Human Impacts on our Coastal Environment

Students at Dolphin Cove

Program Overview

Students visit Dolphin Cove, near Tura Beach, to study the coastal reserve between the urban environment and the beach. They will focus on the impact of humans on coastal environments and investigate how those impacts are currently being managed. Students are required to come up with a plan of management that details how the current facilities and management strategies can be improved to protect our precious coastal environment.

Students are taken on a tour of the area, stopping at key locations to discuss. During the tour students gather information on how the development of this area is being managed, they record notes, take photographs and draw sketches of what they observe. Once the fieldwork tasks have been completed students can return to school to collate their research findings to identify and report on important coastal management issues.

Educational Focus

Geography – Environmental Change and Management

GE5-3 analyses the effect of interactions and connections between people, places and environments

GE5-5 assesses management strategies for places and environments for their sustainability

GE5-7 acquires and processes geographical information by selecting and using appropriate and relevant geographical tools for inquiry

GE5-8 communicates geographical information to a range of audiences using a variety of strategies

Learning Experiences

Sites visited and discussed on the tour of Dolphin Cove include:

  • sewerage treatment pumping station
  • assest protection zone
  • road closure
  • signage
  • regeneration of vegetation / uncleared gully areas
  • walkways and stairs protecting highly erodible areas
  • adaptations of local fauna
  • stormwater runoff pool
  • reinforced creek bed
  • sediment and nutrients trapping dam / lined channel
  • erosion around cliff areas
  • car parking areas (old and new)