyer

Grade 5 to 6 Science Incursions

PrimeSCI!'s hands-on science workshops for primary school-aged children program.

Book your classroom

To book your incursions, please complete the following form. 

Note: This form collects data using a third-party provider (Airtable) and you consent to this by completing the form. The data we collect is treated in accordance with Swinburne's Privacy Statement. Please be aware that the form may take a few seconds to load. If you have any queries or concerns, please email primesci@swinburne.edu.au or call +61 3 9210 1969. You can unsubscribe at any time.

More information

Learning Areas Science Understanding Curriculum PrimeSCI! incursions
Science Chemical Sciences Objects are made of materials that have observable properties Bend Stretch Twist*
Everyday materials can be physically changed or combined with other materials in a variety of ways for a particular purpose

Bend Stretch Twist*

Mix and Unmix*

Physical Sciences The way objects move depends on a variety of factors including their size and shape: a push or a pull affects how an object moves or changes shape Toys in Motion*
Light and sound are produced by a range of sources and can be sensed Sound and Light*
Earth and Space Sciences Observable changes occur in the sky and landscape; daily and seasonal changes affect everyday life Our Blue Marble*
Earth's resources are used in a variety of ways

Our Blue Marble*

Earth's Resources

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

Life Cycles

Secret Life of Plants

Dinosaur Detectives

Meet Mr Bones

Digestive System*

Living things grow, change and have offspring similar to themselves

Life Cycles

Secret Life of Plants

Dinosaur Detectives

Digital Technologies   Identify and explore digital systems (hardware and software components) for a purpose)

Introduction to Robotics

Edison Space Code Quest

Follow, describe and represent a sequence of steps and decisions (algorithms) needed to solve simple problems

Introduction to Robotics

Edison Space Code Quest

*Can be run as an online session

Learning Areas Science Understanding Curriculum PrimeSCI! incursions
Science Chemical Sciences A change of state between solid and liquid can be caused by adding or removing heat States of Matter*
Natural and processed materials have a range of physical properties; these properties can influence their use

Plastic Fantastic*

Physical Sciences Heat can be produced in many ways and can move from one object to another; a change in the temperature of an object is related to the gain or loss of heat by the object Hot! Hot!*
Forces can be exerted by one object on another through direct contact or from a distance Forces in Motion*
Earth and Space Sciences Earth's rotation on its axis causes regular changes, including night and day Our Place in Space*
Earth's surface changes over time as a result of natural processes and human activity

Weather and Weathering

Biological Sciences Living things can be grouped on the basis of observable features and can be distinguished from non-living things

Freshwater Habitats

Secret Life of Plants

Different living things have different life cycles and depend on each other and the environment to survive

Freshwater Habitats

Secret Life of Plants

Digital Technology Follow, describe and represent a sequence of steps and decisions (algorithms) needed to solve simple problems Edison Space Code Quest
Develop digital solutions as simple visual program Edison Space Code Quest

*Can be run as an online session

Learning Areas Science Understanding Curriculum PrimeSCI! incursions
Science Chemical Sciences Solids, liquids and gases behave in different ways and have observable properties that help to classify them States of Matter*
Changes to materials can be reversible, including melting, freezing, evaporating, or irreversible, including burning and rusting

States of Matter*

Physical and Chemical Change

Physical Sciences Light from a source forms shadows and can be absorbed, reflected and refracted Light and Colour
Energy from a variety of sources can be used to generate electricity; electric circuits enable this energy to be transferred to another place and then to be transformed into another form of energy

Electrical Circuits

Renewable Energy

Earth and Space Sciences Earth is part of a system of planets orbiting around a star (the Sun) Our Place in Space
Sudden geological changes or extreme weather conditions can affect Earth's surface

Natural Disasters

Micro:bit Disaster Alert

Biological Sciences Living things have structural features and adaptations that help them to survive in their environment

Our Digestive System*

Our Circulatory System*

Our Breathing System*

Our Brains*

Adapt and Survive

The growth and survival of living things are affected by the physical conditions of their environment

Freshwater Habitats

Adapt and Survive

Digital Technologies   Investigate how forces or electrical energy can control movement, sound or light in a designed product or system Electrical Circuits
Investigate how people in design and technologies occupations address competing considerations, including sustainability, in the design of solutions for current and future use Renewable Energy
Follow, describe and represent a sequence of steps and decisions (algorithms) needed to solve simple problems

Edison Space Code Quest

Micro:bit Disaster Alert

Develop digital solutions as simple visual programs

Edison Space Code Quest

Micro:bit Disaster Alert

*Can be run as an online session

Please ensure you read our booking Terms and Conditions that apply to all incursion bookings.

View our booking terms and conditions [PDF 102KB]

Contact us

To find out more or to provide feedback on a lesson contact the PrimeSCI! Office.

Contact PrimeSCI now