Monash University: University handbooks: Undergraduate handbook: Units indexed by faculty
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Geography and environmental science

Coordinators: Listed below for each level

The discipline

Geography is concerned with the relationships between people and the natural environment. It employs a variety of spatial and temporal techniques to understand landscapes, or components of them, and provide a basis for their rational management.

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 BA, BEnvSc and BSc degrees and in atmospheric science for the BEnvSc and BSc degrees.

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; and the availability of a rich diversity of approaches to the accumulation of knowledge concerning the interrelationships of place, people and environment.

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; and even more ‘artificial’ environments such as industrialised regions and urban areas.

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 keyboard skills to the integration of sophisticated analytical methods in later segments of the program.

Units offered

Level one

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

Level two

• GES2130 Soils, land use and the environment
• GES2160 Coastal geomorphology and management
• GES2170 Biogeography - the status of Australian vegetation
• GES2190 Climatology: surface-atmosphere processes and interactions
• GES2210 Environmental hydrology
• GES2420 Environmental policy and management
• GES2660 Power and poverty: geographies of the third world
• GES2750 Economic spaces and industrial landscapes
• GES2760 Place and the politics of identity
• GES2860 Climate change and variability

Level three

• GES3110 Australia and its regions
• GES3240 Cities and sustainability
• GES3250 Environmental assessment and decision making
• GES3330 Field studies in regional sustainability (subject to strict quota)
• GES3350 Resource evaluation and management
• GES3360 Soils, landscape and their management
• GES3370 Applied environmental climatology
• GES3420 Researching human environments
• GES3470 Development and environment in the Pacific-Indian Ocean region
• GES3520 Social space and urban justice
• GES3530 Landscape processes
• GES3550 Quaternary environments
• GES3610 Geographical information systems (GIS) for geodemographic, marketing and local government applications
• GES3810/GES3820 Geographical information systems (GIS) for environmental management
• GES3850 The Australian atmospheric environment - a synoptic-scale approach
• GES3880 Human evolution and environment
• GES3890 Earth systems interactions: from biogeochemical cycles to global change

Sequence requirements

Minor sequence in geography and environmental science (24 points):

• GES1000 and either GES1020 or GES1050, and
• Any 12 points from the GES units at level two

Major sequence in geography and environmental science (48 points):

• GES1000 and either GES1020 or GES1050, and
• Any 12 or 18 points from the GES units at level two, and
• Any 24 or 18 remaining points from the GES units at level three

Some related sequences are also described in the ‘Atmospheric science’ entry in this section of the handbook.

Note that Bachelor of Environmental Science students (only) may substitute ENV1011 for GES1000 in any sequence in geography and environmental science.

Recommendations

Level one

Coordinator: Dr Meredith Orr

The primary objective of the syllabus of units at level one is to explore human impacts on the environment and to introduce key concepts in physical and human geography. No prior studies in geography are required to begin study at level one.

A first-level sequence in geography consists of two semester units. In first semester, students enrol in GES1000. In second semester, they may choose either GES1020 or GES1050. Students planning a comprehensive introduction to geography may take all three units.

In addition, students who have undertaken first-level 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-level geography, with the permission of the head of school.

Level two

Coordinator: Dr Lauren Costello (semester one) and Dr Elissa Sutherland (semester two)

The syllabus at level two permits students to select from a variety of systematic sub-disciplines. The satisfactory completion of a minor sequence in geography equips students with an appreciation of the nature of the unit as a whole and with knowledge of the fundamental contents and approaches contained within one or both of its human and physical branches.

Level three

Coordinator: Dr John Grindrod

At level three, majoring students elect to enrol in one or more of the main systematic fields which are intended to challenge them with appropriate advanced material and to intensify their familiarity with the purpose and practice of original research work. To obtain a major in geography, students would normally complete 24 points at level three.

Honours

Coordinator: Dr Stephen Legg

Students proceeding into the fourth year, 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. Mid-year entry is offered by the school, subject to the availability of places. Combined honours may be taken in the School of Geography and Environmental Science and another discipline, provided that all honours requirements have been met in both disciplines and subject to the approval of the heads of school.

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