Koalas at Cape Otway

This teaching and learning sequence is based on Dr Desley Whisson’s research into population dynamics of Koalas at Cape Otway and is important in a school community because it is real world science that students can become involved with. Bringing real world science in to the science classroom acknowledges that “the values and needs of contemporary society can influence the focus of scientific research (VCSSU116)” and provides students with knowledge that is current and can be directly applied, leaving them with a sense of relevance.

The lesson sequence is developed for Year 9 & 10 Biological Sciences and is set up initially with a focus on data analysis, then populations of koalas and finally has the students reflecting on the similarities of these population dynamics in the human world.