Present findings using geographical terminology The valued features of the standard elaborations targeted in this assessment are: Geographical knowledge and understanding Interpreting and analysing Communicating For further advice and guidelines on constructing task-specific standards, refer to the standards elaborations: > select the Year level > choose the Resources tab > Standards elaborations a labelled map of the places and features of selected countries of South America and Africa construction of a simple graph to identify different types of vegetation interpretation of spatial distributions and patterns relating to climate zones a visual representation of sustainable use of the Earth’s resources. Suggested conditions: open 100–200 words Multimodal Refer to Australian Curriculum: Geography — Assessment categories, techniques and conditions: Teaching and learning Teaching strategies and learning experiences Supportive learning environment Resources
Section 1: Developing understandings of geographical concepts Engage in a class discussion about the following quote: “We are living as if we have an extra planet at our disposal. We are using 50 per cent more resources that the Earth can sustainably produce and unless we change course, that number will grow fast — by 2030 even two planets will not be enough.” Quote from Jim Leape, Director General of World Wildlife Fund (WWF) International, available on the home page of the Living Planet Report 2012 website (see Resources). As a class, watch the YouTube clip Sustainability explained through animation (see Resources). Discuss the visual representation of the key ideas about this concept. Use a concept map or infographic, such as a word cloud (see Resources), to identify the big ideas about the concepts “the environment” and “sustainability”, e.g. resources, animals, vegetation, forests, settlements, agriculture, wellbeing, future, management. Display this concept map for students to refer to during the unit. Have the students make observations about the local environment in a field trip around the school grounds or to a neighbouring area. Identify the environmental features of the place, the living and non-living things and the landform features. Ask the students: What makes this environment special? Section 2: Collecting, recording and representing data. Select learning experiences in this section for use in the collection of work. Download a MapMaker kit from the National Geographic website (see Resources) and assemble a wall-sized outline map of the world. Alternatively, use another outline world map. Ask the students to represent locations in Australia, South America and Africa on the same latitude using a political world map. As a class, use Google Earth to create a map and label each location. Download images related to each of the locations selected for study. Adjustments for needs of learners Students would benefit from access to: spatial technologies, such as Google Earth, large-scale and small-scale outline maps, models of maps that conform to cartographic conventions including border, source, scale, legend, and north point primary sources materials collected by the students, e.g. field notes from observations, measurements, or responses from a survey. Teaching geography Catling, S, Willy, T, & Butler, J 2012, Teaching Primary Geography for Australian Schools, Hawker Brownlow, Melbourne. Australian Geography Teachers of Australia, Geogspace, Australia Geography Teachers Association 2008, Keys to Geography: Essential skills and tools, Macmillan, South Yarra.