CHICKENOSAURUS + (UN)EXPECTED + TOUR

Details

Available: Term 1 - Term 4 until May 2025

Levels: 7-12

Sessions: Tuesdays 9:30am-2:15pm

Duration: 4.75 hours (with 15min recess and 45min lunch breaks)

Capacity: 50 students (minimum 20 students)

Cost: A $50 education service fee applies to each booking plus a cost per student (subsidised cost for schools with an ICSEA rating <1050). All prices are inclusive of GST.

Cost per student: $30 Subsidised cost per student: $15

Join us for a FULL day experience consisting of three modules:

Module 1 - SCI-FI TOUR: Using their deep knowledge of the exhibition, Learning Experience Facilitators will introduce students to the key concepts and ideas, facilitate group discussions and activities, and prompt students to think critically about the works in SCI-FI

Module 2 - (UN)EXPECTED WORKSHOP: From bringing back the thylacine from extinction, growing organs in animals for human transplantation, and replacing nature with technology – scientific advancements present a world of possibilities – but is it a world we want for ourselves? Ethics plays a huge role in shaping what science gets done, and in this workshop, we’ll consider the potential futures and unintended consequences for a range of real-world bioethical dilemmas. In groups, students will imagine what the world of tomorrow could look like by creating a visual timeline of possibilities, and as we’ll explore, when it comes to science and ethics, it pays to expect the unexpected.

Module 3 - CHICKENOSAURUS WORKSHOP: Enter a world inspired by the fictional (maybe soon to be factual) idea of the chickenosaurus – a theoretical experiment to reactivate ancient dinosaur genes in modern birds. We want you to pick up a pen, draw a chimera and get a little silly in an immersive art space designed to spark your imagination. Will your chimera be a seaguana? A wormsquito? A tigerphant? Once finished, we’ll consider whether bringing back these palaeobiological paradoxes of nature is a good idea, or one that’s better left dead and buried.

Key Themes: synthetic biology, de-extinction, eco-detachment, new life forms, genetic engineering, connecting to Country, ecosystems, hybrids, otherness, biodiversity, bionic life, evolution, ethics, and design.

Complete a ‘Futures Wheel’ (a visual timeline) to explore the unintended consequences of bioethical dilemmas (e.g., de-extinction, technology replacing nature)
Explore bioethical approaches and concepts from multiple perspectives, including their own.
Learn about real-world examples of science and technology projects, including those featured in the exhibition.
Design a hypothetical creature using 3D-printed bones, draw their chimera, and consider whether to bring it back from extinction.
Investigate the structure, functions, and adaptations of their creature.
Explore ‘de-extinction’ through different bioethical approaches and concepts from multiple perspectives, including their own.
Make recommendations for bringing living things ‘back from extinction’.
Identify and connect the key themes and concepts explored in the exhibition through the facilitator-led tour of the transdisciplinary works.
Informally engage with university students – who make up our facilitator team - and learn about diverse post-school pathways.
Workshops
Victorian Curriculum 7-10: Science (biological science, science as human endeavour, communicating), Visual Arts (present and perform, respond and interpret)
Capabilities 7-10: Critical and Creative Thinking, Ethical Understanding
VCE: Biology Unit 2, Area of Study 3
Gallery Tour
Victorian Curriculum 7-10: Design and Technologies, Digital Technologies, Science, Visual Arts.
Capabilities 7-10: Critical and Creative Thinking, Ethical, Personal and Social Capability.