Northern Australia and the Wet Tropics:
Water extremes and sustainability
Teacher guide and lesson plans – Lower secondary
Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities, 2012
How do we ensure that Australia's water use is sustainable?
In a dry arid country such as Australia, our water resources are already stressed, largely as a result of our extraction of water to suit our nation's needs. In a time of projected reduced annual rainfall and frequent drought, the largely untapped water resources of the tropical north look particularly inviting. What do we need to do to ensure these water resources are secured for future generations, while the health and biodiversity of northern waterways, wetlands and reefs are sustained?
Teaching unit
Download
- Northern Australia and the Wet Tropics: Water extremes and sustainability (PDF - 7.3 MB) | Northern Australia and the Wet Tropics: Water extremes and sustainability (Word - 1.7 MB)
Resources
- Wet Tropics - Rainforest Explorer videos - Choose The Water Cycle video
- Reef & Rainforest Research Centre – Visual documentation: Theme 3
Teacher guide
Download
- Implementing the water education resource (PDF - 2.2 MB) | Implementing the water education resource(Word -1.4 MB)
About the guide
This resource provides schools with curriculum lesson plans that focus on sustainable water use in a significant region of Australia.
Northern Australia and the Wet Tropics: Water extremes and sustainability is one of four packages that provide teachers with lesson plans shaped around a series of investigations that enable students to examine the natural environment and contemporary issues relevant to that region.
These resources are based around the curriculum areas of science and geography and may be implemented by classroom teachers using an interdisciplinary approach or as a science or geography focus.
The other packages include:
- The Lake Eyre Basin: A unique river system worth maintaining - Teacher guide and lesson plans; lower secondary
- The Great Artesian Basin: Water in the dry interior - Teacher guide and lesson plans; lower secondary
- The Murray-Darling Basin: Balancing priorities: agriculture and the environment - Teacher guide and lesson plans; lower secondary
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