Tourism – an economic activity supports the Stage 6 Geography topic People and economic activity. It focuses on a case study of Taronga Zoo as a tourism enterprise operating at a local level. The program is a partnership between Observatory Hill EEC and Taronga Zoo Sydney Education Centre
Program dates
2024 Available Excursion Dates:
Term 1
Thursday 21st March
Term 2
Thursday 9th May
Thursday 23rd May
Thursday 20th June
Term 3
Thursday 5th September
Term 4
To be advised
Program location
Taronga Zoo Sydney Mosman
View the Google map. Please note, if arriving by ferry, buses meet ferries for transfer to the Zoo entrance. Please note the program meeting point is the Taronga Centre for Science and Learning.
Key inquiry question
A geographic study of an economic enterprise operating at a local scale.
Key syllabus outcomes
Students will:
- analyse the changing spatial and ecological dimensions of an economic activity
- evaluate environmental management strategies in terms of ecological sustainability
- plan geographical enquiries to analyse and synthesise information from a variety of sources
- apply maps, graphs and statistics and fieldwork to analyse and integrate data in geographical contexts.
Integrating the ‘Sustainability’ Cross Curriculum Priority is a feature of the program.
Skills outcomes
Learning activities include:
- observing and recording aspects of the nature of the economic enterprise, its locational factors, and ecological dimensions and linkages and flows of people, goods, services or ideas within the economic enterprise
- developing Geographic Inquiry Skills including: Acquiring (what is where), Processing (why is it there), and Communicating (why care)
- answering a fieldwork question; “Describe the nature and location of your economic enterprise, any environmental constraints on it, and any impacts it may have on the environment. List any effects of global changes in the tourism industry on the operation of your economic enterprise. Describe in detail one linkage or flow of people, goods, services or ideas within the economic enterprise”.
Student pre-visit and follow up activities
Successful fieldwork visits have direct links to current classroom learning. Pre-visit activities carried out prior to the excursion will help students better understand their excursion content and provide connectedness and relevance to classroom learning.
The following tasks, together with fieldwork, will help students answer the fieldwork question:
Visit the virtual tour support website: https://sites.google.com/education.nsw.gov.au/obhill-pea-tourism/home
On the day activities
During the full day fieldwork excursion, students will:
- Listen to a presentation by Taronga Zoo education staff, that addresses the syllabus dot points about the Zoo's operation as an economic enterprise
- Undertake a geography 'skills in context' task to learn more about the Zoo's geographic location and operations.
- undertake a guided tour through Taronga Zoo to investigate its operations, including back of house areas not usually accessible to the public
- have opportunities to observe and record the Zoo's Departments, business features and environmental management strategies using the Epicollect5 app en route.
Cost
- Government Schools: $27.50 per student (GST free).
- Non-Government Schools: $35 per student (GST free).