During the intensive phase, the students are supposed to acquire both vocabulary and simple grammatical structures that will enable them to successfully participate in basic bilingual Geography and Economics lessons later on.

The following geographical topics and skills closely linked to the subject are part of the GWK lessons during the Intensive Phase:

• Spatial orientation on Earth (Austria, Europe, continents and oceans)
• Physical features of the Earth
• Weather and climate
  

Year 1   January – June (2 periods / week):

After the Intensive Phase, from January to the end of June, the following topics are covered:

• Maps and scales
• Plate tectonics and natural hazards(earthquakes and volcanoes)
• World climates
• Living spaces: How people live and work in different parts of the world (in the rain forests, in deserts, on mountains, at coasts)

During the intensive phase of Year 1, students should acquire the following skills:

• naming Austrian provinces and their capital cities and locating them on a map;
• naming continents and oceans and locating them on a map;
• naming European countries and nationalities and locating the countries on a map;
• finding places in the atlas;
• portraying simple landscape features;
• describing the weather;
• explaining which factors influence the climate;
• finding places on a map and calculating distances between places.

During the remainder of Year 1, students should acquire the following skills:

• describing features of the Earth;
• explaining the distribution of world climates around the globe;
• using the graticule to determine a place’s exact location;
• describing and comparing how people live and work in different living spaces;
• explaining and discussing how people cope with natural hazards.

During the Intensive Phase, the students’ participation in Geography and Economics will be assessed verbally. Furthermore, students are encouraged to assess their progress themselves by using a list of teaching objectives and reflecting upon their skills with their teacher.

For the remainder of the school year, the assessment of the students is based on oral as well as written performance, including the students’ participation in class, oral revisions, a written test, home exercises and a workshop.

1.     Cities

2.     Maps (Spatial orientation on Earth)

3.     Egypt, an LEDC (Life in an LEDC, life in agglomerations)

4.     Economic Sectors

·        Primary Industries

·        Manufacturing Industries

·        Service Industries

5.     Water (supply)

• depicting the characteristics of urban areas, analyzing their distribution and judging their importance in different parts of the world with a special view to differences in MEDCs and LEDCs;

• describing and listing reasons for the uneven distribution of people on Earth;

• grouping maps and using them to describe physical features and human actions;

• categorizing professions in terms of economic sectors;

• describing and comparing the production of goods both in factories and workshops;
• naming physical as well as human and economic factors determining the location of industry (e.g. raw materials, energy; labor supply, markets, government policy);
• realizing the diversity of service industries and their growing importance on a regional and global level;
• describing and assessing the importance of a local industry (e.g. outing to factories);
• recognizing classroom topics in the media;

The learning in Geography and Economics is based on individualized open learning phases.

Each student shows their learning progress both in tests and through the use of subject-related skills, which they acquire and improve in the open learning phases.

Austria:

1)  Basic Facts

2)  Main Regions

3)  Population

4)  Settlements

5)  Transport Networks

6)  How people earn their living

• listing Austria’s main regions and locating them on maps, describing their physical features and assessing their suitability as living spaces and work places;
• depicting the uneven distribution of Austria’s population, its changes and evaluating the consequences of those changes for society and the economy;
• comparing core and peripheral areas in Austria and judging the importance of town and country planning;
• describing Austria’s transport networks analyzing both their importance for an increasingly mobile society and their negative effects on the environment;
• categorizing different economic areas, e.g. farming, industrial or tourist areas and showing their changes within the past few decades;
• explaining macroeconomic factors such as economic growth, unemployment, inflation and foreign trade (always with a view to Austria’s performance and those of other EU member states);
• portraying the interlocking of Austria’s economy with those of the other EU members ;

Throughout the year special focus will be put on map work and the production and

interpretation of graphs;

The learning in Geography and Economics is based on individualized open learning phases.

Each student shows their learning progress both in tests and through the use of subjectrelated skills, which they acquire and improve in the open learning phases.

2)  European Topography

3)  European Climates

4)  European Union (EU)

5)  Ireland

6)  Influential Countries outside Europe

• collecting and analyzing data of different European regions and countries and comparing them to other parts of the world;

• describing the diversity of Europe in terms of physical features, climate and population;

• listing the main institutions and members of the European Union;

• developing a notion of core and peripheral areas in Europe, their problems and ways in which the EU deals with them;

• portraying and analyzing one important extra-European state and its importance for the world economy, thereby developing a notion of core and peripheral areas worldwide.

The learning in Geography and Economics is based on individualized open learning phases.

Each student shows their learning progress both in tests and through the use of subjectrelated skills, which they acquire and improve in the open learning phases.

2)  European Topography

3)  European Climates

4)  European Union (EU)

5)  Ireland

6)  Influential Countries outside Europe

• During Year 4 students should acquire the following skills:
• collecting and analyzing data of different European regions and countries and comparing them to other parts of the world;
• describing the diversity of Europe in terms of physical features, climate and population;
• listing the main institutions and members of
• the European Union;
• developing a notion of core and peripheral areas in Europe, their problems and ways in which the EU deals with them;
• portraying and analyzing one important extra-European state and its importance for the world economy, thereby developing a notion of core and peripheral areas worldwide.

The learning in Geography and Economics is based on individualized open learning phases.

Each student shows their learning progress both in tests and through the use of subjectrelated skills, which they acquire and improve in the open learning phases.

1.     Global Disparities

2.     Plate Tectonics

3.     Geomorphologic hazards:

• earthquakes and volcanoes

4.     World Climates

5.     World Biomes

6.     Population

• Depicting core and peripheral areas worldwide, categorizing them by using economic and social indicators as well as theoretical models, analyzing the reasons for developmental differences, and assessing different ideas of support; portraying the
• economic development in India through industrialization; identifying the reasons and hindrances of current Indian economic development and evaluating their impacts;
• categorizing different parts of the Earth using the distribution of continental and oceanic plates and the activities at their boundaries; describing the layers of the Earth, the plate movements and resulting natural disasters; contrasting the disasters at different plate
• boundaries and developing possible future scenarios;
• assessing the effects of geomorphological disasters on people and economy, comparing them in MEDCs and LEDCs and evaluating mitigation methods;
• portraying the main world climates, creating and interpreting climate graphs and assessing the impact of climate change and the human influence on this issue;
• describing and comparing the main world biomes, evaluating their suitability for the economy and analyzing the human impact on their environments;
• depicting the development of the world’s population in different areas, assessing the related problems and developing solutions.

The learning in Geography and Economics is based on individualized open learning phases.

Each student shows their learning progress both in tests and through the use of subject-related skills, which they acquire and improve in the open learning phases.

impact on population and economy

2.     The economic valorization of

agricultural production areas in Europe

3.     Population in Europe (migration and

aging population)

4.     The European Union (EU)

5.     Regional disparities in Europe

6.     People and their economic needs

• describing the diversity of Europe’s landscapes in terms of physical features and climates and analyzing their significance for the population distribution and density as well as for people’s economic activities;
• -showing the development of various Southern European agricultural areas in the past few decades, analyzing the reasons for this development and evaluating the impact of those changes on population, economy and environment;
• depicting the changes in the population development of Europe and assessing the impact of migration on the continent’s present and future (“Fortress Europe”);
• examining the democratic system of the European Union, describing and assessing the roles of the various institutions; discussing the effects of the most important treaties on the present and the future of the Union;
• portraying regional disparities in Europe using the Italian Mezzogiorno as an example and assessing spatial and economic effects of the European Union’s regional policies;
• describing, comparing and disputing the basic principles of economy such as market forces, types of prices and competition as well as the business cycle and the economic circuit.

Assessment …

… in Geography and Economics is based on oral as well as written performance, including the students’ participation in class, presentations, written tests and assignments.

2.     Macroeconomic performance of a country

3.     Economic and social policy of Austria

4.     Austria’s physical regions

– chances and risks

• During Year 7 students should acquire the following skills:
• portraying and discussing the changes of Austria’s population structure and assessing the impact of those changes on Austria’s society and economy;
• depicting and evaluating Austria’s economic performance in the last decades and comparing the country’s performance to that of other economies; analyzing Austria’s current economic data to predict future developments;
• defining Austria’s economic and social policy by portraying the aspects of the Magic Polygon; comparing and contrasting Austria’s current system to Keynesian and Monetarist views;
• depicting the unique characteristics of Austria’s physical regions and assessing various economic and social opportunities and risks of each of them.

… in Geography and Economics is based on oral as well as written performance, including the students’ participation in class, written tests and workshops.

1.     Globalization – Chances and risks

2.     World trade

3.     Urbanization

• defining and portraying various aspects of globalization; assessing their impacts on people, economy and environment in LEDCs and MEDCs; analyzing the role of globalization in climate change and developing mitigation scenarios;
• listing and describing historical and current trends in world trade and the reasons for foreign trade; contrasting the concepts of free trade vs. protectionism; identifying the world economic triad and the world trade belt; portraying the WTO and critically assessing its role in world trade; depicting the development of world trade in agriculture since World War II, analyzing its results and developing possible future scenarios;
• listing and describing settlement types, patterns and functions; comparing urbanization and urban change in MEDCs and LEDCs; identifying problem areas and developing and/or evaluating possible solutions and smart city concepts.

… in Geography and Economics is based on oral as well as written performance, including the students’ participation in class, written tests and assignments.