Activity Introduction

Quick summary: Students will transfer information from Hydro Tasmania’s website onto a map. They are asked to access information about Hydro Tasmania’s activities around Tasmania and add these details to a blank map of Tasmania.

Activity developed in partnership with tasmania_hydro_200x84_300pxl

Hydro Tasmania has been at the forefront of clean energy innovation for one hundred years. It is Australia’s largest producer of clean energy – generating hydro and wind power – and the largest water manager. Hydro Tasmania has 55 major dams, operates 30 hydropower stations and has built some of Australia’s largest wind farms.

Hydro Tasmania also sells energy in the National Electricity Market through its retail business Momentum Energy, and sells its expertise internationally through its consulting business Entura. Visit the Hydro Tasmania website to learn how the business is working towards Australia’s clean energy future.

Learning goals: 

  • Students will develop skills in research, map reading and map construction.

General capabilities: Literacy, Critical and creative thinking.

Cross-curriculum priority: Sustainability OI.8.

Australian Curriculum content description:

Year 5 Geography

  • Locate and collect relevant information and data from primary and secondary sources (ACHASSI095)
  • Present ideas, findings, viewpoints and conclusions in a range of texts and modes that incorporate source materials, digital and non-digital representations and discipline-specific terms and conventions (ACHASSI105).

Year 6 Geography

  • Organise and represent data in a range of formats including tables, graphs and large- and small-scale maps, using discipline-appropriate conventions (ACHASSI096)
  • Interpret data and information displayed in a range of formats to identify, describe and compare distributions, patterns and trends, and to infer relationships (ACHASSI128).
  • Evaluate evidence to draw conclusions(ACHASSI129)

Syllabus Outcomes: GE3-4. 

Topic: Hydro Tasmania, Energy.

Time required: 60 mins.

Level of teacher scaffolding: Medium – oversee activity.

Resources required: Internet access, access to computers/tablets for online research, Student Worksheet (one copy per student OR computers/tablets to access the online worksheet), map of Hydro Tasmania’s activities.

Digital technology opportunities: Digital sharing capabilities.

Homework and extension opportunities: Includes opportunities for homework and extension.

Keywords: Energy, hydropower, Hydro Tasmania, map.

Cool Australia’s curriculum team continually reviews and refines our resources to be in line with changes to the Australian Curriculum.

Worksheets

Teacher Worksheet

Background Information

Overarching learning goal: By participating in this activity students will develop skills in research, map reading and map construction.

Teacher background information: Energy is the lifeblood of our modern life. It gives us light and keeps our food fresh. It powers our industry, fuels our cars, and charges our iPhones. Our energy is produced by burning fossil fuels and this has a range of environmental, social and economic impacts. One of the most significant is the emission of greenhouse gases. A solution is the transition to clean energy sources. The brilliant thing is that we have huge amounts of free, renewable and clean supplies of natural energies. These include sunlight, wind, running water, oceans and underground hot rocks.

According to the Clean Energy Australia Report 2013:

  • 14.76% of Australia's electricity came from renewable sources in 2013: enough to power the equivalent of almost 5 million homes.
  • Wind turbines provided enough energy to pow
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Student Worksheet

Thought starter: What types of renewable energy does Hydro Tasmania use?

Instructions to students

In this lesson, you will conduct research to complete a map of Hydro Tasmania's operations. First, read the introduction and task instructions below, then look carefully at the map on the link provided. You have 45 minutes to work on this task. Whatever you have not finished will be your homework.

You teacher may also choose to set the extension activity for homework, but you may wish to complete it during this lesson if you have time.

An Introduction to Hydro Tasmania

Hydro Tasmania provides electrical energy for the people of Tasmania, Australia’s island state. The word ‘hydro’ means ‘water’. Hydro Tasmania has thirty hydropower stations in Tasmania and a wind farm on an island in Bass Strait. Hydro Tasmania operates two wind farms on mainland Tasmania under a joint venture. Hydro Tasmania catches the electrical energy from these sources and sends it to places where it is needed, to

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