©ABC 2015

Questions for discussion

Carbon Target

1. Discuss the Carbon Target story as a class. Record the main points of the discussion.

2. Name a greenhouse gas.

3. Why do scientists say we need to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases?

4. Why do governments around the world set carbon targets?

5. The Government announced that it will aim to cut the amount of carbon we release from

26% to _____% by the year 2030.

6. What does the Government say they have to weigh up when they are setting carbon

targets?

7. Australia’s carbon reduction target is one of the highest in the world. True or false?

8. What can be done to help Australia reach its carbon reduction target by 2030?

9. What do you do to save energy?

10. Do you think Australia should be doing more to reduce carbon emissions? Explain your

answer.

Write a message about the story and post it in the comments section on the story page

Maths Careers

1. Do you like studying maths? Why or why not?

2. Do you think maths is a useful subject to learn? Explain your answer.

3. In pairs, think about how you use maths in everyday life.

4. Name at least two jobs that need an understanding of maths.

5. How do architects use maths?

6. Why is a good understanding of maths needed to be a fighter pilot?

7. Explain how a computer animator uses maths.

8. Why do fashion designers need to know maths?

9. Think of at least two other jobs that need an understanding of maths.

10. How has your thinking changed since watching the BtN story?

Check out the BtN Maths Careers resource on the Teachers page

Vote in the Behind the News online poll

Science Week

1. Briefly summarise the Science Week story.

2. What question did Gigi and Ella investigate?

3. Why do onions make us cry?

4. What experiments did they conduct to find a solution to the problem?

Episode 23

18th August 2015

©ABC 2015

5. What question did William investigate?

6. What was the answer to his question?

7. How did William get his message across in the video he made?

8. How has making the video inspired Ella and Gigi?

9. What question would you like to investigate for Science Week?

10. What was surprising about this story?

Check out the Science Week resource on the Teachers page

Bee Issues

1. Why are bees important to Australia’s agricultural industry?

2. How do bees make honey?

3. As bees collect the nectar in flowers, they also spread ______________.

4. Name three foods that depend on the pollinating done by bees.

5. What would our diet be like if we didn’t have bees?

6. About how many industries in Australia rely on bees?

7. Apart from food, what other industries need bees?

8. What is the Varroa mite and what impact is it having on bees around the world?

9. What are the kids in the BtN story raising money for?

10. Describe how the special bee hives work.

Write a message about the story and post it in the comments section on the story page.

Kids’ Choir

1. Summarise the BtN story in a 100-140 character tweet.

2. What is the name of the choir the kids sing in?

3. How does singing make the kids feel?

4. Which country in Africa are the children from?

5. The children in the choir are orphans. What does that mean?

6. About how many children in Africa are orphans?

7. What message is the choir spreading?

8. What do the kids like about travelling?

9. How does the awareness and support raised by the choir help orphans in Uganda?

10. How did this story make you feel?

Do the quiz on the BtN website

©ABC 2015

Teacher Resource

Maths Careers

1. Do you like studying maths? Why or why not?

2. Do you think maths is a useful subject to learn? Explain your answer.

3. In pairs, think about how you use maths in everyday life.

4. Name at least two jobs that need an understanding of maths.

5. How do architects use maths?

6. Why is a good understanding of maths needed to be a fighter pilot?

7. Explain how a computer animator uses maths.

8. Why do fashion designers need to know maths?

9. Think of at least two other jobs that need an understanding of maths.

10. How has your thinking changed since watching the BtN story?

What do you think?

Before watching the BtN Maths Careers story, ask students to make

some predictions about what the story might be about. Students will

compare and contrast their predictions with other classmates after

viewing the story.

After watching the BtN Maths Careers story, hold a class discussion,

using the following discussion starters. Brainstorm ideas in small

groups and then students will report their group’s responses to the

class.

Think of as many words as can that relate to maths.

What do you like about studying maths? Describe.

In pairs, think about how you use maths in everyday life. Do

you use ratios, percentages, sums, integers or chance?

Think of 5-10 reasons why kids should learn maths. Share

and compare your ideas with the class.

What do you want to learn more about this topic?

Episode 23

18th August 2015

Students will create simple financial plans. Students investigate GST, percentages, units of measurement for volume and mass and calculate best buys. Students will learn about geometric elements and create abstract art.

Mathematics – Year 5,6 & 7

Choose appropriate units of measurement for

length, area, volume, capacity and mass

(ACMMG108)

Create simple financial plans (ACMNA106) Investigate everyday situations that use integers. Locate and represent these numbers on a number line (ACMNA124) Investigate and calculate percentage discounts of 10%, 25% and 50% on sale items, with and without digital technologies (ACMNA132)

Investigate and calculate 'best buys', with and without digital technologies (ACMNA174) Draw different views of prisms and solids formed from combinations of prisms (ACMMG161)

Classify triangles according to their side

and angle properties and describe

quadrilaterals (ACMMG165)

©ABC 2015

Research project

As a class brainstorm a list of jobs or careers that use maths. Below

are some examples:

builder

game designer

engineer

sports announcer

photographer

Investigate a job that uses maths. Interview someone (like a parent, teacher or friend) in your community that

uses maths in their job.

Prepare for your interview by writing some questions that you will ask your interviewee. Write open-

ended questions. Open-ended questions have no right or wrong answer and can’t be answered with

a ‘yes’ or ‘no’.

Find out how they use maths to help them do their job.

Find out what preparation they had to do to get their job.

Find out what they like about their job.

What have you learnt from this experience?

Classroom budget

Working in small groups, students will prepare to run a stall selling hotdogs at the school fundraising fair.

Students will create a simple budget to run the stall and work out how many sausages, bread and sauce they

will need to buy within their budget.

Create a table to record information about the budget. Below is an example:

Item Individual cost Size Quantity Total Cost

Sausages $7.50 2kg (20 servings) 10 $75.00

Bread $2.00 20 slices 10 $20.00

Sauce $4.50 500mL 4 $18.00

$113.00

Students will address the following:

Set an realistic budget

How many people will want to buy a hotdog?

Compare prices for the sausages, bread and sauce (visit more than one online shopping website, or

collect more than one grocery brochure to find and compare prices).

Select which products you will buy for your stall. Why have you chosen these products?

©ABC 2015

What quantities of food will you need?

What will the food cost?

What is your total income and total expenditure?

Do you have enough income to cover your expenses?

Can savings be made or can more be afforded on the food?

Further challenge:

Calculate the GST on the items you have purchased.

How much will you charge students to buy a hotdog?

How much will you raise from the fundraising stall?

Students will swap their budget with another group and check the following:

Is there enough food for the number of students attending the fundraising fair?

Do the calculations balance?

Is it under or over budget?

Seeing geometry in art

Working in pairs, students will examine a Kandinsky abstract artwork (e.g. Composition VIII) and identify a

range of geometric elements. Discuss as a class the students’ findings and compare what different students

observed.

What geometric elements can you

see and identify?

Become an artist

Students will create their own artwork using a

range of geometric elements. Students will

include at least one each of the following:

isosceles triangle

parallel lines

rhombus

parallelogram

equilateral triangle

right angle triangle

circle

concentric circles

Students will write a short artist statement, explaining their artwork (including a description of the properties

of the different shapes). Hold a classroom exhibition in the school resource centre, displaying each student’s

artwork and artist statement.

Composition VIII, 1923

©ABC 2015

Behind the News – STEM Changes

http://www.abc.net.au/btn/story/s4081145.htm

ABC News – NAPLAN results: Annual numeracy and literacy report shows `limited’ significant improvement

in students’ skills

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-05/naplan-results-show-limited-improvement-in-students-skills/6673118

NSW Education – Maths is the answer to many cool jobs

http://www.schoolatoz.nsw.edu.au/homework-and-study/mathematics/mathematics-tips/maths-is-the-answer-

to-many-cool-jobs

Australian mathematical Sciences Institute – Maths: make your career count

http://www.mathscareers.org.au/

Encourage your students to be active and informed citizens by watching our 10 minute news program each day. Go to the BtN homepage and

click on the 3News link.

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter for an update on upcoming BtN stories and other useful and relevant teacher information. Visit the BtN website and go to the Teachers page to join up.

©ABC 2015

Teacher Resource

Science Week

1. Briefly summarise the Science Week story.

2. What question did Gigi and Ella investigate?

3. Why do onions make us cry?

4. What experiments did they conduct to find a solution to the

problem?

5. What question did William investigate?

6. What was the answer to his question?

7. How did William get his message across in the video he

made?

8. How has making the video inspired Ella and Gigi?

9. What question would you like to investigate for Science

Week?

10. What was surprising about this story?

Class discussion

After watching the BtN Science Week story, respond to the following

questions:

Think of a question that you would like to ask the kids in the Science

Week story? For example:

What inspired you to investigate how onions make you cry or

why seaweed is brown?

What was your hypothesis for the investigation?

Write a message about the story and post it in the comments section

on the story page.

- What did you SEE in this video?

- What do you THINK about what you saw in this video?

- What does this video make your WONDER?

- What did you LEARN from this story?

- How did this story make you FEEL?

- What was SURPRISING about this story?

Episode 23

18th August 2015

Students will investigate a scientific concept, invention or discovery and present their learning to other students.

Science – Year 4

Suggest ways to plan and conduct investigations to find answers to questions (ACSIS065)

Science – Years 5 & 6

With guidance, plan appropriate investigation methods to answer questions or solve problems (ACSIS103) (ACSIS086)

Scientific understandings, discoveries and inventions are used to solve problems that directly affect peoples’ lives (ACSHE083) (ACSHE100)

Science - Year 7 Science and technology contribute to finding solutions to a range of contemporary issues; these solutions may impact on other areas of society and involve ethical considerations (ACSHE120)

©ABC 2015

Making sense of science

Boost your science vocabulary to help you with your science inquiry. Add words to the list below and then

find meanings for each word. Think of how your life would be different without scientific discoveries.

Conclusion Evidence Investigate Predict

Control Experiment Inquiry Procedure

Data Hypothesis Observation Results

Curiosity, wonder and questioning

All scientific discovery starts with a question. Students will think of a science question which can be

researched, make predictions based on what they already know and then design experiments to test those

predictions.

Explorer of the

world

You are an explorer of the world!

Your mission is to document and observe the world around you

(either in your classroom or in the school yard).

Take notes about what you see and record what you are drawn

to. Use speech bubbles to document your thoughts and graph

paper to document what you see.

What do you

wonder?

What do you wonder about what you see? For example, I

wonder why the sky is blue. I wonder why plants are green. I

wonder why I get a tiny spark when I’ve walked across a carpet

and touched a door handle.

Write one or more questions about things that you are really

curious about.

Share your ideas as a class, writing each idea on a sticky note.

Identify the questions that can be tested or researched.

What will you investigate? Choose one of the science questions

that you will explore through experiments and hands on

investigations.

Predictions

What do you already know about this scientific topic?

What do you predict to be true about the answer to your

question?

Form a hypothesis

Experiment Design and conduct an experiment to test your predictions.

Plan out a procedure to follow that will help you find answers.

©ABC 2015

How you will test your question?

List what materials you will need

Plan how to record your data

Perform your experiment, by repeating trials of tests, taking

measurements, making observations and recording data.

Share Think of creative ways to explain/answer your science discovery

(using multimedia, models, video or animation).

Create your own mini science lesson about what you have

learnt to teach to students in another class.

Behind the News – Chook Science

http://www.abc.net.au/btn/story/s3615882.htm

ABC Science – Sleek Geeks

http://www.abc.net.au/science/sleekgeeks/eureka/

National Science Week – Schools

http://www.scienceweek.net.au/schools/

Australian Museum – 2015 Sleek Geeks Science Eureka Prize (youtube)

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEh1S0YpN665UppqpfVfHiH1oSh4QX7Jt

ABC The Experimentals – Do an experiment

http://www.abc.net.au/science/experimentals/experiments/

ABC Science – The Surfing Scientist

http://www.abc.net.au/science/surfingscientist/lessonplans/default.htm

CSIRO – Do-it-yourself science experiments for kids

http://www.csiro.au/en/Education/DIY-science

Encourage your students to be active and informed citizens by watching our 10 minute news program each day. Go to the BtN homepage and

click on the 3News link.

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter for an update on upcoming BtN stories and other useful and relevant teacher information. Visit the BtN website and go to the Teachers page to join up.

©ABC 2015

BtN: Episode 23 Transcript 18/08/15

Coming up.

Aussie kids maths results in the spotlight after NAPLAN. We find out why.

For Science Week we check in with two the two finalists of the Sleek Geeks Video prize.

And meet the kids singing and dancing their way around Australia for a very good cause.

Hi, I'm Nathan and welcome to BtN. Good to have you with us. You can see all of those

stories later but first today.

Carbon Target

Reporter: Carl Smith

INTRO: The Federal Government has announced a new carbon target. It's aiming to

reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Australia by 26 percent over the next 5 years. Some

say it's a responsible decision, others say it's not enough. Here's Carl to explain.

CARL SMITH, REPORTING: Most of us have thought about how to save energy.

KID: Using a power-board so you can turn multiple things off.

KID: You could walk to school or ride your bike, maybe even catching the train.

KID: Put some timers on your lights or motion sensors.

KID: I save energy by turning the lights off when I'm not in my room.

But while every little change we make helps scientists say we need to do even more. They

say we've got to cut back our greenhouse gases, like carbon dioxide, or else risk changing

our climate. So to help stay on track governments around the world have been setting

carbon reduction targets. Last week it was Australia's turn.

The Government announced Australia will aim to cut the amount of carbon we release by

26 to 28 percent by the year 2030, which is lower than lots of other places, like the

European Union, the US and the UK.

TONY ABBOTT: We're not leading but we're certainly not lagging.

©ABC 2015

But many people reckon we should be leading or at least doing better, because we're a

rich country with the means to cut our emissions more successfully. But the Government

says it has to weigh up the benefit of reducing the carbon we release with the effect it will

have on our economy. Because large parts of it, like the resource and mining sectors, will

find it hard to cut back. Plus any changes to how we generate energy will cost all of us

more money. But even getting to a 26% target by 2030 is going to be a challenge.

So how will we get there? The Government says better technology like new batteries and

cleaner power plants will help us cut back. Another way to reduce our greenhouse gas

emissions is to use electricity more efficiently. Switching to renewable energy options, like

the solar panels on this school, is a good way to lower our emissions too.

Kid: They get the energy from the sun and they're not using as much greenhouse gases

which clog up the atmosphere.

And if the goal is to reduce carbon dioxide then we can also ask our leafy green friends to

lend a branch.

Kid: Well, trees they take carbon dioxide which is the greenhouse gases and they release

oxygen so we have more clean air to breathe.

KID: Trees help because they take in carbon dioxide and give us oxygen.

So that's the target and the plan to get there, but what do you think?

Kid: Australia could do a lot more, for the planet.

Kid: I think we should do more planting of trees and putting solar panels on roofs and

timers on plugs and motion sensors.

Kid: I think we could do more things to help the environment and make sure we're just

using energy wisely.

The Wire

To other news now and Australia's marriage laws have been another hot topic this week.

The Liberal party and the National party had a big meeting and decided they wouldn't

support any changes to allow same sex couples to get married.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott says it should be up to the whole country to decide if they

should change - not just politicians. So he says he'll put it to a big national vote after the

next election.

At least two massive explosions have ripped through the Chinese city of Tianjin killing

more than a hundred people and injuring many more. Investigators still aren't sure what

caused the blasts but they're worried victims might have been exposed to a deadly

©ABC 2015

chemical stored in a warehouse nearby. If it rains, it could create a cloud of toxic gas so

authorities are evacuating all homes and schools within three kays just to be safe.

In the US, Tens of millions of black, plastic balls have been rolled into lakes and dams

around Los Angeles. They're known as Shade Balls because they help block out sunlight

to stop water from evaporating so quickly. Experts hope the project will help save about

1.1 billion litres of water every year in the drought affected area. Some even reckon we

could give it a go in Australia.

And finally, this viral video is kind of ruining the koala's cute and cuddly reputation!

A South Australian farmer got a bit freaked out when this one started chasing her quad

bike.

“Far out, it's coming! Get away, get away!”

It didn't let up and when the farmer jumped off it grabbed the tyre. Experts say that's pretty

unusual behaviour although koalas can be aggressive when it's mating season. While

other people reckon it just wanted a ride.

Maths Careers

Rookie Reporter: Amaya

INTRO: Now last week in the Wire we told you about the release of this year's NAPLAN

results. One of the big worries in there for experts was that Australian kids' maths scores

don't seem to be improving. That comes on top of recent reports that say fewer kids are

studying advanced maths in their senior years. It's got some industries really worried. So

we sent Rookie Reporter Amaya out to take a look at just some of the amazing jobs that

rely on maths each and every day.

AMAYA, ROOKIE REPORTER: That's maths. That's maths. There's maths going on there

too.

Maths helps us to live our lives every day. To figure out how things work; to build and

create and understand. And if you figure out its secrets, it's anything but boring!

Welcome to the world of fashion. It's colourful and glamorous but along with the silk and

sequins, there are calculators, measuring tape and a whole bunch of equations, as

Cristina knows well.

AMAYA: Your job doesn't really seem like the most obvious to use maths for, but do you

have any examples of where you do use it?

©ABC 2015

CRISTINA: For sure, yeah I use maths in everyday life so I guess the process for, this is

fashion design, but I do couture which is made to measure formal wear and things like

that. To specifically fit that client, I need to take their measurements and from that adapt

my patterns to fit them so there's a lot of maths involved to making sure that it's going to fit

them perfectly because that's the service that they're paying for at the end of the day.

This is the brand new SAHMRI building in Adelaide. Thomas is one of the architects that

worked on it.

THOMAS: You can see from this diagram though how we set the building out in particular.

It's all based on mathematics and geometry.

AMAYA: If someone wanted your job would you suggest sticking with maths through

school?

THOMAS: Absolutely. I see mathematics as a second language. There's very much

mathematics embedded in everything we do.

AMAYA: Wow this is cool.

PAUL: This is a Boeing F18 hornet.

Paul spends his life working in some pretty impressive works of engineering.

PAUL: This plane has a top speed of this aircraft is Mach 1.8 or 1.8 times the speed of

sound.

He's a test pilot for the Army's Aircraft Research and Development Unit.

PAUL: This part of the wing is a flap they allow the aircraft to land at a slower speed and

use less runway.

It's a job that takes a fair bit of nerve, a thirst for adventure and maths!

PAUL: Pilots use maths quite a bit, we primarily use it mentally doing mental maths

calculations and we do that all the time while we're flying. So there are a couple of things

that we're really concerned about. One is fuel so that we actually have enough fuel to get

back because as you can imagine unlike a car you can't just pull up on the side of the

road. The other one is to actually navigate. So while the plane flies it flies relative to air

however the wind blows us around so we have a couple of little tricks to work out what our

speed is over the ground and what our track is over the ground.

You see, it's like I said! Maths is all around us!

AMAYA: Hi, I'm Amaya.

KEVIN: Hi, I'm Kevin. Welcome to Rising Sun.

AMAYA: This is cool!

©ABC 2015

These guys make computer generated animations for movies. You might have heard of

some of them. Harry Potter? The Hunger Games? X-Men?

AMAYA: What type of maths do you use in your job?

KEVIN: Well we use a lot of different types of maths, we use a lot of physics so how

objects, solid objects hit each other and how they bounce off each other and particularly

how they're destroyed, how they break up. But then also fluid dynamics which is how

gases and liquids move, things like smoke, things like explosions and those have to

interact with particles and water and how things splash.

It's pretty clear that some of the coolest jobs around depend on maths.

AMAYA: So why are so many kids turning away from it when they reach high school and

uni?

KEVIN: Maths has a reputation of being hard.

CRISTINA: I think they think it's you know it is a hard subject and it can really be a hard

subject, but I think a lot of kids as well don't see that it can be used in everyday life and

especially after school they think I'm never going to use this again. In fact, maths comes

into play with every job.

Maths isn't easy. But hard doesn't mean boring. Just like any language, learning maths

takes time and hard work and practice. But it's worth it!

Online Poll

Okay, so the stats say kids aren't loving maths.

But let's find out if it's true.

Do you enjoy studying maths?

Head to our website to place your vote.

Now last week we asked you if trophy hunting should be banned. And we had a massive

turnout of voters. Out of more than 6000 votes cast, most want trophy hunting gone.

Thanks for having your say!

Science Week Films

Reporter: Carl Smith

INTRO: Now, this week is Science Week. So next, we're going to celebrate by meeting the

primary school kids who've been shortlisted as finalists for the Sleek Geeks Eureka video

prize. Carl starts this story with a look at one of their videos.

©ABC 2015

Eureka film: One case, two detectives, one suspect, CRY STOPPERS.

Detective: Ma'am please try to stay calm, we've dealt with situations like this before. Just

point us out the culprit.

Chef: 'It was the onion!'

Gigi and Ella had a simple question: how come onions make you cry?

Detective: Yes Ella, we have reports of him all around the world. This guy has a shocking

record, and is always leaving his victims in tears. Let’s see why this happens.

CARL SMITH, REPORTING: To answer their question the primary school friends from

Brisbane got creative. In fact they became movie makers, actors and scientists just to get

to the bottom of the case!

Detective: Once the gas reaches our eyes, it stimulates the neurons to create the familiar

burning feeling. The brain sends a message to the eyes to wash the irritant away with

tears.

They even conducted some experiments in the kitchen on how to stop onions making you

tear up!

Gigi and Ella: We tried using chewing gum while we were chopping the onion itself, and it

didn't really work. We found that water helps - yes running it under water, if you chop it

underneath the tap. You could put it in the fridge, yes, it deactivates it or slows down the

process of the onions wafting towards your eyes. And then putting it in boiling water, that

was our invention.

And all their hard work making the video has paid off. Gigi and Ella are now finalists for the

Eureka Prize for School Science. The other finalist this year is William, and his story also

started with a question.

William: Have you ever wondered why seaweed is brown, and not green like plenty of

other plants?

He waded through swamps, did his own experiments and collected lots of stinky seaweed

to solve the riddle.

William: Light colours absorb far less light than dark colours. Seaweed is brown so it can

absorb as much light as possible to make food and keep alive.

Both groups say they had a lot of fun making their movies and thinking about creative

ways to get the ideas across to kids.

William: First thing was using the Lego, because what kid doesn't like Lego? And I know

that I like Lego. And the second thing was I very much simplified the scientific concepts so

kids could understand it as well.

©ABC 2015

Ella and Gigi: We always found science story-like, and we thought it was a great

opportunity to turn it into a playful way to capture younger viewers’ attention, but also

explain the onions. And so that's why we used detectives.

Later this month they'll find out who'll win the top prize. But they say making the video has

already inspired them to tackle more of science's trickiest questions.

Ella and Gigi: I think it would be cool to be a scientist, but not really one of the white coat

people, more of the experimenting for fun sort of people. Yeah, same with me, it would be

fun to be a scientist and I know I definitely want to do something to do with science, but I'm

not sure where in the medical field yet. So yeah.

Quiz 1

Reporter: Amelia Moseley

Okay, quiz time now.

Where do onions grow?

On a tree

On a bush

Or underground?

The answer is: Underground

Bee Issues

Reporter: Amelia Moseley

INTRO: We hate when they sting and love it when they make honey. But did you know

bees also deserve credit for having a hand in creating the majority of the food we eat?

Unfortunately that role is now under threat though because of a tiny mite that attacks bee

populations. But all is not lost. Amelia met up with some kids hoping to help protect bees

right around the country.

AMELIA MOSELY, REPORTING: These kids aren't miss-bee-having. They're busy

bumbling about to raise money to buy their very own bee hive. But it's not just because

they like honey. They've been learning how bees are a very important part of Australia's

agriculture industry.

GIRL 4: Bees pollinate 65% of what we eat and they also pollinate the food that animals

eat.

©ABC 2015

You see bees make honey by collecting the nectar in flowers and storing it in their special

honey stomachs. But as bees go around from plant to plant, they also spread pollen which

helps plants produce seeds and fruit.

REPORTER: So besides this sweet, sticky stuff a lot of us love, we can thank bees and

their pollination for all of these tasty foods too! In fact, experts reckon at least three out of

every five things we eat can be linked back to bees. Mmm buzz, buzz.

BOY 4: We couldn't have pizza without them, or coffee, a lot of different vegetables.

GIRL 2: If we didn't have them our diet would drop down to mainly corn, wheat and rice.

In fact about 35 industries in Australia rely on bees. It's not just food either, it's things like

cotton clothing, make-up, even some medicines.

BOY 3: So if they got killed or got extinct, we'd be in a bit of trouble.

The problem is bees around the world are in a lot of trouble. Mainly because of this: the

Varroa Destructor; also known as the Varroa mite. These parasites attach themselves to

bees and infect them with viruses which eventually kill them.

BOY 3: The Varroa mite is a mite that is sucking out the bee's blood then puts in a virus,

and once it goes back to the hive its spreads it around and basically the whole hive dies.

They’ve been destroying bee populations in many countries and while Australia is the only

continent that's still Varroa mite free, some bee keepers are worried it won't stay that way.

That's why these kids are buzzing to the rescue. They're raising money to buy a special

type of hive that'll trap infected bees before they can spread.

GIRL 1: If a Varroa mite gets on one of the bees, it can shut down the bee and keep the

bee inside the hive so it won't affect the bees outside in Australia.

The hive will be placed near a port like this and it'll automatically catch any problem bees

that might arrive on ships from overseas. But it'll take more than one hive, on one port, to

keep the Varroa mite away. So these guys want all kids around Australia to help save the

humble bee from this seriously sticky situation.

BOY 3: I think a lot of schools should get onto this because it's very important, and if they

all go, they're gone.

KIDS: Save the bees!

Quiz 2

Okay, I think it might beeeeee time for another quiz.

Sorry!

Which part of their body do bees use to collect nectar?

©ABC 2015

Is it :

Tongue

Feet

Wings

The answer is: Tongue.

The Score

Time for the biggest plays of the week now! Here's sport.

The Diamonds have become world netball champions for the 11th time!

They beat New Zealand 58 to 55 in the final, making it their third world cup win in a row!

“To win on home soil with obviously so much expectation around it from the outside and

yeah it was just icing on the cake. You wanna bottle that feeling.”

Awesome work!

To more good news now and Aussie golfer Jason Day has won the US PGA

Championship! It's one of the biggest golf tournaments in the world and Day's just the fifth

Aussie in history to take top spot!

JASON DAY: I didn’t expect to ever grow up and be on the PGA circuit. It’s an amazing

feeling.

While the Australian men's cricket side has been struggling, the Aussie women's cricket

team are on top in their Ashes series in England. They thrashed England by 161 runs in

their test at Canterbury. And are now just one win away from taking home the Ashes.

And our national basketball teams are one step closer to qualifying for the Olympic

Games. The Boomers got up over New Zealand's Tall Blacks 71 to 59 in the first of a two

game series. While the Opals won against the Tall Ferns 61 to 41.

Orphan Choir

Reporter: Matthew Holbrook

INTRO: Finally today, meet the Watoto Children's Choir! They're in Australia to perform

for thousands of their Aussie fans. But their visit is not just about singing and dancing.

©ABC 2015

They're also here to raise awareness about some of the difficulties facing kids like them in

Africa. Here's Matt.

PRISCILLA: My name is Priscilla and I'm 11 years old.

JACKSON: My name is Jackson and I'm 13.

ESTHER: My name is Esther and I am 11 years old.

This is the Watoto Children's choir. And right now, they're travelling around Australia,

sharing their songs, and telling their stories.

PRISCILLA: It makes me feel good because most of the time people join us when we're

singing.

But while they're clearly having a lot of fun on stage, they're also helping to spread a

serious message. They're from the African country of Uganda, and they're orphans.

PHILLIP MUGERWA, CHOIR TEAM LEADER: Most of the children we have, have lost

their parents to HIV/AIDs or due to war and different circumstances in life that have

caused them to be orphans. What we do with these children is rescue them, place them in

a home with a loving foster mother who cares for them. We make sure they have clothes,

make sure they have food. In doing this we believe will raise the next generation of

Ugandan leaders and African leaders.

Phillip's the team leader of the choir. He says while these guys are being looked after,

there are millions of orphaned kids in Africa who still need help.

PHILLIP: As the choir travels we share the plight of the orphan child in Africa, and as we

do that, we raise awareness and support.

That support's helping fund villages in Uganda, so more kids like these have somewhere

to live, learn, and play.

PRISCILLA: We help our mothers to do work at home. We play games. The teachers

teach us English, literacy, maths, reading.

The choir's here in Australia for 6 months. And as they travel around performing, it's an

opportunity for all of these guys to see and learn more about different cultures. And even

try some Aussie food!

REPORTER: Tell me how you feel about Vegemite.

PRISCILLA: It is salty. Do you like it? No.

ESTHER: It was not nice.

OK, Vegemite wasn't a hit, but they say they really do like it here. And they've loved

sharing their music.

©ABC 2015

PRISCILLA: Sometimes they clap, sometimes they sing and dance with us and they smile

when they're singing and dancing.

CHOIR: Bye, bye, BtN we love you.

Closer

Right, that's it from us for this week. But, please join me on Friday for our weekly

#AskaReporter session! Next week's topic will be on our Science Week filmmakers. So if

you'd like your school to get involved there are instructions on our website. Thanks and

bye for now!