This slideshow helps teacher better prepare students for the teacher-guided 'Technology & Innovation: Human Ingenuity' trail, and run both the pre- and post-visit activities with the students.

1. Technology & Innovation:
Human ingenuity
Teacher-guided visit
years 5 & 6
Pre- or Post-visit slideshow

2. A teacher-guided visit of:-
• Boulton and Watt engine
• The steam revolution
• EcoLogic: creating a sustainable future
Investigating the historical, social and environmental impact of
technology and innovation at the Powerhouse Museum.
This slideshow can be used for either pre- or post-visit purpose. It
features:
• physical layout
• key objects
• Audiovisuals and interactives
in the relevant sections of the three exhibitions.
Curriculum links:-
Stage 3 Science and Technology units:
• Environment matters,
• The best place to live,
• Switched on.
Stage 3 COGs unit:
• Living Land

3. What is technology?
Technology is … Technology
• all around us
• more than tools and gadgets
• applying knowledge to meet needs and wants Problem
What is innovation?
Innovation is …
• improving on something that already exists
• coming up with something new that makes our lives easier
What is ingenuity?
Ingenuity is …
• being creative
• about applying ideas to solve problems

4. Boulton & Watt engine, level 3

5. Boulton and Watt engine
This is the oldest surviving rotative steam engine in the world
• The engine was made by engineer James Watt and
entrepreneur Matthew Boulton of Birmingham, England for
Whitbread’s London brewery in 1785.
• It was donated to the Museum and arrived Sydney aboard the
sailing ship ‘Patriarch’ in 1888.
• This massive engine played a key role in he development of the
modern world.

6. Boulton and Watt engine
beam/rocking
arm
piston rod
connecting rod
cylinder planet gear
drive wheel
condenser sun gear
(in tank)
fly wheel

7. 1. Innovations that Watt and Boulton a) the separate
introduced condenser -
reducing fuel use by
85%
b) the parallel motion
b mechanism -
c allowing the piston
to push the beam
up as well as pulling
it down
c) the governor -
automatically
d controlling the
speed of the engine
a d) the sun and planet
gears - turning the
up-and-down
motion of the beam
into rotative motion

8. James Watt improved the steam
engine dramatically to become
an efficient and reliable source of
power for industry around the
world.
James Watt was
Boulton and Watt engines were also the first to
prime movers in the Industrial surround the
Revolution, the engine cylinder with wood
represents not just innovation to keep it hot
and entrepreneurship, but also
great changes to people’s life
and the environment.
DO YOU KNOW?
Despite the engine’s size (9.14 m
tall and 33 tonnes in weight), it
produces less power than an
average family car (11 kW or 15
horsepower).

9. 3. What’s behind the Boulton and Watt engine?
Visit the galleries behind the engine.

10. Gallery 1: The engine makers

a) Find out more about the lives of Boulton and Watt here.

11. James Watt: the Matthew Boulton: the
Scottish instrument entrepreneur who saw the
maker who was the potential of the engine and
creative genius behind supplied the finance and
the engine manufacturing know-how.

12. Gallery 2: Watt’s inventions

b) Here find out how the ‘governor’ works.
DO YOU KNOW?
Boulton saw a governor in a grain mill and
asked Watt to apply the idea to the steam
engine to control the speed.

13. Gallery 3: The Lunar Society

Boulton and Watt were members of a group of scientists
and manufacturers known as the Lunar Society.
c) Find out why the group was called the Lunar Society.
d) What did they do at their regular meetings?

14. Jasperware jewellery
made by Matthew
Boulton and Josiah
Wedgwood (right)
Coffee pot
This belonged to Joseph
Banks, the botanist who
sailed to Australia with
Captain Cook. Banks met
Boulton and Watt at meetings
of the Lunar Society. (left)

15. The Soho Soho Soho
Manufactory Foundry Insurance
Co

16. Union
Birmingham
certificate
riot 1792 Birmingham

17. Gallery 4: More of Watt’s inventions and life in the 1700s

e) Find out how the ‘parallel motion’ and ‘sun-and-planet’ gear work.
The sun-and-
planet gear
interactive
The parallel
motion
mechanism
interactive

18. From single acting to double acting interactive
See how the parallel motion mechanism (right) allows the top
of the cylinder to be sealed while letting the piston push the
end of the beam up as well as pulling it down (double acting).

19. From up and
down to round
and round
interactive
See how the planet
gear drive the sun gear
and the flywheel as you
move the beam up and
down.
To move the beam, you
will need to give the
flywheel a little push if
one of the gears is
directly above the
other.
Count the number of
turns the sun gear and
flywheel make for
every stroke of the
beam.

20. The steam revolution, level 2
The steam
revolution

21. The steam revolution
This exhibition traces the development of steam technology and its
impact on society. Explore how the power of steam inspired amazing
inventions and technologies that made work easier and faster.

22. Original engine room
This gallery was the original engine room of the Ultimo Power
House, which generated power for Sydney’s electric trams. The
engine room was completed in 1899 and remained in use till 1963.

23. To the left of the exhibition entrance

4. See how human and animal power was replaced
by machine power with the arrival of steam power.
Section 8:
Section 7:
Roll up!
All work …
Roll up!
no play
Section 9:
Section 10:
Designed
The city
for speed
electric
Section 1: Section 11:
Introduction The Earl
Spencer’s
cargo

24. To the left of the exhibition entrance

4. See how human and animal power was replaced
by machine power with the arrival of steam power.
Section 6:
Steam on Section 7:
the move All work …
no play
Section 5:
Section 3: Designed
for power Section 4:
Turn on Steam goes
the tap bush
Section 1:
Introduction
Section 2:
Steps towards
steam

25. Steps towards steam
This section covers the scientific discoveries about air
pressure and the nature of steam that led to the
invention of the Boulton and Watt rotative steam engine
Interactive:
Boulton and
Watt engine
model
Video: Boulton
and Watt – how
Scientific their engines
discoveries work (2 min)
1 about air
pressure and
Interactive: the nature of
Feel the steam
weight of air

26. Interactive: Feel the weight of air Scientific discoveries from
 air pressure to invention of
5. Find out what makes the piston lift the
steam engines
weight.

6. Newcomen steam engine model
a) What motivated Newcomen to take on the challenge of building his
steam engine?
b) What was his engine designed to do?
c) Compare Newcomen’s and Watt’s steam engine.

27. Turning on the tap
Follow the development of Sydney’s water supply and look at the huge
cylinder from Botany Pumping Station. Compare it with the cylinder of
the engine behind you and imagine how big the Botany engine was.
Cylinder
with
timber
insulation

28. Until the 1850s, few people in Sydney had taps in their houses. Most had to
pump water by hand from public pumps and wells and then carry it home,
walking up to half a kilometre each way.
Audio: ‘Not a drop fit to drink’
Hear what people thought
Interactive: Pump some water about Sydney’s water supply in
 the 1800s (3 min)
7. Get an idea of the effort involved in
using a hand pump.
a) Which part of the pump works as a
simple machine?
b) What type of simple machine is it?

29. Steam on the move
8. On display are two ‘portable engines’ that could be moved from place to place to do
their work. These were compact and light enough for horses to pull.

a) Choose one of the two engines. Collect as much information on it as possible. Write
a short story on it after your visit to the Museum.
AV:
… making
steam move
(3 min)
Horse-drawn
fire engine
AV:
Fire! Fire! (4 min) Portable
[behind the engine] steam
engine

30. Hard work before steam
Hand tools like these were used on farms in Australia and Britain before
mechanisation. Great skill and strength were needed to get results.
Shearers with hand shears

31. Steam on the farm
Farm workers saw mechanisation as a mixed blessing. It made some jobs
easier, but people struggled to keep up with the relentless pace of machines.
Many people had to move to cities because there were fewer jobs on farms.

32. The first fire brigades
In the days before governments employed fire-fighters, fire brigades were
owned by insurance companies. These brigades would only put out fire in
buildings insured by their own company.

33. The Fire King
Merryweather, the maker of our horse-drawn steam fire pump, was so
successful that he was nicknamed the Fire King. The engine was made at
Greenwich in England.

34. All work … no play
On display are large steam engines that drove factory machinery all around the
world before World War II. The relentless pace of the machines made work
monotonous as well as noisy, dangerous and dirty.
Pulleys to transmit
energy from engine to
machinery
Printing
Weaving press
loom Marshall
steam
 engine
9. The Marshall engine
a) Find the technology or innovation that allows the steam engine to
drive hundreds of small machines in a factory.
b) Imagine you are a factory worker, working in such a factory.
Describe your typical working day.

35. The city electric
This section looks at the spread of electricity
and the turbines that generated it.
AV:
Metropolis
(2 min)
Interactive:
Light up
Sydney
Parsons turbines

36. Interactive: Light up Sydney

10.Turn the handle of the interactive as fast as you can.
See whether you can light up the whole Imperial
Arcade.
a) Find the machine that change the turning motion
into electricity. What is it called?
b) What is the most commonly used fuel in Australia’s
power stations?
c) What are the impacts of these power stations on our
environment?

37. Steam
Aircraft turbine
Fantasies and failures model reaction
 engine model
11.Steam power inspired many
inventors in the 1800s. See some of
the interesting ideas people had.
Put down any immediate ideas then
make a sketch of your own fantasy
steam powered engine after the
visit.

38. EcoLogic, level 1

39. Discover the science behind global warming and
learn how our precious natural resources such as
fresh water are managed. Be inspired by how
people and companies are changing the way they
do things to secure a more sustainable future.

40. Into the unknown
The calm climatic conditions of the last 10,000
years have allowed agriculture and civilisation
to flourish. But life will be less predictable if we
let global warming continue.
DO YOU KNOW?
The average Australian’s
lifestyle emits about 20
tonnes of greenhouse
CARBON GALLERY gases per year.

41. NSW town of
Bundanoon
Clean
Building
energy
new cities
REDESIGNING OUR WORLD
Creativity, innovation, awareness of systems and personal
behaviour change will all be essential in helping us adapt to
new conditions and prevent the extremes of global warming.
Social and economic structures that make our communities
more resilient will help us all to deal with change.

42. Clean
energy
1. Find out more about
technologies that
capture energy from
renewable sources
such as wind and
sunlight.
Building new
cities
2. On display are some building
models. Point out the sustainable
features and environmental benefits
of each.
REDESIGNING OUR WORLD

43. 3. NSW town of Bundanoon

a) Find out who were involved in making the initiative of not
selling giveaway bottled water such a success in
Bundanoon.
b) Find out the alternatives the town provide.
DO YOU KNOW?
Bottling water gives off 1,000
times more greenhouse gases
than pumping water to your
REDESIGN YOUR WORLD tap.

44. 4. Towards a sustainable house

a) See how our choices of fittings and furnishings
in various family areas can make a difference.
b) List three eco-friendly appliances, technologies
or products you have at your home.
CITY LIVING

45. 5. Eco-design: reduce, recycle, reuse

a) Here choose one product from each group,
find out what makes each sustainable.
CITY LIVING

46. Online resources
1. Boulton and Watt engine exhibition page, including a 11
min illustrated talk on the engine by curator, Debbie
Rudder.
2. Boulton and Watt engine animation (1:11 min)
3. Inside the collection blog: search the blog to find out
more about Boulton and Watt
4. The steam revolution exhibition page, including
exhibition teachers notes.
5. Marshall steam engine working (1:44 min)
6. EcoLogic: creating a sustainable future exhibition page,
including exhibition teachers notes.
7. PotBiz: the innovation game
8. Australia Innovates, an online guide to innovation in
Australia’s industries

47. Relevant education programs
1. Technology & Innovation: Design and Make
workshop for years 5 & 6
2. Sustainable solutions workshop for yrs 5-10
Image credit: All images used are from the Powerhouse Museum
-: Powerhouse Museum Learning :-