School: Kurongkurl Katitjin

This unit information may be updated and amended immediately prior to semester. To ensure you have the correct outline, please check it again at the beginning of semester.

  • Unit Title

    Aboriginal Perspectives on the Environment
  • Unit Code

    ACS2122
  • Year

    2025
  • Enrolment Period

    1
  • Version

    4
  • Credit Points

    15
  • Full Year Unit

    N
  • Mode of Delivery

    On Campus
    Online
  • Unit Coordinator

    Dr Leanda MASON

Description

This unit investigates ecological explanations of cultural diversity, differing notions of sustainable development, and the ecological and spiritual interrelationship integral to Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander cultures. Students study traditional and contemporary relations with the environment, paying particular attention to spirituality, fire and land management. We will analyse the convergences and divergences between Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander environmental perspectives and the environment movement. Students will explore current issues linking Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander people and the environment.

Equivalent Rule

Unit was previously coded ACS4101

Learning Outcomes

On completion of this unit students should be able to:

  1. Discuss different notions of the term sustainable development.
  2. Describe Aboriginal Australian people's traditional and contemporary spiritual/ecological relationship with the environment.
  3. Articulate current environmental management issues affecting Aboriginal peoples globally.
  4. Evaluate government initiatives, policies and responsibilities regarding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, the environment and strategies using current examples.
  5. Examine ethical positioning when working with Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander peoples on Country.

Unit Content

  1. Land rights and Native Title.
  2. Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander relations with mining, tourism, national parks and conservation areas.
  3. Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander peoples' contemporary spiritual and ecological relationships.
  4. Government initiatives and responsibilities with regard to Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander culture, the environment and sustainable development.
  5. The ecological and cultural approaches to explain human economic and social diversity.
  6. Systems of knowledge in sustainable development and climate change.
  7. Fire management regimes

Learning Experience

Students will attend on campus classes as well as engage in learning activities through ECU's LMS

JoondalupMount LawleySouth West (Bunbury)
Semester 213 x 3 hour seminarNot OfferedNot Offered

For more information see the Semester Timetable

Additional Learning Experience Information

This unit uses Aboriginal Systems of Knowledge within the context of urban, rural and remote environments throughout Australia. The unit is designed to provide students with principles of engagement with Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander communities in environmental management and Natural Resource Management (NRM). The lectures cover weekly topics, and tutorials include class discussions and activities. Lectures are recorded. Students also participate in a mid-semester excursion to Kings Park. Guest speakers enhance the unit with expertise in Aboriginal spirituality and archaeological field work, including cultural and family mapping. Students participating in the unit are given the opportunity to gain knowledge and understanding of Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander people's culture and their history. The central focus of Aboriginal Perspectives on the Environment is connection to Country. Students are expected to utilise class time by completing reading and weekly activities so as to contribute to class interaction. Online students are expected to access this information and to connect via the discussion board. The lecturer's role in this unit is primarily to guide and facilitate learning.

Assessment

GS1 GRADING SCHEMA 1 Used for standard coursework units

Students please note: The marks and grades received by students on assessments may be subject to further moderation. All marks and grades are to be considered provisional until endorsed by the relevant School Progression Panel.

ON CAMPUS
TypeDescriptionValue
EssayMinor essay20%
Case StudyMajor Assessment 30%
ExaminationExamination50%
ONLINE
TypeDescriptionValue
EssayMinor essay20%
AssignmentMajor Assessment30%
ExaminationExamination50%

Disability Standards for Education (Commonwealth 2005)

For the purposes of considering a request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Commonwealth 2005), inherent requirements for this subject are articulated in the Unit Description, Learning Outcomes and Assessment Requirements of this entry. The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the support for students with disabilities or medical conditions can be found at the Access and Inclusion website.

Assessment

Students please note: The marks and grades received by students on assessments may be subject to further moderation. Informal vivas may be conducted as part of an assessment task, where staff require further information to confirm the learning outcomes have been met. All marks and grades are to be considered provisional until endorsed by the relevant School Progression Panel.

Academic Integrity

Integrity is a core value at Edith Cowan University, and it is expected that ECU students complete their assessment tasks honestly and with acknowledgement of other people's work as well as any generative artificial intelligence tools that may have been used. This means that assessment tasks must be completed individually (unless it is an authorised group assessment task) and any sources used must be referenced.

Breaches of academic integrity can include:

Plagiarism

Copying the words, ideas or creative works of other people or generative artificial intelligence tools, without referencing in accordance with stated University requirements. Students need to seek approval from the Unit Coordinator within the first week of study if they intend to use some of their previous work in an assessment task (self-plagiarism).

Unauthorised collaboration (collusion)

Working with other students and submitting the same or substantially similar work or portions of work when an individual submission was required. This includes students knowingly providing others with copies of their own work to use in the same or similar assessment task(s).

Contract cheating

Organising a friend, a family member, another student or an external person or organisation (e.g. through an online website) to complete or substantially edit or refine part or all of an assessment task(s) on their behalf.

Cheating in an exam

Using or having access to unauthorised materials in an exam or test.

Serious outcomes may be imposed if a student is found to have committed one of these breaches, up to and including expulsion from the University for repeated or serious acts.

ECU's policies and more information about academic integrity can be found on the student academic integrity website.

All commencing ECU students are required to complete the Academic Integrity Module.

Assessment Extension

In some circumstances, Students may apply to their Unit Coordinator to extend the due date of their Assessment Task(s) in accordance with ECU's Assessment, Examination and Moderation Procedures - for more information visit https://askus2.ecu.edu.au/s/article/000001386.

Special Consideration

Students may apply for Special Consideration in respect of a final unit grade, where their achievement was affected by Exceptional Circumstances as set out in the Assessment, Examination and Moderation Procedures - for more information visit https://askus2.ecu.edu.au/s/article/000003318.

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