GEOGRAPHY OVERVIEW, Semester Two

Unit Title:

/ Physical Geography / Human Geography
Should I Stay Or Should I Go?
Inquiry question:
How can I improve the liveability of my school?
This unit focuses on students understanding of the meaning of 'liveability' and the factors that contribute to the liveability of places, assessing the relative liveability of places they are both familiar and unfamiliar with, working collaboratively with other students and collecting, recording and analysing data to determine how to improve the liveability of where they live.
Achievement Standard
By the end of Year 7, studentsdescribegeographical processes that influence the characteristics of places and how places are perceived and valued differently.Theyexplaininterconnections between people, places and environments anddescribehow they change places and environments.They propose simple explanations for spatial distributions and patterns among phenomena.Theydescribealternative strategies to a geographical challenge and propose a response, taking intoaccountenvironmental, economic and social factors.
Studentsidentifygeographically significant questions to frame an inquiry. Theylocaterelevant information from primary and secondary sources to answer inquiry questions.Theyrepresentdata and the location and distribution of geographical phenomena in a range of graphic forms, including large-scale and small-scale maps that conform to cartographic conventions.Theyanalysegeographical data and other information to propose simple explanations for spatial patterns, trends and relationships and draw conclusions.Students present findings and arguments using relevant geographical terminology and graphic representations in a range of communication forms. They propose action in response to a geographical challenge takingaccountof environmental, economic and social considerations anddescribethe expected effects of their proposal.
Achievement Standard
Geographical Concepts / Content Descriptions / Assessment
Place
Space
Environment
Interconnection
Sustainability
Scale
Change
Major focus
Secondary focus / Knowledge and Understanding / Geographical Skills and Inquiry / Formative:
Concept map of my community
Student Journal
Annotated Visual Display
Summative:
Short Responses to Geographical Data Assessment
Proposal
The factors that influence the decisions people make about where to live and their perceptions of theliveabilityof places (ACHGK043)
The influence of accessibility to services and facilities on the liveabilityof places(ACHGK044)
The influence ofenvironmental qualityon theliveabilityof places (ACHGK045)
The influence ofsocial connectedness, community identity and perceptions of crime and safety on theliveabilityof places (ACHGK046)
The strategies used to enhance theliveabilityof places, especially for young people, including examples from Australia and Europe (ACHGK047)
  • h
/ Develop geographically significant questions and plan an inquiry, using appropriate geographical methodologies and concepts (ACHGS047)
Collect, select and record relevant geographicaldataand information, usingethical protocols, from appropriate primary andsecondary sources(ACHGS048)
Evaluate sources for their reliability and usefulness and representdatain a range of appropriate forms, for example,climategraphs, compound column graphs, population pyramids, tables, field sketches and annotated diagrams, with and without the use of digital andspatial technologies(ACHGS049)
Represent thespatial distributionof different types of geographical phenomena by constructing appropriate maps at different scales that conform to cartographic conventions, usingspatial technologiesas appropriate(ACHGS050)
Analyse geographicaldataand other information using qualitative andquantitative methods, and digital andspatial technologiesas appropriate, to identify and propose explanations for spatial distributions, patterns andtrendsand infer relationships (ACHGS051)
Apply geographical concepts to draw conclusions based on the analysis of thedataand information collected(ACHGS052)
Present findings, arguments and ideas in a range of communication forms selected to suit a particular audience and purpose; using geographical terminology and digital technologies as appropriate(ACHGS053)
Reflect on their learning to propose individual and collective action in response to a contemporary geographical challenge, taking account of environmental, economic and social considerations, and predict the expected outcomes of their proposal(ACHGS054)
Fieldwork / Fieldtrip to a local area to look at aspects of liveability in a community. Data collection techniques will include: observing, field sketching, taking photographs for labelling and constructing a map.
Learning Framework / Community Contributor
Leader and Collaborator / Active Investigator
Effective Communicator / Designer and Creator
Quality Producer
Cross Curricula Priorities / Catholic Ethos
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures / Social Emotional Learning
Asia and Australia’s Engagement with Asia / Inclusive Education
Sustainability Education
General Capabilities / Literacy
Critical and Creative Thinking / Numeracy
Ethical Behaviour / Information and Communication Technology
Personal and Social Competence
Links to other LA’s / Maths, English, History, Religion

COMMON CURRICULUM ELEMENTS

 Recognising letters, words and other symbols
Finding material in an indexed collection
 Recalling
/remembering
 Interpreting the meaning of words or other symbols
 Interpreting the meaning of pictures/illustrations
Interpreting the meaning of tables or diagrams or maps or graphs
 Translating from one form to another
 Using correct spelling, punctuation, grammar /  Using vocabulary appropriate to a context
 Summarising
/condensing written text
 Compiling lists/statistics
Recording /noting data
Compiling results in a tabular form
 Graphing
 Calculating with or without calculator
 Estimating numerical magnitude
 Approximating a numerical value
 Substituting in formulae
 Setting out /presenting/ arranging/ displaying /  Structuring /organising extended written text
 Structuring /organising a mathematical argument
 Explaining to others
 Expounding a viewpoint
 Empathising
 Comparing, contrasting
 Classifying
 Interrelating ideas/themes
/issues
 Reaching a conclusion which is necessarily true provided a given set of assumptions is true /  Reaching a conclusion which is consistent with a given set of assumptions
 Inserting an intermediate between members of a series
Extrapolating
 Applying strategies to trial and test ideas and procedures
 Applying a progression of steps to achieve the required answer
 Generalising from information
 Hypothesising
 Criticising /  Analysing
 Synthesising
Judging /evaluating
 Creating /composing /devising
 Justifying
 Perceiving patterns
Visualising
 Identifying shapes in two and three dimensions
Searching and locating items/information
 Observing systematically
 Gesturing
 Manipulating /operating /using equipment
 Sketching /drawing
Link to ACARA Senior Geography Syllabus / •Focus unit 4: Connecting people and places

Learning and Teaching Strategies

Week / 1 / Inquiry Question / How can I improve the liveability of my school?
Engage⇒ / Explore ⇒ / Explain ⇒ / Elaborate ⇒ / Evaluate
Geographical Concepts / K & U / Geographical Skills & Inquiry
Place
Space
Interconnection / (ACHGK043) (ACHGK044)(ACHGK045)(ACHGK046) / (ACHGS048) (ACHGS052) (ACHGS053)
Engage/Explore / RESOURCES / Assessment
Activity 1: Look at images of communities
Show a series of images from across the world of where people live: refugee camps, igloos, high-rise, tents, campervans, castles, Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait IslanderCommunity etc.
Ask the students to respond to these images:
What do you see? (different places people live)
Why do people choose to live there? (friends, family, job = community)
Name some different groups that make up a local community.
Which groups do you think would be more likely to live in Cairns, the north: Port Douglas, the beaches, or the south: Yarrabah, Innisfail?
Develop and write a definition of community in student journal (Oxford Big Ideas Geography/History 7 p. 118)
Activity 2: Community Concept Map
Students develop a concept map to show the links between different ideas or pieces of information. Each piece of information is represented by a circle or a box, and the relationship between two ideas is shown by an arrow connecting them. Words on the line or arrow explain the link between the two ideas.
Teacher to model how to construct the concept map first – see page 119, Oxford Big Ideas Geography/History 7, Chapter 3: Where People Live.
Construct your own concept map to show the communities you are connected to. Place your name in the centre box and then add the types of communities to the connecting lines.
Types of communities:
  • Past (family history/heritage e.g. Irish, Chinese, war, sport)
  • Place (local community)
  • Practice (activities in common: doctor and nurses belong to health, bookclub)
  • Perspective (share similar beliefs and values: religion and politics)
  • Purpose (share similar goals and visions: Surf Life Saving Australia,St Vincent de Paul Society, State Emergency Service)
Example of concept map that could be used:

Activity 3. Introducing the liveability concept
Revisit images from beginning of unit to introduce your students to the concept of 'liveability' (see link in resources and page 152 of Big Ideas for definitions).Write definition in student journal.
Using the images consider, what do the photographs tell you about the place and the provision of services such as water, housing and public transport?
Is the provision of services equitable? Why? Why not? (economy, poverty, third world)
Have your class brainstorm the factors likely to influence peoples' perceptions of the relative liveability of places (refer to images).
Question prompts:
  • What characteristics of a place attract us?
  • What do you like to do?
  • Where would be a good place to live to enable you to do this?
  • Where do you like to go?
  • Where would be a good place to enable you to do this?
Note to teacher: the students’ brainstorm needs to be categorised into the following sub headings as they will be used throughout the unit:
  • safety and health related issues (for example, personal security, public health, traffic safety, police)
  • local environmental conditions/climate (for example, cleanliness, noise, dust, air and water quality)
  • the quality of social interactions (for example, community identity and pride, neighbourliness)
  • opportunities for recreation and entertainment
  • opportunities for employment
  • aesthetics
  • existence of unique cultural environmental characteristics (for example, historic structures, mature trees, traditional architectural styles, streetscapes).
  • infrastructure factors (roads, education, library, government)
In groups of eight for above categories, develop mind maps summarising the findings of the brainstorming activity.
As a final activity, have the students rank the above categories in order of importance with regards to what makes a place most liveable for them. / Images of where people live
Oxford Big Ideas Geography/History 7, Chapter 3: Where People Live
Student Journal
Oxford Big Ideas Geography/History 7, Chapter 3: Where People Live p. 119
Images from Activity One
Oxford Big Ideas Geography/History 7, Chapter 4: Liveable Place p. 142
Liveability Definition:
Poster paper for mind maps
Student journal / Student Journal
Community Concept Map
GEOGRAPHICAL LANGUAGE
environmental, social, cultural, economic, infrastructure, services, perceptions, liveability, community, provision, aesthetics, Interconnection

REFLECTION

Learning and Teaching Strategies

Week / 2 / Inquiry Question / How can I improve the liveability of my school?
Engage ⇒ / Explore ⇒ / Explain ⇒ / Elaborate ⇒ / Evaluate
Geographical Concepts / K & U / Geographical Skills & Inquiry
Place
Interconnection
Sustainability
Scale / (ACHGK043)(ACHGK044)
(ACHGK045) (ACHGK046) / (ACHGS047) (ACHGS048) (ACHGS051)
Explore / RESOURCES / Assessment
Activity 4: Global Liveability Comparison
Each year, the results of a number of studies are released rating cities all over the world in order of liveability. In 2012, the capital city of Bangladesh, Dhaka, was rated as the least liveable city; it scored particularly poorly in health care, public transport, crime and sanitation.
As a class look at the EIU Liveability table and discuss as class. This could be an opportunity to clarify qualitative and quantitative data as this is key concept in geography as outlined in the AC Geography Content Descriptors. Students will be tested on this data at a later date.
Activity 5: Developing a survey
Working in groups, have your class develop a liveability survey instrument based on the identified categories from week one, activity three. Alternatively, use the Neighbourhood liveability survey(PDF, 303 KB) provided.
Suggested homework task: Imagine you can live anywhere in the world, where would you live and why? / Oxford Big Ideas p. 154 & 166
EIU Liveability table
Global Liveability Ratings EIU Report:

Neighbourhood liveability survey
Survey template: Oxford Big Ideas p. 179
GEOGRAPHICAL LANGUAGE
  • geographical processes, qualitative data , quantitative data,

REFLECTION

Learning and Teaching Strategies

Week / 3 / Inquiry Question / How can I improve the liveability of my school?
Engage ⇒ / Explore ⇒ / Explain ⇒ / Elaborate ⇒ / Evaluate
Geographical Concepts / K & U / Geographical Skills & Inquiry
Place
Space
Environment
Interconnection
Scale / (ACHGK043) (ACHGK044)
(ACHGK045) (ACHGK046) / (ACHGS047) (ACHGS048) (ACHGS051) (ACHGS052) (ACHGS054)
Explain / RESOURCES / Assessment
Activity 6: Conducting the Survey
Ask your students to individually rank the local school neighbourhood, on the scale 1 to 5, using either the Neighbourhood liveability survey(PDF, 303 KB) instrument or the class designed survey.
Tally the scores to give the overall liveability ranking score.
Divide the class into even groups where they will discuss the differences in different categories and try to justify reasons for choices. The group must then come to a consensus for a group ranking of the neighbourhood.
Teacher led discussion to then find a class ranking. Groups give rankings to the teacher who displays them in a table format. Teacher then chooses a procedure to come up with a whole class ranking – discussion, voting, secret ballot, and averages.
Name of neighbourhood: ______
Criteria / Scores
Your liveability ranking score
Your group's liveability ranking score
The class average liveability ranking score
Activity 7: Further Afield
Look at a map of your local area (e.g. suburb, town) to establish what makes the place liveable (local council maps, whereis.com, Google maps, street directories in phone books). This will enable students determine the liveability of that place using the identified criteria from Activity 3, prior to the field trip.
Activity 8: Conduct Survey for CairnsChoropleth Map
Ask your students to individually rank Cairns, on the scale 1 to 5, using either the Neighbourhood liveability survey(PDF, 303 KB) instrument or the class designed survey. Tally the scores to give the overall liveability ranking score.
Students to use ranking scale for five additional local suburbs and create a choropleth map.
Introduce/revisit the concept of ‘perception’. Perception (from the Latin perceptio, percipio) is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensoryinformation in order to represent and understand the environment. ( Write in Student Journal.
Explain that students will take the survey home to parents and ask parents to complete and find ranking. Students should be made aware the importance of allowing parents to complete independently to enable a genuine comparison with their individual results. A discussion will take place in class about the results. / Digital and print maps
Access to online resources
Survey
Choropleth Map
Student Journal
GEOGRAPHICAL LANGUAGE
  • choropleth map, perception, ranking

REFLECTION

Learning and Teaching Strategies

Week / 4 / Inquiry Question / How can I improve the liveability of my school?
Engage ⇒ / Explore ⇒ / Explain ⇒ / Elaborate ⇒ / Evaluate
Geographical Concepts / K & U / Geographical Skills & Inquiry
Place
Space
Environment
Interconnection
Change
Sustainability
Scale / (ACHGK043) (ACHGK044)
(ACHGK045) (ACHGK046) / (ACHGS048) (ACHGS053) (ACHGS054)
Explain/Elaborate / RESOURCES / Assessment
Activity 9: Annotated Maps
In preparation for the field trip task expose students to annotated maps and/or photos. Explain the assessment task.
Activity 10: Field Trip
Students take part in a field trip (e.g. Cairns Esplanade, Yarrabah, Innisfail Esplanade) to collect pieces of information that assess the liveability of their local area. Students are to draw an annotated map of a small identified area indicating the following where possible:
  • safety and health
  • local environmental conditions/climate
  • the quality of social interactions
  • opportunities for recreation and entertainment
  • opportunities for employment
  • aesthetics
  • cultural environmental characteristics
  • infrastructure
/ Annotated Visual Display Guidelines
Oxford Big Ideas p. 131 Annotated satellite image of Yuendumu
Field Trip: Virtual Tour of Cairns CBD:

Map of Cairns Esplanade

Criteria sheet and task sheet / Annotated Visual Display
GEOGRAPHICAL LANGUAGE
field trip, annotated map, annotated visual display, recreation, cultural environmental characteristics

REFLECTION

Learning and Teaching Strategies

Week / 5 / Inquiry Question / How can I improve the liveability of my school?
Engage ⇒ / Explore ⇒ / Explain ⇒ / Elaborate ⇒ / Evaluate
Geographical Concepts / K & U / Geographical Skills & Inquiry
Place
Space
Environment
Interconnection
Change
Sustainability
Scale / (ACHGK043) (ACHGK044) (ACHGK045) (ACHGK046) / (ACHGS051) (ACHGS052) (ACHGS053)
Explain/Elaborate / RESOURCES / Assessment
Activity 11: Annotated Map Assessment
Following the field tip students will require time to complete the annotated map (teacher may decide to allow students to complete at home if time is an issue).
Activity 12: Short Responses to Geographical Data Assessment
Give students a copy of the EIU Liveability Table and have them answer the following questions:
1. Who scored lowest in Culture and Environment?
2. What would Sydney need to do to increase its overall ranking?
3. Explain and identify patterns in the data (e.g. Nearly all top ten cities scored 100% for education and health).
4. Explain the reason there is no sixth ranking.
5. Define the term ‘liveability’ / Assessment task sheet
Assessment criteria sheet
Assessment task sheet
Assessment criteria sheet / Annotated Visual Display Assessment
Short Responses to Geographical Data Assessment
GEOGRAPHICAL LANGUAGE
  • annotated map, liveability, environment, culture, patterns, data, infrastructure,

REFLECTION

Learning and Teaching Strategies

Week / 6-7 / Inquiry Question / How can I improve the liveability of my school?
Engage ⇒ / Explore ⇒ / Explain ⇒ / Elaborate ⇒ / Evaluate
Geographical Concepts / K & U / Geographical Skills & Inquiry
Place
Space
Environment
Interconnection
Sustainability
Scale / (ACHGK044) (ACHGK045)
(ACHGK046) (ACHGK047) / (ACHGS048) (ACHGS049) (ACHGS051) (ACHGS052)
(ACHGS053) (ACHGS054)
Elaborate / RESOURCES / Assessment
Activity 13: How does the liveability of an Australia capital city compare with the liveability of a European capital city?
Students can choose a capital city to compare (AC states it must be from Europe) or teacher can stipulate. It is probably worth selecting a few to let students choose from so the teacher can provide reliable resources for research, possibly creating a weebly e.g. Germany (Berlin)/UK (London)/Italy (Rome)/Turkey (Ankara)*.
*Turkey is an intercontinental country (Europe and Asia):
At this point the following geographical skill should be addressed:
Evaluate sources for their reliability and usefulness and representdatain a range of appropriate forms, for example,climategraphs, compound column graphs, population pyramids, tables, field sketches and annotated diagrams, with and without the use of digital andspatial technologies(ACHGS049)
As with any research students need to consider the reliability of the source and other information about the author/s such as Gender, Religion, Political stance, Job, Age, Agenda.
When determining the liveability of the countries the identified criteria from Activity Three will be condensed to allow for easier comparison:
Climate
Infrastructure (transport, energy, telecommunication)
Stability and Safety
Health & Education
Culture - Recreation and Entertainment
Students will research and note take using the research template provided to guide them to Identify areas from the criteria above to make the place more liveable (e.g. congestion). / Statistics:

  • Political Rights
  • Civil Liberties
  • Press Freedom
  • Rule of Law
  • Corruption
  • Human Rights
EIU Liveability table
  • Stability
  • Healthcare
  • Culture and Environment
  • Education
  • Infrastructure

  • 519 categories (suicide, illness, education, population, economy, salaries, unemployment, resource use, CO2 emissions, Defence,

  • Compare 2 countries against a range of categories (democracy, defence, environment, crime, health)

  • Global Population Data

Climate:


Culture:







All country information:


Turkey:


Italy:

Germany:

United Kingdom:

Australia/Sydney:




/ Liveability Comparison
Student Research Template
GEOGRAPHICAL LANGUAGE
  • Political stance, stability

REFLECTION

Learning and Teaching Strategies