GEOGRAPHY CURRICULUM LINKS Years 5-6

GEOGRAPHY CURRICULUM LINKS

The Geography teaching content for My Place has been developed in alignment with the aims and objectives of the Australian Curriculum for Geography (under development 2011):

Australian Curriculum and Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA):

Geography Years 5–6

The My Place teaching activities and student activity sheets for years 5-6 were written by the Geography Teachers Association of Victoria (GTAV) in association with the Australian Children’s Television Foundation (ACTF). The focus for years 5-6 is for geographical involvement through using the My Place book, TV series and interactive websites: My Place for Teachers, and the ABC3 My Placewebsite.Through engaging with the My Place education content, students can develop a heightened awarenessof theircommunity and how it manages environmental, social and planning issues. They can evaluate the fairness of community decisions and the processes for decision making. They can explore and compare places near and far, past and present, explaining the similarities and differences between them.The My Place education content allows students to investigate and evaluate their own and other people’s perceptions of place, becomingaware of stereotypes.

The activities provide a modified inquiry approach to learning where students EXPLORE and REFLECT on the content of the TV series and the book identifying locational and spatial patterns. Essentially, year 5-6 students study one place over time and how the place changes, and who and what was responsible for the changes. Fieldwork is recommended to apply the student’s knowledge.

Conceptual focuses:

Place – centrality, remoteness, urban, rural, global, location, population, communities, mobility, change, culture, near and far, past and present, systems
Environment - people, origins, interaction, similarity, diversity, sustainability, landscape, flora and fauna, habitats, natural and human features/resources, causation, conservation, consumption, planning, stereotypes, biophysical, planning, use, adaptation
Space - time, proximity, scale, distance, mapping, direction, compass points, measurement, distribution

© Australian Children's Television Foundation and Education Services Australia Ltd 2011 (except where otherwise indicated). You may use, download and reproduce this material free of charge for non-commercial educational purposes provided you retain all acknowledgements associated with the material.

GEOGRAPHY CURRICULUM LINKS Years 5-6

Geographical knowledge and understanding

Through engaging with My Place TV series, book, interactive websites, and education content, students will be able to

understand culturalsimilarities and differences between people andplaces
investigate the systems and processes of localcommunities and how they deal with issues
compare and contrast local, rural, urban, global communities
explore and explain their localenvironment
investigate Australianand world climates
identify and researchenvironmental hazards, sustainable practices, biodiversity
investigate how placesare connected to eachother though time and culture
investigate how commercial interests and advancing technologies impacted on the development of communities.

Geographicalskills

using small-scale maps
mapping land surfaces, human settlement and mobility
investigating locational and movement patterns using maps
using correct geographical inquiry process and terminology
engaging with the local communities through fieldwork
interviewing people who have lived in a place over time and documenting their stories
using maps, photographs, statistics and literary sources to embellish reports and documentation
using aerial photographs and satellite images to identify patterns
creating and interpreting isopleth maps

Approaches

spatial interaction
spatial analysis
comparative analysis
local and familiar interaction with environments