Focus Area 1: Environment and conservation

Learning experiences in nature shape students’ understanding of environmental systems and issues, and enhance their decision-making about conservation and sustainability. Through the study of a natural environment, students understand ecosystems and the impacts of human actions and decisions on the natural environment. They evaluate and challenge the concept of a natural environment and compare the relative naturalness of different locations.

Students develop their understanding of a range of different perspectives on the natural environment, e.g. Indigenous, Western, scientific, economic, recreational, and aesthetic, and use this understanding to analyse human interactions with the natural environment. They investigate strategies that positively contribute to conservation and sustainability.

Students transfer their understanding and appreciation of natural environments in local areas through practical opportunities to interact with the environment, and consider appropriate actions and strategies that support conservation and sustainability, and minimise human impacts.

Suggested learning activities

The following learning activities are suggestions only. Teachers may select suitable activities from this list, adapt these activities, or design their own:

• use a natural history approach (observation, investigation, recording, interpretation, and evaluation) to investigate the impacts on an ecosystem
• investigate the elements of an environmental system through interaction with the environment
• observe, record, and analyse data to evaluate the ecological health of an area
• explore sustainability strategies and land management from a perspective (e.g. Indigenous, Western, scientific, economic, recreational, and aesthetic)
• observe and record evidence of the impact of outdoor activities on ecosystems
• collect evidence to evaluate the success of management plans for a specified area
• make recommendations and develop solutions to promote the conservation and sustainability of a natural environment in a local or global location
• consider ethical decisions about the interaction of people and a wilderness area.