Engage your students through our fun, curriculum-linked Humanities and Social Sciences workshops. Designed to align with the Australian National Curriculum, these free workshops will teach your students skills relevant to their studies.
Explore our workshops below to see how they link to the curriculum, what your students will learn, and if they're available at our campus, at your school or online. If you'd like to tailor any of the workshops to suit your class, simply get in touch.
Business, entrepreneurship and marketing
This introduction will put students into groups and they learn and start to use entrepreneurship and creative thinking as they work to create their own personal superhero that can do all the superhero tasks set before them. Students will need to think about issues, design flaws, and ways to overcome problems and work collaboratively to pool resources and designs to improve their results.
Year group: Years 7–8
Delivery location: Murdoch University Perth campus or at your school
Duration: 1 hour
Number of students: Maximum of 30 students
Study areas: Business, Entrepreneurship, HASS
In this fun, interesting and interactive workshop, students will be exposed to the basics of the mathematical model known as Game Theory. This science of logical decision-making is an important part of Economics and social sciences.
Through interaction and technology, students will learn and gain an understanding of concepts of Zero-sum games, The Nash Equilibrium, and Homo Economicus and see versions of this theory in popular culture and the real world.
Year group: Years 7–12
Delivery location: Murdoch University Perth campus or at your school
Duration: 1 hour
Number of students: 30 active participants
Study areas: HASS, Economics, Law, Psychology
Marketers are the people who make us ‘Just do it’, ‘Think Different’ and know that M&Ms melt in your mouth not in your hand. As a marketer your job could involve understanding consumers and how they behave, developing new products or deciding the best way to distribute a product and how much to sell it for.
Our fun, interactive marketing workshops give students a taste of the typical activities undertaken by marketers. By the end, students will have a better understanding of why they might choose Apple over Samsung. They will never look at an advertisement, Facebook promotion or supermarket in the same way!
Year group: Years 8–11
Delivery location: Murdoch University Perth campus or at your school
Duration: 45 minutes
Number of students: Maximum of 24 students
Study areas: HASS, Economics, English and Media
Have you ever wondered how a business works? What decisions can be made in regard to cash flow and investments that can make or break a business?
In this interactive activity, students will divide into four groups and act as the higher-ups in a business and compete with rival groups to make the best profit for their company, all while making sure their business stays afloat in a volatile world filled with dips, peaks and conflicts! Students will learn and put into action the basics of accounting, along with small business management and decision-making, to become the most profitable business in the classroom.
Year group: Years 7–11
Delivery location: Murdoch University Perth campus or at your school
Duration: 1 hour
Number of students: Maximum of 30 students
Study areas: HASS, Accounting and Economics
In the future, we may be called to lead others. This activity will show students the basics of leadership from a Human resources Perspective. Students will look and learn about individual characteristics and how HR can help them become better, how HR makes certain decisions all the while showing how they would react in these positions in the real world.
Year group: Years 8–10
Delivery location: Murdoch University Perth campus or at your school
Duration: 50 minutes
Number of students: Maximum of 30 students
Study areas: HASS, Economics, Human Resources, Entrepreneurship, Psychology
Criminology
In this brief introduction to Criminology and Profiling, students will dive head-first into the world of serial killers and repeat offenders to sort the facts from the fiction. Learning how a profiler would approach a crime, what the tell-tale signs to look for can be and what certain features of crimes can tell us. Students will then be introduced to a real-world case and see what they can learn and infer, using their newly learned skill set.
Year group: Years 8–12
Delivery location: Murdoch University Perth campus or at your school
Duration: 60 minutes
Number of students: Maximum of 30 students
Study areas: Psychology/Criminology, HASS, Science
In this series of term-long activities run three times throughout a school term, students will be guided through basics to profiling while looking at two actual cold cases that still have not been solved. Students will run through how criminal profiling occurs and then try to implement it over two cases. Between Sessions 1 and 2, it is recommended to give students time to work in groups to research and discuss
Year group: Years 8–12
Delivery location: Murdoch University Perth campus or at your school
Duration: 1 hour over three sessions (Additional class time will be needed for students to research on their own)
Number of students: Maximum of 30 students
Study areas: Psychology/Criminology, HASS, Science
Most people believe that no one would confess to a crime they did not commit, especially a serious crime such as murder. Well, one of the first recorded false confessions was by a woman and one of her servants who confessed to murdering her husband. They were both executed. When her husband came back from the crusades you can understand that he was not very happy!
In the Name of the Father is a movie about the Guildford Four. In this class, we will examine some very famous false confessions including the Guildford Four, the Birmingham Six and the case of Andrew Mallard. Andrew was convicted of a murder he did not commit and his “confession” was the major evidence used to get his conviction. We will examine why and how certain police interrogation tactics lead to such false confessions, focusing especially on Andrew Mallard’s case.
Guy Hall was the expert witness for the defence who analysed the police interrogation and in this workshop, he will go through his analysis.
Year group: Years 8–12
Delivery location: Murdoch University Perth campus or at your school
Duration: 60 minutes
Number of students: Maximum of 100 students
Study areas: Criminology and Psychology
This activity uses several fundamental aspects of Criminology and Crime Science to show students how criminology and psychology are used to protect potential victims and prevent crimes from ever happening. Students will gain an understanding of how criminologists interpret and use statistics, evaluate data, and advise people all while learning practical tips on how to better protect their own home!
Year group: Years 8–12
Delivery location: Murdoch University Perth campus or at your school
Duration: 60 minutes
Number of students: Maximum of 30 students
Study areas: Psychology/Criminology, HASS, Science
A suspicious package has been found outside the local primary school. Using their wits, intelligence and criminology profiling skills, students are tasked to solve a series of codes, puzzles and profiling activities to collect the clues and find the suspect!
This activity is delivered across Murdoch University’s Perth campus. Students are given a map and directions. Each clue station will provide a new clue and direction to help them in their investigation of the truth!
Year group: Years 9–11
Delivery location: Murdoch University Perth campus
Duration: 60 minutes
Number of students: Maximum of 30 students
Study areas: HASS, Criminology, Psychology, Science
High-risk violent offenders cause the greatest harm to the community. These individuals generally start offending at a young age and continue offending into later ages. These individuals are only a very small proportion of offenders (around 6%) but they account for 70% of violent crime. We also hear that violent crime is increasing and out of control.
In this class, students will learn about the nature of violent offending and the psychology of high-risk violent offenders. We will answer the questions about the level of violent crime. We will also look at who is most likely to be a victim of violent crime and where these crimes are committed. The class will also cover the psychology of violent offenders, that is, an examination of the psychological characteristics of violent offenders.
Year group: Years 8–12
Delivery location: Murdoch University Perth campus or at your school
Duration: 60 minutes
Number of students: Maximum of 100 students
Study areas: Criminology and Psychology
Economics, politics and social sciences
Global Challenges brings together future forecasting, entrepreneurship and innovation, politics, history, philosophy, economics, sustainability, design and IT to study societal problems and future trends. Students will learn to envision, shape and prepare for future changes in society and industry.
Students will explore the techniques used to help predict and plan for the future and then apply this to their own journeys.
Year group: Years 7–10
Delivery location: Murdoch University Perth campus or at your school
Duration: 1 hour
Number of students: Maximum of 30 students
Study areas: HASS, Science, Sustainability, Environment, Geography
Historical sources are key to our study of history. Giving us valuable data to piece together the events of yesteryear. However, what would happen if they were forged? Can we even tell? What can we glean about what really happened when someone is trying to mess with us?
In this theoretical activity, we live in a future world where time travel exists but has been outlawed. The Department for Time Transportation have been alerted of an unauthorised time jump to WWI. It is the student’s job to find out who the impostor is by analysing and critiquing historical sources. They will then have to race against the clock to crack the time code and bring the impostor back to the present.
Year group: Years 8–10
Delivery location: Murdoch University Perth campus or at your school
Duration: 1 hour
Number of students: Maximum of 30 students
Study areas: HASS, History
Have you ever wanted to win an election? What is actually needed for you to step up and work in the Lower House of Australia? In this workshop, we will run a series of elections to discover who will be “Murdoch Class Champion”, all while seeing what goes on behind the ballot boxes. Students will learn the differences between Australian and US systems, including First Past the Post, Preferential voting, Compulsory Voting and how the use of demographics can help you win!
Year group: Years 7–9
Delivery location: Murdoch University Perth campus or at your school
Duration: 1 hour
Number of students: Maximum of 30 students
Study areas: Law and HASS
This interactive event looks at our own habits and shows us a reflection of ourselves in the hopes of making students aware of their own choices in the fight to lower carbon footprints.
Students learn, discuss and add up their estimated footprint score to determine what their Earth Share is and how many earths we would need to host an entire population if we were all like them.
Year group: Years 7–10
Delivery location: Murdoch University Perth campus or at your school
Duration: 1 hour
Number of students: 30 maximum
Study areas: HASS and Sustainability
Indonesian
The Angklung is a musical instrument that originated in today’s Indonesia but is popular throughout South-East Asia. Made from bamboo tubes carved to have a resonant pitch and tuned to octaves, the Angklung is played in ensembles of three or more players. In this workshop, students will learn the history of the Angklung and how to play it, then play together to create melodies.
Year group: Years 7–12
Delivery location: Murdoch University Perth campus
Duration: 1 hour
Number of students: Maximum of 25 students
Study areas: Indonesian
Gamelan is a traditional musical ensemble from Indonesia, typically from the islands of Java and Bali. Gamelans have a long history in Indonesia and feature a variety of instruments such as metallophones, xylophones, kendang (drums) and gongs, bamboo flutes, and bowed and plucked strings.
In May 1993, the Provincial Government and people of East Java presented a handcrafted, 80-piece Gamelan orchestra to the government and people of Western Australia. The Gamelan Orchestra is housed at Murdoch University in the Peace Pavilion. This workshop provides students with a unique opportunity to learn about the music of the Gamelan and play the instruments together as an orchestra.
Year group: Years 7–12
Delivery location: Murdoch University Perth campus
Duration: 1 hour
Number of students: Maximum of 17 active participants
Study areas: Indonesian
Law
Mediation is a structured legal negotiation process that aims to assist people to resolve their legal disputes before heading to court. In this activity, students will act as mediators and explore different types of conflict and responses through a series of interactive activities. Students will be able to work collaboratively, debate, and reflect on their personal conflict responses and how they can best navigate their way to a positive resolution.
Year group: 9–11
Delivery location: Murdoch University Perth Campus or at your school
Duration: 1 Hour
Number of students: Maximum of 30 students
Study areas: HASS (Civics & Citizenship), Politics & Law ATAR
In this activity, we run through a simple mock trial situation. Students will learn about the onus of prosecution and defence, the types of issues that can and cannot be brought before a jury and the issues and knowledge needed to take part in our legal system.
Students will fill the roles of jury members as they watch Murdoch Law students take part in a simulation of a legal trial. Students will also then be asked to pass their verdict on the trial.
Year group: Years 8–10
Delivery location: Murdoch University Perth campus or at your school
Duration: 1 hour
Number of students: Maximum of 30 students
Study areas: Law and HASS
Street Law is a global, nonpartisan, non-profit program with more than 40 years of experience developing classroom and community programs that educate young people about law and government. Street Law programs and materials help advance justice by empowering people with the legal and civic knowledge, skills, and confidence to bring about positive change for themselves and others.
Murdoch’s Street Law program trains up our law students to come into your classrooms and provide information and legal education (both curriculum and other) to your students in a fun way.
Bookings are essential and each program runs from the start of each semester.
Year group: Years 7–12
Delivery location: At your school
Duration: 2 periods in your school, starting Semester 1 and 2
Number of students: 1 class
Study areas: HASS (Civics & Citizenship), Politics and Law ATAR
Book a workshop
For more information or to book a workshop for your class, email our Outreach team on outreach@murdoch.edu.au.
