Years F–4: Introduction

The Australian Curriculum: Geography (and its various HASS­–based iterations) has themes for each stage of schooling.

The Foundation year theme is 'People live in places' and students develop a sense of identity and understanding about their own place as they learn to observe and describe its features. They begin to understand about location as they make connections between their own place and other places on the earth.

The Year 1 theme is ‘Places have distinctive features’ and students’ develop deeper understandings of natural, managed and constructed features of places. They begin to think about the concept of space and arrangement of spaces for purpose.

The Year 2 theme is ‘People are connected to many places’ which further develops students’ understanding that places may be defined differently by diverse groups of people. They are also introduced to the concept of scale and interconnection both locally and globally, and the connection Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples maintain with Country/Place.

The Year 3 theme is ‘Places are both similar and different’ which broadens students’ understanding of the differences between places within and outside Australia.

The Year 4 theme is ‘The Earth’s environment sustains all life’ which develops students’ understanding that personal, local, national and global experiences result in different views about sustainability and what is required to maintain all life on earth.

Materials to support teaching practice in Years F–4 are contained in the sections: