Geography · Year 7 · People and Places: Settlement Patterns · Term 4

Human Impact: Mining and Resource Extraction

Investigating the environmental and social impacts of mining and other resource extraction industries on landscapes and communities.

• ACARA Content Descriptions
• AC9G7K01
• AC9G7K02

About This Topic

For tens of thousands of years, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples have managed the Australian landscape. This topic explores the concept of 'Country', a term that encompasses the land, water, sky, and all living things, as well as the spiritual and cultural connections to them. Students learn that for First Nations peoples, the land is not just a resource to be owned, but a relative to be cared for.

Students investigate traditional practices like 'cultural burning' (fire-stick farming) and how these techniques maintained biodiversity and prevented catastrophic bushfires. They also look at how this ancient knowledge is being used today in modern conservation. This topic comes alive when students can engage with local Indigenous perspectives and compare Western and Indigenous ways of seeing and managing the environment.

Key Questions

1. Explain the hidden environmental costs of everyday consumer products derived from mining.
2. Analyze the trade-offs between economic benefits and environmental damage from resource extraction.
3. Critique the effectiveness of rehabilitation efforts at former mine sites.

Learning Objectives

• Analyze the environmental impacts of specific mining operations, such as bauxite mining in Western Australia, on local ecosystems.
• Evaluate the economic benefits of resource extraction in Australia against the social costs experienced by regional communities.
• Critique the success of mine site rehabilitation projects by comparing pre-mining land use with post-rehabilitation outcomes.
• Explain the connection between the extraction of minerals like lithium and the production of everyday electronic devices.

Before You Start

Types of Environments

Why: Students need to understand different biomes and landscapes to analyze how mining impacts them.

Human Settlement Patterns

Why: Understanding why settlements form near resources is foundational to discussing the social impacts of resource extraction industries.

Basic Map Skills

Why: Students must be able to locate mining regions and understand spatial relationships to analyze the geographical impacts of extraction.

Key Vocabulary

Resource extraction	The process of removing valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth's crust. This includes mining, quarrying, and drilling.
Environmental impact	The effects of human activities, such as mining, on the natural environment. This can include habitat destruction, water pollution, and soil degradation.
Social impact	The effects of human activities, such as mining, on communities. This can include changes to employment, infrastructure, and cultural heritage.
Rehabilitation	The process of restoring a disturbed site, such as a former mine, to a stable and ecologically functional state. This often involves revegetation and landform reshaping.
Country	In the context of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, 'Country' refers to the land, waters, sky, and all living things, along with the spiritual and cultural connections to them.

Watch Out for These Misconceptions

Common Misconception

Australia was a 'wilderness' before Europeans arrived.

What to Teach Instead

Students often think the land was untouched. Use examples of sophisticated fish traps and managed grasslands to show that the landscape was carefully and actively managed for millennia, which can be explored through a 'Caring for Country' gallery walk.

Common Misconception

Indigenous knowledge is only about the past.

What to Teach Instead

Many students see this as 'history'. Use modern examples of Indigenous Rangers and joint-managed National Parks to show that traditional knowledge is a vital, living part of modern Australian environmental science.

Active Learning Ideas

Gallery Walk: Caring for Country

Display images and quotes about traditional land management (e.g., fish traps, cool burns, seasonal calendars). Students move around and identify how each practice works *with* nature rather than trying to control it.

40 min·Individual

Inquiry Circle: The Seasonal Calendar

Groups research a local Indigenous seasonal calendar (like the D'harawal or Yawuru calendars). They compare it to the European four-season model and discuss which one is more accurate for the Australian environment.

50 min·Small Groups

Think-Pair-Share: Land Ownership vs. Stewardship

Students discuss the difference between 'owning' a piece of land and 'belonging' to it. They share how these different mindsets might change the way a person treats the environment.

20 min·Pairs

Real-World Connections

• Students can investigate the Pilbara region in Western Australia, a major hub for iron ore mining, and research the environmental challenges and rehabilitation efforts undertaken by companies like Rio Tinto and BHP.
• The extraction of rare earth elements, vital for smartphones and electric car batteries, often occurs in specific global locations. Students can research the mining process for elements like neodymium and its impact on local landscapes and communities in places like Inner Mongolia or Australia's Mount Weld.
• Consider the town of Broken Hill, New South Wales, a historic mining center. Students can explore its transition from a heavily industrialized mining town to a community balancing its mining heritage with tourism and other economic activities.

Assessment Ideas

Quick Check

Provide students with a list of common consumer products (e.g., smartphone, car, jewelry). Ask them to identify one key mineral used in each product and one potential environmental impact associated with its extraction. Students write their answers on a worksheet.

Discussion Prompt

Pose the question: 'Is it possible for a country to benefit economically from mining without causing significant environmental damage?' Facilitate a class discussion where students must use evidence from case studies to support their arguments, considering trade-offs and rehabilitation strategies.

Exit Ticket

Students receive a card with the name of a former mine site (e.g., Ranger Uranium Mine in the Northern Territory). Ask them to write two sentences describing one challenge in rehabilitating the site and one potential benefit of successful rehabilitation for the local environment or community.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does 'Country' mean to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples?

Country is much more than just the physical land. It includes the waterways, the air, the animals, the plants, and the stories and ancestors connected to that place. It is a holistic view where people are part of the environment, not separate from it.

What is 'cultural burning'?

Cultural burning is the practice of using small, low-intensity fires to clear undergrowth and encourage new growth. Unlike 'hazard reduction' burns, these are done at specific times of the year according to traditional knowledge, protecting the canopy and allowing animals to escape.

How can we use Indigenous knowledge to solve modern problems?

By listening to Traditional Owners, we can learn better ways to manage bushfires, protect endangered species, and restore degraded land. Combining ancient wisdom with modern technology is often the most effective way to care for the Australian environment.

How can active learning help students understand Indigenous perspectives?

Active learning, particularly through 'Collaborative Investigations' of seasonal calendars or land management practices, moves students away from a 'textbook' view of Indigenous culture. By actively comparing different systems of knowledge, students learn to value Indigenous perspectives as sophisticated and practical science, rather than just 'myths' or 'history'.

From the Blog

25+ Social Emotional Learning Activities for Every Classroom: A CASEL-Aligned Guide

Discover 25+ evidence-backed social emotional learning activities aligned to CASEL's 5 competencies, for inclusive classrooms and teacher wellbeing.