SAGeographer_Ed 11_Oct 2017

October
2017
in this edition ...
In the News
STEM and Geography
Risky Education in South Australia
GTASA Quiz Night
Teaching Ideas
Primary School: Citizenship in Action - Year 5
Middle School: Unveiling Stories
Senior School: Landuse in Melbourne Street
In the field
Year 9 ‘Where is Adelaide’s Global Centre?’
Online
Google Cardboard: Virtual reality in the classroom
GeoGuesser
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GTASA Country Workshops
Royal Geographic Society Lectures

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From the editor...
Welcome to Term 4,
It has been an action packed Semester 2.
Last term GTASA and Adelaide University
hosted a successful Year 12 Geography Night.
Students and teachers were able to listen
to exceptionally well presented and pitched
lectures from Dr John Tibby on ‘Energy
Alternatives for Adelaide’ and Dr Doug
Bardsley on ‘Global Population Trends and
Environmental Risks’. I was fortunate enough
to take Stage 2 Geography students who
found the presentations informative, engaging
and relevant to their studies. The GTASA also
hosted the Geography Quiz Night where teams
battled it out over dinner and drinks. The quiz
master Simon Miller did an exceptional job at
creating competitive rounds that ranged from
Geography DingBats to cutting and pasting
locations guessing their latitude.
This edition of the journal has some activities,
resources and fieldwork that you might be
able to squeeze into Term 4 or save for your
programs next year. Wishing everyone a
relaxing holiday break and all the best for
your Stage 2 Geography students as they
approach their exams.
As always, we look forward to receiving your
feedback and lesson ideas, so send us an
email at sageographer@gtasa.asn.au with
your suggestions, teaching and learning ideas
or success stories.
Elise
housekeeping
GTASA Website
Join the GTASA
Products and Resources
AGM 2017 Minutes
President’s Report 2017
CEASA the Association
for Associations!

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In the News
STEM and Geography
The world we live in is already a changed
one. Since the Industrial Revolution
global temperatures have warmed by
approximately risen by 1 degree celsius.
Spring now comes on average 2 weeks
earlier in places such as the UK and in our
oceans there are animals that have shifted
their ranges 100 kilometers polewards. The
Earth’s axis has even been altered as a
result of melting ice in Greenland changing
the planet’s water distribution. These along
with increased heatwaves are just some
of the realities we face living in a world of
climate change.
In 2015, 195 countries met and signed an
agreement in Paris to limit global warming
to 2 degrees celsius. This might seem
small but poses some very serious threats
including those discussed above. With
current Government pledges temperatures
are likely to exceed this and reach a
warming of 3.6 degrees.
There are many opportunities for
Geography to integrate Science, Technology,
Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) into
the classroom. Students can be immersed
in STEM in Geography when looking at
Climate Change. Can we limit emissions
to 2 degrees celsius by 2020? Have we
reached peak emissions? Will we have to
geoengineer? Can I make a difference?
The New Scientist 24 June 2017 Magazine
has an entire article discussing these
questions with excellent graphs and
diagrams. One of the most interesting of
these discusses geoengineering and how it
can be used to cool the plant. If we cannot
meet temperature targets then possibly
science and technology can be used to
help cool the earth.

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Lesson Ideas
• Students design their own
geoengineered solution to global
warming.
• Students justify if it is possible to meet
the maximum target of 2 degrees
celcius warming
• Calculate your ecological footprint. There
are many online calculators to calculate
one’s ecological footprint. One can be
found here.
• Get involved! Students could devise
strategies and projects for their schools
to reduce carbon emissions.
• Debate! An informal class debate is a
great way to engage student directed
learning. A quick way to do this is to have
a debate topic e.g. ‘Geoengineering is
the best solution for global warming’
and divide the class in half. After a
designated time for research team is
required to choose three speakers to
present their argument.
To find information on carbon offsets
in Australia and other climate change
information click here.
References:
NASA. (2017). NASA Releases Detailed
Global Climate Change Projections. [online]
Available at: https://www.nasa.gov/pressrelease/nasa-releases-detailed-globalclimate-change-projections
[Accessed 19
Sep. 2017].

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News around the association
Risky Education in South Australia
By Douglas Bardsley, Geography, Environment
and Population, The University of Adelaide.
Email: douglas.bardsley@adelaide.edu.au
During the recent GTASA Year 12
Geography night at the University of
Adelaide there was almost universal
agreement amongst students that
humanity was behaving like bacteria on an
agar plate – spreading out and consuming
the planet’s resources without recognising
the limits of our habitat. That response
from students was unexpected, but may be
indicative of a generation that is growing up
both with a sense of the enormous scale of
the risks that they will face in their lifetimes
and the lack of effective societal responses
to anticipate or deal with them.
The risks from climate change, resource
depletion, energy systems, inequality,
terrorism, and even a nuclear exchange
have become more pronounced in 2017. In
relation to climate change alone, it seems
that each week there is another scary
prediction of extreme heat, sea-level rise
or uncontrollable bushfires presented in
the media. Young people are reading those
reports – or at least scrolling past them on
their way down to the entertainment pages!
That raises a whole lot of questions about
how we prepare young South Australians
for an increasingly uncertain and risky
future – questions that geography teachers
are answering.
Back in 2012, I surveyed geography
teachers’ opinions of risk education at the
GTASA conference. Teachers were asked
to comment on the risks that they saw
as most important for their students and
then to outline how they were developing
their curricula and lessons in response.
My apologies for its tardiness, but the
resulting article is now published: Bardsley,
D.K., 2017. Too much, too young? Teachers’
opinions of risk education in secondary
school geography. International Research in
Geographical and Environmental Education
26(1), pp.36-53.
A number of key findings shone through the
analysis that might be of interest. Firstly,
you guys are great! Teachers’ insights into

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the complex question of how to develop
pedagogical responses to risk were simply
magnificent. Second, while ecological risks
such as drought and climate change were
mentioned, the most commonly discussed
risks across all SES levels related instead
to rising social inequality and living costs.
A number of respondents suggested that
such socio-economic risks do not form a
large part of the curriculum and perhaps
that could change in the future.
Third, teachers generally welcomed the
risk education elements in the curriculum
because there is a “need to prepare
students for increasingly ‘risky’ world
without the old certainties,” and “better
informed students = better future
decisions.” Teaching about the risks that
students are familiar with was recognised
as the most engaging approach. One
teacher stated, “Students need to be
more aware of the risk/impacts of certain
things. It makes them question that
risk is associated with many aspects of
geography. It makes subjects relevant and
keeps them informed. The advantage is to
be able to give students all the information,
not just what they see in the media.”
As students learn about risk they often
develop deeper interests in environmental
and social issues, and as those issues
become real, they are translated into
individual and community actions.
Finally, teaching relentlessly on ‘doom and
gloom’ scenarios is to no-one’s advantage,
but if taught well, a knowledge of risk can
help students to put the challenges ahead
in the context of their own life paths. As
one teacher stated the goal was to “Build
the most
commonly discussed
risks across all SES
levels related to rising
social inequality and
living costs...

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an interest, not a fear. Teaching risk can
heighten awareness in kids and provide
the ability to discuss risks to the
environment etc. as well as things we can
do to help, so they can feel empowered,
buoyant and enthusiastic.” Another
important suggestion was that for students
risk “shouldn’t be the starting point. We
need to foster a love/respect/appreciation
of the planet before moving on to risk.”
The broad conclusion of the paper is that
according to geography teachers in SA,
risk education is vital to prepare young
people for greater uncertainty and change,
but the emphasis needs to remain on the
opportunities to respond to the challenges
ahead to help them to imagine positive
futures. Thanks again to those teachers
who participated in the survey, as well as
for teaching SA not to fill up its agar plate!
Members through to recent graduates.
It was great to be amongst so many
enthusiastic geographers. A special thanks
to quiz master, Simon, who made the event
quite memorable with some challenging
geography questions. Check out more
photos on our Facebook page.
Quiz Night
GTASA members and friends had a great
evening together on Friday 1st September
for a Dinner and Quiz Night. Over 30
people attended the event – from Life

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Teaching ideas
In this section we bring you classroom ideas and resources that support the teaching
of geography from F-12. Some of these will be linked to the GeogSpace resources and
others will be written by members of the GTASA community. If you have one to share or
any suggestions please email us (sageogeapher@gtasa.asn.au).
GeogSpace
Geogspace (pioneered and developed by
AGTA, the peak national body representing
all Geography Teachers State Associations)
organises AC Geography support materials into
year levels. There are detailed explanations
of the key elements and some examples of
possible activities that you might like to adapt
or use in your classroom.

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Primary school classroom (F - 6)
Citizenship in Action - Year 5
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This is an activity from GEOGSPACE. On
the website there are links to supporting
worksheets and outlines on how to introduce
the activity. This activity aligns well with
geographical inquiry skills in the Australian
Curriculum.
The stages of the inquiry process are:
• Observing, questioning and planning
• Collecting, recording, evaluating and
representing
• Analysing and concluding
• Communicating
• Reflecting and responding.
In Illustration 1: Citizenship in action students
are involved in using inquiry skills to explore
human influences on place and space. It
encourages students to work collaboratively
to consider various points of view to form
responses to the issue.
The illustration outlines two hypothetical
scenarios. The first involves exploring the
impacts of a new shopping development in
their local area. The activity has ideas for
roleplays and debates. There is also the
possibility of integrating fieldwork skills by
visiting a proposed site near your school.
Students could collect data such as traffic
counts, pedestrian counts, litter surveys
and even noise levels. The second scenario
involves looks at the benefits hazardreduction
burns to reduce bushfire risks.
Evaluation:
Both of these scenarios can be tailored to
the interests of your class as well as places in
your local area. The illustration is exceptionally
detailed in outlining how to introduce the unit
of work and offers numerous supporting
worksheets and resources.

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Middle school classroom (7- 10)
• What is the story?
• What is the human story?
• What is the world story?
• What is the new story?
• What is the unntold story? (i.e. What is
hidden and what are we not seeing?)
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Unveiling Stories?
This activity is a Visible thinking Routine that
can be applied to any image and any Year
level. The questions in this routine encourage
students to develop empathy to big ideas
or issues. For example the image of Cocoa
Farmers would fit well into Year 9 teaching
unit on Biomes and Food Security.
Once students have been given or shown
the image they need to answer the following
questions:
This activity works well when students have
a chance to answer the questions on their
own with enough thinking time before sharing
in small groups.
Visible thinking routines such as this work
really well in Geography. Other routines can
be found here.
Image Reference:
Fortune. (2017). Inside Big Chocolate’s Child
Labor Problem. [online] Available at: http://
fortune.com/big-chocolate-child-labor/
[Accessed 25 Sep. 2017].

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Senior school classroom (11- 12)
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Land use in Melbourne Street
This task is based on a task from the SACE
Boards Pre Approved Stage 1 Geography
Learning and Assessment Plan (Number 2).
This was run as a fieldwork buy could be
tailored as a classroom activity based on
your local area.
Theme 1: Sustainable Places
Topic 2: Urban Places
Purpose:
To assess students understanding of how
land use in urban places is organised. To
observe, identify and record fieldwork data
along a transect.
Description of assessment:
The fieldwork is to be presented as a
broadsheet or google map with land use
map and transect of a section of Melbourne
Street, North Adelaide.
1. Use Naturemaps to obtain and print a
blank landuse map of Melbourne Street.
2. In groups you will be allocated a section
of the landuse map to fill in and groups
will work together to fill in land use map.
3. Devise a suitable land use classification
key, based on the type of landuse
(residential, commercial etc) and
sub-divided according to the age,
function and building materials of
individual buildings.
4. In your groups you will be allocated a
section of Melbourne Street to draw a
transect (height and type of buildings
and infrastructure).
5. Redraw their transect either by hand or
using a GIS package to show land use.
6. Critically analyse their fieldwork data
by describing and justifying landuse
patterns observed

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Assessment conditions:
The task is to be completed in 6 class lessons
plus homework sessions. The total time
available is 10 days. The task has a maximum
of 800 words.
Evaluation
This fieldwork task was great to use as it
could easily be adapted to our local area.
Melbourne Street was chosen as it was within
a 15 minute walk from school and no buses
were needed. Before collecting the data
students devised a land use key and were
assigned a section to record the type of land
use. When students returned to school the
data was shared and each students created
their own land use map. Some students
chose to create a broadsheet, others chose
to use Google Maps to create a GIS map as
shown below.
To accompany their maps students also
prepared a geographical context to explain
the site, situation and history of Melbourne
Street. Students then used their maps to
explain and justify patterned observed.
Overall this excursion was great as it was
fast to organise and the data collection itself
did not take too long. It was a great way
to introduce new Geography students to
fieldwork techniques and consolidate skills in
others.
A copy of the task sheet can be found here.
SACE Stage 1 Pre Approved Learning and
Assessment Plans can be found here.

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In the field
Year 9 Geography Fieldwork
“Where is Adelaide’s global centre?”
Whilst the Year 9 Australian Curriculum
content, particularly in relation to
Globalisation, is considered some of the
most engaging and thought provoking to
teach as a department we had always
found producing meaningful fieldwork that
addresses this topic quite difficult. This year
we designed a new fieldwork activity based
around finding Adelaide’s global centre.
Pre-Fieldtrip learning
The main concepts taught to students
prior to the fieldtrip revolved around the
processes of globalisation that have had
the most influenced the area of the CBD of
Adelaide. We focused on:
• Cultural Diffusion and Migration (Could
be taught with an emphasis how the
British Empire and latterly large migrations
from Asia have influenced place)
• Trans-national Corporations with an
emphasis on retail. Some retail Geography
could also be taught at this stage.
• Tourism (including extent of international
tourists travelling to South Australia
and where they are from, including
Geography of connections such as
direct airline routes to Adelaide
Inquiry Question
With the overarching Question “where is
Adelaide’s global centre?” students were
also encouraged to think about What would
the global centre look like?
After discussions as a class it was decided
that we should look to record data on:
• The density of global retail and global
food outlooks
• Evidence of global cultural influence
• Nationality of people visiting different
areas

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• Survey ranking of different areas as
“global centres”
The decision was taken to use Epicollect5 to
collate all the data, including photographs
This was run as a booklet-less fieldtrip
which was very exciting and of course more
sustainable.
The classes were divided into 4 groups who
would each map these different influences
in each of the zones shown below (all groups
visited all sites):
Each site was also split into surveying zones
with each group conducting surveys in one
zone with all results collated together as
shown below:
Results:
Once students had collected all their data in
Epicollect5, spreadsheets were downloaded
for use in GIS mapping locations.
Students went through the steps of
“cleaning” their data, by deleting any
columns not needed. Some students used
the “sort” facility to arrange their data into
type of influence, and use this to add 3
separate layers to a google my map.
Survey results were split by location so this
could be used to create graphs to compare
rankings of the 3 different sites. This was
done by working out the maximum latitude/
longitude for each zone. Students could then
use this data to create their own maps,
including heat maps such as these created
through Esri online:

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Other students created differing layers to
compare the varying land uses and reasons
for patterns
The fieldtrip and subsequent responses
provided an engaging, rich and fairly
efficient way to collect a wide range of
data and produce quick and effective visual
and spatial representations. The technical
aspects of the trip worked seamlessly and
I would certainly recommend epicollect5
as an efficient and accessible way to
collect data.
We are now refining our ability to clean
the data collected and select appropriate
information to “tell our story” which will
become easier as student become more
familiar with the processes involved.
If anybody wishes to discuss anything in
relation to this fieldtrip and the technology
used, do not hesitate to get in touch.
Simon Miller, Pembroke School

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Google Cardboard: Virtual Reality
in the Classroom
This is an immersive experience that can
bring virtual reality to your classroom. Google
cardboard is a viewer that folds down from
cardboard to hold a smartphone. The viewer
and smartphone can then be used to visit
places all around the world using an app.
Information on the app and viewer can be
found here.
Evaluation
Viewers can be purchased cheaper from
sites such as eBay. It should be noted that
some schools require a risk assessment
for using virtual reality. This could be used
as part of Geography assignments and
activities that you run in your classroom.
If you have used this activity and/or have
developed resources, please send them to
sageographer@gtasa.asn.au.
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GeoGuessr
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This is a fun where
in the world type
activity that can
be played individually or as a class. The
website has an extensive range of themed
maps from famous places to the location
of McDonald’s stores around the world.
Participants are presented with an image
that can be explored and are then required
to select a location on a world map guessing
where it can be found. Points are awarded
based on the guessed location compared to
the real location.
Evaluation
This actually works well when played as a
class. It encourages discussion and students
use latitude and longitude to help explain
where they think the location is. The website
also offered the ability for teachers or even
students to create their own maps.
The link to GeoGuessr can be found here.
Image Source:
Geoguessr.com. (2017). GeoGuessr - Let’s
explore the world!. [online] Available at:
https://geoguessr.com/
[Accessed 25 Sep. 2017].

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Here’s an opportunity for you to engage
with professional learning and geography
events:
Country Workshops in Term 4
GTASA is pleased to announce that it will
be bringing two full-day workshops to a
country location near you.
Friday 3rd Nov 2017, 9.30 am—2.30 pm
At Bordertown High School
And
Friday 10th Nov 2017, 9.30 am—2.30 pm
At Nuriootpa High School
With a focus on curriculum pedagogy, and
geographical skill development, the handson
workshop will equip early career and
out-of-field teachers of geography with
the necessary tools to deliver engaging &
targeted geography lessons.
Cost per person:
Members—$75
Non-members—$100
Register for these workshops through
Eventbrite:
http://gtasa-events.eventbrite.com

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The Royal Geographical Society of South
Australia Lectures
The following take place at St Andrews
Parish Centre 5:30pm
• 16th November - Andrew Lothian
‘Scenic Beauty-Can it be measured
and Mapped
Other upcoming GTASA professional
development opportunities can be found
on our website - http://www.gtasa.asn.au/
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save th e
date!
Mark this date in your diaries and register
your interest via sageographer@gtasa.asn.au

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‘This was the best GTASA conference I
have been to. I found the Bushfires fieldtrip
incredibly useful and it could certainly be
used with a Year 11 class. The ‘Geography
Skills Unlocked’ was a great bonus to the
many resources I gained. Thank you.’
‘I gained a lot from the spatial technologies
workshop and enjoyed connecting with
other teachers of Geography. Thank you for
the exceptional food and coffee.’
We want to hear from you!
Share your thoughts with us on this
(or another) topic and we’ll share
them with the Geography community
at large.
All correspondence received by 1 December
2017 will be considered for publication in
the next edition of SA Geographer.

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We’re simply
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