Year 10 Humanities and Social Sciences (Geography and History) Semester One Exam Revision Guide

Semester One Exam Overview and Requirements

• Total Duration: The exam is a $2$-hour assessment.

• Exam Structure:

  • Section One: Multiple-choice: Consists of $20$ Geography questions and $20$ History questions (Total: $40$ questions).

  • Section Two: Short Response: Includes both short answer questions and source analysis tasks.

  • Section Three: Extended Answer: Requires the completion of ONE essay response.

• Subject Areas:

  • Geography: Environmental Change and Management (Unit 1) and Geographies of Human Wellbeing (Unit 2).

  • History: Causes of World War II and Australian Experiences of World War II (Unit 1).

Geography Skills: Cartography and Data Interpretation

• Map Features (BOLTSS): A map must include a Border, Orientation (compass rose), Legend (key), Title, Scale (line or written), and Source.

• Different Map Types:

  • Physical Maps: Show natural features like mountains and rivers.

  • Political Maps: Show territorial boundaries and city locations.

  • Dot Distribution Maps: Use dots to represent the presence or quantity of a feature.

  • Choropleth Maps: Use different shades or colors to represent variable data values across geographic areas.

• Location Techniques:

  • Four-Figure Area References (AR): Used to locate a general area or grid square.

  • Six-Figure Grid References (GR): Used for more accurate point-location within a grid.

  • Latitude and Longitude: Global coordinate system using degrees to pinpoint locations on the Earth's surface.

• Representing Height:

  • Spot Heights: Specific points marked with their exact elevation.

  • Choropleth Shading: Using color gradients to represent elevation ranges.

  • Contour Lines: Lines connecting points of equal elevation; close lines indicate steep slopes, while far apart lines indicate gentle inclines.

• Direction and Scale:

  • 8-Direction Compass Rose: N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, W, NW.

  • Flow Maps: Indicate the direction and volume of movement between locations.

  • Scales: Use linear scale lines or written scales (e.g., $1:100,000$) to convert map distances to real-world distances.

• Data Analysis:

  • Construction: Creating data tables, line graphs, column/bar graphs, pie charts, climate graphs, and population pyramids.

  • Analysis: Describing patterns and trends, and identifying outliers or anomalies (data points that deviate significantly from the rest).

Geography Content: Environmental Change and Management

• The Seven SPICESS Concepts:

  1. Space: The location and distribution of things on the Earth's surface.

  2. Place: The specific identity and characteristics of a location.

  3. Interconnection: How people and things are connected to other people and things.

  4. Change: How the environment or society is modified over time.

  5. Environment: The biological and physical world.

  6. Scale: Looking at things from different levels (local, regional, national, global).

  7. Sustainability: Maintaining the capacity of the environment to support life.

• Ecosystem Services:

  1. Provisioning Services: Products obtained from ecosystems (e.g., food, timber, water).

  2. Regulating Services: Benefits from the regulation of ecosystem processes (e.g., pollination, climate regulation, water purification).

  3. Cultural Services: Non-material benefits (e.g., recreation, spiritual value, aesthetic inspiration).

  4. Supporting Services: Services necessary for the production of all other ecosystem services (e.g., soil formation, nutrient cycling).

• Terminology:

  • Biotic: Living components of an ecosystem (e.g., plants, animals, bacteria).

  • Abiotic: Non-living components (e.g., sunlight, water, minerals, temperature).

  • Biodiversity Loss: The decrease in the variety of life in a specific habitat or ecosystem.

  • Greenhouse Effect: The process by which radiation from the atmosphere warms the planet's surface to a temperature above what it would be without its atmosphere.

• Drivers of Ecosystem Change:

  • Direct Drivers: Factors that unequivocally influence ecosystem processes (e.g., overfishing, land clearing, burning fossil fuels).

  • Indirect Drivers: Underlying factors that work by influencing direct drivers (e.g., population growth, economic activity, technological change).

• Human-Induced Changes:

  • Land: Urbanization, deforestation, and agricultural expansion.

  • Atmosphere: Increased greenhouse gas emissions leading to the greenhouse effect.

  • Water: Pollution, over-extraction for irrigation, and damming.

• Climate Change Specifics:

  1. Causes: Primary cause is the burning of fossil fuels releasing $CO_2$ and other greenhouse gases.

  2. Effects: Rising sea levels, extreme weather patterns, loss of biodiversity, and impacts on WA’s Mediterranean forests.

  3. Responses: Contrast local and global responses, evaluating their effectiveness and ethical implications.

• Case Study: Birriliburu Rangers: Apply the concept of custodial responsibility, where First Nations Australians manage and protect traditional lands.

Geography Content: Geographies of Human Wellbeing

• Defining Wellbeing: Wellbeing is the condition of being contented, healthy, or successful, encompassing both physical needs (food, water, shelter) and secondary needs (education, safety, mental health).

• Indicators of Wellbeing:

  • Material Indicators: Tangible factors like Income ($GDP$), housing quality, and employment rates.

  • Non-Material Indicators: Intangible factors like health (life expectancy), education (literacy rates), political freedom, and social connection.

• Measuring Development:

  1. Gross Domestic Product ($GDP$): The total value of goods and services produced in a country.

  2. $GDP$ per Capita: The $GDP$ divided by the total population, providing an average per person.

  3. Human Development Index ($HDI$): A composite statistic of life expectancy, education, and per capita income indicators used to rank countries.

• Spatial Variations in Australia (2021 Census Data):

  • Subiaco (Urban): Median weekly household income: $2,356 \, USD$; Year 12 completion: $88.1 \, percent$; Unemployment: $4.2 \, percent$; Long-term health conditions: $15.8 \, percent$.

  • Halls Creek (Remote): Median weekly household income: $1,287 \, USD$; Year 12 completion: $34.6 \, percent$; Unemployment: $11.3 \, percent$; Long-term health conditions: $36.9 \, percent$.

• Causes of Variations: Economic (industrial base), Social (access to services), Technological (internet connectivity), Political (government funding), and Environmental (climate/resources).

• United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): A collection of $17$ global goals designed to be a blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all, directly impacting human wellbeing.

• Roles of Organizations:

  • NGOs (Non-Government Organizations): Private organizations like World Vision that operate independently to improve wellbeing through aid and advocacy.

  • Government Programs: National or state initiatives (e.g., Medicare, Centrelink) aimed at reducing regional inequalities.

History Skills: Concepts and Source Analysis

• Key Historical Concepts:

  • Evidence: Information used to support a claim.

  • Continuity and Change: What stays the same and what is different over time.

  • Cause and Effect: How one event leads to another.

  • Perspectives: Different points of view based on individual or group values.

  • Empathy: Understanding the feelings and motivations of people in the past.

  • Significance: The importance assigned to an event or person.

  • Contestability: Historical interpretations that are open to debate.

• Source Analysis Procedures:

  1. Origin: Who created it, where, and when ($B.C./A.D.$ or specific years).

  2. Context: The historical situation surrounding the creation of the source.

  3. Message: The central idea or point the source is trying to convey.

  4. Purpose: Why the source was created (e.g., to persuade, inform, record).

  5. Perspective: The bias or point of view of the creator based on their background.

  6. Usefulness: How much the source helps a historian understand a specific topic.

History Content: Causes of World War II

• Key Terminology:

  • Treaty of Versailles: The peace treaty at the end of WWI that many Germans felt was unfairly punitive.

  • Great Depression: Global economic collapse starting in $1929$ that increased support for extremist political ideologies.

  • Appeasement: A diplomatic policy of making concessions to an aggressive power to avoid conflict (notably used by Britain and France regarding Hitler).

  • Fascism: An authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government.

  • Nazism: The ideology and practices associated with the Nazi Party under Adolf Hitler.

  • Militarism: The belief that a country should maintain a strong military capability and be prepared to use it aggressively.

  • Anti-Semitism: Hostility to or prejudice against Jewish people.

• Rise of the Nazi Party: Social and economic instability following WWI and during the Great Depression allowed extremist ideologies to flourish. Limited resistance in Germany was due to propaganda, government control, and a promise of economic recovery.

History Content: Australian Experiences in World War II

• Service Personnel Experiences:

  • Challenges: Included jungle warfare (Pacific theater), harsh climates, diseases (like malaria), and being captured as Prisoners of War (POWs).

  • Impacts: Extreme physical trauma, long-term psychological effects (PTSD), and difficulty transitioning to post-war civilian life.

• The Home Front:

  • Rationing: Government restrictions on the food and resources civilians could buy to ensure supplies for the military.

  • Government Controls: Expanded powers under the National Security Act, including censorship of news and mail.

  • Conscription: Mandatory enlistment in the armed forces or labor organizations.

  • Women’s Land Army: Established in $1942$ to recruit women for agricultural work to replace men serving overseas.

  • Propaganda: Use of posters (e.g., by artist James Northfield) to encourage recruitment and national service.

  • Economic Shifts: Munitions manufacturing, such as work at the Lithgow Small Arms Factory, transformed the industrial landscape.

• Changing Roles of Women: Shifted from domestic duties to industrial, agricultural, and auxiliary military roles, which shaped modern Australia's social hierarchy.

History Content: Significant Events (Holocaust & Atomic Bomb)

• The Holocaust:

  • A state-sponsored persecution and genocide of European Jews by the Nazi regime between $1933$ and $1945$.

  • Contextualized by long-standing European Anti-Semitism and the rise of the Third Reich.

• The Atomic Bomb:

  • Short-Term Impacts: Immediate destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, mass civilian casualties, and Japan's surrender.

  • Long-Term Impacts: Commencement of the Nuclear Age/Arms Race; persistent health effects (radiation sickness, cancers) in survivors (Hibakusha); environmental contamination.

  • Perspectives on Use:

    • Military/US Leaders: Argument that it was necessary to end the war quickly and save American lives.

    • Japanese Civilians: Viewed as an act of immense human suffering and unethical warfare.

    • Ethical/Moral: Debates surrounding the morality of using weapons of mass destruction on civilian populations.

Multiple-Choice Revision Questions (Selected Examples)

1. Which concept best explains how clearing forests can affect rainfall patterns? (B) Interconnection

2. Which of the following is an example of a regulating ecosystem service? (B) Pollination of crops

3. Overfishing is best described as a: (C) Direct driver of environmental change

4. Which group is most likely to experience lower access to services in Australia? (C) Remote communities

5. The policy of appeasement aimed to: (C) Avoid conflict through compromise

6. Wartime propaganda was used mainly to: (B) Encourage public support

7. The origin of a source refers to: (B) Who created it and when

8. Continuity and change questions focus on: (D) What stayed the same and what changed over time

Questions & Discussion

Q: How does GDP differ from HDI? A: GDP (Gross Domestic Product) only measures the economic output of a country. The HDI (Human Development Index) is more comprehensive because it includes data on health (life expectancy) and education (years of schooling), making it a better indicator of overall human wellbeing.

Q: What is the difference between direct and indirect drivers of change? A: Direct drivers are physical actions with a clear causal link to the environment, like deforestation or pollution. Indirect drivers are human factors like population growth or economic markets that create the demand or motivation for those direct actions to occur.

Q: Why did the League of Nations fail? A: It could not enforce its decisions because it lacked its own military force and several major world powers (like the USA) were not members or did not fully support its actions, leaving it unable to stop the aggression of nations like Germany, Italy, and Japan lead-up to WWII.