Happy Science Week!
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| We’ve gone fairly science-heavy this week, with a resource stash we strongly suggest you bookmark, a brand new Shortcut travelling back 66 million years, and some wonderfully weird creatures competing for one of nature’s more unusual crowns. |
| We’re also taking a more serious detour into an issue we reckon is worth putting on every school’s radar: whether the rise of generative AI means it’s time to rethink how schools share photos of students online. |
| So, lab coats on. Or at the very least, safety goggles nearby… |
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Your Science Week Toolkit
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It’s National Science Week this week, so it’s time to throw a little extra sciency flavour into the classroom.  
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| And before you go any further, save this link(opens in new tab). Seriously. The Australian Science Teachers Association has collected the classroom resources from every year all the way back to 1984, which means there is an enormous bank of experiments, activities and lesson ideas sitting there waiting to be raided. |
| [Save the National Science Week classroom resource collection here(opens in new tab)] |
While you’re there, take a little detour back to 1984 for a proper blast from the past. Some of the resources may look wonderfully retro now, but the balloon rocket is still an absolute winner. Some things in science class never change.  |
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| And if you’d rather press play, we’ve also got a stack of science-themed Squiz Kids Shortcuts(opens in new tab) ready to go, covering everything from space and animals to inventions, the human body and the wonderfully weird workings of our world. |
| We’ve even got a brand new science Shortcut for you this week… one that requires rewinding the clock by about 66 million years. |
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The End of the Dinosaurs – A Shortcut
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| If all that Science Week goodness has you in the mood to travel a little further down the science rabbit hole, we’ve got a brand new Shortcut landing in your podcast feed this Tuesday. |
| This week, Bryce has apparently built a time machine, filled the studio with enough ferns to resemble the gardening section of Bunnings, and programmed in a destination: 66 million years ago. What could possibly go wrong? |
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| In our Shortcut to the End of the Dinosaurs, we find out how scientists used clues hidden in rock to piece together what happened when most dinosaurs disappeared, what role a giant asteroid played, and why one branch of the dinosaur family tree is still very much with us today. |
| Yep… next time a magpie swoops you, remember: dinosaurs never completely disappeared. |
| Look for it in your Squiz Kids podcast feed this Tuesday. |
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Is It Time to Rethink the School Facebook Page?
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| We usually keep things pretty light around here, but there’s an important conversation happening about schools, social media and the photos we share of kids and teachers online. |
| A recent Sydney Morning Herald story has looked at the sheer number of NSW schools using public Facebook pages to celebrate achievements, communicate with families and promote their schools. (opens in new tab)[The article is here, although it is behind a paywall.](opens in new tab) |
| The problem is that the technology around those photos has changed. |
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| Getty Images |
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| Australia’s eSafety Commissioner is warning schools(opens in new tab) that publicly available photos of students and staff can now be copied and fed into AI tools to create convincing fake, humiliating or sexualised images and videos. eSafety says it has seen a rise in reports involving school-related image misuse and is urging schools to reconsider what really needs to be posted publicly. |
| That doesn’t mean schools have been told to stop sharing photos altogether. But eSafety is encouraging a more cautious approach, including considering whether some images would be better shared in closed or restricted spaces rather than on a public Facebook page or website. |
| And importantly, parental permission isn’t necessarily the end of the decision-making process. NSW Department of Education rules require consent before student images are posted on social media, but schools still need to consider the privacy and safety risks around what they publish. |
| It leaves schools with a question that probably deserves another look in the age of AI: |
| Just because we can post this photo, should we? |
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Fun Finish: The Battle of the Backboneless
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| A frontal picture of a Costasiella kuroshimae. the leaf sheep – Wikimedia – Alif Abdul Rahman – https://www.flickr.com/photos/alif_abdulrahman/19080120525 |
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| After a slightly serious detour, let’s finish with something gloriously spineless. |
| The Guardian’s Invertebrate of the Year is back for 2026. Previous champions include the humble common earthworm, which took the inaugural title in 2024, and the microscopic, near-indestructible tardigrade in 2025. |
| Voting has now closed, so all that’s left to do is sit back and wait for the winner to be announced on Tuesday. But while you wait, it’s well worth introducing your class to this year’s wonderfully weird shortlist. |
| Among the contenders is the ridiculously cute leaf sheep, a tiny sea slug that can hang onto chloroplasts from the algae it eats and use them to harness sunlight, and the extraordinary immortal jellyfish, which can reverse its life cycle and return to an earlier stage of development. |
| Take a look at all 10 spineless contenders here(opens in new tab), pick a classroom favourite, and see later in the week, whether your creature takes the crown. |
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Know a teacher who’d love this? Pass it on.
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| That’s your Science Week stash sorted. |
| May your experiments behave themselves, your balloon rockets fly in roughly the intended direction, and your classroom avoid any asteroid-related extinction events. |
| We love hearing from you! Reply to this email with any feedback, suggestions, or funny teaching stories, or hit us up at [email protected](opens in new tab). |
| Have a brilliant week. |
| – Christie Kijurina, Squiz Kids Educator |
