The Gold Industry Group has a number of resources to support and enrich teaching and learning in your classroom about Australia’s diverse gold industry.

National Gold Education Program

The Gold Industry Group (GIG)’s National Gold Education Program provides teachers with access to free, interactive gold demonstrations delivered by passionate workers in Australia’s gold industry, as well as exclusive Gold Resources Kits.

Students will learn all about gold, its value, relevance and career opportunities, from industry professionals through hands-on STEM activities designed for Upper Primary (Years 4-6) and Lower Secondary (Years 7–10) classes.

The primary activity engages students by using pulleys to move heavy loads, replicating machinery often used in gold mining (and emphasising the importance of safety). The secondary activity uses geophysical maps to explore for gold deposits. These activities have been developed in conjunction with us!

Each interactive one-hour session can be presented to a single class of up to 32 students at a time. This unique program is available for free to schools across several areas of Australia; however, bookings are essential.

Visit the Gold Industry Group’s website to find out if presenters are available in your area and to request a session (or two).

Gold Resources Kit

The Gold Industry Group’s free, exclusive Gold Resources Kits are also on offer as part of the National Gold Education Program, with a range of large rock samples from gold mines in Victoria and Western Australia, as well as resources linked to the Australian Curriculum to excite students about Australia’s diverse gold sector.

Each kit includes samples of shale, dolerite, gneiss, pegmatite and basalt as well as a gold leaf vial, geological hand lens, a Teacher Guide, a Careers in Gold poster, a Rock Origins map and Discover Gold in Your Life booklets. To find out more or order a kit click here.

Please note if you book a session under the National Gold Education Program you will receive a complimentary kit.

Additional Gold Educational Resources

The Gold Industry Group also offers a range of other teaching resources including:

• The Heart of Gold Australia app featuring a range of fun and interactive activities that students can use in the classroom or with friends and family. Download the free Heart of Gold Australia app to your classroom devices from the App Store for iOS or Google Play for Android, ensuring the bundles in the app is also downloaded, and explre its many features, including:
  • Discover Gold Game: students select an interactive scene in which to locate seven items that contain gold to uncover a total of twelve different uses of gold. Students can then take the quiz to test their knowledge! Check out the Discover Gold in Your Life booklet, a great resource for students to unearth cool facts about gold in their everyday lives.
  • Virtual Gold Trails: the Perth and Kalgoorlie Heart of Gold Discovery Trails make for a fun outdoor class excursion or in-class exploration. These virtual gold trails combine learning with technology and the outdoors, to provide students with an appreciation for the golden history of their region. If you do not live near one of the gold trails, why not take the tour from the comfort of your classroom.
  • Gold Attractions and Tours: use the interactive map to identify gold attractions and tours near you.
• Lesson plans, linked to the Australian Curriculum and Heart of Gold Discovery Trails are available for Years 4, 5, 7, 8 and 9 students (the Science ones were developed by us!
• The Gold Jobs website provides a central, online hub of career pathways and employment opportunities in Australia’s gold industry. In a first of its kind, the website is a handy resource for teacher and students as it not only showcases the current vacancies across the sector, but provides an abundance of helpful career tips and industry insights, including worker and employer profiles, as well as workplace programs, study and training options, scholarships, news and more. View our Careers in Gold poster.