GEOG100 - Changing Planet Earth

Year

Credit points

Campus offering

Prerequisites

Unit rationale, description and aim

This unit introduces you to the study of Physical Geography, a subject critical to understanding the fundamental systems that affect everyday life (e.g. water, climate, natural resources, oceans) while also providing an understanding of physical environments and landscapes, how they form and operate, and how they inter-relate at various scales to each other and to society. In this unit, you will examine the patterns and the processes responsible for the evolution of the world around us (geomorphology), soils, biota and climate through an understanding of past environments and events. Environmental change, and the inseparable nature of society and our environmental, is highlighted using cutting-edge research and the study of current and future environmental management issues that are central to Geography. Field work is an exciting and integral aspect of GEOG100, and you will be given opportunities to complete field work where you explore and observe the environments you have been studying, develop key geographical skills, and to learn first-hand about the processes responsible for shaping the world around us. The aim of this unit is to develop your understanding of the world around us and the forces that shape our planet while providing you with the knowledge and skills you will find useful in later levels of Geography or other subject areas. 

Learning outcomes

To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.

Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.

Explore the graduate capabilities.

On successful completion of this unit, students should be able to:

LO1 - Describe how processes of the atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere and biosphere and their interaction contribute to the evolution of the Earth’s surface (GA4, GA5) 

LO2 - Collect, identify and interpret Geographical information from graphs, maps, remotely sensed images and statistics (GA5,GA8,GA10) 

LO3 - Examine the impact of humans on the physical environment (GA2, GA4)

LO4 - Develop skills relevant to fieldwork including planning, observation, recording, sampling, analysis and evaluation (GA4,GA6, GA7,GA8, GA10)

LO5 - Summarise and communicate geographical ideas and information in written and oral forms (GA9, GA10). 

Graduate attributes

GA2 - recognise their responsibility to the common good, the environment and society 

GA4 - think critically and reflectively 

GA5 - demonstrate values, knowledge, skills and attitudes appropriate to the discipline and/or profession 

GA6 - solve problems in a variety of settings taking local and international perspectives into account

GA7 - work both autonomously and collaboratively 

GA8 - locate, organise, analyse, synthesise and evaluate information 

GA9 - demonstrate effective communication in oral and written English language and visual media 

GA10 - utilise information and communication and other relevant technologies effectively.

Content

Topics will include:  

• Location and time on Earth, latitude and longitude, maps and GPS, time and time zones  
• Planet Earth, the Solar System, sun and the seasons 
• Plate tectonics, geological processes, rocks and minerals  
• The four spheres: lithosphere, biosphere, atmosphere and hydrosphere  
• Earth’s atmosphere, weather and climate  
• River systems, floods and landforms, weathering, mass movement, soils and slope processes 
• Earth’s oceans, beaches and coastal environments  
• Human-environmental interactions, Indigenous land use and environmental knowledge 

Learning and teaching strategy and rationale

This unit uses face-to-face instruction during class. The in-class lecture component is used to convey new material and offer students the chance to engage and ask questions in person. The tutorial portion of the course is to be used as a resource to offer students the opportunity to put their knowledge learned in lectures to use and gain hands-on experience and learn and practice Geographical skills. At times, field work may be conducted instead of schedule tutorials and lectures. This is a 10-credit point unit and has been designed to ensure that the time needed to complete the required volume of learning to the requisite standard is approximately 150 hours in total across the semester. To achieve a passing standard in this unit, students will find it helpful to engage in the full range of learning activities and assessments utilised in this unit, as described in the learning and teaching strategy and the assessment strategy. The learning and teaching and assessment strategies include a range of approaches to support your learning such as reading, reflection, discussion, webinars, podcasts, video etc. 

Assessment strategy and rationale

The assessment tasks for this unit have been designed to contribute to high quality student learning by both helping students learn (assessment for learning), and by measuring explicit evidence of their learning (assessment of learning). Assessments have been developed to meet the unit learning outcomes and develop graduate attributes consistent with University assessment requirements. These have been designed so that they use a variety of tasks to measure the different learning outcomes at a level suitable for first year study in geography. Weekly tutorials give you the opportunity to learn and practice different geographical skills, and then use these to identify and interpret geographical sources. Skill development will be assessed via short quizzes available via the GEOG100 LEO site, with feedback provided rapidly so you and your lecturer can track your progress in skill development. The field work research project requires students to demonstrate, develop and apply key geographical and research skills to the understanding of the processes that influence patterns of human activity. The final assessment, an end of semester examination, requires students to demonstrate their understanding of the topics covered in this unit and also the research, communication, and geographical skills they have developed.  

Overview of assessments

Representative texts and references

Bridgeman, H, Dragovich, D and Dodson, J. 2008. The Australian Physical Environment. Oxford University Press, South Melbourne. 

Cahir, F., Ian Clark, and Philip Clarke.  2018. Aboriginal Biocultural Knowledge in South-eastern Australia: Perspectives of Early Colonists. CSIRO Publishing. 

Christopherson, R.W. 2015. Geosystems: An Introduction to Physical Geography (Pearson New International Edition) (9th edition). Pearson, Upper Saddle River. 

Goudie, A.S. 2018. The Human Impact on the Natural Environment (8th Edition). John Wiley & Sons. 

Hay, I. 2012. Communicating in Geography and the Environmental Sciences (4th edition). Oxford University Press, South Melbourne. 

Hess, D and Tasa, D. 2016. McKnight's Physical Geography: a Landscape Appreciation (12th edition). Pearson Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River. 

Holden, J. 2017. An Introduction to Physical Geography and the Environment (4th edition). Pearson, UK. 

Mayhew, S. 2015. A Dictionary of Geography (5th edition). Oxford, London. 

Strahler, A.N. 1974. Physical Geography. Wiley, New York.