OVERVIEW
This study is designed to enable students to:
CONTENT
UNIT 1: EXPLORING OUTDOOR EXPERIENCES
AREAS OF STUDY
Motivations for outdoor experiences
In this area of study students examine motivations for and responses to nature and outdoor experiences. They investigate a range of contemporary uses and meanings of the term ‘nature’, and examine a variety of different types of outdoor environments. Students are introduced to a cultural perspective on the ways humans relate to outdoor environments.
Students learn to participate safely in outdoor experiences and develop relevant practical skills including first aid to enable safe participation in practical experiences. Students use these experiences as the basis for reflection.
Influences on outdoor experiences
This area of study focuses on planning and participating in outdoor experiences. Students evaluate how their personal responses are influenced by media portrayals of outdoor environments and perceptions of risk involved in outdoor experiences.
Practical outdoor experiences provide students with the opportunity to observe and experience various ways of encountering and understanding outdoor environments. Students consider factors that affect access to outdoor experiences and explain the effect of different technologies on outdoor experiences, examining how all of these influence the ways humans understand nature.
UNIT 2: DISCOVERING OUTDOOR ENVIRONMENTS
AREAS OF STUDY
Investigating outdoor environments
This area of study introduces students to the characteristics of a variety of outdoor environments, including those visited during practical outdoor experiences. Students investigate different types of outdoor environments from a number of perspectives.
Students undertake case studies of different types of outdoor environments to observe and experience how changes to nature affect people. They develop appropriate practical skills for safe and sustainable participation in outdoor experiences and for investigations into various outdoor environments. Students use these experiences as the basis for reflection and analysis of theoretical knowledge of natural environments.
Impacts on outdoor environments
This area of study focuses on the human activities undertaken in outdoor environments and their impacts on those environments. Although environmental impacts include both natural and human-induced changes on components of the environment, the focus here is on the impacts of humans – both positive and negative.
Students investigate and model individual and group responsibilities for activities in outdoor environments, including community-based environmental action to promote positive impacts on outdoor environments.
Practical outdoor experiences enable students to develop skills related to minimal impact travelling and living, and to experience the impact of technology on outdoor environments. Students use these experiences as the basis for reflection and for analysis of theoretical knowledge about the effects of natural and human-induced impacts on outdoor environments.
UNIT 3: RELATIONSHIPS WITH OUTDOOR ENVIRONMENTS
AREAS OF STUDY
Historical relationships with outdoor environments
This area of study explores how Australians have understood and interacted with outdoor environments over time. Students examine the unique nature of Australian outdoor environments and investigate a range of human relationships with outdoor environments, from various Indigenous cultural experiences, through to the influence of a number of major historical events and issues subsequent to European settlement. Case studies are used to analyse the role of environmental movements in changing human relationships with outdoor environments. Students study the foundation and role of environmental and political movements in changing relationships with outdoor environments and the subsequent effects of these on environmental politics. Students engage in practical outdoor experiences that enable them to investigate human relationships with specific outdoor environments.
Relationships with Australian environments since 1990
In this area of study students examine relationships between humans and outdoor environments since 1990. They examine a number of ways outdoor environments are depicted in different media. The dynamic nature of relationships between humans and their environment are considered, as well as the social, cultural, economic and political factors that influence these relationships. Students engage in practical outdoor experiences that enable them to collect information about, reflect on and analyse relationships with outdoor environments since 1990
UNIT 4: SUSTAINABLE OUTDOOR RELATIONSHIPS
AREAS OF STUDY
Healthy outdoor environments
This area of study explores the contemporary state of outdoor environments in Australia and the importance of outdoor environments for individuals and society. Students examine the nature of sustainability and use observations to evaluate the health of outdoor environments. They investigate current and potential damage to outdoor environments and the subsequent impacts.
Practical outdoor experiences enable students to further develop and apply their practical knowledge and skills for safe and sustainable interaction with outdoor environments.
Sustainable outdoor environments
In this area of study students focus on the sustainability of environments to support the future needs of ecosystems, individuals and society, and the skills needed to be an environmentally responsible citizen. Students investigate at least two case studies of conflict over uses of outdoor environments and develop a clear understanding of the methods and processes commonly used to resolve these conflicts.
Students develop an understanding that management strategies, together with acts and conventions, contribute to maintaining the health and sustainability of outdoor environments in contemporary Australian society.
Students use their outdoor experiences to reflect on the actions taken by individuals and groups in contemporary Australia to maintain the health of outdoor environments.
BIBLICAL PERSPECTIVE
For students to guard over and appreciate God’s incredible creation, by monitoring and investigating particular features and their environments.
Genesis 1:26 Then God said “Let us make man in our image in our likeness and let them rule over the fish of the sea and birds of the air, over the livestock, over the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground”.
ASSESSMENT
UNITS 1 & 2
All assessments at Units 1 and 2 are school-based. Procedures for assessment of levels of achievement in Units 1 and 2 are a matter for school decision. The major assessment task for this unit is a journal or report demonstrating links between theoretical content studied and practical experiences undertaken.
Additionally, at least one task for assessment of each outcome is to be selected from the following:
UNIT 3
School-assessed Coursework for Unit 3 will contribute 25 % to the study score.
UNIT 4
School-assessed Coursework for Unit 4 will contribute 25 % to the study score
EXTERNAL ASSESSMENT
The level of achievement for Units 3 and 4 is also assessed by an end-of-year examination. The examination will contribute 50 %