Teacher in Charge: Ms Gill Willis
“Geographers make the world go around”
“Geography, without it you’d be lost”
WHAT IS GEOGRAPHY?
Geography is about people, places and resources and how the three aspects interact. It looks at environments at local, national and global scales. It is exciting because you can see it happening now or the result of millions of years of changes.
WHY STUDY GEOGRAPHY?
You should study Geography because it helps to explain what you can see in around you and why it looks that way now. You can go out into mountains and rivers and beaches and even farms and see Geography in action while you have fun with your classmates. Its not rocket science, but it is logical and it makes sense.
It is a skill that lots of different careers see as a prerequisite and they want the skills that you learn in Geography. Some of these are data collection, evaluation, report writing, value judgements, decision making and recommendations from conclusions.
GEOGRAPHY AT ST CATHERINE’S COLLEGE
Geography is an NCEA accredited subject taught at St Catherine’s College at Level 1 (Year 11), Level 2 (Year 12) and Level 3 (Year 13). The course focuses on New Zealand Geography with both physical and social Geography. There is an emphasis on natural events that have occurred, in both N.Z. and globally.
The topics taught in Geography are:
- Level 1 – Sustainable uses of an environment and Population.
- Level 2 –Volcanism and city environments.
- Level 3 –Coastal erosion and Tourism.
PREREQUISITES FOR GEOGRAPHY
To take Geography students are required to have:
- To do Level 1, students must have competence in Year 10 Social Studies and English with specific emphasis on reading, writing and essays.
- To do Level 2, students must have 12 credits or more from Level 1 Geography with at least 4 credits from an external standard.
- To do Level 3, students must have 12 credits or more from Level 2 Geography with at least credits from an external standard.
- Any student picking up Geography as a new subject at either level 2 or 3 must do so with the permission of the H.O.D.
STUDENTS TAKING GEOGRAPHY WILL LEARN HOW TO:
- Identify and describe different perspectives of events and environments.
- Identify, explain and analyse how physical, social, cultural, economic and environmental factors affect our lives.
- Collect data and analyse it to come to conclusions.
