Unit 3: Relationships with Outdoor Environments
Area of study 1
Historical relationships with outdoor environments
This area of study explores how Australians have understood and interacted with outdoor environments over time. Students examine the unique nature of Australian outdoor environments and investigate a range of human relationships with outdoor environments, from various Indigenous cultural experiences, through to the influence of a number of major events and issues subsequent to European settlement. Case studies are used to analyse the role of environmental movements in changing human relationships with outdoor environments. Students must study the role of at least one environmental movement in changing relationships with outdoor environments. Students engage in practical outdoor experiences that enable them to investigate human relationships with specific outdoor environments.
Outcome 1
On completion of this unit the student should be able to explain and evaluate how relationships with Australian outdoor environments have changed over time, with reference to specific outdoor experiences.
Area of study 2
Contemporary relationships with outdoor environments
In this area of study students examine current relationships between humans and outdoor environments.
They examine a number of ways outdoor environments are portrayed in different media; the dynamic
nature of relationships between humans and their environment; and the social, cultural, economic and
political factors that influence these relationships.
Students engage in practical outdoor experiences that enable them to collect information about, and
reflect on and analyse, contemporary relationships with outdoor environments.
For the purposes of this study, ‘contemporary’ refers to events and interactions within the last ten to
fifteen years.
Outcome 2
On completion of this unit the student should be able to analyse and evaluate the factors influencing contemporary societal relationships with outdoor environments, with reference to specific outdoor experiences.