School of Geography and Environmental Science

• Year coordinators
• First-year level

The School of Geography and Environmental Science offers geography sequences in the faculties of Arts and Science. The school also offers a sequence permitting undergraduate specialisation in environmental science for the Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science, and in atmospheric science for the Bachelor of Science.
The program has been adapted to suit local educational and vocational demands, but is otherwise fully representative of geography's international profile. Its goal is to develop a mature understanding of the following:

• the key characteristics of places
• the complex interdependence of human activities
• the roles of human agency in the transformation of the earth's surface
• the availability of a rich diversity of approaches to the accumulation of knowledge concerning the interrelationships of place, people and environment.

The contexts addressed encompass an array of cultures and environments in both hemispheres, and make frequent reference to local examples. Students are thereby encouraged to see that individual and collective responsibility for the environment can be expressed through an informed engagement with local, regional and global issues. The school contributes to interdisciplinary programs in Asian studies, Australian studies, development studies, environmental engineering, environmental science, atmospheric science and women's studies.

• The term 'environment' is employed at every level in the geography curriculum. It subsumes the following:
• The notion of 'natural' environments unaltered by human activity.
• Human-modified environments representing profound alterations over vast areas of the globe and including, most notably, agricultural systems and rural settlement.
• Even more 'artificial' environments such as industrialised regions and urban areas.

Students are therefore expected to come to an appreciation of internal variations of landscape and activity within each of these categories. The material and concepts studied require critical evaluation across various spatial scales.
Geography requires students to develop the following useful capabilities:

• Identification, description, measurement and classification of phenomena
• Application of acquired knowledge to new situations
• Formulation and testing of hypotheses, using qualitative and quantitative techniques as appropriate
• Employment of effective modes of communication through participation in oral discussion sessions, the preparation of written reports, and data presentation
• Critical explorations of attitudes, values and prejudices.

An appreciation of the importance of field and laboratory-based observations is required at all levels, especially in physical geography options. Computer techniques are considered highly relevant, from a minimum expectation of basic keyboarding to the integration of sophisticated analytical methods in later segments of the program.
Students may major in either the physical or human branches of geography, in a combination of the two, or in environmental science. Physical geography shares with other branches of the natural sciences an interest in the earth's atmosphere, vegetation cover and terrain. Human geography shares with other branches of the humanities and social sciences an interest in the ways in which human communities occupy, use and modify the earth's surface. It is recommended that students pursue studies in both branches, to take advantage of geography's invaluable role as a link between the arts and sciences.
Allowance is made throughout for the selection of individual courses, which service broader campus programs, and for the formation of recognised sequences in geography and environmental science.
Those proceeding into the fourth or honours year have the further opportunity to consolidate their understanding of an area (or areas) of specialisation, while pursuing a research topic under expert supervision.

Year coordinators

Students seeking advice on their course programs or other academic matters are invited to approach the appropriate year coordinator. Year coordinators for 2002 will be:
First year: Dr Stephen Legg
Second year: Associate Professor Jim Peterson
Third year: Dr John Grindrod (first semester), Professor Peter Kershaw (second semester)
Fourth year: Associate Professor David Mercer

First-year level

The primary objective of the first-year syllabus is to explore human impacts on the environment and to introduce key concepts in physical and human geography. No prior experience of geographical education is required to begin first-year study.
A first-year sequence in geography consists of two one-semester units. In first semester, students enrol in GES1000 (Natural environment and human impact). In second semester, they may choose either GES1020 (Australian physical environments: evolution, status and management) or GES1050 (The global challenge). Students planning a comprehensive introduction to geography may take all three units.
Students not wishing to complete a first-year sequence may take the first-semester unit, or one or both of the second-semester units.

• GES1000 Natural environment and human impact
• GES1020 Australian physical environments: evolution status and management
• GES1050 The global challenge

In addition, students who have undertaken the first-year units BME1111 (Science, culture and the concept of race, human origins and development) and BME1122 (Human affairs, health, illness and sexual difference) may be admitted to second-year geography, subject to permission of the head of school.

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