GTASA Conference 2022
Event description
The Geography Teachers' Association of South Australia are thrilled to be hosting a hotly anticipated two-day event, with fieldworks and workshops filled with engaging activities to update your skills and knowledge.
When applying for professional learning in your schools, you can identify the following AITSL standards which will be targeted throughout the conference.
AITSL Standard:
2.1 Content and teaching strategies of the teaching area
2.6 Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
3.3 Use teaching strategies
3.4 Select and use resources
6.2 Engage in professional learning and improve practice
7.4 Engage with professional teaching networks and broader communities
Humanitix will generate an invoice which can be forwarded to your school's accounts team for payment.
Sunday Fieldtrips:
OPTION | Title and time | PROGRAM |
1 | River fieldwork for senior geography | This Fieldwork session is aimed at teachers of Geography in Years 10-12 interested in carrying out more advanced fieldwork in relation to characteristics of rivers and water quality testing. The session will involve visiting 3 locations within the Onkaparinga River Catchment to learn how to create cross sections, measure velocity, and test a range of water quality indicators, as well as explore different factors affecting catchment. After the data has been collected, learn how to use it to develop geographical displays of data related to Year 10. SACE and IB Fieldwork reports.
This fieldwork involves working in water so please bring suitable clothes to get wet, along with a towel and spare clothes. You may also wish to bring a laptop to use in the data session after the fieldwork.
As an experienced and passionate teacher of Geography, Simon Miller is a strong believer in the importance of fieldwork and the development of rich and meaningful experiences for our students in our natural environments. Simon has taught Geography in the UK and Australia and his current role as Head of Humanities at Pembroke School leads residential fieldwork programmes for both the SACE Geography and IB Geography and Environmental Systems and Societies courses. |
2 | Rivers and recreation 9am-12pm | Kara wirra-parri (Torrens River) and the Karra-weera (Torrens Lake) have a long history as tourism and recreation places in Adelaide. Come along on a walk around the lake from the rotunda in Elder Park along the southern bank of the lake to the sluice gates on the Torrens Weir and return to the rotunda via the northern bank. During the walk, participate in fieldwork activities such as bipolar surveys, environmental quality assessment, land use functions and tourism industry sector mapping to help us understand what tourism and recreational activities/attractions are present, why they cluster around Karra-weera and the implications of these activities for the future of the place. These activities can be used as is with your classes or modified to suit your sites and year levels. The fieldwork will relate to the Australian Curriculum – Geography, Year 9 (Version 8.4 and 9). ‘The effects of people’s travel, recreational, cultural or leisure choices on places, and the implications for the future of these places (ACHGK069)’ and ‘the effects on places of people’s travel, recreational, cultural or leisure choices, and the strategies for managing the impacts on these places (AC9HG9K06)’. It may also interest teachers of Stage 1 Geography (Topic 2: Urban Places) or teachers of other Humanities subjects such as Tourism (Exploring Tourism in the Local Area, Examining Local Impacts of Tourism and Sustainable Tourism). Meet at the rotunda in Elder Park at 9 am, and after a brief whole group talk, we will walk around the lake and finish at approximately 12pm. |
3 | The St Kilda mangrove Trail | TBA |
Conference Dinner | 6pm for a 6.30pm start The Kent Town Hotel, 76 Rundle Street Kent town This is not included in the ticket price. Contact abickley@wilderness.com.au for more info. |
Monday Conference Line-up Keynote speaker Population and mobility from an urban and regional perspective in South Australia | |
Doctor George Tan School of Social Sciences - University of Adelaide George is a Lecturer in the Department of Geography, Environment and Population. He was previously a Research Associate at the at the Hugo Centre for Migration and Population, the Public Health Information Development Unit and at the Northern Institute at Charles Darwin University. George has over 10 years of teaching and research experience in Geography, specifically in the fields of migration and population research. He has a keen research interest in international migration, particularly around international students, skilled migrants, refugees and asylum seekers. Some of his recent work includes understanding the post-study migration outcomes of international students in Australia and the experiences of skilled migrants in regional migration programs. His work connects strongly with industry and all levels of government as demonstrated by his recent appointment by the Hon. Alex Hawke, Federal Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs to the Australian Government’s Ministerial Advisory Council for Skilled Migration (MACSM). George is also collaborating with colleagues from various organisations and Australian universities to host an upcoming forum on exploring the resettlement of refugees in regional Australia which will seek to highlight new and emerging issues in this space. |
TIME | PROGRAM |
8.30 – 9.00 | Registration – enjoy your complimentary hot drink from the coffee van |
9.00 – 9.10 | WELCOME TO COUNTRY |
9.10 – 9.20 | WELCOME - GTASA Presidents |
9.20 – 9.30 | PHOTO COMPETITION – Chris Bright |
9.30 - 10.15 | KEYNOTE ADDRESS: Dr. George Tan, University of Adelaide and Dr Gerti Szili, Flinders University |
10.15 - 10.20 | Credit Union SA |
10.20 - 10.50 | MORNING TEA TRADE TABLES: Experiencing Marine Sanctuaries (EMS) |
10.45 - 11.45 | SESSION 1: WORKSHOPS (60 min) |
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11.50 - 12.50 | SESSION 2: WORKSHOPS (60 min) |
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12.50 - 1.30 | LUNCH TRADE TABLES: Experiencing Marine Sanctuaries (EMS) |
1.30 - 2.30 | SESSION 3: WORKSHOPS (60 min) |
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2.40 – 3.10 | A critique of the Australian Curriculum for Geography Version 9 – Alaric Maude |
3.10 – 3.30 | Resources for Disaster Resilience Education – Owen Ziebell |
16.00 - 17.00 | Post-conference drinks at the Excelsior Hotel, 110 Coglin St, Brompton, SA |
About the workshops: Session 1a – Disaster Resilience Education – Owen Ziebell | |
The Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience is the National Institute for disaster risk reduction and resilience. This session will provide an overview of Disaster Resilience Education (DRE) and its evolution over the last 20 years. It will unpack the underlying principles of DRE and the benefits to students, teachers, and the broader school community. The presentation will provide teachers with an understanding of how to approach studying natural hazards in the classroom through best practice examples and case studies. Attendees will be provided with a wide range of resources and can participate in a Q&A session. It is recommended attendees bring a smart device or laptop to access resources during the session. | Owen is a Senior Project Officer at the Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience (AIDR) for Education and Engagement programs. As a former teacher and police officer, Owen has experience in education as well as the emergency services, having lived and worked across rural and metropolitan communities impacted by natural hazards. These experiences have developed Owen’s understanding of the dynamic nature of emergency situations and disasters and the importance of preparation, support networks, and community engagement to develop resilience in schools. |
Session 1b – An introduction to GIS – Greg Way | |
TBA | |
Session 1c – Ian Dewy | |
This workshop will leave you with a set of classroom deliverables in two areas. The information provided is specifically tailored to the ACARA and Physics (introductory level) standards in part 1 and SACE Geography in part 2. Participants will also be given links to online classroom resources. Satellites are not just space junk. In the first section we look at the history of satellites, their range of payloads and their uses through the years. It will answer the question of what has worked and what hasn’t. We look at current and future technologies from the old “London busses” of the 60s to the nanosats of today. This presentation will dispel many of the myths, talk about how hard it is to put a satellite in space and even harder to get it out again. It does include the mathematics of Kepler and the energy balances at a basic level. The second part of the workshop pulls apart satellite images, working through the basics of processing and interpretation. We will look at examples of water resource management and crop health | Ian Dewey’s first day of work was on an oil rig setting up an experiment to track submarines from satellites. Today he searches satellite data for poaching vessels. In the middle he was an awarded physics teacher. He has wide experience in satellite capabilities and image processing. Ian’s focus is on providing classroom deliverables, not snappy anecdotes. |
Session 2a – The best ten tools for your geospatial toolbox - Mick Law | |
Review the best tools to use in your secondary or primary geospatial program with Mick from Contour Education. This session will showcase the essential tools that you need to have in your geospatial toolbox to impress your students and teaching colleagues! Hazards, weather/climate, place/urbanisation, vegetation and many more topics will be covered in this session. We'll also showcase a tool to allow your students to map their own data very easily. | Mick Law is a teacher who has been at the forefront of geospatial education for over twenty years. After implementing geospatial tools in a number of schools and delivering ESRI Australia's GIS in Schools Program, Mick has gone on to promote geospatial education with Queensland's Department of Natural Resources most recently. Now with Contour Education, Mick aims to make geospatial and other digital tools as easy as possible for P-12 teachers to use. |
Session 2b - Positive steps towards Gender Empowerment in rural Tanzania’ - Adam Burford | |
A group of young girls in rural Tanzania battle to defy the odds and stay in Primary School when many of their peers drop out. Adam Burford’s research together with his setting up of a school in a Tanzanian village tells a compelling story of girls walking large distances to school. They have heavy domestic workloads, poverty, negative influences from former peers and the threat of sexual harassment all conspiring against them completing their educational journey. This is despite a strong desire to succeed and promising academic ability. It is a story where a lack of infrastructure, economic deprivation, and cultural norms inter-twined with gender disadvantage make primary school retention for girls a difficult challenge as opposed to a rite of passage. | |
Session 2c - Assessing waterways using aquatic macroinvertebrate - Steve Walker | |
Aquatic macroinvertebrates, which include insects, worms, crustaceans, spiders, sponges, snails, and mussels, are pollution indicators. Some are extremely sensitive to pollution, whereas others are very tolerant, so they can be used to get an estimate of the amount of pollution and/or habitat degradation in a water way. Sampling the abundance and diversity of macroinvertebrates is also an easy and fun activity that you or your students can undertake. Green Adelaide Education Officer, Steve Walker, will guide you through the process of collecting and identifying the invertebrates from a local waterway, so that you can visit your own creek, river or wetland to get a snapshot of its health. | Steve is the Education Officer for Central Adelaide and FrogWatch SA Coordinator. |
Session 3a – Fieldwork for geospatial - Mick Law | |
Set yourself up for geospatial by collecting suitable fieldwork with Mick from Contour Education. In this session you will learn about some great data collection tools and you'll get an overview of how you can easily set up your data collection to make geospatial analysis and representation back in the classroom easy. Workshop materials will be presented to all participants. A smartphone is needed for the session. | Mick Law is a teacher who has been at the forefront of geospatial education for over twenty years. After implementing geospatial tools in a number of schools and delivering ESRI Australia's GIS in Schools Program, Mick has gone on to promote geospatial education with Queensland's Department of Natural Resources most recently. Now with Contour Education, Mick aims to make geospatial and other digital tools as easy as possible for P-12 teachers to use. |
Session 3b – Classroom To Coast - Ocean Literacy For All - James Tilly | |
Did you know: 70% of Australians live within 50km of the Great Southern Reef? Yet few of us know that it even exists, let alone feel supported to connect our classroom learning with this 8000 km stretch of this unique and beautiful coast. UN Sustainability Goal 14 aims to "Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas, and marine resources for sustainable development". As Educators, we have a call to action: "By 2030, 70% of formal educators worldwide receive continuous training in Ocean Literacy and pedagogical tools to incorporate Ocean Literacy in the classroom." (UNSDG 2021 - 2030) But what is Ocean Literacy? And how do we engage our students in deep and authentic learning, to support their Ocean Literacy and sustainable use of marine resources? Working in partnership with Teachers, Aboriginal Peoples, Rangers, and not-for-profit organisations including Great Southern Reef and Ocean Literacy Support, the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) has created free, teaching-ready resources to support Ocean Literacy from Classroom To Coast. If you're up to taking the plunge, we'd love to work together with you, to shape the future content and context of marine education in SA. Please join us at Classroom To Coast - Ocean Literacy For All | James is a Marine Biologist, science communicator, and interdisciplinary teacher, specialising in secondary maths and science. He has recently joined EMS as Education and Inclusive Program Manager, on a mission to connect people of all ages and abilities with our wonderful marine sanctuaries. He is passionate about marine protection and empowering young people to 'connect, respect and protect' our marine and coastal environment through a combination of classroom, Virtual Reality, and in-water experiences. |
Session 3c – improved adoption of insects in everyday diet – Ishka Bless | |
TBA |
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