Your school and the Geography K–10 Syllabus

Deliverable
Summing up
Verification
Where to next?

Flat road with scrub on either side and a white centre dividing line disappears into the distance — Litchfield National Park, Northern Territory

View the following presentation, which aligns the elements of the Geography K–10 Syllabus to the quality teaching questions:

Organisation of the syllabus elements (.ppsx 1MB)

(Organisation of the syllabus elements – accessible version)

This information supports the use of the syllabus elements in completing the course deliverable. It is also a useful reference for ongoing syllabus use.

After viewing the presentation, discuss or reflect on the use of quality teaching questions to access the elements of the syllabus with purpose and intent.

Deliverable: A geographical inquiry

The course deliverable is a brief geographical inquiry using a photograph as stimulus with reference to geographical concepts and tools.

This culminating activity gives you the opportunity to bring together the syllabus knowledge that you have developed. Record your inquiry in your Activity booklet.

Select one photograph from the Image gallery (see link below) to be the stimulus for your geographical inquiry. Be aware that, while a range of photographs are provided, not all images are suitable for all stages. When making your selection, cross reference to the syllabus content descriptions for a selected stage, such as the stage you are currently teaching or most familiar with.
Copy the photograph you selected into the second row of the table in your Activity booklet and resize it to an appropriate size. Add a caption to describe the image. Help with copying an image from the gallery.
In the next row, provide the syllabus content reference information, such as the subheading or dot point text.
Using your image as stimulus, plan some detail for a small geographical inquiry, with reference to the process of geographical inquiry covered in this course. It may be necessary to extrapolate some information to complete this small inquiry.
Record the steps of your geographical inquiry in the last row in the table. In the first column, address ‘acquire (both ‘question’ and ‘acquire data and information), in the second address ‘process data and information and in the last column address ‘communicate and respond’. Comment briefly on the geographical concepts and tools included in the inquiry.

Image gallery

Teaching geography is like teaching a foreign language. You have to teach words (facts and images about places), grammar (geographic theories and concepts), and narratives (opinions and value judgements about geographic issues) more or less at the same time.
Gersmehl, 2005, p. 46.

A critical geography needs to engage with the everyday practices of all of us who live in the places that we do; it needs to focus on the needs and interests of the poor and the underprivileged; it remains a very modern enterprise, retaining a belief that it is possible to make the world a 'better' place.
Unwin, 2000, p. 25.

The Course completion checklist will help you make sure you’ve completed everything in this course, including the course deliverable: a short geographical inquiry for the stage you were referencing during the course.

Use the checklist to show your supervisor the work you have done in order for you to gain accreditation in the course.

Complete the online evaluation forms on My PL@Edu.

Complete online evaluation forms from the Board of Studies, Teaching and Educational Standards (BOSTES), if applicable, to ensure appropriate accreditation.

In order for teachers accredited at Proficient to have these hours added to their professional learning log with BOSTES, the principal or delegate must have:

Scheduled an event against this course on My PL@Edu. Include the Developer of the course as the Manage Event Support Person. For information on scheduling an event, see the tutorials on My PL@Edu website.
Evaluated deliverables whilst ensuring the level of detail required to complete the activities and deliverables remains in proportion to the time allocated for the course. Supervisors should not interpret requirements in a way that creates excessive demands on the teacher.
Ensured teachers’ learning is verified on My PL@Edu.

Access further professional learning courses and geography resources related to NSW syllabuses for the Australian Curriculum: Implementation support:

Two further registered online professional development courses support the implementation of the Geography K–10 Syllabus (2015):

Planning to teach geography K–10 (3 hours)
Programming for geographical inquiry (3 hours)

The learning and teaching directorate have developed a range of support materials:

Teaching and learning framework referenced to the Geography K–10 syllabus
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures and Histories (.pdf)
Sustainability (.pdf)
Asia and Australia’s engagement with Asia
Geography in a billabong Adobe Connect presentation.

Additional resources: