VCE Geography

Scope of study

The study of Geography allows students to explore, analyse and come to understand the characteristics of places that make up our world. Geographers are interested in key questions concerning places and geographic phenomena: What is there? Where is it? Why is it there? What are the effects of it being there? How is it changing over time? How could, and should, it change in the future? How is it different from other places and phenomena? How are places and phenomena connected?

Students explore these questions through fieldwork, the use of geospatial technologies and investigation of a wide range of secondary sources. These methods underpin the development of a unique framework for understanding the world, enabling students to appreciate its complexity, the diversity and interactions of its environments, economies and cultures, and the processes that helped form and transform these.

Twelve key geographic concepts underpin the study – change, distance, distribution, environment, interconnection, movement, place, process, region, scale, spatial association and sustainability (see pages 6–8). Each area of study utilises these concepts to assist in the observation, description, interpretation, analysis and explanation of geographic phenomena. VCE Geography is designed around two key concepts: change and interconnection, emphasising increasing human interaction with environments, which has had, and continues to have, significant consequences.

VCE Geography enables students to examine natural and human induced phenomena, how and why they change, their interconnections and the patterns they form across the Earth’s surface. In doing so, students develop a better understanding of their own place and its spaces and those in other parts of the world. These spatial perspectives, when integrated with historical, economic, ecological and cultural perspectives, deepen understanding of places and environments, and the human interactions with these.

Rationale

In VCE Geography students develop a range of skills, many of which employ geospatial and digital technologies. Investigative skills develop students’ ability to conduct geographic study and inquiry including the collection of primary data through observation, surveys and fieldwork, and the collection of relevant secondary data and information. Interpretative and analytical skills enable students to interpret information presented in a variety of formats including maps, graphs, diagrams and images. These skills encourage students to critically evaluate information for its validity and reliability. Presentation and communication skills enable students to communicate their knowledge and understanding in a coherent, creative and effective manner, with the use of appropriate geographic terminology. The skills developed in investigation, collection of data, interpretation, analysis and communication of geographic information are enhanced through the use of geospatial technologies, both in the classroom and in the field. The geospatial industry is evolving and students with spatial skills continue to be in high demand, with the potential for a variety of career pathways.

Aims

This study enables students to:

·         develop a sense of wonder and curiosity about people, culture and environments throughout the world

·         develop knowledge and understanding of geographic phenomena at a range of temporal and spatial scales

·         understand and apply geographic concepts to develop their ability to think and communicate geographically, including change, distance, distribution, environment, interconnection, movement, place, process, region, scale, spatial association and sustainability

·         develop an understanding of the complexity of natural and human induced geographic phenomena across the Earth’s surface

·         develop a range of skills, including the use of geospatial technologies, to assist in analysing information and making informed judgments and decisions about geographic challenges

·         understand the importance of VCE Geography in analysing issues and challenges to human welfare and the environment, at a range of scales

·         develop an understanding of the role and application of VCE Geography in the planning and management of human welfare and the environment.

Unit 1: Hazards and disasters 

This unit investigates how people have responded to specific types of hazards and disasters. Hazards represent the potential to cause harm to people and or the environment, whereas disasters are defined as serious disruptions of the functionality of a community at any scale, involving human, material, economic or environmental losses and impacts. Hazards include a wide range of situations including those within local areas, such as fast-moving traffic or the likelihood of coastal erosion, to regional and global hazards such as drought and infectious disease.

Areas of Study 

1. Characteristics of hazards

2. Response to hazards and disasters

Unit 2: Tourism: issues and challenges 

In this unit students investigate the characteristics of tourism: where it has developed, its various forms, how it has changed and continues to change and its impact on people, places and environments, issues and challenges of ethical tourism. Students select contrasting examples of tourism from within Australia and elsewhere in the world to support their investigations. Tourism involves the movement of people travelling away from and staying outside of their usual environment for more than 24 hours but not more than one consecutive year (United Nations World Tourism Organization definition). The scale of tourist movements since the 1950s and its predicted growth has had and continues to have a significant impact on local, regional and national environments, economies and cultures. The travel and tourism industry is directly responsible for a significant number of jobs globally and generates a considerable portion of global GDP.

Areas of Study 

1. Characteristics of tourism

2. Impact of tourism: issues and challenges

Unit 3: Changing the land

This unit focuses on two investigations of geographical change: change to land cover and change to land use. Land cover includes biomes such as forest, grassland, tundra, bare lands and wetlands, as well as land covered by ice and water. Land cover is the natural state of the biophysical environment developed over time as a result of the interconnection between climate, soils, landforms and flora and fauna and, increasingly, interconnections with human activity. Natural land cover is altered by many processes such as geomorphological events, plant succession and climate change.

Areas of Study 

1. Land cover change

2. Land use change

Unit 4: Human population: trends and issues

Students investigate the geography of human populations. They explore the patterns of population change, movement and distribution, and how governments, organisations and individuals have responded to those changes in different parts of the world.

Students study population dynamics before undertaking an investigation into two significant population trends arising in different parts of the world. They examine the dynamics of populations and their environmental, economic, social, and cultural impacts on people and places.

The growth of the world’s population from 2.5 billion in 1950 to over 7 billion since 2010 has been on a scale without parallel in human history. Much of the current growth is occurring within developing countries while the populations in many developed countries are either growing slowly or are declining.

Populations change through growth and decline in fertility and mortality, and by people moving to different places. The Demographic Transition Model and population structure diagrams provide frameworks for investigating the key dynamics of population.

Population movements such as voluntary and forced movements over long or short terms add further complexity to population structures and to environmental, economic, social, and cultural conditions. Many factors influence population change, including the impact of government policies, economic conditions, wars and revolution, political boundary changes and hazard events.

Students investigate the interconnections between the reasons for population change. They evaluate strategies developed in response to population issues and challenges, in both a growing population trend of one country and an ageing population trend of another country, in different parts of the world.

Areas of Study 

1. Population dynamics

2. Population issues and challenges