Earth and Space Sciences
Natural Disasters
Students model convection currents, tectonic plate movement, water erosion, underwater volcanic eruption and tornado formation, connecting each process to real-world natural disasters.
Year 5–6
90 min
up to 30 students
$490 + GST
What students will do
Students observe convection currents using food dye in hot and cold water to understand how heat drives weather systems including cyclones and tornadoes. Working in pairs, they model how rainfall reshapes landscapes by eroding sugar cube cliffs with a pipette. Sandpaper blocks on carpet simulate tectonic plate movement, and students draw as human seismographs to record the resulting shockwaves, reinforced by a working seismograph demonstration. A test tube, funnel and Alka-Seltzer tablet models underwater volcanic eruption, and a tornado maker of two connected water bottles demonstrates cyclonic rotation. Discussion throughout connects each model to the processes behind real natural disasters.
Learning outcomes
- Investigate how convection currents in water and air drive weather systems and contribute to cyclones, tornadoes and storms
- Model how friction along tectonic plates builds up energy that is suddenly released, and connect this to how earthquakes occur
- Use a human seismograph to represent how shaking is recorded as a wave pattern
- Model an underwater volcanic eruption and describe the process that produces it
- Model cyclonic rotation using a tornado maker and connect this to real tornadoes and cyclones
- Explain how natural disasters are driven by rapid geological or meteorological processes, and discuss how human responses can reduce their impact
Curriculum links
- VC2S6U06Core
Sudden geological changes, such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, and extreme weather events can affect Earth's surface, and human responses can reduce their impact. View on VCAA ↗
- VC2S6I04Core
Data and information can be organised and processed to show patterns, trends and relationships, including by constructing representations such as tables and graphs. View on VCAA ↗
- VC2S6H02Related
Scientific knowledge, skills and data can be used by individuals and communities to identify problems, consider responses and make decisions. View on VCAA ↗
- VC2S6U05Related
Rapid processes, including weathering and erosion, and slow processes acting over millions of years, change the surface of the Earth. View on VCAA ↗
Often booked alongside
Chemical Sciences
Christmas SciTech
Students grow a crystal Christmas tree, mould a bouncy snowball, unmask mystery liquids with a colour-change indicator, make instant snow, launch Santa's sleigh and build a snowball catapult to take home.
Physical Sciences
Electricity
Students build working circuits, classify conductors and insulators, compare series and parallel configurations, and investigate how different energy sources, including hand-powered generators, produce electricity.
Physical Sciences
Light
Students investigate reflection, refraction and diffraction using mirrors, lenses and diffraction gratings, with laser beam demonstrations bringing the physics of light into sharp, visible focus.
Bring Natural Disasters to your school
Tell us your year levels and preferred dates. We'll confirm availability and bring everything with us.
Limited dates each term — one facilitator, one school per day.