This website aims to help the geography students of NWHS with their learning. The resources that are included cover a range of syllabus content and geographic skills. The chosen resources have been included because of their high relevance to the NSW BOSTES HSC Geography Syllabus.
This web resource has been designed with Multimedia Learning Theory (Austin, 2009) in mind. The tasks have been designed to engage students in their learning by using videos, pictures, graphs, and interactive quizzes. This web resource can be used in a blended learning environment, or as independent at home study. It should be noted that this resource was developed for the geography students of NWHS, and specifically caters to their needs. Teachers may need to modify the resources for their own students. Appropriate use of this website, and netiquette protocols is essential. We have ensured that NWHS students understand netiquette, and recommend that you do also. If you come across any netiquette issues please report this on the homepage. Please contact me with any questions or feedback. We are always trying to improve the web resource for our students, and any input on ways we could achieve this is appreciated. A unit of work created for this unit is available upon request. |
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Activity 1: World Cities Prezi
- Activity 1 requires that students, in pairs, conduct research into a world city of their own choosing. Before setting this task, students should know what a world city is, and a few examples. They should also know what BOLTSS is, and how to create a map with all the BOLTSS features included. Students will research the nature and character of their chosen world city. Students must provide evidence, in the form of a video or article (from a reputable source - e.g. ABC News, Sydney Morning Herald) that demonstrates the importance of the economy to the city. Students will also research the cultural landscape, and provide evidence of this through images.
- This activity allows the students to engage with a world city of their choice. Students will know what a world city is and its defining characteristics before completing this activity. A link to the glossary has been provided should students need a reminder. Students must have this prior knowledge before completing the task, otherwise they may not understand what is meant by 'nature', 'characteristics', 'economic centre' and 'cultural landscape'.
- Before completing this activity, students should be reminded about the netiquette protocols they are required to follow. This is particularly important for this activity because students must complete their own unguided research, and may come across inappropriate content. To combat any inappropriate content being included in the Prezi that students present, we have provided a submission form, which allows us view the Prezi's before the presentation date. All submissions will be sent to us, as creators of the website. We recommend that other teachers ask their students to email their Prezi's to them, as we will not take responsibility for any Prezi's submitted to this page by students who do no attend NWHS.
- We have chosen to make this a paired activity because there is a lot of research involved. We also wanted students to create Prezi's that were detailed, and sharing the workload will help achieve this. If your students are unfamiliar with Prezi, it would be useful to take them through Prezi before they start, as it can be a bit fiddly for first time users. Prezi has a lot of how to Prezi's available here.
- Please note that this activity is quite detailed, and tailored to students at NWHS. A time frame is not set on the activity page so that you can create a time frame that best suits your students. We recommend spending two lessons on the creation of the Prezi, and one lesson presenting.
Syllabus outcomes & content
Students learn about:
World cities
- the nature, character and spatial distribution of world cities
- the role of world cities as powerful centres of economic and cultural authority
Activity 2: Virtual Tour of Pyrmont
- This activity requires students to access the virtual tour of Pyrmont. The virtual tour link will take students to a preformed tour of the area. Students will begin the tour on the green pin located on the Western Distributor, stop 1 is Network Ten.
- Before completing this task, students will have already learnt about urban dynamics, including suburbanisation, exurbanisation, counter urbanisation, decentralisation, consolidation, urban decay, urban renewal, urban village and spatial exclusion. Students will not be able to complete task 2 without this knowledge.
- After students have completed the virtual tour, students will identify an urban dynamic that they believe was prominent throughout the tour. Students will write a HSC style response worth 5 marks, in which they justify why they chose their particular urban dynamic, using examples from the virtual tour.
- Students will submit their answers through the form on the page. This allows us as teachers to gather knowledge about the effectiveness of the activity, student understanding and student literacy. It also gives us an opportunity to provide specific and personalised feedback via email. This is a feature specifically for the use of NWHS students, and submissions from other students will not receive a response.
- It is recommended that teachers remind students of their netiquette responsibilities. A reminder to stay on the map is provided on the page, as well as a link to report any netiquette issues. Students must ensure that the answers they submit are appropriate.
Syllabus outcomes & content
Students learn about:
Urban dynamics
- the urban dynamics of change: suburbanisation, exurbanisation, counterurbanisation, decentralisation, consolidation, urban decay, urban renewal, urban village, spatial exclusion
- a case study of the results of the urban dynamics in a large city selected from the developed world including its
- changing economic character, nature and location of residential land, commercial and industrial development
- a case study showing one of the urban dynamics listed above, operating in a country town or suburb.
Activity 3: Weekly Skills Challenge
- This activity is designed to help students develop their geography skills and help them practice answering HSC style questions. Each week, a new blog post with accompanying questions will be uploaded. We have chosen to do this so that we can upload data and graphs that are current. This will help set the answers of our students apart from others in the HSC.
- We have included the RSS feed to ensure that our students are kept up to date with the blog posts. By clicking on 'RSS Feed' and saving the shared link, students will be able to easily access the blog posts, and receive notifications when a new post is created.
- We have decided to make this a weekly challenge that will be completed over the weekend. This will ensure that students remain engaged throughout the course. Each blog post includes a submission form which students must use to submit their answers to the teacher. These submissions are private, and allow us to provide detailed feedback to our students. We have decided that a class marking will occur on Mondays, giving students the weekend to complete the task. This allows us to address any issues or questions. Your students are welcome to use the blog posts and answer the questions, but any submissions from students who do not go to NWHS will not receive a response. It is recommended that you get your students to email their responses to you so that you can provide adequate feedback, and assess the progress of your students.
- While the submissions are private, we have enabled comments so that students can ask and answer any queries about the blog posts.
- The content of the blog posts and the difficulty of the questions has been tailored to the students of NWHS, and may not be suitable for your class. You may need to adjust the questions to suit your students. Please note that only the administrators of this website can create blog posts. However, having current information is at the heart of geography, so if you have resources that you think should be included, please submit them through the Contact Us form at the top of this page.
- Students should be reminded of their Netiquette protocols, especially when commenting. We moderate all the comments, and inappropriate comments will not be published. We have embedded all content on this page so that students do not need to leave the post.
Week 1 Challenge
- Prior Knowledge: Students must know what a mega city is, how to read a map, and understand global trade and demographics.
- Syllabus Content: the nature, character and spatial distribution of mega cities in the developing world
- Syllabus Outcomes: H1, H10, H13.
- Prior Knowledge: Students must be familiar with urban dynamics, world cities and the Board of Studies Glossary of key terms.
- Syllabus Content:
- the urban dynamics of change: suburbanisation, exurbanisation, counterurbanisation, decentralisation, consolidation, urban decay, urban renewal, urban village, spatial exclusion
- culture of place as expressed in the architecture, streetscape, heritage architecture, noise, colour, street life, energy, vitality and lifestyles
- the role of world cities as powerful centres of economic and cultural authority
- Syllabus Outcomes: H3, H10, H13.
- Prior Knowledge: Students must know about economic geography and the role of geography in informing government policy. They must also know what a mega city is, and have the skills to read and interpret the graph. Please note that this activity requires students to apply their knowledge to a different context which they may not be as familiar with.
- Syllabus Content:
- the nature, character and spatial distribution of mega cities in the developing world
- the challenges of living in mega cities such as housing, traffic infrastructure, water and power supplies, sanitation services, employment, and other social and health issues
- the responses to these challenges such as self-help projects, community self-government, cooperation from NGOs, urban protest and the operations of informal economies.
- Syllabus Outcomes: H1, H10, H11, H12, H13.
- Prior Knowledge: Students must be familiar with world maps, particularly the locations of China and Australia. Students must know about standards of living, population and urban dynamics. Students must be able to read and interpret the map, and be able to synthesise this information into a cohesive response. Students must complete the Week 3 Challenge prior to attempting this question.
- Syllabus Content:
- the urban dynamics of change: suburbanisation, exurbanisation, counterurbanisation, decentralisation, consolidation, urban decay, urban renewal, urban village, spatial exclusion
- growth, development, future trends and ecological sustainability
- social structure and spatial patterns of advantage and disadvantage, wealth and poverty, ethnicity
- Syllabus Outcomes: H3, H10, H12, H13.
- Prior Knowledge: Students must know about the different types of graphs used in Geography, and be able to identify them. Students must also be able to analyse graphs and statistics by calculating the rate of increase or decrease between two points
- Syllabus Content: the nature, character and spatial distribution of mega cities in the developing world
- Syllabus Outcomes: H1, H8, H9, H10, H11, H12, H13
- Prior Knowledge: Students must know how to integrate sources into their responses. Students must know what a mega city is, and the challenges involved in the provision of services within mega cities in the developing world.
- Syllabus Content:
- the nature, character and spatial distribution of mega cities in the developing world
- the challenges of living in mega cities such as housing, traffic infrastructure, water and power supplies, sanitation services, employment, and other social and health issues
- Syllabus Outcomes: H1, H10, H13.
Activity 4: Summary Quiz
- This is a short quiz that aims to assess students' knowledge of a variety of syllabus outcomes and content. This activity should be completed at the end of the unit, as a lot of prior knowledge is required to complete the quiz successfully.
- We recommend that teachers facilitate this activity in class. We would set a timer so that students have practice with multiple choice questions under a strict time limit. Afterwards, go through each question so that students can receive meaningful feedback. It also provides you with an opportunity to explain each question.
Syllabus content & outcomes
Students learn about:
World cities
- the nature, character and spatial distribution of world cities
- the role of world cities as powerful centres of economic and cultural authority
- the nature, character and spatial distribution of mega cities in the developing world
- the urban dynamics of change: suburbanisation, exurbanisation, counterurbanisation, decentralisation, consolidation, urban decay, urban renewal, urban village, spatial exclusion
- a case study showing one of the urban dynamics listed above, operating in a country town or suburb.
- culture of place as expressed in the architecture, streetscape, heritage architecture, noise, colour, street life, energy, vitality and lifestyles
- using GIS, satellite imagery and aerial photography
- analysing maps including topographic, cadastral and land use maps
- collecting and analysing urban field data