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Geography

Year 11 - Elective

Length of Course: Full Year
Department: Humanities
Head of Department: Mr Greg Naylor
Year Available: 2026

The study of Geography is a structured way of exploring, analysing and understanding the characteristics of places that make up our world. Geographers are interested in key questions concerning places and geographic phenomena: What is there? Where is it? Why is it there? What are the effects of it being there? How is it changing over time and how could (and should) it change in the future? How is it different from other places and phenomena? How are places and phenomena connected?

Students explore these questions through fieldwork and investigation of a wide range of secondary sources. These methods underpin the development of a unique framework for understanding the world, enabling students to appreciate its complexity, the diversity and interactions of its environments, economies and cultures, and the processes that helped form and transform them.

Entry - There are no prerequisites for entry to Units 1, 2 or 3.

Curriculum focus

Unit 1 - Hazards and Disasters

In this unit, students undertake an overview of hazards, including geological, hydro-meteorological, biological, and technological hazards, before investigating two contrasting types of hazards and the responses to them by people. They will study the natural and human factors which influence a hazard becoming a disaster and explore the risk and vulnerability of people on a variety of scales. Students also explore the nature and effectiveness of specific measure such as prediction and warning systems, community preparedness, land use planning along with actions taken after hazards become harmful and destructive disasters.

On completion of this unit students should be able to:

  • analyse, describe and explain the nature of hazards and impacts of hazard events at a range of scales

  • analyse and explain the nature, purpose and effectiveness of a range of responses to hazards and disasters

  • analyse, interpret and explain a variety of maps, graphs, tables, and geospatial technologies in relation to hazards and disasters

Topics

  • Geological Hazards: Earthquakes and Volcanoes

  • Hydro-Meteorological Hazards: Bushfires

Unit 2 - Tourism: Issues and Challenges

This unit investigates the characteristics of tourism, with particular emphasis on where it has developed, its various forms, how it has changed over time, and its impacts on people, places, and environments. Students will use a range of information sources including statistical data, digital images, and maps. They will investigate local tourism using appropriate fieldwork techniques and collect, sort, and interpret data using geospatial technologies. Students will then explore the environmental, economic, social, and cultural impacts and evaluate the effectiveness of measures taken to manage and sustain tourism into the future.

Topics

  • Characteristics of Tourism

  • Impacts of tourism: Issues and challenges

Assessment

Students will be assessed in a variety of ways which will include a combination of the following:

  • practical tasks

  • case study research

  • fieldwork report

  • examination

Links

For more detailed information, please click on the link/s below:

Key Resource

Please see booklist for required texts.