Undergraduate - UnitATS2780 - Geographical analysis

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2015 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

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6 points, SCA Band 2, 0.125 EFTSL

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered.

Level	Undergraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Arts
Organisational Unit	Human Geography
Monash Passport category	Research Challenge (Investigate Program)
Offered	Clayton First semester 2015 (Day)
Coordinator(s)	Dr Xuan Zhu

Synopsis

The unit provides an introduction to basic concepts and methods of geographical analysis, covering the concepts and methods of spatial thinking and geographical representation, with reference to real-world examples; the basic principles of cartography, including concepts of scale and map projection, as well as designing and making maps for visualizing spatial distributions and relations; and an introduction to geographical information systems (GIS) which provide computer-based tools for geographical analysis and representation. The unit is relevant to students in many fields of study that entail an understanding of the geographical dimensions of physical and social processes.

Outcomes

To introduce basic concepts of geography and geographical analysis and representation;
To introduce methods and techniques of geographical analysis, including spatial representations, cartography, spatial data manipulation and analysis in GIS;
To develop skills and competency in basic methods of spatial reasoning and geographical analysis through hands-on practicals and projects using real-world data;

Assessment

Within semester assessment: 60%
Exam: 40%

Workload requirements

Minimum total expected workload to achieve the learning outcomes for this unit is 144 hours per semester typically comprising a mixture of scheduled learning activities and independent study. A unit requires on average three/four hours of scheduled activities per week. Scheduled activities may include a combination of teacher directed learning, peer directed learning and online engagement.

Chief examiner(s)

Dr Xuan Zhu

This unit applies to the following area(s) of study

Geographical science
Human geography

Prerequisites

Twelve credit points of first-year Arts units.