Geography 7-10 / Year 8 / Knowledge and understanding / Landscapes and landforms

Curriculum content descriptions

the interconnections between human activity and geomorphological processes, and ways of managing distinctive landscapes  (AC9HG8K04)

Elaborations
  • identifying the interconnections and effects of erosion and sedimentation produced by human activities on the quality of the environment; for example, the effects of overuse of tourist tracks in bushland or the effects of land-clearing for the production of palm oil in Indonesia and Malaysia
  • explaining the interconnections and effects of mining, quarrying and urban development on the quality of the environment; for example, the interconnections of the quality of the environment and uranium mining in Kakadu, urban development in Singapore or the extension of land area in Tokyo Bay
  • explaining the effects of river regulation, including dams, locks, channel straightening and drains, on the quality of riverine and wetland environments; for example, the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River in China, or dams and weirs on the Murray–Darling River system
  • identifying the contribution of the knowledges of First Nations Australians to the use and management of distinctive landscapes; for example, Indigenous Peoples’ Knowledge (IPK) incorporated into modern management of diverse landscapes and landforms such as Kakadu National Park, Uluru, the Great Barrier Reef and the Snowy Mountains
General capabilities
  • Critical and creative thinking Critical and Creative Thinking
ScOT terms

Emergency services,  Environmental management,  Landforms,  Natural heritage,  Environmental impact

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Digital stories

The three short stories in this resource look at Australian bread-making in 3 different eras – pre-colonial, colonial and near-future. They explore how environmental world views and practices have differed across time.

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Volatile Volcanoes

In this activity, students investigate the effects of volcanic activity, specifically in relation to pyroclastic flows. Students will use a real-world example to explore pyroclastic flow events, model and investigate the path most likely to be taken by flows, and develop a natural disaster management plan for villages likely ...

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Geography: Landscapes and Landforms

Join Shona from Geoscience Australia and explore the formation of Australia's coastal, desert and mountain landforms and landscapes.

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Water quality

This lesson explores the concept that the way humans use land and water can cause water quality degradation. Students investigate the factors that influence water quality, the effects of poor water quality and management options for some water quality issues.

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Liquefaction In Action

This short video examines the process of liquefaction and its impact on buildings and other structures. The video encourages students to investigate some of the ways engineers lessen the impact of earthquakes on buildings and to make their own liquefaction demonstration and extend it into an inquiry activity.

Downloadable

Landslides: Teachers Notes and Student Activities

This 50 page booklet explains the nature of landslides and gives examples of various historical landslides that have occurred in Australia. It contains a glossary, links to online resources, activity ideas and answer sheets.

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Earthquake monitoring

This video introduces earthquake monitoring using seismometers and seismographs. It also features the National Earthquake Alert Centre. Students are asked to try making earthquakes at home using the accelerometers in their smartphones.

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Understanding the National Earthquake Alerts Centre

This video introduces the National Earthquake Alerts Centre. The video explains that earthquakes are detected by a network of seismometers; each station sends seismic information for analysis and checking by seismologists on duty. The video describes the types of wave forms in earthquakes and the sequence of events in ...

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Work sample Year 8 Geography: Landscapes and landforms

This work sample demonstrates evidence of student learning in relation to aspects of the achievement standards for Year 8 Geography. The primary purpose for the work sample is to demonstrate the standard, so the focus is on what is evident in the sample not how it was created. The sample is an authentic representation of ...

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Catalyst: How high will sea levels rise?

Much of the world’s population will eventually have to deal with the consequences of sea-level rise, but the question is: how high will the water get? Dr Graham Phillips investigates how scientists are turning to the distant past to predict the impact of rising sea levels. Watch scientists explore 120,000-year-old coastlines, ...

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Through our eyes: series 1

This series of 18 short videos provides insights into the land management practices and social, spiritual and cultural knowledge of the Ngemba, Kamilaroi and Euahlayi Aboriginal language groups in north-western NSW. The videos are presented by the Aboriginal Elders and knowledge-holders and cover a range of topics including ...

Online

Locks, Weirs and Dams

This lesson sequence examines structures that are used by water resource managers in the Murray-Darling Basin including dams, locks, weirs, barrages, fishways, channels and levee banks and explores the positive and negative effects of river regulation. It includes a teacher PowerPoint presentation, separate teacher notes ...

Online

Running the rivers of the Murray-Darling Basin

This lesson sequence examines the role that river operators play in water resource management in the Murray-Darling Basin and explains how they direct water releases and track progress downstream for environmental watering and flood management. It includes a teacher PowerPoint presentation, separate teacher notes and a ...

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Foreign Correspondent: Sustainable tourism

The Yucatán Peninsula in south-eastern Mexico is a popular tourist destination. This clip focuses on examples of sustainable tourism - tourism that aims to have a low environmental impact. View Tulum, a town under threat of being developed similarly to Cancún, a major tourist resort destination.

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Self-guided trips

This is a rich, multilayered resource about self-guided trips at eight Bush Heritage reserves across Australia. The resource provides information, images and maps about eight self-guided day trips or camping trips including: detailed information about the reserve; advice about the self-guided trip; when to visit; type of ...

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Places we protect

This is a rich, multilayered resource about 35 protected Bush Heritage reserves throughout Australia. The resource includes a map of Australia that displays the locations of the 35 reserves. Each location is linked to important information and images including: quick facts; visiting information; the animals, plants and ...

Online

GeogSpace: year 8 - exemplar

This is a web page consisting of an overview and four illustrations of practice on the GeogSpace website, a resource for teachers. The illustrations relate to the Geographical Knowledge and Understanding, and the Geographical Inquiry and Skills strands of the Australian Curriculum: Geography. The four illustrations investigate ...

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Landforms from space

This is an online resource containing satellite images of nine distinctive landforms across Australia. The images, taken from the Landsat satellite series, are of the landforms: Roper River, NT; Lake Eyre, SA; Gulf Country, Qld; Channel Country, Qld; Cairns, Qld; Liverpool Plains, NSW; Snowy Mountains, NSW; Gippsland, Vic; ...

Online

Creating a wildlife habitat: vision

This learning activity is the second part of a sequence of 5 individual learning activities focused on creating a wildlife habitat. The order of these learning activities are: research, vision, design, planting and monitoring and care. OUTCOMES for this learning activity are for children to: create a vision of what their ...

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Creating a wildlife habitat: design

Creating a wildlife habitat can provide a home for a variety of local wildlife from the smallest insects and spiders to birds, reptiles, mammals and frogs. These habitats can provide a sanctuary for species that have been displaced through urbanisation, as built structures replace natural areas. The Vision activity determined ...