We acknowledge and respect the Traditional Owners of lands across Australia, their Elders, Ancestors, cultures and heritage, and recognise the continuing sovereignties of all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nations.
We respectfully acknowledge the Wurundjeri People of the Kulin Nation, who are the Traditional Owners of the land on which the ACTF is based and pay our respect to their Elders past and present.
We are honoured to have the opportunity to learn from the oldest cultural storytellers in the world and seek to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander practitioners to share their rich culture and perspectives with children in Australia and around the world via stories on screen.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that this website may contain images, voices or names of deceased persons in photographs, film, audio recordings or text.
This learning resource supports students and teachers in Years 3 to 6 to explore the documentary television series Built to Survive in the classroom and beyond.
Built to Survive follows third generation Indigenous educator Phil Breslin, on a mission to reveal the Australian animals that adapt and survive in our diverse Australian environments. Each episode of the series explores a different Australian habitat. Read more about the series in the About Built to Survive section.
The Built to Survive learning resource includes five lessons that explore different habitats and the animals that survive within them. Each lesson involves watching and responding to one episode of Built to Survive. These lessons include:
In the heat of the rainforest, Phil reveals the survival adaptations of the elusive tree kangaroo, the colourful cassowary and the lethal scrub python.
In the endless heat, Phil encounters Australia’s largest lizard - the perentie, our fastest flightless bird - the emu, and the bounding red kangaroo.
Phil ventures into Australia’s notorious swamp country for an encounter with a barramundi, a freshwater crocodile and a saltwater crocodile.
Explore the big blue ocean with Phil to learn more about tiger sharks, the graceful manta ray and a giant of the deep, the humpback whale.
Join Phil in exploring isolated islands to learn more about green sea turtles, a pack of dingoes and the terrifying death adder.
The episodes explored in these lessons are all rated G. Classes can complete a single lesson or the whole unit to represent diverse ecosystems within Australia.
To complete each lesson students become documentary hosts, drawing on their research and following the format of Built to Survive. The resource also includes a module called Documentary Filmmaking which provides a step by step process to:
| Science | Media Arts |
English |
Critical and creative thinking |
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Year 3 |
AC9AMA4D01; AC9AMA4C01 | AC9E3LY06; AC9E3LY07 | |||
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Year 4 |
AC9AMA4D01; AC9AMA4C01 | AC9E4LY06; AC9E4LY07 | |||
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Year 5 |
AC9AMA6D01; AC9AMA6P01 | AC9E5LY06; AC9E5LY07 | |||
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Year 6 |
AC9AMA6D01; AC9AMA6P01 | AC9E6LY06; AC9E5LY07 |
The education licence and series of Built to Survive can be purchased by Australian education institutions from the ACTF shop here.
The ACTF would like to better understand how teachers are using our resources in the classroom. We welcome feedback from teachers who have delivered and adapted our resources. Please reach out to education@actf.com.au with questions, comments and suggestions.
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