For parents and teachers

Two parts: one free, one for members

NOVA Learn is free for everyone and needs no account. It is a library of explainers that answer the questions children actually ask, such as why kangaroos hop, what causes the tides or how saving money grows. Each one is marked with the school years it suits, lists the sources it was checked against, and ends with a hands-on activity and a short quiz that explains every answer.

NOVA Tools are free, hands-on tools that need no account: Spell It (Years 1 to 3), the Times Tables Trainer (Years 2 to 6), the Fraction Wall (Years 3 to 6), the Clock Trainer (Years 1 to 4), the Money Counter (Years 1 to 5), Moon Tonight (Years 3 to 8), the Solar System Explorer (Years 3 to 8), the Typing Trainer (Years 3 to 8, it needs a keyboard) and Place Value & Number Line (Years 2 to 6). A child's progress stays on their own device.

The member site is private. Members read a new story every day at their own year level, answer comprehension questions, keep a reading streak, save new words to a word bank and play learning games such as a daily word puzzle and a 60-second quiz. A collectable card game rewards reading and thinking rather than spending: cards are earned, never bought with money.

How accounts work

• Every account is requested, then approved by the site's Admin. Nobody can join just by signing up.
• To request access, a child gives their real name, school and year level. Only the Admin sees the real name and email address; other members see a username.
• Messages in the members' Lounge and NEXUS pass through an automatic filter, and the Admin can read, hide and delete them.
• Ads are non-personalised, the whole site is marked as made for children, and ads are kept out of stories, quizzes and the Lounge. Our Privacy & safety page explains exactly what is collected and why.
• On a shared family computer, a parent account can turn off the shop and card pages, lock the year level and switch off subjects.

Using NOVA Learn at home

1. Read it together. Most explainers take five to seven minutes to read. Pause at the headings and ask what your child thinks comes next.
2. Use the "Words to know" box. Each explainer lists five or six key words with plain definitions. Ask your child to use one in a sentence of their own.
3. Do the "Try this" activity. They mostly use everyday things you already have at home or school. Doing it fixes the idea far better than reading alone.
4. Talk about the quiz. Every answer comes with a reason. A wrong answer is a good place to start a conversation, not a mark against anyone.
5. Follow the sources. Older readers can open one of the listed sources (a museum, a science agency, a university) and find one extra fact to share at dinner.

Using NOVA Learn in class

Explainers are written for Years 3 to 6 (short sentences, around a Year 4 reading level) or Years 5 to 8 (richer vocabulary), and each page says which. They work well as a short shared reading on a projector, as a starting point for an inquiry question, or as a quick check for understanding with the quiz at the end. Every page prints cleanly. Subjects include science, space, geography, history, maths, technology, English, the arts, money and sport, with Australian examples wherever possible.

If you would like a topic covered, or you spot something that could be clearer, please get in touch. Suggestions from families and teachers decide what we write next.

Learn more

Read how NOVA Learn is made, about NOVA News, and our privacy and safety and terms pages.