science

Tracey McBean

Tracey McBean is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Tracey McBean rather than just read about it. In short: Tracey McBean is a three-series animation co-production between Southern Star, Shanghai Animation Studios and Egmont Imagination (series 1). The show was aired from 2002 until 2006 on ABC Kids.

Key takeaways

Tracey McBean belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Tracey McBean to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Tracey McBean from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Tracey McBean is a three-series animation co-production between Southern Star, Shanghai Animation Studios and Egmont Imagination (series 1). The show was aired from 2002 until 2006 on ABC Kids.

Premise Tracey McBean is a nine-year-old girl who goes to school with her best friend Shamus. Together they use Tracey's inventions for all kinds of purposes, such as school competitions or simply for fun. Tracey lives in a house and Shamus on the 15th floor of a tall apartment building. Shamus loves gardening organically and Tracey likes inventing devices and contraptions. Tracey uses a caravan in her backyard for inventing. The caravan, white with a horizontal thick red stripe, has an antenna, and a computer and many devices and parts within. Tracey's younger sister, Megan, often annoys her to the extent that she will invent something to stop this annoyance. The antagonists are the McConnolly brothers, who go to Tracey's school. They often are rivals of McBean though lacking much intelligence and often are either culprits or annoy Tracey and Shamus is some manner. Jim McConnolly is the leader, who is even powerful enough to use as a weapon or tool to add food or other items from fellow students. Jake McConnolly is the obese and usually dim-witted brother who sometimes displays an odd amount of intelligence, but only briefly for an amusing value. McBeans' arch-rival, with equal or lower intelligence, though less morals, is Laszlo, a boys-only science club member. In most episodes, Tracey invents a device to help her or her friends and family in a situation with good intention but this leads to a minor disaster or failure and she must work out a solution. Although based on her abilities in science and her technical knowledge the show rarely features any scientific basis for her inventions and many take on a fantastic amount of power or extremely exaggerated function.

Characters

Main Tracey McBean (voiced by Roslyn Oades): Preteen-aged redhead Tracey makes inventions for all kinds of purposes. Shamus Wong (voiced by Anthony Hayes): Tracey's best friend of Asian heritage. Jim and Jake McConnolly (voiced by Akmal Saleh and Daniel Wyllie respectively): The two brothers who bully Tracey.

Minor Megan McBean (voiced by Lisa Bailey; Series 1-2 and Meaghan Davies; Series 3): Tracey's younger sister. Mr. and Mrs. McBean (voiced by Stephen Shanahan and Eliza Logan respectively): Tracey's parents. Gordon McBean (voiced by Daniel Wyllie): Tracey’s multi-talented yet notoriously lazy brother. Known for his love of food, TV, video games, and creative, unusual sandwich combinations, he frequently relies on his title inventor sister to solve his problems—most notably, his chronic lateness for school. Laszlo (voiced by Akmal Saleh): Tracey's inventor rival. Morris and Sandy: Tracey's pets. Sandy is a black-and-white dog, whilst Morris is an copper tabby cat. Mrs. Carmody (voiced by Eliza Logan): Tracey's teacher. Mr Longbottom (voiced by Stephen Shanahan): The school principal. Shamus' family: He has three older brothers with a father and mother. Lee (voiced by Teo Gebert): The boy who is rejected as bad luck but Tracey tries to help him. He appears in "Bad Luck Lee". Lynda: The well-known sports player when Tracey tries to get her to join the pane. Lynda appears in some episodes. Jimmy McConnolly: Jim and Jack's cousin. She appears in "The McConnelly Cousin". Robot Tracey (voiced by Roslyn Oades): The robot was invented by herself. The Robot family: The robot family was invented by Tracey herself. Mr. Arther (voiced by Stephen Shanahan): Tracey's uncle and an inventor like her. Harvey: Shamus' friend.

Episodes

Series 1 (2002) "Stretching Machine" "Family Power" "Gordon the King" "Lost Thing Finder" "Mum's Birthday" "Multiplication" "Pocket Money" "School Camp" "Brain Machine" "Local Weather" "Stage Fright" "Park Monster" "Invisible Megan" "The Great Race" "Fancy Dress" "Rainbow" "Robo Tracey" "Horsing Around" "Zoom Boots" "Bugs" "Finding the Beat" "Gordon's Bed" "Gordon's Makeover" "Ultimate Jungle Gym" "Fallout" "Freckle Frenzy"

Series 2 (2005) "Sherlock Tracey" "Bad Luck Lee" "Bald Bob" "Marble Mania" "Election" "Veggie That Cried Wolf" "World Record" "Gentleman Jim" "Big Things" "The McConnelly Cousin" "13" "Anti-Shamus" "Teddies" "Galaxy Blazers" "Party On" "Dirt Magnet" "Time Skip" "Lights, Camera, Action" "Surfbuster" "Zoo Story" "Fairy Tales" "Swap" "A Trifling Master" "On Ice" "Go, Gordon, Go!" "Lost Muse"

Series 3 (2006) "Jim in Charge" "Come Back Cat" "Someone Else's Shoes" "Overdue" "Inner Beauty" "Stuck on You" "Jurassic Tracey" "Away" "Jim's Curse" "Clowning Around" "Big Nick" "Socks" "To the Top" "Boss Tracey" "Where the Tracey Blows" "Rubbish" "Wild Times" "Remote Control" "Quiz Show" "Radio Jim" "Happy-Sad Birthday" "Mystery Girl" "Of Lice and Tracey" "Escape" "Game On" "Makeover"

Broadcast The series originally aired on ABC Kids in Australia. Internationally, the show also aired on Pop in the United Kingdom and Discovery Kids in the United States.

Awards 2002 Australian Writers' Guild Awgie Award, Children's Television category - winner. 2003 Silver Logie for Most Outstanding Children's Program - winner. 2005 Australian Writers' Guild Awgie Award - winner.

References

External links

Tracey McBean at IMDb Tracey McBean | australianscreen | National Film and Sound Archive | Australia

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Tracey McBean

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Tracey McBean claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Tracey McBean before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Tracey McBean ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Tracey McBean

In research: Tracey McBean appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Tracey McBean in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Tracey McBean is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2000s Australian animated television series, 2000s Chinese animated television series, 2000s animated comedy television series, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Tracey McBean outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Tracey McBean in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Tracey McBean means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Tracey McBean out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Tracey McBean in simple terms?

Tracey McBean is a three-series animation co-production between Southern Star, Shanghai Animation Studios and Egmont Imagination (series 1). The show was aired from 2002 until 2006 on ABC Kids.

Why does Tracey McBean matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Tracey McBean?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Tracey McBean.