Geography: It’s Where You Have Been Living This whole TimeJACINTA PETERSEN LINDA CRANLEYUNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME AUSTRALIA

Australian CurriculumHumanities and Social Sciences

Strand Current Status Implementation Date

History Complete Currently Implemented

Geography Complete Currently Implemented

Civics and Citizenship Awaiting final endorsement. Noted in November 2013 and agreed that curriculum could be made available for state and territory use.

Awaiting final endorsement

Economics and Business(Year 5 and above)

Endorsed in July 2013, subject to further consultation with Western Australia. Consultation is now completed.

Awaiting final endorsement

Figure 1.1 Elements of the Australian Curriculum (Gilbert 2014)

Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australian

Shape of the Australian Curriculum

Cross curriculum Priorities

Learning Areas in

Humanities HistoryGeographyCivics and citizenshipEconomics and Business

General Capabilitie

s in the Australian Curriculum

Defining Geography

Geography is a structured way of exploring, analysing and understanding the characteristics of the places that make up our world, using concepts of place, space, environment, interconnection, sustainability, scale and change. It addresses scales from the personal to the global and time periods from a few years to thousands of years.

(ACARA, 2012)

Two Major Strands

Geographical SkillsThe skills needed to learn the content

Geographical Knowledge and UnderstandingContent to be taught

The most critical aspect to remember is they should be taught together(Gilbert 2014)

Summary of the units in the Geography Curriculum (Gilbert 2014) Year Unit

F People Live in placesFocus on students exploring places they live.

1 Places have distinct featuresFocus on different types of natural, managed and constructed places and their characteristics

2 People are connected to many placesFocus on places as defined by different people at different scales that have interconnections

3 Places are both similar and differentFocus on similarities and differences of places within and outside Australia, with deliberate investigation of physical and human phenomena

4 The Earth’s environment sustains lifeFocus on sustainability, custodial responsibility and natural features

5 Factors that shape the human and environmental characteristics of a placesFocus on how human and environmental processes explain characteristics of places

6 A diverse and connected worldFocus on global scale, environmental, cultural and demographic diversity, inequality and connections between countries

Suggested times to teach Geography

The Australian Curriculum: Geography does not mandate a time allocation for the teaching of geography- this is left to jurisdicitions to decide- though some indicative guides have been suggested as follows (ACARA, 2011, pp.24-26)

F-2 16-20 hours per year

3-6 30-40 hours per year

Children’s Literature

Children’s Literature is an excellent way of achieving the curriculum focus in each year level

It is an effective way to communicate the knowledge and understandings in a context that children will relate to and remember

It is a motivating way of engaging with each topic

Children’s literature allows for easy integration into the Religious Education, English and Science learning areas

Task

Using the children’s literature that has been placed on your desk,Brainstorm one idea for using the text in each year level to achieve the main curriculum focus.

Field work in GeographyBENEFITS1. Provides the opportunity for children to be outside

2. Allows children to explore their surroundings

3. Makes connections between care for the environment and care for themselves

4. Children learn about hazards in the environment and how to avoid them

5. Students can engage with real issues that are relevant to their lives using an inquiry approach

6. Allows children to engage all the senses

Virtual Fieldtrips

http://www.geosci.usyd.edu.au/users/prey/FieldTrips/Trips.html http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8BSzQG2Ti0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlBbJkNyi7g http://www.youtube.com/user/ZooAtlanta1889 http://www.youtube.com/user/ZooAtlanta1889

Phase FocusENGAGE Engage students and elicit prior knowledge

Diagnostic assessmentEXPLORE Provide hands-on experience of the phenomenon

Formative assessmentEXPLAIN Develop explanations for experiences and representations of

developing conceptual understandingFormative assessment

ELABORATE Extend understandings to a new context or make connections to additional concepts through a student-planned investigationSummative assessment of Geographical Inquiry and Skills focus

EVALUATE Students re-represent understandings and reflect on their learning journey and teachers collect evidence about achievement of outcomesSummative assessment of Geographical Knowledge and Understanding focus

Inquiry- One Approach- The 5E’s

Planning using the Australian Curriculum

http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/Australian%20Curriculum.pdf?Type=0&s=G&e=ScopeAndSequence

TASKUsing the Geography Planning Guide begin to plan for your year level

Web Resources

Australian Curriculum

http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/humanitiesandsocialsciences/geography/Curriculum/F-10

One World Centre

http://www.oneworldcentre.org.au/

 Quality Teaching Framework (QFT) DET Resources

https://www.det.nsw.edu.au/proflearn/areas/qt/index.htm

 The Civics & Citizenship Education website

www.curriculum.edu.au/cce/

 Australian Curriculum - History

http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/History/Rationale

 Australian Curriculum Geography

http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/Geography/Rationale

 Quality Teaching Framework (QFT) DET Resources

https://www.det.nsw.edu.au/proflearn/areas/qt/index.htm

  

The Civics & Citizenship Education websitewww.curriculum.edu.au/cce/ WA Department of Educationhttp://www.det.wa.edu.au/ Australian Curriculum Western Australia http://www.acwa.wa.edu.au/  Western Australian Curriculum http://www.scsa.wa.edu.au/internet/  Asia Education Foundation http://www.asiaeducation.edu.au/education_alliance_for_asia_literacy/asia_literacy_alliance.html  Geckos: Catholic Education Office Western Australia http://geckos.ceo.wa.edu.au/Pages/Home.aspx