Core Learning Outcome

PS 4.1

Students make justifiable links between ecological and economic factors and the production and consumption of a familiar resource.

Students know:

 

Human–environment relationships

a familiar resource

·          timber products (paper)

·          fibre products (clothes)

·          food products (hamburger)

·          chemical products (petrol)

·          electrical products (sound system)

ecological factors associated with production and consumption of a familiar resource

·          resources (renewable, scarce)

·          use of utilities in production (water, energy)

·          effects of production on air, land and water

·          disposal, reuse and recycling of waste and by-products

·          transport and packaging

·          health issues for consumers and producers

economic factors associated with production and consumption of a familiar resource

·          meeting needs and wants

·          employment

·          government regulations

·          availability of factors of production e.g.

-    land

-    labour

-    capital

-    enterprise

·          consumer income

·          consumer location

·          market for product

·          advertising

Students can:

 

 

Investigating

make justifiable links

·          use an investigation process e.g.

-    identify familiar resources (sports shoes)

-    gather and sort information from a range of sources about production and consumption (location of manufacture, reasons for price, economic and ecological issues associated with product)

-    identify and express links using evidence (oral presentation, display, multi-media presentation, diagram, written report)

·          use given examples of linear and cyclical models of resource production and consumption (The Natural Step model from Sweden) to compare ecological and economic sustainability

·          decide whether the consumption of a familiar resource follows a linear or cyclical process in relation to ecological sustainability (The Natural Step)

 

Core Learning Outcome

PS 4.2

Students predict the impact of changes on environments by comparing evidence.

Students know:

 

 

Processes and environments

environments

·          natural (catchments, local reserves, rainforest, Antarctic places)

·          social (city, town, community)

·          built (heritage listed buildings, farms)

impact of changes on environments

·          positive and negative impacts e.g.

-    removal of trees for urban development leading to erosion and increased salination of soil

-    removal of non-native fish species from dams

·          human and natural changes leading to improved native species biodiversity e.g.

-    preservation

-    protection

-    pollution

-    erosion

-    urbanisation

-    tourism

-    desertification

-    salination

-    revegetation

Students can:

 

 

Creating

predict the impact by comparing evidence

·          engage in a creative process e.g.

-    compare evidence to identify similarities, differences, before and after impacts or consequences (photographic diary of local area, field studies, measurement of soil pH or water quality, oral histories)

-    draw conclusions from comparative evidence (decline in local wildlife over a period of time, change in local area from small farming to densely populated urban)

-    make predictions based on evidence

-    express predictions

·          create a board game based on a model of a real or fictitious environment, with ‘interdependence’ underpinning the game’s moves

·          use analogies as a model to create own analogy of environmental interdependency (Chief Seattle’s letter; ‘If all the human beings on the planet were to die tomorrow …, If all the trees on the planet were to die tomorrow …’; Joe Miller’s ‘If the earth were only a few feet in diameter …’)

 

Core Learning Outcome

PS 4.3

Students participate in a field study to recommend the most effective ways to care for a place.

Students know:

 

 

Stewardship

place

·          local to global settings

care for a place

·          prevention e.g.

-    awareness campaign relating to sand dune erosion

-    government regulations on the disposal of waste

·          conservation e.g.

-    installation of water saving devices

-    alternative sources of energy generation

·          protection e.g.

-    legislation regarding mangroves

-    World Heritage listing of certain places

field study

·          data-gathering techniques e.g.

-    water testing

-    measurement (increase in area of erosion over time)

-    Internet interviews and research (of environmental research in Antarctica)

-    observation (species count, identification of range of plant species through use of grids)

-    surveys (number of people using national park or reserve)

-    graphing (amount of traffic using local area streets)

-    sketching (soil profiles, animal and plant samples)

-    photographs (collection of series of photos over time)

Students can:

 

 

Participating

participate in a field study to make recommendations

·          plan and participate in a field study e.g.

-    identify an issue about a place

-    negotiate and organise cooperative structures

-    gather data from a field study

-    synthesise information into solutions (list of recommendations)

·          undertake action based on recommendations (sharing information with other interested parties, using various communication modes, forming a lobby group, perform practical and collective actions)

 

Core Learning Outcome

PS 4.4

Students use latitude, longitude, compass and scale references and thematic maps to make inferences about global patterns.

Students know:

 

Spatial patterns

thematic maps

·          distribution maps (resources, land use, population, religion, agriculture, industry, language, per capita income)

·          zoned maps (climate, vegetation, physical, political, Australian territories)

·          common maps (weather, tourist, road, orthophoto, electronic)

·          various projections (globe, vertical and oblique profiles, aerial and satellite photo maps, other than Mercata)

latitude, longitude, compass and scale references

·          lines of longitude (prime meridian, 180 degree meridian)

·          degrees of lines of latitude and longitude

·          coordinates according to longitude and latitude

·          scale for distance calculations
(1 cm:1 km)

global patterns

·          physical, ecological, social and economic patterns

·          distributions (resources, land use, population, religion, agriculture, industry, language, per capita income)

·          changing patterns (climate, land use, population)

Students can:

 

 

Communicating

use references to make inferences about global patterns

·          identify relationships between global features/one feature over time to describe a global pattern e.g.

-    correlate population and per capita income distributions to make inferences about developing and developed nations

-    use photographs, field sketches, climate maps and graphs to argue an inference that rising sea levels result from global warming

-    compare maps of global forests over time to make inferences about the Greenhouse Effect

-    compare maps of El Nino and La Nina patterns to predict effects on agriculture in Australia

·          use climate and vegetation maps to infer how these factors might influence lifestyle in a particular place

 

Core Learning Outcome

PS 4.5

Students explain whether personal, family and school decisions about resource use and management balance local and global considerations.

Students know:

 

 

Significance of place

personal, family and school decisions about resource use and management

·          economic decisions (cost of products)

·          ecological decisions (unbleached paper)

·          political decisions (Australian made goods)

·          social decisions (products from charities)

·          emotional decisions (colour preference)

·          psychological decisions (advertising)

·          cultural decisions (religious laws)

local and global considerations

·          local employment versus global poverty

·          over-consumption versus under-consumption (food)

·          local resource use versus global ecological degradation (rainforest hardwoods)

·          local uranium industry and global nuclear arms proliferation

·          personal consumer choices versus unethical product processes (popular clothing manufactured in sweatshops by children)

Students can:

 

 

Reflecting

explain whether decisions balance considerations

·          use a concept web, flow chart or Plus/Minus/Interesting chart to link decisions about local resource use and the impact that decisions have on people and environments

·          construct a simple table listing reasons for and implications of a personal decision about resource use, and weigh up the ethics of that decision