Australia · ACARA Content Descriptions
Year 12 Geography
This course explores the complex interactions between human societies and the physical environment at local and global scales. Students analyze land cover transformation and human-driven environmental changes while evaluating management strategies for a sustainable world.
Global Environmental Change
An investigation into the nature and causes of land cover transformation and its impact on global ecosystems.
Examining the processes of deforestation, desertification, and agricultural expansion across different continents.
Analyzing the evidence for climate change and its specific impacts on the water and carbon cycles.
Evaluating the threats to global biodiversity and the effectiveness of international conservation agreements.
Global Economic Integration
Exploring the spatial distribution of economic activities and the social impacts of a globalized economy.
Tracing the flow of goods, services, and capital that connect distant places and cultures.
Investigating the spatial organization of production and the logistics of moving products across the globe.
Analyzing the spatial expansion of tourism and its impacts on local environments and traditional cultures.
Planning Sustainable Places
A study of urban and rural settlement patterns and the challenges of creating livable, sustainable communities.
Examining the rapid growth of urban populations and the resulting spatial and social pressures.
Evaluating strategies to improve the sustainability and resilience of cities against environmental threats.
Investigating the challenges facing rural regions, including depopulation and the restructuring of agricultural economies.
Geographies of Human Wellbeing
Investigating global variations in human wellbeing and the factors that contribute to spatial inequality.
Critiquing the different indicators and indices used to measure and compare human development.
Exploring why wealth and health outcomes are distributed unevenly across the globe and within nations.
Analyzing the effectiveness of government policies and NGOs in addressing poverty and health crises.
Land Cover Management
A deep dive into the management of land cover change and the restoration of degraded environments.
Evaluating different approaches to managing tropical and temperate forests for timber and conservation.
Studying the causes of desertification and the techniques used to reclaim arid and semi arid lands.
Investigating the pressure on coastal environments and the strategies used to manage erosion and sea level rise.
Geographic Inquiry and Fieldwork
Applying geographic skills and methodologies to a primary research project in the local environment.
Developing research questions and selecting appropriate primary data collection techniques.
Transforming raw data into meaningful maps, charts, and diagrams to reveal geographic patterns.
Synthesizing findings to draw conclusions and proposing evidence based solutions to geographic issues.