2040 - Exploring Energy

Australian Curriculum content description:

Year 5 Science

• Communicate ideas, explanations and processes using scientific representations in a variety of ways, including multi-modal texts (ACSIS093)

Year 6 Science

• Electrical energy can be transferred and transformed in electrical circuits and can be generated from a range of sources (ACSSU097)
• Scientific knowledge is used to solve problems and inform personal and community decisions (ACSHE100)
• Communicate ideas, explanations and processes using scientific representations in a variety of ways, including multi-modal texts (ACSIS110)

Years 5 & 6 Design and Technologies

• Examine how people in design and technologies occupations address competing considerations, including sustainability in the design of products, services, and environments for current and future use (ACTDEK019)

Year 6 Economics and Business

• How the concept of opportunity cost involves choices about the alternative use of resources and the need to consider trade-offs (ACHASSK149)

Relevant parts of Year 5 & 6 Science achievement standards:

• Students communicate their ideas and findings using multimodal texts.
• Students analyse requirements for the transfer of electricity and describe how energy can be transformed from one form to another when generating electricity. They explain how scientific knowledge helps us to solve problems and inform decisions. Students construct multimodal texts to communicate ideas.

Relevant parts of Years 5 & 6 Design and Technologies achievement standards: Students explain how social, ethical, technical and sustainability considerations influence the design of solutions to meet a range of present and future needs.

Relevant parts of Year 6 Economics and Business achievement standards: Students recognise why choices about the allocation of resources involve trade-offs.

Syllabus outcomes: ST3-4WS, ST3-6PW, ST3-7PW, ST3-14BE, ST3-15I, ST3-16P

General capabilities: Critical and Creative Thinking

Cross-curriculum priority: Sustainability OI.6., OI.8

Unit of work: 2040 – Integrated Unit – Years 5 & 6

Time required: 120 mins

Level of teacher scaffolding: Medium – oversee activities and facilitate class discussions

To view our NZ Curriculum alignment, click here.

• Student Worksheets – one copy per student.
• Device capable of presenting a video to the class.
• One copy of each of the following (one per group):
  • Coal Factsheet
  • Solar Factsheet
  • Wind Power Factsheet
  • Hydropower Factsheet
  • Geothermal Factsheet
  • Uranium Factsheet
  • Sustainability Factsheet – Optional

2040 is an innovative feature documentary that looks to the future, but is vitally important NOW! Director Damon Gameau embarks on a journey to explore what the future could look like by the year 2040 if we simply embraced the best solutions already available to us to improve our planet and shifted them rapidly into the mainstream. 

In Australia: Order the Schools Version of the 2040 DVD. The Schools Version includes an educational license and is for Australian primary and secondary schools that wish to utilise the film as a learning tool or host free on-site screenings for the school community.

In New Zealand: Order the Schools Version of the 2040 DVD. The Schools Version includes an educational license and is for New Zealand primary and secondary schools that wish to utilise the film as a learning tool or host free on-site screenings for the school community.

If you are teaching in either New Zealand or Australia, you can now organise a virtual screening of the film for your class. To enquire about this option, simply email schools@whatsyour2040.com and the 2040 team will help you set this up! If you have already bought a DVD of the film and you have a ClickView account, you can email the team for permission to upload the film to your account to make it more easily accessible for your teachers and students.

Cool.org, GoodThing Productions and Regen Pictures would like to acknowledge the generous contributions of Good Pitch Australia, Shark Island Institute, Documentary Australia Foundation, The Caledonia Foundation and our philanthropic partners in the development of these teaching resources.