Grammar Gazette- Issue 1, 2011

HUMANITIES FACULTY

G EOG RAPHY MR JEFF wHEArLEy, Head of Geography

the local community and most import antly, utilising various field trips within the learning process. In its broadest sense, geography is an education for life and for living.At understanding and enthusiasm for geography, and the development of geographical knowledge is essential for the twenfy-first century in a world where population growth, rapid development, global environmental change, social and economic inequality, and resource depletion threaten the very planet on which they live. As an outcome of their studies in geography, students are able to make a more informed, active and responsible contribution to the local and global community.

The discipline of geography brings together the natural and human dimensions of the world in the study of people, places, and environments. Geography connects student learning to the realworld. Geography is a dynamic subject. Students are given opportunities to observe, investigate, understand and evaluate human and natural phenomena and their complex interactions from a spatial perspective. This is achieved by providing an affay of learning experiences for the students such as the integral use of technology, the application of GPS and Geographic Information Systems as well as Web 2.0 applications, using different forms of multimedia, the sharing of ideas, accessing guest speakers from

ECONOMTCS MR TRENT DRIVER, Dean ofAcaden'tic Development

global economy? Such questions of our standard of living, our environment, welfare, international trade, our currency, interest rates, government policies or even how to measure our confidence in the future should provide valuable insights. Economics is about understanding models and theories of how individuals and groups behave and interact, but more importandy it asks whether or not those theories help us understand the issues that face us individually and nationally on a daily basis. John Maynard Keynes suggested that we are all 'slaves of some defunct economist'whether we know it or not. In this way, as a discipline economics is paradoxical (but also places it firmly in the realms of the humanities): economic ideas may exist in a book, but the impacts and study of those economic ideas are played out in society every duy. Understanding how and why they are played out is the holy grail of this branch of the humanities.

In a time of tragic natural disasters on a national scale, the focus of media's attention moves quickly from the hum an tragedy to debates on the manipulation of taxes, levies and government balance sheets. This underlines the influence and prevalence of economic ideas in our society. The rights and wrongs of different approaches, of equity and fairness and of what is best to support populations at risk, emphasise that questions in economics are not just questions of money and finance but questions of choices, costs and benefits to society on a broad scale. Studies in economics asks why people, businesses, governments and even societies make the choices they do and to evaluate their impacts. Why do consumers behave the way they do? What challenges does Australia's changing population pose? How do governments make the decisions they do, and how will they affect us? Where do we sit in a fluid and fluctuating

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