Separation between human, physical, and GIS geographies is risky to geography's disciplinary survival. How can they be bridged through teaching in higher education? I dwell first upon the separation as rooted in the emergence of modern science and geography, the culture-nature binary, Kant's classification of knowledge, and positivistic science.…

In 2019 the Budj Bim cultural landscape in south western Victoria was listed on the World Heritage Register. It is significant firstly for the Gunditjmara people as a culmination of regaining control over their traditional lands and international recognition of their unbroken connection with the land extending back tens of thousands of years. It…

Statistics need data and data need context. Contexts from across the curriculum can be the most powerful in creating interest, reward, and enthusiasm for both teachers and students. The activity described here is based in STEM, employing aspects of each field to create and solve a hypothetical problem of escaping from an erupting volcano (Science)…

In the Australian state of Victoria, the city of Melbourne endured the world's longest number of lockdown days, with severe government health orders and travel restrictions in place for extended periods of 2020 and 2021. In common with others, we found the provision of field teaching in introductory geology, structural geology, and volcanology,…

"Sustainability" is one of the seven major concepts in the geography curriculum. It is also one of the three cross-curriculum priorities in the Australian curriculum, together with Asia and Australia's engagement with Asia, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures. This paper describes how the concept is explained…

Researchers in science education have for some time recognised the need for teachers to develop an awareness of students' common alternative conceptions--a key element of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK)--and use this knowledge to develop student understanding (Morrison & Lederman, 2003). Less attention, however, has been devoted to the…

Australia is in the process of implementing a national geography curriculum to replace the separate state and territory curriculums. The paper describes the process of curriculum development, and identifies the different groups that were involved. These included the board and staff of the national curriculum authority, geography teachers across…

This article critically reflects on our effort to "teach across the divide", by integrating physical and human geography in a new first-year course. We achieved this integration by structuring our course around a series of key events, in order to draw out the interaction of "natural" and "social" forces. After setting…

In 2007, a study titled "Living in the landscapes of the 21st century" was conducted in 11 high schools in metropolitan and rural Victoria. The research team investigated Year 10 students' conceptions of landscapes in order to explore their understandings of natural resource management (NRM), including agriculture, food, land and water…

This paper collates some of the systematic ways that different cultural groups refer to space. In some cases, space is more strongly identified in terms of place than in school Indo-European mathematics approaches. The affinity to place does not reduce the efficient, abstract, mathematical system behind the reference but it does strengthen its…

Aboriginal children learn a two-way pedagogy and most Aboriginal learners have to engage in bicultural and bilingual education to succeed in the dominant educational setting. Aboriginal Australians pride themselves on being Aboriginal, however Aboriginal epistemology and ontology are never considered as true methodologies within a dominant…

Offers a rationale for teaching physical geography and examines emerging themes, developments, and dilemmas within the field. Concludes with a discussion of future trends. (JDH)

Australia is the world's driest continent. One-third of the country's area is unsuitable for any land use, while another third is suitable only for cattle and sheep grazing. Australia's physical geography, weather conditions, wildflowers, and wildlife are discussed. (RM)

The High School Geography Project was used and evaluated by 15-year old students in New Zealand. The program, highly innovative in approaches in teaching Geography, is found to be highly adapted to Australian needs in Geography instruction. (JR)

Discusses the development and use of a workbook for teaching spatial data analysis at Canberra College of Advanced Education in Australia. The article addresses itself to the pedagogic questions of what statistical methods to teach, how these methods should be taught, and why data analysis should be taught. (AM)