This document provides guidance on developing geography assessments, including essay questions, stimulus materials, and practical exercises. It emphasizes that assessments should: - Focus on key geographic concepts and spatial relationships rather than memorization. - Present manageable stimulus materials like maps, graphs, and limited text to apply learned concepts to new locations. - Incorporate analysis of relationships and decision-making about provided options or scenarios. - Include open-ended questions, paragraph responses, and manipulation of primary data through maps and graphs to demonstrate geographic skills.

1. GEOGRAPHY INFORMATION
SESSION
GTAQ 2012

2. State Panel Report – key messages
• Stimulus material
• Geographic conventions
• Primary data
• Scope and scale
• Key questions and key ideas
• Spatial knowledge
• Complex relationships
• Concise expression

3. Stimulus Response Essays
• Essay question needs to clearly separate analysis
and decision-making components of the task.
• Be based on a location or issue not studied in class –
students apply concepts from class case study.
• Stimulus – manageable with a focus on maps,
tables, graphs, images and a limited amount of text.
• Some information such as that related to the
alternatives/options may not be provided
beforehand so that assessment is authentic.

4. Sample Essay Question
Your essay should analyse the stimulus by:
• identifying and explaining the simple and complex
relationships between human development and the impact on
the waterway identifying the components of the patterns and
processes evident in the human impact which have created
flooding problems.
Make decisions by:
• evaluating the two options by applying appropriate criteria
(see Figure 6) choosing the better option to solve the flooding
problem, and justifying your choice

5. Sample Stimulus

6. Sample Stimulus

7. Stimulus for Essay or Prac

9. Practical Exercises
• Sufficiently complex manipulation of data
• Apply geographic conventions in the
presentation of data
• Should be based on a location not studied in
class – students apply concepts from class
case study.
• Communication criterion applies only to the
manipulation and presentation of data.
• Analysis & Decision-making are enhanced
with extra data

10. Manipulation of Data - Maps
• Maps – e.g. choropleth, proportional circle, flow

11. Manipulation of Data - Graphs

12. Short Response Tests
• Coverage of key questions
• Coverage of key ideas evident in questions
• Provide opportunity for standards A and B –
‘thorough & comprehensive’
• Some paragraph length responses
• Limit choice – otherwise not ‘comprehensive’.
• Spatial knowledge – written and non-written
• Evidence of case study/s

13. Reports
• Primary data collected in the field
• Data collection should go beyond observation
• Manipulated data provides the basis for the
analysis
• Link decision making to the issues identified in
analysis
• Keep scope of decision-making manageable
• Keep context and scale manageable