The Geography (Mandatory) course must be studied substantially in each of Years 7–10 with at least 200 hours to be completed by the end of Year 10.
Aim
In considering the intended learning, teachers will make decisions about the sequence, the emphasis to be given to particular areas of content, and any adjustments required based on the needs, interests and abilities of their students. Content including knowledge and understanding, concepts, skills and tools should be integrated to provide meaningful learning experiences for students. All students must undertake fieldwork in Stage 5. Where appropriate, students are to be provided with opportunities to investigate a wide range of places and environments from local to global scales.
Course description
Place: the significance of places and what they are like eg the effect of local and global geographical processes such as urbanisation, migration and climate change on tangible places such as a country as well as less tangible places such as a community.
Space: the significance of location and spatial distribution, and ways people organise and manage spaces that we live in eg location of biomes and the spatial distribution of urbanisation, global patterns of food, industrial materials and fibre production and variations of human wellbeing; conflicts arising from competing uses of space for agricultural, urban, recreational and industrial land uses.
Environment: the significance of the environment in human life, and the important interrelationships between humans and the environment eg the function and importance of the environment; the quality of the environment; significant environmental challenges; approaches to environmental management.
Interconnection: no object of geographical study can be viewed in isolation eg consequences of migration patterns on the location of origin and destination; the economic, social and environmental factors influencing spatial variations in global human wellbeing.
Scale: the way that geographical phenomena and problems can be examined at different spatial levels eg interactions between geographical processes at different scales; local alterations to environments can have global consequences; changes at a global level can impact local environments; management and protection of places and environments at local, regional, national and global scales.
Sustainability: the capacity of the environment to continue to support our lives and the lives of other living creatures into the future eg short and long-term implications of environmental change on environments; the importance of sustainable practices to ensure the wellbeing of people; sustainable environmental worldviews and management approaches.
Change: explaining geographical phenomena by investigating how they have developed over time eg biomes altered to produce food, industrial materials and fibres and the environmental effects of these alterations; the consequences of urbanisation; the protection of places and environments as a result of sustainable management practices.
What students will learn to do?
Sustainable Biomes
Students examine the physical characteristics and productivity of biomes. Students examine the correlation between the world’s climatic zones and spatial distributions of biomes and their capacity to support food and non-food agricultural production. Students analyse the impact humans have on biomes in an effort to produce food and increase agricultural yields. They examine population trends and projections from Australia and across the world and forecast future food supply-and-demand issues. Challenges to food production are explored and management strategies investigated.
Changing Places
Students examine the patterns and trends in population movements and the increasing urbanisation of countries. They discuss the reasons for internal and international migration patterns and the consequences of population movements, including the increased concentration of populations within countries. Students examine strategies to create liveable and sustainable urban places, propose solutions and suggest opportunities for active citizenship.
Environmental Change and Management
Students develop an understanding of the functioning of environments and the scale of human-induced environmental change challenging sustainability. They explore worldviews influencing approaches to environmental use and management. Students undertake an investigative study of the causes and consequences of environmental change in an environment in Australia and another country. They compare and evaluate the management responses in both countries and propose ways individuals can contribute to environmental sustainability.
Human wellbeing
Students examine the nature of, and differences in, human wellbeing and development that exist within and between countries. They describe ways of measuring human wellbeing and development to reveal spatial variations and develop explanations for differences. Students investigate examples from Australia and across the world of issues affecting development, the impact on human wellbeing and the consequences of spatial variations across scales. Local, national and global initiatives to improve human wellbeing are also examined.
Stage 5 Credential
Satisfactory completion of the mandatory study of Geography during Years 9 and 10 will be recorded with a grade on the student’s Stage 5 Credential (RoSA).