About Blue Planet
The Blue Planet Environmental Education Website has been developed by Wyong Shire Council for Gosford City and Wyong Shire Councils and aims to provide students, teachers and the community with:
• Extensive up to date information on water issues primarily on the Central Coast of NSW (where we are situated);
• General water information that is directly linked to the outcomes for both teachers and student found in the NSW Department of Education Curriculum within Science, Geography and Agriculture subjects as a priority;
• Interesting facts and trivia on water and environment topics;
• Stage 2 – extensive information on a number of natural resource management topics such as sustainability, energy, biodiversity, waste, etc;
• Direct website links to each area of the curriculum with notes on outcomes for students and teachers;
• A teacher’s resource (log-in) section with activities, resources, quizzes and other teaching resources for technical topics;
• An area for students to publish their projects and schools to showcase projects they have undertaken to manage their natural resources. This section of the website is an opportunity for schools to celebrate their achievements and gives students a taste of publishing their works;
• A significant number of resources for students such as:
- factsheets
- online games
- online crosswords and puzzles
- pictures
- GIS maps
- water calculators
- graphs, diagrams, statistics on water
• An area to find out about school competitions and potentially opportunities to run competitions;
• Case Studies and Local Area Studies;
• Links to related websites;
• Coming Stage 2 - a Forum discussion space for both teachers and students to share ideas and ask questions;
• Contacts at both Gosford and Wyong Councils and Gosford/Wyong Councils’ Water Authority.
Research – How to Use this Site
How to Research for an Assignment
There are a number of aspects a student must consider when collecting information and using it to produce an assignment.
Listing or Referencing all Sources
It is important to make a list of all of the sources that you use to provide information for your work. Listing www.google.com is not a reference. All sources, electronic or otherwise must be listed with as much information as possible, provide the title, author and date of publication if possible. Start your list when you start your research, don’t try and do it at the end.
Writing in your Own Words
It is tempting to cut and paste large chunks of information from websites that seem to answer all of your questions. This is dangerous for a number of reasons:
- You need to collect information and verify this from a variety of sources to confirm its accuracy (see website reliability information for more detail on assessing websites)
- You must ensure that the question that you are being asked is answered in the text
- You must avoid plagiarism
Plagiarism
What is plagiarism? Stealing someone else’s words (or work) and passing them off as your own. School’s and universities take the issue of plagiarism very seriously and it is not acceptable.
'Plagiarism is when you pretend that you have written or created a piece of work that someone else originated. It is cheating, it is dishonest, and it could jeopardise your HSC exam results.'
(Board of Studies, HSC Assessments and Submitted Works, Advice to Students, 2006)
Researching Effectively:
To answer the questions that your teacher has set for you, you must be clear on a number of things -
What does the question ask me to do?
What are the key terms and have I made reference to them?
What do I think about this topic?
What information is out there?
Which information is best, are some sources more reliable than others?
Have I answered the question?
For More Information:
HSC : All my Own Work Program http://amow.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/
The All My Own Work program is designed to help Higher School Certificate students to follow the principles and practices of good scholarship. This includes understanding and valuing ethical practices when locating and using information as part of their HSC studies.
Your Tutor – Provided by Wyong Shire Council Libraries
http://www.wyongsc.nsw.gov.au/libraries/Online%20tutoring.html
How Your Tutor Works
This free online tutoring service allows students to obtain homework help from trained, professional tutors during a four-hour period each weekday.
Who Can Use the Service?
School students from Years 4 – 12
What Subject Areas are Available?
English, Maths, Science, Assignment Research; and Study Skills.
When can the Service be Used?
Monday to Friday between 4pm and 8pm.
How does it Work?
First select your subject and year level.
Then enter to the online classroom and connect to a tutor.
Ask your questions and work through the subject with the tutor.
Council is joining with a company called Tutoring Australasia to present this professional tutoring service.