Communication Skills

-         the ability to discuss and debate issues ad communicate thoughts clearly

-         the ability to present findings clearly and concisely through speech, writing, numbers, maps and     diagrams.

Intellectual Skills

-         to think clearly and constructively

-         to order and classify information

-         to pose and test hypotheses

-         to construct and test theoretical models

-         to solve problems and make decisions

-         to clarify the values associated with various environmental questions, issues and problems.

 Theses general abilities depend on developing more specific skills, including recall, analysis and classification, application, interpretation, evaluation, synthesis.

Practical Skills

-         use of scientific equipment, eg. clinometers, thermometers, stream flow instruments.

-         use of recording equipment, eg. tape recorders, camera, video recorders.

-         co-ordination of hand and eye, eg. in mapping, sketching, use of stereoscopic viewers.

Study Skills

-         organising study time effectively

-         developing efficient use of reference material

Skills more specific to geography would include:

o       Map Skills

o       Presentation skills (presentation of geographical material)

o       Interpretation skills (interpretation of data used in geography)

o       Graphicacy

o       Fieldwork skills

These basic skills could then be sub-divided onto still more specific skills.  For example, fieldwork skills could be sub-divided into:

o       Use of equipment

o       Field sketching

o       Reference skills

o       Decision making etc.

Map skills can be sub-divided into:

o       can use grid references

o       can use a compass

o       can interpret and use map symbols

o       can interpret and use scale etc.