YR 7 Geography STUDENT outline Term 1, 2024

SPECIALIST LEAD TEACHER: Rick McMahon (rick.mcmahon@education.wa.edu.au)

WELCOME TO GEOGRAPHY!
“The earth is in our hands…”
Geography is a structured way of exploring, analysing and understanding the characteristics of the places that make up our world, using the
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.

Geography integrates knowledge from the natural sciences, social sciences and humanities to build a holistic understanding of the world. We learn
to question why the world is the way it is, reflect on their relationships with and responsibilities for that world, and propose actions designed to
shape a socially just and sustainable future.

“My Place in My Space!”

COURSE DESCRIPTION
‘Place and liveability’ focuses on the concept of place through an
investigation of liveability. This unit examines factors that influence
liveability and how it is perceived, the idea that places provide us with the
services and facilities needed to support and enhance our lives, and that
spaces are planned and managed by people. It develops students’ ability to
evaluate the liveability of their own place and to investigate whether it
can be improved through planning.

The key inquiry questions for Year 7 are:

• How do people’s reliance on places and environments influence
their perception of them?
• What effect does the uneven distribution of resources and services
have on the lives of people?
• What approaches can be used to improve the availability of
resources and access to services?

Rick McMahon (rick.mcmahon@education.wa.edu.au)

TERM WK GEOGRAPHY (WA Curriculum) & KEY HASS SKILLS ASSESSMENT &
QUESTIONS/CONTENT REPORTING
http://k10outline.scsa.wa.edu.au/home/p-10-curriculum/curriculum-
browser/humanities-and-social-sciences
Term 1 • Welcome to PMS HaSS.
Week1 • What is HaSS.
• Establishment of class.
(W-F)
• Getting to know you, your classmates and your teacher
etc…
• Class procedures, what to bring, being organised etc…

Weeks 2 PLACE & LIVEABILITY Elaborations

and 3 • Intro to 7 key Geographical Concepts and Liveability Criteria and • investigating their and others’ interpretations of the
Factors concept of liveability and choices about where to live (for
example, connections to cultural groups, adolescent
The factors that influence the decisions people make ‘bright lights’ attraction, retiree tree change and families
about where to live and their perceptions of the liveability with children locating near schools, and other facilities)
• discussing the concept of liveability and the ways it is
of places (ACHGK043) measured and comparing objective measures such as
transportation infrastructure with subjective measures
• What makes a place liveable? such as people’s perceptions
• How do people’s values and viewpoints influence their decisions and • comparing student access to and use of places and spaces
assessment of liveability? in their local area and evaluating how this affects
perceptions of liveability
• discussing that many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
Peoples choose to live on their Country/Place or might
prefer to if they had the choice
Weeks 4 LIVEABILITY FACTORS & CRITERIA Teachers may vary due dates
and 5 GEOGRAPHICAL INQUIRY and order of each task for
LIVEABILITY FACTOR: Environment their own class. Tasks may
CRITERIA: climate, quality of urban design, architecture, streetscapes, not necessarily be completed
parks and gardens, maintenance of public spaces. · Questioning & Researching in numerical order.
· Analysing
· Evaluating
Commence Elaborations · Communicating & Reflecting “The Liveability of my
Fieldwork • Researching the effects of air pollution on the liveability of cities suburb”
Inquiry • Explaining the importance of water quality to the liveability of (Total 25%)
Booklet places, now and into the future Represent spatial distribution of different types of geographical Fieldwork Inquiry
• Investigating the concept of environmental quality and surveying the phenomena by constructing appropriate maps at different
environmental quality of their local area and its effect on liveability. scales that conform to cartographic conventions, using spatial
technologies as appropriate (ACHGS050)
TASK 1
Suburb Liveability MAP
Develop geographically significant questions and plan an (15 marks)
inquiry, using appropriate geographical methodologies and
concepts (ACHGS047)
Weeks 6 LIVEABILITY FACTORS & CRITERIA
and 7
LIVEABILITY FACTOR: Social
LAW & ORDER CRITERIA: level of violent crime, level of petty crime,
alcohol-related disorder, graffiti and vandalism, personal safety.
EDUCATION CRITERIA: choice of schools, opportunities for post-school
education
HEALTHCARE CRITERIA: access to local dentists and doctors, availability
of private health care, quality of public health care, aged care facilities.
Elaborations
• Discussing the different types of places where people can feel
included or excluded, safe or threatened, and evaluating how this
affects perceptions about liveability of places
• Investigating the extent to which people in their place are socially
connected or socially isolated and its effects on liveability
LIVEABILITY FACTORS & CRITERIA
LIVEABILITY FACTOR: Cultural
CRITERIA: places of worship, community recreational facilities,
entertainment venues, public libraries, restaurants, ethnic diversity.
LIVEABILITY FACTOR: Economic
CRITERIA: employment opportunities, affordable housing, access to shops
and department stores, service stations and mechanics, hardware outlets,
personal services (e.g. hairdressers).
Constructing tables, graphs, maps and diagrams to represent
data collected about liveability of places.
Creating an annotated diagram to show the liveability of
places.
Developing a map to show the spatial distribution measures of
the liveability of their own place.
Gathering relevant data from a range of primary sources (for
example, from observation and annotated field sketches,
surveys and interviews, or photographs) about the factors TASK 2
influencing decisions people make about where to live. Liveability features of my
suburb.(12 Marks)
Represent data in a range of appropriate forms, for
example climate graphs, compound column graphs, population
pyramids, tables, field sketches and annotated diagrams, with
and without the use of digital and spatial technologies
(ACHGS049)
Interpret geographical data and other information using
qualitative and quantitative methods, and digital and spatial
technologies as appropriate, to identify and propose
explanations for spatial distributions, patterns and trends, and
infer relationships TASK 3
(ACHGS051) Liveability Survey,
Interview and Graph
Constructing tables, graphs, maps and diagrams to represent (8 marks)
data collected about liveability of places.
Gathering relevant data from a range of primary sources (for
example, from observation and annotated field sketches,
surveys and interviews, or photographs) about the factors
influencing decisions people make about where to live.
Weeks 8 • The influence of accessibility to services and facilities GEOGRAPHIC WRITING
and 9 of the liveability of places (ACHGK044) · DADEE approach to writing a geographic extended response.
Elaborations Present findings, arguments and ideas in a range of
• Comparing accessibility to and availability of a range of services and communication forms selected to suit a particular audience and
facilities between different types of services and facilities between purpose; using geographical terminology and digital
different types of settlements (urban, rural and remote) in Australia technologies as appropriate
and other countries (for example, access to clean water, sanitation, (ACHGS053)
education and health services). TASK 4
• Examining the role transport plays in people’s ability to access Reflect on their learning to propose individual and collective Extended Response (letter)
services and participate in activities in the local area. action in response to a contemporary geographical challenge, writing
• Comparing transportation and accessibility in Australian cities in taking account of environmental, economic and social (15 Marks)
countries of the Asia region or Europe. considerations, and predict the expected outcomes of their
LIVEABILITY FACTORS & CRITERIA proposal
(ACHGS054)
LIVEABILITY FACTOR: Infrastructure
CRITERIA: quality of road access, availability of public transport,
transport interchanges and commuter parking, quality of
telecommunications, infrastructure, reliability of utilities – water,
electricity, sewerage, cycle ways, maintenance of public schools and
hospitals