The Level A curriculum develops student’s awareness of a place on a personal local scale. Places will range in size from a part of a room or garden to community place. They are supported to use...
The Level A curriculum develops student’s awareness of a place on a personal local scale. Places will range in size from a part of a room or garden to community place. They are supported to use their senses to explore the tangible characteristics of a place such as the sound, smell, feel of significant features, and environmental and human characteristics.
Learning about their own place and building a connection with it contributes to their sense of identify and awareness. They start to explore significant places they are in, and what it is like. Students experience different places and their purposes.
The idea of a place, its purpose, features and location (a part of the concept of space) are introduced through personal experience and reinforced through the use of multisensory and multimodal texts, images, maps, photos and models. The emphasis in Level A is on the significant place in which they live and their reaction to them.
Key question:
By the end of Level A, students recognise some personally significant places. They select preferred objects through reaching towards, accepting or rejecting actions.
Students react to the familiar features of some personally significant places.
The Level B curriculum focuses on places I live in and developing students’ awareness of the places they experience daily. They are supported to develop their curiosity of place by exploring some...
The Level B curriculum focuses on places I live in and developing students’ awareness of the places they experience daily. They are supported to develop their curiosity of place by exploring some of the significant features of the place and what they do in each. They are developing an emerging understanding of special awareness such as location, direction and distance. Places will range in size from part of a room, to a building or area.
Students are encouraged to explore the space within a place. They use their senses to explore the tangible characteristics of a place such as the features, its environmental and human characteristics. Learning about their own place and building a connection with it contributes to their sense of identify and awareness. Students experience different places and their purposes.
The idea of a place, its purpose, features and location (a part of the concept of space and distance) are introduced through experiences and reinforced through the use of multi-model texts, images, maps, photos and models. The emphasis in Level B is on the significant places in which they live and what they do in each place.
The key questions for Level B are:
By the end of Level B, students can identify some familiar places using photos, images or augmentative alternative communication when asked. They will select to view a multimodal text about a preferred place.
Students experience the familiar features and purposes of places and the representation of these features, purposes and their location as words, gestures, images, pictures and photos. They begin to indicate objects and places they like from a field of two to three choices. They begin to follow everyday language related to direction and location.
The Level C curriculum focuses on local places I live in and developing student’s exploration and curiosity of personally significant places. Students will build on their knowledge of the local...
The Level C curriculum focuses on local places I live in and developing student’s exploration and curiosity of personally significant places. Students will build on their knowledge of the local space around personal significant places. Students will draw on their own experience to help them understand places around them. They are learning about their own place and building a connection to places and are developing a sense of identify and awareness. Students experience different places and their purposes. They record and reflect on significant community facilities and their experiences at these places.
Students are developing an emerging understanding of spatial concepts through structured experiences within various places and their environment. The idea of a place, its purpose, features and location (a part of the concept of space) are recorded through the use of multimodal texts, images, maps, photos and models. They assist in the caring for and maintenance of a place. They are introduced with vocabulary related to place, space, and interconnections. The emphasis in Level C is on significant places and their local area, what they do in these places.
The key questions for Level C are:
What places do I live in?
By the end of Level C, students label personally significant places and what they do in the place. Students demonstrate a few ways they can care for a familiar place by creating a simple rule for this place.
Students observe the familiar features of places and assist to represent these features and their location on group constructed pictorial maps and models. They share observations about a place using simple sentences and show the people who can be found in a place.
Students can independently locate some significant spaces within a significant local place and they begin to communicate using direction and location.
The Level D curriculum focuses on the features of places where students live focusing on developing student’s awareness, understanding and purpose of a place. Students are encouraged to be curious...
The Level D curriculum focuses on the features of places where students live focusing on developing student’s awareness, understanding and purpose of a place. Students are encouraged to be curious about a place and explore its local area. They use their senses to explore the tangible characteristics of a place such as the spaces, features and environmental and human characteristics.
Learning about a place and building a connection with it, contributes to the student’s sense of identify and awareness. They continue to develop a connection and understanding of significant places they are in and what it is they like. Students experience and develop their curiosity about different places and their purposes. The idea of a place, its purpose, features and location (a part of the concept of space) are explored through the use of multimodal texts, images, maps, photos and models.
The emphasis in Level D is on the significant places students regularly visit, their major characteristics, purpose and how students connect to each place. They also explore and how a place is affected by natural factors, and the environmental issues associated with the place.
The key questions for Level D are:
By the end Level D, students label familiar routine places and some of their features and the related activities undertaken in these places. They recognise places can have a special purpose or connection for some people. Students reflect on their learning to suggest ways they can care for a familiar place.
Students observe the familiar features of places and represent these features and their location on jointly constructed pictorial maps and models. They can identify how they travel to a place and one or two key features of the journey. They recognise that places can be represented by an image or on a map.
They follow and use simple everyday language to describe direction and location to explain where a place is or to locate a place or object.
From Foundation to Level 2, the curriculum develops the concept of place through a study of what places are like over time and how they are defined. The emphasis in F-2 is on the places in which...
From Foundation to Level 2, the curriculum develops the concept of place through a study of what places are like over time and how they are defined. The emphasis in F-2 is on the places in which students live, but they also start to investigate other places of similar size that are familiar to them or that they are curious about.
Examining the influence of distance and accessibility on the frequency of visits to places starts students thinking about the concept of space. This is further developed through an introduction to location, including exploring where activities are located and the reasons for this.
The idea of active citizenship is developed as students start to explore their feelings about special places, and the wider importance of places to people and how places can be cared for.
The concept of environment is introduced as students study the daily and seasonal weather patterns and natural features of their place and of other places, including how seasonal change is perceived by different cultures.
Students are introduced to the concept of scale as they learn about the hierarchy of scale by which places are defined - from the personal scale of their home to the national scale of their country. Students’ understanding of the concept of interconnection is developed by investigating the links people have with places locally and globally.
Key questions:
By the end of Level 2, students define place and identify and describe features of places and changes in these, at a local scale. They identify how people are connected to different places and explain the value of places to people. They describe different ways that places can be cared for.
They collect and record geographical data and information. They represent data and information in tables, plans and labelled maps and interpret it to draw conclusions.
They describe and explain location and distance using geographical terms, and describe the location of the major geographical divisions of the world.
In Levels 3 and 4, the curriculum continues to develop students’ mental map of the world and their understanding of place through examining the major characteristics of Australia, Australia...
In Levels 3 and 4, the curriculum continues to develop students’ mental map of the world and their understanding of place through examining the major characteristics of Australia, Australia's neighbouring countries and Africa and South America. The concept of place is developed by examining the similarities and differences between places within and outside Australia. Students use the geographic concepts of environment and space to examine the similarities and differences between places in terms of the climate and the types of settlements. These comparisons should continue to be made at the scale of the local place.
Students consider the significance of places and environments. They explore how feelings and perceptions form the basis of actions to protect places and environments that are of special significance. They learn that sustainability is about the ongoing capacity of the environment to sustain human life and wellbeing and means more than the careful use of resources and the safe management of waste, and they develop their understanding of the concept by exploring some of the other functions of the environment that support their lives and the lives of other living things. They are introduced to different views on how sustainability can be achieved.
Key questions:
By the end of Level 4, students identify and describe spatial characteristics, and the characteristics of places and environments at a range of scales. They identify and explain interconnections and identify and describe locations, including Australia’s neighbouring countries and Africa and South America.
They identify responses to a geographical challenge and the expected effects.
They collect and record relevant geographical data and information and represent data and information in tables, simple graphs and maps of appropriate scale that conform to cartographic conventions. They interpret data and information, and use geographical terminology, to identify and to develop descriptions, explanations and conclusions.
In Levels 5 and 6, the curriculum focuses on the concepts of place and interconnection. Students’ mental maps of the world are further developed through learning the locations of the major...
In Levels 5 and 6, the curriculum focuses on the concepts of place and interconnection. Students’ mental maps of the world are further developed through learning the locations of the major countries in the Asia region, Europe and North America. The scale of study goes global as students investigate the geographical diversity and variety of connections between people and places.
In exploring the interconnections between people and environments, students examine how environmental characteristics such as climate and landforms influence the human characteristics of places, and how human actions influence the environmental characteristics of places. They also examine how human decisions and actions influence the way spaces within places are organised and managed. They learn that some climates produce hazards such as bushfires and floods that threaten the safety of places and gain an understanding of the application of the principles of prevention, mitigation and preparedness as ways of reducing the effects of these hazards.
Key questions:
By the end of Level 6, students describe and explain spatial characteristics and characteristics of places from local to global scales. They describe and explain interconnections and their effects. They identify and describe locations including the major countries of Europe, North America and Asia.
They identify and compare responses to a geographical challenge, describing the expected effects on different groups.
They ethically collect and record relevant geographical data and information and represent data and information in forms including diagrams, field sketches and large scale and small scale maps that conform to cartographic conventions.
They interpret geographical data and information, and use geographical terminology, to identify and develop descriptions, explanations and conclusions. They use digital and spatial technologies to represent and interpret data and information.
In Levels 7 and 8, students examine the processes that influence the characteristics of places. They consider spatial distributions and patterns and their implications and consider interconnections...
In Levels 7 and 8, students examine the processes that influence the characteristics of places. They consider spatial distributions and patterns and their implications and consider interconnections between and within places and changes resulting from these. This further develops their understanding of geographical concepts, including place, space and interconnection.
Students’ conceptual thinking is developed through four sub-strands:
Water in the world focuses on water as an example of a renewable environmental resource. It develops students’ understanding of the concept of environment, including the ideas that the environment is the product of a variety of processes, that it supports and enriches human and other life in different ways and that the environment has its specific hazards.
Landforms and landscapes focuses on investigating geomorphology through a study of landscapes and their landforms. It also develops students’ understanding of the concept of environment and enables them to explore the significance of landscapes to people, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.
Place and liveability focuses on the concept of place through an investigation of liveability. Students examine factors that influence liveability and how it is perceived, the idea that places provide us with the services and facilities needed to support and enhance our lives, and that spaces are planned and managed by people.
Changing nations focuses on the concept of change by investigating the changing human geography of countries, as revealed by shifts in population distribution, a sensitive indicator of economic and social change. It explores the process of urbanisation and how it interconnects with low and middle-income economies and societies. It investigates the reasons for the high level of urban concentration in Australia and examines issues related to the management and future of Australia’s urban areas.
Key questions:
By the end of Level 8, students explain processes that influence the characteristics of places. They identify, analyse and explain interconnections and spatial characteristics and identity and explain their implications.
They compare strategies for a geographical challenge, taking into account a range of factors and predict the likely outcomes.
They ethically collect, record and select relevant geographical data and information from useful sources. They select and represent data and information in a range of appropriate forms including maps at different scales that conform to cartographic conventions. They analyse maps and other geographical data and information, and use geographical terminology, to develop identifications, descriptions, explanations and conclusions. They use digital and spatial technologies to represent and analyse data and information.
In Levels 9 and 10, students consider changes in the characteristics of places and the implications of these. They consider significant spatial distributions and patterns and evaluate their implications...
In Levels 9 and 10, students consider changes in the characteristics of places and the implications of these. They consider significant spatial distributions and patterns and evaluate their implications, and consider interconnections between and within places and changes resulting from these, over time and at different scales. This further develops their understanding of geographical concepts, including place, space and interconnection.
Students’ conceptual thinking is developed through four sub-strands:
Biomes and food security focuses on investigating the role of the biotic environment and its role in food and fibre production. Students examine the biomes of the world, their alteration and significance as a source of food and fibre, and the environmental challenges and constraints on expanding food production in the future.
Environmental change and management focuses on investigating environmental geography. It begins with an overview of environmental change and the factors that influence it. Students investigate a specific environmental change in Australia and one other country. They examine the causes and consequences of the change and strategies to manage the change.
Geographies of interconnections focuses on investigating how people, through their choices and actions, are connected to places throughout the world in a wide variety of ways, and how these connections help to make and change places and their environments.
Geographies of human wellbeing focuses on investigating global, national and local differences in human wellbeing between places. Students examine the different concepts and measures of human wellbeing and spatial differences in wellbeing, and evaluate the differences from a variety of perspectives. They explore programs designed to reduce the gap between differences in wellbeing.
Key questions
By the end of Level 10, students predict changes in the characteristics of places over time and identify implications of change for the future. They identify, analyse, and explain significant spatial distributions and patterns and significant interconnections within and between places, and identify and evaluate their implications, over time and at different scales.
They evaluate alternative views on a geographical challenge and alternative strategies to address this challenge, using environmental, social and economic criteria, explaining the predicted outcomes and further consequences and drawing a reasoned conclusion.
They ethically collect relevant geographical data and information from reliable and useful sources. They select, organise and represent data and information in different forms, using appropriate digital and spatial technologies and through special purpose maps that conform to cartographic conventions. They analyse and evaluate geographical data, maps and information using digital and spatial technologies and Geographical Information Systems as appropriate to develop identifications, descriptions, explanations and conclusions that use geographical terminology.
