Curriculum Aims

The aims of this curriculum are to enable students to:

(a) understand the Earth they inhabit, and enable them to recognise and interpret, from a spatial perspective, the arrangement of phenomena and features on Earth, the processes at work, the interactions that occur, the changes that result, and the issues and management responses that arise;

(b) develop the general intellectual capacity and generic skills needed for lifelong learning through geographical enquiry, and the ability to apply these in life situations;

(c) appreciate the wonder, interdependence and fragility of the local and global environment, and the importance of promoting sustainable development; and

(d) develop a sense of citizenship, a global outlook, and readiness to take action for the betterment of society, the nation and the world.

Curriculum Objectives

Students are expected to develop knowledge and understanding of:

(a) how natural environments influence human activities, and how human activities alter natural environments;

(b) the changing development of geographical phenomena and issues in terms of space and time;

(c) the characteristics and functioning of major natural environments, through analyzing the processes and interactions within and between them;

(d) the characteristics and development of major human activities, in order to achieve a sense of “region”; and

(e) the issues arising from people-environment interactions and the human responses to such issues, as well as the implications of these human responses for resource management.

Skills

Students are expected to develop:

(a) geographical enquiry skills, including the ability to:

(i) identify and ask questions from a geographical perspective;

(ii) locate, select and extract appropriate information and data from primary and secondary sources (e.g. the field, surveys, documents, maps, charts, ground and aerial photos and Geographic Information System [GIS] data), which require the ability to observe and record data systematically and accurately;

(iii) present and organise information and data, which involves the ability to: - use appropriate techniques for summarising (e.g. descriptive statistics such as measures of central tendency and variability); - use appropriate formats, such as texts (e.g. reports, tables, summaries, etc.) and illustrations (such as maps, diagrams, models, sketches, and graphs);

(iv) compare, analyse, synthesise and evaluate, in order to interpret information and data for making inferences and drawing conclusions, which includes: - the use of appropriate statistical techniques (e.g. correlation); - analysis of spatial patterns using GIS.

(v) evaluate the findings, solutions or conclusions drawn from enquiry.

(b) generic skills of communication, critical thinking, problem-solving and creativity through geographical enquiry, in particular the ability to:

(i) select appropriate means of effective communication;

(ii) draw out meaning from information, and determine what and what not to believe;

(iii) analyse problems through logical reasoning, and determine the optimal course of action from a number of alternatives;

(iv) view situations from different perspectives and adopt appropriate approaches to analyse problems.

Values and attitudes

Students are expected to develop values and attitudes that will enable them to:

(a) have a sense of wonder and curiosity about peoples, places and environments; (b) show respect for all peoples, and their cultures, values and ways of life;

(c) recognise environmental problems and take appropriate action to promote sustainable development;

(d) cultivate a sense of belonging to society and the nation and become active and responsible citizens; and

(e) be aware of the increasing global interdependence of peoples and nations, and appreciate the importance of international solidarity and cooperation.