Students will undertake at least one significant Fieldwork Task in Stage 5. In Stage 4, fieldwork about Australian sample studies may be included in teaching/learning programs to facilitate understanding of global environments.
Fieldwork activities should be carefully planned to achieve syllabus outcomes. Whether undertaken locally or at more distant sites, fieldwork should be integrated with the teaching/learning program to take full advantage of the enhanced understanding achieved through direct observation, field measurements and inquiry learning.
The mandatory course and the elective course contain outcomes that will be more easily achieved within a relevant context provided by fieldwork. Fieldwork activities may be specific to a focus area or may be integrated to encompass a number of focus areas.
Contemporary Geographical Issues
Students gain an awareness of and develop attitudes and values about a range of geographical issues of concern to people at different times and places. Contemporary geographical issues provide a comparison in scale and time that enable previously acquired knowledge and skills to be applied in a different context. They assist in clarifying, analysing, acquiring and judging values. They allow students to suggest possible solutions and participate in problem-solving.
As an entry point to the teaching and learning of geographical processes, contemporary geographical issues engage students’ interest and enable them to build on prior knowledge and experiences. The selection and use of contemporary issues in any geographical study must take into account the extent to which the information source demonstrates the spatial and ecological dimensions of the issue.
Teachers should make reference to a variety of information sources, including professional journals, television documentaries, a variety of newspapers and magazines, CD-ROMs, the Internet, databases, library information services, government departments and non-government agencies. The selection and analysis of contemporary geographical issues should take into account the agenda-setting role of the media, including the selection of issues and the print space or air time devoted to the issue.
Perspectives
Geography presents a variety of perspectives on the world through time, space and place.
A ‘perspective’ is a way of viewing the world, the people in it, their relationships with each other and with their environments. The ability to recognise and employ a variety of perspectives adds other dimensions to knowledge of environments and increases geographical understanding.
The perspectives specifically identified in the syllabus for analysis, where appropriate and relevant, are those of indigenous peoples, especially Aboriginal peoples in the Stage 5 Mandatory course; gender; intercultural; socio-economic and religious perspectives.
Specific studies should be selected to increase students’ understanding of these perspectives.
Civics and Citizenship Education
Civics and citizenship education is not a separate entity within the syllabus but flows from the study of key features of Australia’s physical and human geography. The citizenship education terms and concepts outlined in the Board of Studies’ Citizenship Education Framework for K–12 are listed below. Those appearing in bold type are embedded in the Geography syllabus content. There are different concepts of citizenship and teachers must recognise and be sensitive to students’ experiences about these concepts.
Through a focus on the spatial and ecological dimensions of geographical phenomena, students consider how individuals, groups and governments make decisions and the role they can play as active citizens in a democracy. Students investigate contemporary geographical issues to explore why spatial and ecological differences exist and how they may take an active role in shaping a fairer society in the future.
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Australian Identity
- Identity — self, family, community
- Significant Australians,
- national symbols, celebrations, popular images
- Conventions: religious, linguistic, cultural
- Cultural identities
- Cultural diversity
- National heritage: natural
- and built environments
- Population composition
- and changes
- Work
- Citizenship
- Global citizenship
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Rights and Responsibilities
- Rights: human, civil and legal rights
- Freedom of speech and action
- Responsibilities: human, civic, legal, economic, environmental
- Ethics
- Equality
- Prior occupation
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Decision-making and Democratic Processes
- Rules and laws
- The importation of
- European Law
- Law courts: local, state,
- federal, international
- Justice
- Law enforcement
- Changes to rules and laws:
- lobby groups, popular protests, referenda
- Conflict
- Democracy — elections, mandates
- Government — types, democratic and non-democratic
- Federation, the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Australia
- Government functions
- Politics
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Through a focus on the spatial and ecological dimensions of geographical phenomena, students consider how individuals, groups and governments make decisions and the role they can play as active citizens in a democracy. Students investigate contemporary geographical issues to explore why spatial and ecological differences exist and how they may take an active role in shaping a fairer society in the future.
Key Competencies
Geography provides a powerful context within which to develop general competencies considered essential for the acquisition of effective, higher-order thinking skills necessary for further education, work and everyday life.
Key competencies are embedded in the Geography syllabus to enhance student learning. The key competencies of Collecting, analysing and organising information and Communicating ideas and information reflect core processes of geographical inquiry and are explicit in the objectives and outcomes of the syllabus. The other key competencies are developed through the methodologies of the syllabus and through classroom pedagogy. Students work as individuals and as members of groups to conduct geographical inquiries and, through this, the key competencies Planning and organising activities and Working with others and in teams are developed. When students construct, read and interpret maps, analyse statistical evidence and construct tables and graphs, they are developing the key competency Using mathematical ideas and techniques. During investigations, students will need to use appropriate information technologies and so develop the key competency of Using technology. Finally, the exploration of issues and investigation of the nature of spatial and ecological problems contributes towards students’ development of the key competency, Solving problems.
Literacy in Geography
Literacy skills in reading, writing, talking, listening and viewing are essential to the acquisition of geographical skills and knowledge. In this syllabus, the areas of acquiring, processing and communicating geographical information provide explicit links to the development of literacy skills. Acquiring and processing geographical information draw on reading, listening to and viewing a range of geographical information sources; communicating requires students to present information using a variety of oral, written and nonverbal text types. Further, these skill areas, and the literacy skills inherent in them, link directly to the development of the key competencies of Collecting, analysing and organising information and Communicating ideas and information.
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Text Types
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Forms
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Tasks
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Reports describing geographical phenomena
Explanations of geographical phenomena
Discussions about geographical issues and phenomena
Expositions outlining a stated position on geographical issues and phenomena
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(written, oral and visual)
two or three-dimensional model
photography and satellite imagery
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(putting text types into practice)
diagrams, charts and graphs
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