Scotch College

GEOGRAPHY Planning a Sustainable Future [Semester Unit] Year 10 — 2010

Rationale:

This unit aims to examine issues facing Australian and global environments including the interaction between people and environments and strategies for better managing environments.

Student Outcomes

• describing the main characteristics of the selected issue and where appropriate explaining the underlying processes
• identifying and describing management strategies
• evaluating the effectiveness of these strategies
• working co-operatively with others
• applying oral and written communication skills

Course Content

Living with Bushfires: What causes bushfires? What was Australia’s worst bushfire? What is the role of technology in fighting bushfires in Australia and California? How do forest fires and grass fires differ?

Are bushfires in California and Victoria managed in the same way?

Protecting our World Heritage sites: What do the Great Wall of China, the Parthenon, the Great Barrier Reef and the Eiffel Tower have in common? What are the cultural and natural world heritage criteria? How does a site gain a place on the World Heritage list?

Managing our National Parks: Should uranium mining be allowed in Kakadu National Park? How is the park managed to accommodate many tourists? What are the characteristics of Kakadu’s different landscape regions? What happens at the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone National Parks?

Livable Cities: Do we need more freeways? How far should suburbia be allowed to spread out from the city centre? How are world mega cities such as New York, Mexico City, London managed? Our cities face critical water shortages – are more dams the answer? If not, what are the alternatives?

ICT Skills

• The Internet for research and analysis
• CD ROM for research, simulations and problem solving activities
• Excel for the construction of graphs and charts
• GIS (Geographic Information Systems)

Assessment

• Fieldtrip report
• Practical activities
• Examination