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

Curriculum content descriptions

the causes and impacts of a geomorphological hazard on people, places and environments, and the effects of responses (AC9HG8K05)

Elaborations
  • identifying the causes of a geomorphological hazard such as a volcanic eruption, earthquake, tsunami, landslide or avalanche
  • examining the environmental, economic or social impacts of a hazard at the local scale; for example, where people choose to live; the negative consequences for human wellbeing including loss of industry and unemployment; and lack of infrastructure and resources to prepare and respond to hazards
  • reflecting on observations of a location where the environment has been altered by human activities to explain how the change has heightened the impact of a hazard
  • reflecting on the principles of prevention, mitigation and preparedness to explain how the harmful effects of a hazard can be reduced by the implementation of a management strategy
General capabilities
  • Critical and creative thinking Critical and Creative Thinking
  • Personal and social capability Personal and Social capability
ScOT terms

Emergency services,  Environmental hazards,  Environmental management,  Earthquakes,  Volcanic eruptions

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Flood

This is an online resource about floods that contains six main sections: Flood basics; Research reports - floods; National Flood Risk Information Report; Australian Flood Risk Information Portal; and Water observations from space. Each section provides important information, maps and images of floods in Australia. Links ...

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Liquefaction tank | Questacon

In this activity, students explore how liquefaction can occur in sandy soils during an earthquake. They build their own model with different physical conditions, simulate an earthquake and observe the outcome. The activity includes a list of what is required, suggestions of what to do and notice, questions to ask, an explanation ...

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47 Degrees: Unit of work

This unit of work has been written to support 47 Degrees, an account of the experiences of writer Justin D'Ath during the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires in Victoria. Explore themes of belonging, bravery, community, grief, resilience and the environment. This unit provides practical teaching ideas and an assessment task

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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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Spaghetti Quakes

This activity explains commonly used magnitude scales, provides background information on earthquake intensity and includes an extension task to map the impact of an earthquake. The worksheet activity can be adapted for student needs.

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Volcanic hazards: What would an Emergency Manager do?

This activity examines a hypothetical city and its vulnerability to volcanic hazard risk. It includes background information for teachers, PowerPoint presentation, student activity sheet and worked answers.

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Tsunami - Teacher Notes and Student Activities

This 35 page booklet explores tsunamis, what generates tsunamis, where they occur, what happens when they reach land, how tsunamis impact Australians, and the role Geoscience Australia plays in providing the Australian Tsunami Warning System. The booklet contains a glossary, links to online resources, activity ideas and ...

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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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Volcanoes : Teacher notes and student activities

This 80 page booklet covers a range of topics concerning volcanoes. It includes information about causes of volcanic eruptions, volcano types, where volcanoes are found and why, Australia's hot spot volcanoes and the hazards and benefits of volcanoes. Activities cover the science of eruptions and their impact on people, ...

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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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Rebuild a community - teacher resource kit

This activity kit encourages students to think about what makes a community, identify the people in our community who help us, and how to rebuild after a disaster. Activities are guided by the design thinking process, and scaffold students to brainstorm what makes a community and consider how a disaster might affect their ...

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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.

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Catalyst: How will fire change the climate?

Considering the impact of a changing climate on the severity and frequency of fires is one thing, but how about the impact of fires on climate? Why does Professor David Bowman describe this scenario as a 'fire spiral'? What are the consequences of a world with fewer forests? As Professor Craig Allen explains, drought and ...

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Joint Australian Tsunami Warning Centre

This resource is a Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) web page that provides warnings to the Australian community of tsunami threats to Australia's coastline and offshore territories. These warnings are issued by the Joint Australian Tsunami Warning Centre (JATWC) operated by Geoscience Australia and the Bureau. The resource shows ...

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What is a volcano?

This is an online resource about volcanoes that provides important information about what a volcano is, describes the three most common volcanoes and explains hazards caused by volcanic eruptions. Links in the right-hand menu provide additional volcano-related resources including publications, a volcano library catalogue ...

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Catalyst: What is a megafire?

Join Catalyst reporter Anja Taylor as she visits the Jemez Mountains in New Mexico and discovers the impacts of recent megafires on the landscape there. What is a megafire? And how is a megafire different from a regular wildfire? How have recent fires permanently transformed the landscapes that Anja and Professor Craig ...

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Investigating key Australian fibre production practices in the cotton, timber and wool sectors

This is a unit of work about how cotton, timber and wool are produced, processed and brought to customers in Australia. It explores: where cotton, timber and wool comes from; past, present and future production systems; and a range of other related topics including land management, water management, waste management, revegetation, ...

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Investigating Australian approaches to producing fish, seafood and meat

This is a unit of work about the Australian fish, seafood and meat industries. It has a particular focus on farming practices, processing methods and how food is brought to customers. The resource explores: where meat, seafood and fish come from; past, present and future farming and production systems; and a range of related ...

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ABC News: Light rail plan for western Sydney

Long lines of cars, frustrated drivers in peak traffic: familiar? As the population of Australia's major cities continues to rise and spread outwards, increased strain is placed on existing infrastructure such as roads. People often look to government to fix urban problems. Could a light rail system solve Sydney's western ...