Victorian Curriculum Unpacking 7-10 Geography Welcome to today’s session. My name is Monica Bini and I am the curriculum manager for the Humanities and Social Sciences here at the VCAA. I have with me here today Steve Latham, the Education Officer at the Geography Teachers Association of Victoria. Steve will be taking you through some key offerings of the GTAV later in this session.

Objectives This session will cover: the structure of the curriculum its key concepts developmental sequence of the curriculum a short web tour resources of the GTAV In undertaking this overview I hope to be able to increase your confidence in working with this curriculum to plan teaching, learning and assessment.

AusVELS (learning focus and standards The new Geography curriculum - stages AusVELS (learning focus and standards Australian curriculum Familiarisation pdf published Dec 2013 A pdf based on the Australian curriculum was released in December 2013 for familiarisation and planning. Some schools chose to implement this curriculum while others continued with AusVELS. There have been a number of changes to the familiarisation pdf, which is now out of date. These changes followed the review of the Australian curriculum and a consolidation process across the learning areas of the Victorian curriculum. While some schools have been working with the PDF and others with AusVELS, from 2017 all government and Catholic schools must work with the Victorian Curriculum.

Key changes No longer general Humanities F-4 (AusVELS), but rather a specific Geography curriculum from F-10 Revised structure Development of conceptual thinking strengthened Significant revisions to knowledge and skills Revisions to achievement standards This outlines the key changes in the journey from AusVELS to the Victorian curriculum. We now have a stable curriculum in Victoria. The restructure has made the progression in learning clearer. As the two level bands were constructed, areas of duplication within Geography were removed as well as duplication with other learning areas and capabilities. We will begin by considering the structure of the curriculum.

Structure Note the terminology Strand – curriculum organiser that expresses a big idea, in this case, concepts and skills and knowledge Sub-strands – curriculum organisers that carry through from level to level. So the scope and sequence will show the progression of each sub-strand from F-10 This curriculum refers to levels rather than Year levels. This reflects the flexibility in this curriculum in two ways. It recognises that schools need flexibility in teaching the knowledge content and also that students within one year level may be at different stages in their learning. So some students may be able to work towards higher or lower levels of skill development and conceptual thinking, with the same knowledge sub-strand, for example Water in the world, even though they are in the same year level. This is reflected in the Achievement standards – what you will measure student achievement against. The achievement standards are expressed as a continuum of progressive achievement in conceptual thinking and skill development. I will refer to this in more detail later.

Points to note: Levels A-D is a curriculum for students with disabilities Content descriptions (CDs) are banded, that is, levels F-2 share common content descriptions, followed by two level bands The curriculum describes a continuum of learning Content descriptions are mandated while elaborations are not mandated, for example: Suggestions on how a CD could be approached The A-D curriculum has the same structure as F-10 and focuses on personal geographies. Note that while Levels 7-8 and 9-10 share content descriptions for concepts and skills, the knowledge sub-strands of water in the world, changing nations, biomes and food security and so on are kept as separate sub-strands with their own content descriptions in the Geographical knowledge strand. While the content elaborations are not mandatory, they do give an insight into the intended curriculum. A lot of effort has gone into these to illustrate a variety of approaches to content and should help to open up this curriculum for you. We will know take a closer look at each sub-strand, beginning with Place, space and interconnection.

Geographical concepts Seven concepts underpin the whole curriculum: place, space, interconnection, environment, sustainability, scale and change. The Place, space and interconnection sub-strand identifies progression in conceptual thinking, with emphasis on the concepts of place, space, interconnection. The concepts of scale and change are integrated into this sub-strand. Environment and sustainability are represented in Geographical knowledge strand. More information about the concepts can be found in “Learning in Geography” (from the Introduction drop down menu on the Victorian Geography curriculum page) Seven concepts underlie this curriculum. They are expressed in different ways throughout the bands. For example in levels 7-8: We can see the concept of space at work in this CD: Identify, analyse and explain spatial distributions and patterns and identify and explain their implications (space) For interconnection, we have: Identify, analyse and explain interconnections within places and between places and identify and explain changes resulting from these interconnections And Environment and sustainability: the nature of water scarcity and the role of humans in creating and overcoming it Becoming very familiar with all these concepts is crucial to teaching this curriculum well. This concepts work together to help provide the lens through which content descriptions in Geographical knowledge are taught. This is made clearer in the ‘Learning in’ section of the curriculum. Please do take the time to read ‘learning in Geography” This will help you understand how the concepts work to frame the curriculum. The place, space and interconnection sub-strand helps you to make links between Geographical knowledge content and the concepts. (next slide)

Progress in conceptual thinking is identified across the Place, Space and Interconnection sub-strand, and students work towards this through engagement with the whole curriculum. This is illustrated in the elaborations for the Place, space and interconnection sub-strand, which draw on other areas of the curriculum, for example: You can see an example here where the second elaboration from Place, space and Interconnection is repeated in the Geographical knowledge sub-strand for levels 9-10. So the place, space and interconnection sub-strand can be used to help frame an approach to the Geographical knowledge. In this case, the effects of peoples choices on places and the implications for the future can be approached through thinking about the characteristics of places and change over time. We are prompted to think about both tangible and intangible features of places and students are required to predict changes. Other content from the geographical concepts and skills sub-strand can be similarly used to help shape how the geographical knowledge content is unpacked. Conceptual thinking is developed progressively. (next slide)

Example of progression of concepts and skills Describe and explain where places and activities are located 3-4 Identify and describe locations and spatial distributions and patterns 5-6 Identify and describe locations and describe and explain spatial distributions and patterns 9-10 Identify, analyse and explain significant spatial distributions and patterns and identify and evaluate their implications over time and at different scales 7-8 Identify, analyse and explain spatial distributions and patterns and identify and explain their implications This continuum can be used in unit planning, where students in a class will be working towards different levels. This shows how to extend or modify teaching and learning to suit student need. You have a clear idea of what the next step for students is, and can create opportunities for students to take that next step in the context of the Geographical knowledge being undertaken. So any of these could be used to frame or approach Water in the world, or Biomes and Food security or any of the other Geographical knowledge sub-strands in 7-10. For example when teaching the distribution and characteristics of biomes at Levels 9-10, your teaching may start with Levels 5-6 and work up to Levels 9-10. You will design teaching, learning and assessment activities that facilitate this progression in thinking. For example teaching and learning activities might begin by having students describe the spatial distributions of rainforests and work their way up to what is expected at 9-10, which is what is ultimately assessed. Here is another example (next slide)

Further example (9-10) Geographies of interconnections: CD: Effects of people’s travel, recreational, cultural or leisure choices on places, and the implications for the future of these places How has this place changed over the last 30 years? Why has it changed? What are the underlying processes at work? E.g migration How will it continue to change? This goes back to the example we were looking at before. You will note that the CD before predicting changes in the characteristics of places over time, concerns, at 7-8, the processes that influence the characteristics of places and at levels 5-6 to describing and explaining the diverse characteristics of places. It is evident that this earlier steps prepare students to be able to predict changes in the characteristics of places over time and identify possible implications of change for the future. So even though this thinking might have been practised earlier on topics like water in the world or changing nations, students studying the Geographies of Interconnection at 9-10 might begin their learning by going back to consider the characteristics of the places under consideration and the processes in these places before they are ready to predict changes. These could be a series of teaching and learning activities to scaffold students’ conceptual thinking. Skill development must also be taken into account and we will now turn to the data and information sub-strand.

Data and information sub-strand Overview describes progression in skills for: Collecting and recording data and information Representing data and information Interpreting, analysing and evaluating data and information This sub-strand describes progression in the skills necessary to work with Geographical knowledge content. Building on the previous example, developing knowledge of the effects of people’s choices on places requires not only conceptual thinking but also the ability to work with data and information and in particular maps. For example they could consider the spatial association between economic activities and natural features of a place and think about a possible relationship between these in terms of choices made. For example, imagine a place with a water feature such as a river or lake and some economic activity such as boating supplies. How does distance between these influence recreational choices? This requires data on distance and an ability to measure distance on a map. Distance may not be the whole story but it is geographers who realise that distance and accessibility over space can very much matter and who investigate this. Next slide.

Data and information sub-strand Mandates the use of digital and spatial technologies from Levels 5-6 This sub-strand could be used as a basis for fieldwork/inquiry, which could be supplemented with, for example: content descriptions from other curricula. For example content on Questioning and possibilities sub-strand in Critical and creative thinking capability to help teach how to construct a question for investigation or survey questions. Content within Geographical knowledge, for example in asking students to respond to a geographical challenge, for example: Note that the use of digital and spatial technologies is mandated from Levels 5-6. The other thing you may be wondering about is inquiry. Inquiry is of course a pedagogy and you may wish to undertake inquiry with students from time to time. You can see here how the data and information sub-strand can be supplemented by Geographical knowledge content and content from other curricula such as critical and creative thinking to construct an inquiry process. You can see in the example above how the content descriptions on strategies to enhance to liveability of places could be used to think about how to improve the liveability of their place, which can inform part of an inquiry, or fieldwork. The data and information sub-strand is also written in a way that describes progression in learning as we will see in the next slide. CD is used to inform an aspect of an inquiry

Example of progression – data and information sub-strand Interpret data and information to draw conclusions 3-4 Interpret maps and other geographical data and information to develop identifications, descriptions, explanations and conclusions 5-6 Interpret maps and other geographical data and information using digital and spatial technologies… 9-10 Analyse and evaluate data, maps and other geographical information using digital and spatial technologies and Geographical Information Systems … 7-8 Analyse maps and other geographical data and information using digital and spatial technologies… This is another example of progression in learning. It can be seen here for example that the difference between 7-8 and 9-10 is that students are required to analyse and then evaluate data, maps and other geographical information. This could for example involve moving to the consideration of alternative points of view where a topic is contentious, but considering this alternative in the light of data and information, not just mere opinion. We have been dipping into some of the Geographical knowledge content in talking about these examples, but will now undertake a broader overview of this strand from 7-10.

Geographical knowledge strand Levels 7-10: Key features The mental map of the world begun in F-2 continues to be developed through to Levels 9-10, within the context of a particular sub-strand One sequence of sub-strands across Levels 7-10 focuses on environmental geography and its applications. ‘Water in the world’ introduces hydrology, ‘Landforms and landscapes’ geomorphology, and ‘Biomes and food security’ introduces biogeography. ‘Environmental change and management’ applies this knowledge. The second sequence, ‘Place and liveability’, ‘Changing nations’, ‘Geographies of interconnections’ and ‘Geographies of human wellbeing’ introduces key aspects of human geography. This is integrated with the progressive development of skills and conceptual thinking The mental map work begun in F-6 continues in various knowledge contexts, so West Asia and North Africa have been selected for Water in the world as very good examples of the issue of water scarcity and ways of overcoming it. While all sub-strands contain elements of physical and human geography, some emphasise physical and others human. Sub-strands have been grouped together in the dot points on the slide to show the groupings. It can readily be seen that students need exposure to a wide range of topics in a wide range of contexts in order to develop their conceptual thinking and skills. Students who are good at changing nations may struggle with biomes and food security at first but through teaching and learning, develop their thinking and skills. Each of the bands from 7-10 comes with band descriptions and key questions that pick up on themes within a band. The next slide shows these key questions.

Key questions 5-6 What are places like? How do places, people and cultures differ across the world? How do people’s connections to places affect their perception of them? How do people and environments influence one another? How can the impact of bushfires or floods on people and places be reduced? 7-8 How are people's perceptions of places and environments influenced by their reliance on them? How do the interconnections between places, people and environments affect the lives of people? How do environmental and human processes affect the characteristics of places and environments? What are the consequences of changes to places and environments and how can these changes be managed? What approaches can be taken to improve the availability of resources and access to services? fferent? 9-10 What are the causes and consequences of change in places and environments? What are the future implications of changes to places and environments and what management options exist for sustaining human and natural systems into the future? Why are interconnections and interdependencies important for the future of places and environments? How can the spatial variation between places and changes in environments be explained? This shows the key questions that pick up on content themes within each two level band. These can be found in the level descriptions on the curriculum web-site. You can also see how those themes carry across the levels. One example is illustrated in red here to reflect our earlier discussions about personal choices and effects on places, but there are many other ways to link these questions. Doing this can help with whole school planning and help to think about the emphasises that you want to put on content descriptions and how they are taught in order to prepare students for the next year of Geography. Note that you decide how long to spend on each content description. Some you could teach in a relatively short time, others in a longer series of lessons or through fieldwork. Concepts and skills in particular will keep on being revisited as contexts change. This reinforces and nuances conceptual thinking. A student demonstrating high level conceptual thinking with liveability in 7-8 may struggle with a physical geography sub-strand or vice versa. Students need exposure to all the knowledge sub-strands to develop their thinking. Note also that because the achievement standards and geographical concepts and skills are a continuum, content can be taught at any year level. You just need to link the right conceptual and skill level of difficulty and from there the right achievement standard, to the knowledge you want to cover. We will now take a look at the achievement standards.

Achievement standards The achievement standards for Geography show development in conceptual understanding and skills and a gradually developing mental map of the world. They are aligned to Geographical concepts and skills and Geographical knowledge strands Note that in levels F-6 development of mental map of the world is explicit The achievement standards are designed as a continuum to support flexibility in curriculum delivery and differentiated classrooms. We will now go on to consider this in more detail.

Example - Working with the Achievement standards Effects of people’s travel, recreational, cultural or leisure choices on places, and the implications for the future of these places By the end of Level 6 students describe and explain characteristics of places By the end of Level 8 students explain processes that influence the characteristics of places By the end of Level 10 students predict changes in the characteristics of places over time and identify implications of changes for the future Content from Geographical concepts and skills Other than the mental map of the world the achievement standards are free of Geographical knowledge content and deliberately so. Thinking back to geographies of interconnections example, planning would begin by considering the cognitive demand in the achievement standards together with the content of the Geographical concepts and skills and geographical knowledge substrands. Teaching and learning activities are then designed to enable students to reach the highest level they can. Assessment can collect a range of evidence as some students in the class will be working towards lower levels or for formative assessment as learning progresses along the continuum. Feedback on their achievement is obviously contextualised to refer to the topic of the effects of people’s choices on places, that is, what they have been specifically studying. So to recap, unit planning can work with the continuum to first consider what kind of achievement is expected of students and then going back thinking about how this translates for the geographical knowledge being studied. So looking at level 6, characteristics of places can be described and explained for all sorts of purposes. In this case, it is to help think about the effect’s of people’s choices on places, and this will shape what kind of description and explanation you want and therefore the kind of teaching and learning activities that you will put in place to get this going. Students need to walk before they can run, and activities might begin here and work up to the standard demanded for end of Level 10. Along the way you can collect formative assessment or summative assessment. Feedback to the student will be in the context of their achievement for this area of study, or topic. As we discussed earlier, when going on to another Geographical knowledge sub-strand or topic, a student might slip backwards, say on tackling biomes and food security. It does not make sense to say that they are at level 10 in an absolute sense. Achievement in the end is contextualised to the topic studied. The next slide will carry through this example on people’s choices to see how all of these elements here might combine together.

Example By the end of Level 6 students describe and explain characteristics of places Explain how the elevation and climate of places along the Kokoda track influences its cultural significance By the end of Level 8 students explain processes that influence the characteristics of places. Explain how the process of development has affected and is affecting the geographical characteristics of places along the Kokoda track By the end of Level 10 students predict changes in the characteristics of places over time and identify implications of changes for the future How are increasing numbers of tourists from Japan likely to affect places along the Kokoda track in the future? Thinking back to our choices and their effects on places example, here are the extracts from the achievement standards that link to this content shown from the slide before. Underneath are examples of questions that could be planned to be part of one assessment task. It is imagined in this school that current and future tourism along the Kokoda trail is studied, which links with student learning in their history class about significant places where Australians fought in World War 2. Here we can see the teacher planning where the assessment might go. From here they can then design teaching and learning activities so that students are able to do what is required of them in the assessment. So in the first instance we might see some teaching and learning about the elevation of the Kokoda track and how to read maps that show elevation along the track, and so on. It can be seen that understanding the process of development is necessary before the influence of growing numbers of Japanese tourists can be considered. Student evidence of learning is produced for formative or summative purposes which then helps to place them on the appropriate achievement standard. An assessment rubric would be constructed that merges together the achievement standard and the content descriptions from Geographical knowledge and concepts and skills strand to specifically mention the Kokoda track and the specific type of maps the student work with, and so on. It can be seen students should be given the opportunity to achieve at 9-10, even when working with sub-strands like Water in the world, that are at 7-8, but this requires planning. Planning is critical to working effectively with this curriculum and there are a range of resources to assist you with this. (next slide)

Contact and resources Curriculum Planning, Assessment and Reporting resources http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Pages/foundation10/viccurriculum/curriculumplanning.aspx Contact Monica Bini VCAA Curriculum Manager, Humanities and Social Sciences Email: bini.monica.m@edumail.vic.gov.au Phone: 9032 1693 The Victorian curriculum demands careful planning and there are resources available to you to assist with this. This link will take you to three key resources: Victorian Curriculum F-10: Revised curriculum planning and reporting guidelines Curriculum Planning resource website link to a range of resources to support planning and documentation of the curriculum across or between year levels. Curriculum mapping templates which drill down to the unit level, with templates to support learning here. We will spend the remainder of the session having a look at the Victorian curriculum web-site, the GTAV web-site and then answering questions.