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Ministry of Education New Zealand
NCEA Education
3/6/2023 09:20 AM  |  Geography  |  https://ncea.education.govt.nz/mi/node/523

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Ko te tauira reo Pākehā kē tēnei o te whārangi nei, i te korenga o tētahi tauira reo Māori.
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  • What is Geography about?
  • Big Ideas and Significant Learning
  • Key Competencies in Geography
  • Connections
  • Learning Pathway
[ Previous Learning Matrices ]

[ File Resource ]

  • Title: Draft for Pilot 2023
  • Description: Geography Learning Matrix
  • File URL: https://ncea-live-3-storagestack-53q-assetstorages3bucket-2o21xte0r81u.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/2023-05/GO%20Learning%20Matrix.pdf?VersionId=9V53R2v4Re9QlZgyLBUyv6AhN9tPJS8W
  • File Extension: pdf
  • File Size: 285KB
  • Draft for Pilot 2023.pdf
    • Description: Geography Learning Matrix
Download
Download

Draft for Pilot 2023

Geography Learning Matrix
Geography Learning Matrix
pdf 285KB Download Download Download
Label:
Past Matrices

[ File Resource ]

  • Title: Draft for Pilot 2022
  • Description: Geography Learning Matrix
  • File URL: https://ncea-live-3-storagestack-53q-assetstorages3bucket-2o21xte0r81u.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/2022-12/GO%20pilot%202022%20Learning%20Matrix.pdf?VersionId=dOBcp30tRQutORI2CWnt1ELVJwFrPDHj
  • File Extension: pdf
  • File Size: 251KB
  • Draft for Pilot 2022.pdf
    • Description: Geography Learning Matrix
Download
Download

Draft for Pilot 2022

Geography Learning Matrix
Geography Learning Matrix
pdf 251KB Download Download Download

Current Learning Matrix:

[ File Resource ]

  • Title: Draft for Pilot 2023
  • Description: Geography Learning Matrix
  • File URL: https://ncea-live-3-storagestack-53q-assetstorages3bucket-2o21xte0r81u.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/2023-05/GO%20Learning%20Matrix.pdf?VersionId=9V53R2v4Re9QlZgyLBUyv6AhN9tPJS8W
  • File Extension: pdf
  • File Size: 285KB
  • Draft for Pilot 2023.pdf
    • Description: Geography Learning Matrix
Download
Download

Draft for Pilot 2023

Geography Learning Matrix
Geography Learning Matrix
pdf 285KB Download Download Download

Past Matrices:

[ File Resource ]

  • Title: Draft for Pilot 2022
  • Description: Geography Learning Matrix
  • File URL: https://ncea-live-3-storagestack-53q-assetstorages3bucket-2o21xte0r81u.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/2022-12/GO%20pilot%202022%20Learning%20Matrix.pdf?VersionId=dOBcp30tRQutORI2CWnt1ELVJwFrPDHj
  • File Extension: pdf
  • File Size: 251KB
  • Draft for Pilot 2022.pdf
    • Description: Geography Learning Matrix
Download
Download

Draft for Pilot 2022

Geography Learning Matrix
Geography Learning Matrix
pdf 251KB Download Download Download

[ File Resource ]

  • Title: Draft for Pilot 2023
  • Description: Geography Learning Matrix
  • File URL: https://ncea-live-3-storagestack-53q-assetstorages3bucket-2o21xte0r81u.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/2023-05/GO%20Learning%20Matrix.pdf?VersionId=9V53R2v4Re9QlZgyLBUyv6AhN9tPJS8W
  • File Extension: pdf
  • File Size: 285KB
  • Draft for Pilot 2023.pdf
    • Description: Geography Learning Matrix
Download
Download

Draft for Pilot 2023

Geography Learning Matrix
Geography Learning Matrix
pdf 285KB Download Download Download

[ File Resource ]

  • Title: Draft for Pilot 2022
  • Description: Geography Learning Matrix
  • File URL: https://ncea-live-3-storagestack-53q-assetstorages3bucket-2o21xte0r81u.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/2022-12/GO%20pilot%202022%20Learning%20Matrix.pdf?VersionId=dOBcp30tRQutORI2CWnt1ELVJwFrPDHj
  • File Extension: pdf
  • File Size: 251KB
  • Draft for Pilot 2022.pdf
    • Description: Geography Learning Matrix
Download
Download

Draft for Pilot 2022

Geography Learning Matrix
Geography Learning Matrix
pdf 251KB Download Download Download

What is Geography about?

[ Video Resource ]

  • Title: Geography
  • Description: Geography Subject Expert Group members discuss their experiences in the Review of Achievement Standards
  • Video Duration: 5 minutes
  • Video URL: https://player.vimeo.com/video/571915920
  • Transcript: In conversation with  Louise Richards Sam Wallace Rebecca Sweney-McKee Transcript below: My hope as a passionate geographer and educator is that assessment is not going to be the priority and the focus for teaching and learning that happens in the classroom. Yeah

Subject-specific terms can be found in the glossary.

Geography is the study of te taiao and the interconnections within. We consider the question "What Is Where, Why There, and Why Care?" (Charles F. Gritzner (2002), Journal of Geography, 101:1, 38-40) so we can make sense of place.

Te taiao consists of all things that make up the surrounding environment. This includes features such as rivers, mountains, people, buildings, and infrastructure. Te taiao can exist at different scales and can be located wherever we place ourselves.

Features of te taiao are all closely interconnected, including people. We stand in te taiao and are intrinsically part of it. Therefore, in Geography, we attempt to consider geographic issues holistically.

Geographic thinking

Geographic thinking considers where features of te taiao are located, how these features interconnect, and how te taiao can change over time. In Geography, ākonga carry out first-hand investigations of te taiao and the human activity within them. To do this, ākonga draw from multiple perspectives, including te ao Māori and Pacific perspectives.

Ākonga learn to think spatially and to use maps, visual images, inquiry processes, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to obtain, analyse, and present information. Through geographic thinking they develop understandings related to patterns, processes, relationships, interactions, and change.

Geography kete

Ākonga draw from a Geography kete, which contains the tools for doing Geography. The kete also holds multiple perspectives, knowledge systems, and tikanga, which help ākonga to select the tools for geographic inquiry.

In Geography, there is an intentional effort to ensure that contexts in Aotearoa New Zealand and the Pacific are explored with te ao Māori and Pacific perspectives and knowledge systems.

Our tikanga includes manaakitanga, whakawhanaungatanga, partnership, and participation. Bringing tikanga into geographic inquiry supports robust stakeholder engagement. The skills developed by undertaking inquiry through tikanga strengthens career pathways into many sectors.

These perspectives, knowledge systems, and tikanga inform a collaborative approach to using geographic tools (eg, graphs and maps) through wānanga and talanoa. These collaborative approaches help ākonga to develop robust geographic inquiry skills that include:

  • asking questions about te taiao
  • collecting data using relevant methods
  • visualising and analysing data using technology
  • thinking critically and conceptually to make meaning about te taiao
  • sharing understandings about te taiao.

Subject-specific terms can be found in the glossary.

Geography is the study of te taiao and the interconnections within. We consider the question "What Is Where, Why There, and Why Care?" (Charles F. Gritzner (2002), Journal of Geography, 101:1, 38-40) so we can make sense of place.

Te taiao consists of all things that make up the surrounding environment. This includes features such as rivers, mountains, people, buildings, and infrastructure. Te taiao can exist at different scales and can be located wherever we place ourselves.

Features of te taiao are all closely interconnected, including people. We stand in te taiao and are intrinsically part of it. Therefore, in Geography, we attempt to consider geographic issues holistically.

Geographic thinking

Geographic thinking considers where features of te taiao are located, how these features interconnect, and how te taiao can change over time. In Geography, ākonga carry out first-hand investigations of te taiao and the human activity within them. To do this, ākonga draw from multiple perspectives, including te ao Māori and Pacific perspectives.

Ākonga learn to think spatially and to use maps, visual images, inquiry processes, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to obtain, analyse, and present information. Through geographic thinking they develop understandings related to patterns, processes, relationships, interactions, and change.

Geography kete

Ākonga draw from a Geography kete, which contains the tools for doing Geography. The kete also holds multiple perspectives, knowledge systems, and tikanga, which help ākonga to select the tools for geographic inquiry.

In Geography, there is an intentional effort to ensure that contexts in Aotearoa New Zealand and the Pacific are explored with te ao Māori and Pacific perspectives and knowledge systems.

Our tikanga includes manaakitanga, whakawhanaungatanga, partnership, and participation. Bringing tikanga into geographic inquiry supports robust stakeholder engagement. The skills developed by undertaking inquiry through tikanga strengthens career pathways into many sectors.

These perspectives, knowledge systems, and tikanga inform a collaborative approach to using geographic tools (eg, graphs and maps) through wānanga and talanoa. These collaborative approaches help ākonga to develop robust geographic inquiry skills that include:

  • asking questions about te taiao
  • collecting data using relevant methods
  • visualising and analysing data using technology
  • thinking critically and conceptually to make meaning about te taiao
  • sharing understandings about te taiao.

Big Ideas and Significant Learning

This section outlines the meaning of, and connection between, the Big Ideas and Significant Learning, which together form the Learning Matrix. It then explains each Geography Big Idea.

The Social Sciences Learning Area, including its whakatauākī, inform this subject’s Significant Learning — learning that is critical for ākonga to know, understand, and do in a subject by the end of each Curriculum Level. This covers knowledge, skills, competencies, and attitudes.

The Learning Area's whakatauākī is:

Unuhia te rito o te harakeke kei whea te kōmako e kō?
Whakatairangitia – rere ki uta, rere ki tai;
Ui mai koe ki ahau he aha te mea nui o te ao,
Māku e kī atu he tangata, he tangata, he tangata!

Remove the heart of the flax bush and where will the kōmako sing?
Proclaim it to the land, proclaim it to the sea;
Ask me, “What is the greatest thing in the world?”
I will reply, “It is people, people, people!”

Nā, Meri Ngāroto, Te Aupōuri (1830s)

For Geography, the whakatauākī means that our understanding of ourselves, our communities, and our cultures is inextricably connected to the whenua through whakapapa. In te ao Māori, tangata whenua are part of te taiao, and key features of the whenua are considered to be living beings. This philosophy informs our geographic knowledge and understanding of places.

The subject's Big Ideas and Significant Learning are collated into a Learning Matrix for Curriculum Level 6 and indicative learning for Levels 7 and 8. Teachers can use the Learning Matrix as a tool to construct Teaching and Learning Programmes that cover all the not-to-be-missed learning in Geography.

There is no prescribed order to the Learning Matrix within each Level. A programme of learning might begin with a context that is relevant to the local area of the school or an idea that ākonga are particularly interested in. This context must relate to at least one Big Idea and may also link to other Big Ideas.

There are four Big Ideas in Geography. The nature of this subject as a discipline means aspects of Significant Learning often cross over multiple Big Ideas, and vice versa. This means that there are multiple opportunities to engage with the Significant Learning throughout the year. Ākonga can approach the same piece of Significant Learning with different tools to gain deeper understanding.

At Level 7, the Significant Learning can be selected and grouped to explore local and global geographic issues such as climate change, hazard management, urbanisation, development, and inequality.

This section outlines the meaning of, and connection between, the Big Ideas and Significant Learning, which together form the Learning Matrix. It then explains each Geography Big Idea.

The Social Sciences Learning Area, including its whakatauākī, inform this subject’s Significant Learning — learning that is critical for ākonga to know, understand, and do in a subject by the end of each Curriculum Level. This covers knowledge, skills, competencies, and attitudes.

The Learning Area's whakatauākī is:

Unuhia te rito o te harakeke kei whea te kōmako e kō?
Whakatairangitia – rere ki uta, rere ki tai;
Ui mai koe ki ahau he aha te mea nui o te ao,
Māku e kī atu he tangata, he tangata, he tangata!

Remove the heart of the flax bush and where will the kōmako sing?
Proclaim it to the land, proclaim it to the sea;
Ask me, “What is the greatest thing in the world?”
I will reply, “It is people, people, people!”

Nā, Meri Ngāroto, Te Aupōuri (1830s)

For Geography, the whakatauākī means that our understanding of ourselves, our communities, and our cultures is inextricably connected to the whenua through whakapapa. In te ao Māori, tangata whenua are part of te taiao, and key features of the whenua are considered to be living beings. This philosophy informs our geographic knowledge and understanding of places.

The subject's Big Ideas and Significant Learning are collated into a Learning Matrix for Curriculum Level 6 and indicative learning for Levels 7 and 8. Teachers can use the Learning Matrix as a tool to construct Teaching and Learning Programmes that cover all the not-to-be-missed learning in Geography.

There is no prescribed order to the Learning Matrix within each Level. A programme of learning might begin with a context that is relevant to the local area of the school or an idea that ākonga are particularly interested in. This context must relate to at least one Big Idea and may also link to other Big Ideas.

There are four Big Ideas in Geography. The nature of this subject as a discipline means aspects of Significant Learning often cross over multiple Big Ideas, and vice versa. This means that there are multiple opportunities to engage with the Significant Learning throughout the year. Ākonga can approach the same piece of Significant Learning with different tools to gain deeper understanding.

At Level 7, the Significant Learning can be selected and grouped to explore local and global geographic issues such as climate change, hazard management, urbanisation, development, and inequality.

Title: Te taiao connects people and people connect to te taiao

Big Idea Body:

Ākonga of Geography investigate connections between people and place at local, regional, national, and global scales.

Relationships and interconnections within te taiao are dynamic and reciprocal — te taiao shapes people as we shape te taiao. There are different opportunities and obstacles for people within te taiao based on location. It is the geographer’s role to know, understand, and map the relationships and interconnections between phenomena.

Through geographic investigation we can make sense of the differences in how people use and interact with te taiao. We can also understand the effects and consequences of these interactions. After conducting a geographic inquiry we have a better understanding of the causes and consequences of environmental change. This understanding can then be applied to problem solving.

Big
Idea

Te taiao connects people and people connect to te taiao

Ākonga of Geography investigate connections between people and place at local, regional, national, and global scales.

Relationships and interconnections within te taiao are dynamic and reciprocal — te taiao shapes people as we shape te taiao. There are different opportunities and obstacles for people within te taiao based on location. It is the geographer’s role to know, understand, and map the relationships and interconnections between phenomena.

Through geographic investigation we can make sense of the differences in how people use and interact with te taiao. We can also understand the effects and consequences of these interactions. After conducting a geographic inquiry we have a better understanding of the causes and consequences of environmental change. This understanding can then be applied to problem solving.

Title: Te taiao can be shaped by natural processes

Big Idea Body:

Understanding how natural processes can shape te taiao deepens our understanding of, and connection to, the whenua. Investigating natural processes helps ākonga to know what these phenomena are, how they occur, and the impacts they have on people in different places. Ākonga also investigate how te taiao have evolved spatially and temporally.

Big
Idea

Te taiao can be shaped by natural processes

Understanding how natural processes can shape te taiao deepens our understanding of, and connection to, the whenua. Investigating natural processes helps ākonga to know what these phenomena are, how they occur, and the impacts they have on people in different places. Ākonga also investigate how te taiao have evolved spatially and temporally.

Title: Tikanga informs the relationships between the tangata and te taiao

Big Idea Body:

Tikanga is an ao Māori concept that can refer to Indigenous best practice around the protection and regeneration of te taiao. The relationship that ngā tāngata have with other parts of te taiao can be informed by tikanga. Following tikanga helps to maintain balance within te taiao.

In Geography, tikanga includes kaitiakitanga. Kaitiakitanga ensures sustainable use and regeneration of te taiao. Mana whenua may bestow the kaitiaki title on others to protect the mauri and mana of the whenua.

By understanding how te taiao can be protected and regenerated through an ao Māori approach, ākonga can appreciate and consider different solutions that can be brought to geographic issues.

Big
Idea

Tikanga informs the relationships between the tangata and te taiao

Tikanga is an ao Māori concept that can refer to Indigenous best practice around the protection and regeneration of te taiao. The relationship that ngā tāngata have with other parts of te taiao can be informed by tikanga. Following tikanga helps to maintain balance within te taiao.

In Geography, tikanga includes kaitiakitanga. Kaitiakitanga ensures sustainable use and regeneration of te taiao. Mana whenua may bestow the kaitiaki title on others to protect the mauri and mana of the whenua.

By understanding how te taiao can be protected and regenerated through an ao Māori approach, ākonga can appreciate and consider different solutions that can be brought to geographic issues.

Title: Perspectives and power influence te taiao

Big Idea Body:

In Geography, ākonga explore how differences in perspectives and power influence decision making, which has consequences within te taiao. Perspectives are the way people interpret te taiao based on their values, beliefs, and experiences, and this influences their actions and responses to geographic issues. Power differences mean that groups have varying levels of ability to exert their perspective.

In Aotearoa New Zealand, a Geography Teaching and Learning Programme recognises the impact of colonialism and the actions and inactions stemming from Te Tiriti o Waitangi. These factors continue to affect people’s relationship with place through power differences.

Big
Idea

Perspectives and power influence te taiao

In Geography, ākonga explore how differences in perspectives and power influence decision making, which has consequences within te taiao. Perspectives are the way people interpret te taiao based on their values, beliefs, and experiences, and this influences their actions and responses to geographic issues. Power differences mean that groups have varying levels of ability to exert their perspective.

In Aotearoa New Zealand, a Geography Teaching and Learning Programme recognises the impact of colonialism and the actions and inactions stemming from Te Tiriti o Waitangi. These factors continue to affect people’s relationship with place through power differences.

Key Competencies in Geography

Developing Key Competencies through Geography

Learning in Geography provides meaningful contexts for developing Key Competencies from The New Zealand Curriculum. These Key Competencies are woven through, and embedded in, the Big Ideas and Significant Learning. Each discipline has its own processes, practices, and ways of knowing and interpreting meaning.

Geography provides learners with opportunities to develop critical and relational thinking, and temporal and spatial awareness. Students of Geography will develop understanding of geographic skills and will explore different environmental perspectives and worldviews.

Thinking

Students of Geography will:

  • use critical thinking to make informed decisions, judgements, and evaluations of land use
  • consider a range of possible, probable, and preferred outcomes from a geographic perspective
  • make connections between natural and cultural environments, and the way environments relate to each other
  • tease out cause and effect connections in physical and human environments
  • view and reflect on environments through a tikanga and kaitiakitanga lens
  • understand the relationship between geography and Indigenous knowledges
  • acknowledge global geographic practices and processes, and consider these within the idea that environments shape people and people shape environments
  • use relational thinking to analyse how places are shaped, often producing unequal resource distribution
  • consider differences in decision-making within the framework of place and space
  • understand differences in development and progress, and in how people use and interact with the physical world
  • learn to collaborate with others and develop self-management skills, such as during fieldwork
  • think creatively to consider the future of environments and natural features
  • consider differing courses of action to solve geographic challenges facing people.

Using language, symbols, and texts

Students of Geography will:

  • use language, symbols, and text to create, read, and understand maps (including Geographic Information Systems (GIS)), graphs, visuals, tables, and texts
  • develop spatial and temporal awareness
  • communicate ideas using geographic terminology
  • use maps to process information
  • use data to draw conclusions about processes that shape natural and cultural environments.

Relating to others

Students of Geography will:

  • use inquiry processes and collect data in groups
  • work with others to identify geographic solutions and possibilities
  • follow and work with communities at the frontline of climate change
  • understand and respect relationships of Māori with place and space as fundamental to the discipline of geography in Aotearoa New Zealand
  • develop an awareness of different geographical imaginations
  • understand their own biases and those of others
  • expand their worldview through knowledge of local to global geography
  • question geographic perspectives and decision-making and how these impact people, place, and environments.

Managing self

Students of Geography will:

  • manage themselves effectively while doing fieldwork and research
  • reflect on skills and knowledge systems to add to their Geography kete
  • collect primary data through group work to learn from other ākonga and engage with other worldviews
  • understand that individuals, communities, and groups have differing views of land management, sustainability, and regeneration.

Participating and contributing

Students of Geography will:

  • engage in debate and discussion on geographic questions and problems
  • endeavour to make partnerships, relationships, and connections to explore differing geographic understandings
  • lead or be part of climate activism and environmental advocacy movements
  • raise awareness of natural and cultural geographic changes through presentations, publications, and other platforms for discussion
  • understand practices of kaitiakitanga as an inextricable part of their discipline as they contribute to the world around them.

Key Competencies

This section of New Zealand Curriculum Online offers specific guidance to school leaders and teachers on integrating the Key Competencies into the daily activities of the school and its Teaching and Learning Programmes.

Developing Key Competencies through Geography

Learning in Geography provides meaningful contexts for developing Key Competencies from The New Zealand Curriculum. These Key Competencies are woven through, and embedded in, the Big Ideas and Significant Learning. Each discipline has its own processes, practices, and ways of knowing and interpreting meaning.

Geography provides learners with opportunities to develop critical and relational thinking, and temporal and spatial awareness. Students of Geography will develop understanding of geographic skills and will explore different environmental perspectives and worldviews.

Thinking

Students of Geography will:

  • use critical thinking to make informed decisions, judgements, and evaluations of land use
  • consider a range of possible, probable, and preferred outcomes from a geographic perspective
  • make connections between natural and cultural environments, and the way environments relate to each other
  • tease out cause and effect connections in physical and human environments
  • view and reflect on environments through a tikanga and kaitiakitanga lens
  • understand the relationship between geography and Indigenous knowledges
  • acknowledge global geographic practices and processes, and consider these within the idea that environments shape people and people shape environments
  • use relational thinking to analyse how places are shaped, often producing unequal resource distribution
  • consider differences in decision-making within the framework of place and space
  • understand differences in development and progress, and in how people use and interact with the physical world
  • learn to collaborate with others and develop self-management skills, such as during fieldwork
  • think creatively to consider the future of environments and natural features
  • consider differing courses of action to solve geographic challenges facing people.

Using language, symbols, and texts

Students of Geography will:

  • use language, symbols, and text to create, read, and understand maps (including Geographic Information Systems (GIS)), graphs, visuals, tables, and texts
  • develop spatial and temporal awareness
  • communicate ideas using geographic terminology
  • use maps to process information
  • use data to draw conclusions about processes that shape natural and cultural environments.

Relating to others

Students of Geography will:

  • use inquiry processes and collect data in groups
  • work with others to identify geographic solutions and possibilities
  • follow and work with communities at the frontline of climate change
  • understand and respect relationships of Māori with place and space as fundamental to the discipline of geography in Aotearoa New Zealand
  • develop an awareness of different geographical imaginations
  • understand their own biases and those of others
  • expand their worldview through knowledge of local to global geography
  • question geographic perspectives and decision-making and how these impact people, place, and environments.

Managing self

Students of Geography will:

  • manage themselves effectively while doing fieldwork and research
  • reflect on skills and knowledge systems to add to their Geography kete
  • collect primary data through group work to learn from other ākonga and engage with other worldviews
  • understand that individuals, communities, and groups have differing views of land management, sustainability, and regeneration.

Participating and contributing

Students of Geography will:

  • engage in debate and discussion on geographic questions and problems
  • endeavour to make partnerships, relationships, and connections to explore differing geographic understandings
  • lead or be part of climate activism and environmental advocacy movements
  • raise awareness of natural and cultural geographic changes through presentations, publications, and other platforms for discussion
  • understand practices of kaitiakitanga as an inextricable part of their discipline as they contribute to the world around them.

Key Competencies

This section of New Zealand Curriculum Online offers specific guidance to school leaders and teachers on integrating the Key Competencies into the daily activities of the school and its Teaching and Learning Programmes.

Connections

Geography connects naturally with a wide variety of Learning Areas and individual subjects. Because of the interdisciplinary nature of Geography, kaiako can easily form bridges across and between subjects. This means that ākonga can transfer their learning from Geography to other subjects, as well as draw on their other subjects to support learning in Geography. Examples are:

Sciences: Science, Agricultural and Horticultural Science, Physics Earth and Space Science, Chemistry and Biology

Technology: Materials and Processing Technology, Design and Visual Communication, Digital Technologies

Mathematics: Mathematics and Statistics

Social Sciences: Economics, Business Studies, Social Studies, Environment and Societies, Tourism, History

English.

Geography connects naturally with a wide variety of Learning Areas and individual subjects. Because of the interdisciplinary nature of Geography, kaiako can easily form bridges across and between subjects. This means that ākonga can transfer their learning from Geography to other subjects, as well as draw on their other subjects to support learning in Geography. Examples are:

Sciences: Science, Agricultural and Horticultural Science, Physics Earth and Space Science, Chemistry and Biology

Technology: Materials and Processing Technology, Design and Visual Communication, Digital Technologies

Mathematics: Mathematics and Statistics

Social Sciences: Economics, Business Studies, Social Studies, Environment and Societies, Tourism, History

English.

Learning Pathway

Geography offers ākonga the opportunity to learn and develop a range of skills and knowledge which they can apply in their everyday lives, no matter what level they begin their Geography studies.

Beyond school, Geography can be a pathway to further education and training related to a range of sectors such as:

  • primary industries
  • services
  • social and community
  • manufacturing and technology
  • construction and infrastructure
  • creative industries.

At university level, pathways are available in a range of areas. Ākonga might concentrate on Physical Geography, Social and Political Sciences, Development Studies, Migration Studies, Resource and Environmental Management, Geographic Information Systems, Geology, or Urban Planning. Ākonga with a base in Geography can use their knowledge to enrich a career in engineering, science, law, management, commerce, or technology.

Geography is a foundation for any work that focuses on connections in te taiao.

Geographers work in a wide range of fields, including:

  • urban and regional planning
  • land management
  • industrial location and marketing
  • environmental monitoring and resource management
  • community development at home and abroad.

They work as researchers, analysts, consultants, technologists, and planners.

The ability to work with data is becoming increasingly important in geography, due in large part to technological advances. For example, much of our information about where things are located comes from satellites that continuously beam coordinates to global positioning devices on Earth.

Government and commercial satellites greatly increase the accuracy and amount of geographic data available. At the same time, new Geographic Information System (GIS) software can process that data with greater speed and flexibility. This technology creates new career possibilities for people who understand geography and who can process and use geographic information.

A few geographic jobs are based almost entirely on the study of location. Remote sensing specialists, photogrammetrists, and surveyors gather data about where things are on Earth. GIS analysts review this data and sometimes use it to make maps. Planners help to determine where buildings and roads should be located.

Many maps rely on photographs or other data taken from aeroplanes, drones, and satellites. Remote sensing specialists oversee the collection of this information and interpret satellite images. Photogrammetrists interpret the more detailed data.

Skills developed in Geography that employers are looking for are:

  • adaptability
  • communication
  • critical thinking
  • digital literacy
  • leadership
  • collaboration
  • problem solving
  • engagement with others
  • relationship building.

Geography offers ākonga the opportunity to learn and develop a range of skills and knowledge which they can apply in their everyday lives, no matter what level they begin their Geography studies.

Beyond school, Geography can be a pathway to further education and training related to a range of sectors such as:

  • primary industries
  • services
  • social and community
  • manufacturing and technology
  • construction and infrastructure
  • creative industries.

At university level, pathways are available in a range of areas. Ākonga might concentrate on Physical Geography, Social and Political Sciences, Development Studies, Migration Studies, Resource and Environmental Management, Geographic Information Systems, Geology, or Urban Planning. Ākonga with a base in Geography can use their knowledge to enrich a career in engineering, science, law, management, commerce, or technology.

Geography is a foundation for any work that focuses on connections in te taiao.

Geographers work in a wide range of fields, including:

  • urban and regional planning
  • land management
  • industrial location and marketing
  • environmental monitoring and resource management
  • community development at home and abroad.

They work as researchers, analysts, consultants, technologists, and planners.

The ability to work with data is becoming increasingly important in geography, due in large part to technological advances. For example, much of our information about where things are located comes from satellites that continuously beam coordinates to global positioning devices on Earth.

Government and commercial satellites greatly increase the accuracy and amount of geographic data available. At the same time, new Geographic Information System (GIS) software can process that data with greater speed and flexibility. This technology creates new career possibilities for people who understand geography and who can process and use geographic information.

A few geographic jobs are based almost entirely on the study of location. Remote sensing specialists, photogrammetrists, and surveyors gather data about where things are on Earth. GIS analysts review this data and sometimes use it to make maps. Planners help to determine where buildings and roads should be located.

Many maps rely on photographs or other data taken from aeroplanes, drones, and satellites. Remote sensing specialists oversee the collection of this information and interpret satellite images. Photogrammetrists interpret the more detailed data.

Skills developed in Geography that employers are looking for are:

  • adaptability
  • communication
  • critical thinking
  • digital literacy
  • leadership
  • collaboration
  • problem solving
  • engagement with others
  • relationship building.
Ko te tauira reo Pākehā kē tēnei o te whārangi nei, i te korenga o tētahi tauira reo Māori.
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Introduction to Sample Course Outlines

Sample Course Outlines are being produced to help teachers and schools understand the new NCEA Learning Matrix and Achievement Standards. Examples of how a year-long Geography course could be constructed using the new Learning Matrix and Achievement Standards are provided here. They are indicative only and do not mandate any particular context or approach.

Sample Course Outlines are being produced to help teachers and schools understand the new NCEA Learning Matrix and Achievement Standards. Examples of how a year-long Geography course could be constructed using the new Learning Matrix and Achievement Standards are provided here. They are indicative only and do not mandate any particular context or approach.

Ko te tauira reo Pākehā kē tēnei o te whārangi nei, i te korenga o tētahi tauira reo Māori.

Assessment Matrix

Conditions of Assessment for internally assessed standards

These Conditions provide guidelines for assessment against internally assessed Achievement Standards. Guidance is provided on:

  • specific requirements for all assessments against this Standard
  • appropriate ways of, and conditions for, gathering evidence
  • ensuring that evidence is authentic.

Assessors must be familiar with guidance on assessment practice in learning centres, including enforcing timeframes and deadlines. The NZQA website offers resources that would be useful to read in conjunction with these Conditions of Assessment.

The learning centre’s Assessment Policy and Conditions of Assessment must be consistent with NZQA’s Assessment Rules for Schools with Consent to Assess. This link includes guidance for managing internal moderation and the collection of evidence.

Gathering Evidence

Internal assessment provides considerable flexibility in the collection of evidence. Evidence can be collected in different ways to suit a range of teaching and learning styles, and a range of contexts of teaching and learning. Care needs to be taken to allow students opportunities to present their best evidence against the Standard(s) that are free from unnecessary constraints.

It is recommended that the design of assessment reflects and reinforces the ways students have been learning. Collection of evidence for the internally assessed Standards could include, but is not restricted to, an extended task, an investigation, digital evidence (such as recorded interviews, blogs, photographs, or film), or a portfolio of evidence.

A separate assessment event is not needed for each Standard. Often assessment can be integrated into one activity that collects evidence towards two or three different Standards from a programme of learning. Evidence can also be collected over time from a range of linked activities (for example, in a portfolio).

Effective assessment should suit the nature of the learning being assessed, provide opportunities to meet the diverse needs of all students, and be valid and fair.

Ensuring Authenticity of Evidence

Authenticity of student evidence needs to be assured regardless of the method of collecting evidence. This must be in line with the learning centre’s policy and NZQA’s Assessment Rules for Schools with Consent to Assess.

Ensure that the student’s evidence is individually identifiable and represents the student’s own work. This includes evidence submitted as part of a group assessment and evidence produced outside of class time or assessor supervision. For example, an investigation carried out over several sessions could include assessor observations, meeting with the student at a set milestone, or student’s use of a journal or photographic entries to record progress.

These Conditions provide guidelines for assessment against internally assessed Achievement Standards. Guidance is provided on:

  • specific requirements for all assessments against this Standard
  • appropriate ways of, and conditions for, gathering evidence
  • ensuring that evidence is authentic.

Assessors must be familiar with guidance on assessment practice in learning centres, including enforcing timeframes and deadlines. The NZQA website offers resources that would be useful to read in conjunction with these Conditions of Assessment.

The learning centre’s Assessment Policy and Conditions of Assessment must be consistent with NZQA’s Assessment Rules for Schools with Consent to Assess. This link includes guidance for managing internal moderation and the collection of evidence.

Gathering Evidence

Internal assessment provides considerable flexibility in the collection of evidence. Evidence can be collected in different ways to suit a range of teaching and learning styles, and a range of contexts of teaching and learning. Care needs to be taken to allow students opportunities to present their best evidence against the Standard(s) that are free from unnecessary constraints.

It is recommended that the design of assessment reflects and reinforces the ways students have been learning. Collection of evidence for the internally assessed Standards could include, but is not restricted to, an extended task, an investigation, digital evidence (such as recorded interviews, blogs, photographs, or film), or a portfolio of evidence.

A separate assessment event is not needed for each Standard. Often assessment can be integrated into one activity that collects evidence towards two or three different Standards from a programme of learning. Evidence can also be collected over time from a range of linked activities (for example, in a portfolio).

Effective assessment should suit the nature of the learning being assessed, provide opportunities to meet the diverse needs of all students, and be valid and fair.

Ensuring Authenticity of Evidence

Authenticity of student evidence needs to be assured regardless of the method of collecting evidence. This must be in line with the learning centre’s policy and NZQA’s Assessment Rules for Schools with Consent to Assess.

Ensure that the student’s evidence is individually identifiable and represents the student’s own work. This includes evidence submitted as part of a group assessment and evidence produced outside of class time or assessor supervision. For example, an investigation carried out over several sessions could include assessor observations, meeting with the student at a set milestone, or student’s use of a journal or photographic entries to record progress.

1.1
Demonstrate understanding of the spatial distribution of phenomena and its impacts within te taiao

Assessor involvement during the assessment event is limited to providing general feedback which suggests sections of student work that would benefit from further development or skills a student may need to revisit across the work. Student work which has received sustained or detailed feedback is not suitable for submission towards this achievement standard.

1.2
Explore te taiao using data

Assessor involvement during the assessment event is limited to providing general feedback which suggests sections of student work that would benefit from further development or skills a student may need to revisit across the work. Student work which has received sustained or detailed feedback is not suitable for submission towards this Standard.

2.1
Demonstrate understanding of Indigenous participation in geographic planning and decision making in the Pacific

This section provides guidelines for assessment against internally assessed Standards. Guidance is provided on:

  • appropriate ways of, and conditions for, gathering evidence
  • ensuring that evidence is authentic
  • any other relevant advice specific to an Achievement Standard.

NB: Information on additional generic guidance on assessment practice in schools is published on the NZQA website. It would be useful to read in conjunction with these Conditions of Assessment.

Collection of evidence

Teachers may:

  • provide sufficient assessment resources for ākonga to achieve at all levels
  • determine when the assessment will be conducted in class and the submission date
  • allocate 4 hours of class time for the assessment.

Ākonga may:

  • work on assessment responses in class for four hours
  • present their evidence for assessment in any medium that allows them to demonstrate their understanding of Indigenous participation in geographic planning and decision making in the Pacific.

If providing a written response, ākonga may write between 900–1000 words. Oral responses should be between 4-5 minutes in length.

Ensuring Authenticity of Evidence

Evidence for this Standard should be collected in class over a period of 4 hours.

Teachers should have ākonga sign authenticity forms to verify their work.

Teachers may monitor the progress of ākonga closely.

Teachers may use oral questioning to confirm understanding, if doubts over the authenticity arise.

If ākonga present their evidence digitally, by video, or by blog, it is best to disable access to this after marking and moderation have occurred. This helps to ensure that ākonga cannot plagiarise the work or ideas of those who have already completed the assessment for this Achievement Standard.

2.2
Demonstrate understanding of mitigation methods that can build resilience to a natural process

This section provides guidelines for assessment against internally assessed Standards. Guidance is provided on:

  • appropriate ways of, and conditions for, gathering evidence
  • ensuring that evidence is authentic
  • any other relevant advice specific to an Achievement Standard.

NB: Information on additional generic guidance on assessment practice in schools is published on the NZQA website. It would be useful to read in conjunction with these Conditions of Assessment.

Collection of evidence

Teachers may:

  • decide to use a single taiao or nga taiao to demonstrate mitigation methods that build resilience to the same natural process
  • provide guidance to ākonga if they choose a different context
  • provide sufficient assessment resources for ākonga to achieve at all Levels
  • determine when the assessment will be conducted in class
  • determine the timing of the assessment period. This should be based on the anticipated length of time the assessment task should take to be completed in class time.
  • provide a list of suitable methods and platforms, where appropriate, that allow the student to suitably demonstrate their understanding.

Ākonga may:

  • decide to use a single taiao or nga taiao to demonstrate mitigation methods that build resilience to the same natural process, if selecting their own context
  • work collaboratively in groups to plan, gather, and share additional resource material and discuss mitigation methods prior to working on their response. Their submitted response must represent their own work.
  • present their evidence for assessment in any medium that allows them to demonstrate their understanding of a method taken to mitigate the impacts of a natural process
  • if providing a written response, write between 900–1000 words. Oral responses should be between 4-5 minutes in length.

Ensuring Authenticity of Evidence

Teachers may have ākonga sign authenticity forms to verify their work.

Teachers may monitor the progress of ākonga closely.

Teachers can use oral questioning to confirm understanding, if doubts over the authenticity arise.

If ākonga present their evidence digitally, by video, or by blog, it is best to disable access to this after marking and moderation have occurred. This helps to ensure that ākonga cannot plagiarise the work or ideas of those who have already completed the assessment for this Achievement Standard.

Ko te tauira reo Pākehā kē tēnei o te whārangi nei, i te korenga o tētahi tauira reo Māori.

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