SEVENTH or EIGHTH GRADE

SOCIAL STUDIES

GEOGRAPHY

Alaska Content Standards

 

          GEOGRAPHY

 

Standard A.  A student should be able to make and use maps, globes,

                        and graphs to gather, analyze, and report spatial

                        (geographic) information.

Standard B.  A student should be able to utilize, analyze, and explain

                        information about the human and physical features of

                        places and regions.

Standard C.  Student should understand the dynamic and interactive

                        natural forces that shape the earth’s environments.

Standard D.  A student should understand and be able to interpret

                        spatial (geographic) characteristics of human systems,

                        including migration, movement, interactions of cultures,

                        economic activities, settlement patterns, and political units

                        in the state, nation, and world.

Standard E.  A student should understand and be able to evaluate how

                        humans and physical environments interact.

Standard F.  A student should be able to use geography to understand

                        the world by interpreting the past, knowing the present,

                        and preparing for the future.

 

The study of geography should give students a firm grasp of the place and terrain that surrounds them; the patterns of human development around the world; and the interactions of people, places and environments.  A geographically informed person sees, understands, and appreciates the connections among people, places and environments.

 

 

COURSE CONTENT

 

Understands the characteristics and uses of maps, globes and other geographic tools and technologies.

·        Identify, describe, and be able to use the basic elements of maps and mapping

·        Identify the location of physical and human attributes on maps and globes at local, regional, and global scales

·        Understands concepts such as axis, major parallels, seasons, rotation, and principle lines of latitude and longitude

·        Demonstrate an understanding of various types of maps including thematic (e.g., patterns of population, disease, economic features, rainfall, vegetation) and topographic maps

·        Discuss applications of current geographic techniques in mapping such as GIS and GPS

·        Know the characteristics and uses of cartograms

·        Identify, evaluate information, and draw conclusions from different kinds of maps, and from graphs, charts, diagrams, and other representations (e.g., aerial and shuttle photographs, satellite-produced images, the geographic information system, and computer-based technologies)

Knows the location of places and geographic features, both physical and human, locally, regionally, and globally.

·        Know the location of physical and human features on maps and globes

·        Identify the location of Earth’s major physical characteristics such as continents, landforms, bodies of water, climate regions, vegetation, and natural resources

·        Identify the location and size of major human features such as cities, political units, and countries

·        Know the relative distances between places (e.g., major urban centers in the United States)

·        Explain why physical, biological and human processes leave discernable patterns on the Earth’s surface locally, regionally, and globally

·        Identify the spatial distribution of major ecosystems such as tropical rainforest, desert and grassland

·        Know the factors that influence spatial perception (e.g., culture, education, age, gender, occupation, experience)

Understands the characteristics and uses of spatial organization of Earth’s surface.

·        Identify concepts and geographic tools used to define and describe spatial organization such as absolute and relative location, distance, direction, scale, movement and region

·        Explain patterns of spatial organization including why some areas are more densely settled that others are and the differences between rural, urban, and suburban patterns

·        Describe factors that affect spatial organization of the Earth’s surface such as transportation, migration, and communication technology

·        Understand the different ways in which places are connected and how these connection demonstrate interdependence and accessibility (e.g., where classmates were born and now live; where sports teams travel to play; regions and countries Americans depend on for imported resources and manufactured goods)

Understands the physical and human characteristics of place

·        Identify which features on Earth’s surface are physical (e.g., soils, landforms, vegetation, wildlife, climate, natural hazards)

·        Identify which features on Earth’s surface are human (e.g., cultural characteristics such as religion, language, politics, technology, family structure, gender, population characteristics; land uses; levels of development)

·        Describe how physical, biological, and human characteristics and processes define and shape a place

·        Describe how human movement and migration influence the character of a place

·        Appraise the symbiotic relationship between the physical and human environments as they are reflected on Earth’s surface

·        Know the causes an effects of changes in a place over time (e.g., physical changes such as forest cover, water distribution, temperature fluctuations; human changes such as urban growth, the clearing of forests, development of transportation systems)

Understands that common physical and cultural characteristics create regions.

·        Know regions at various spatial scales (e.g., hemispheres, regions within continents, countries, cities)

·        Identify the criteria used to define a region, including physical traits and formal(e.g., school districts, circuit-court districts, states of the United States), functional, and vernacular cultural regions

·        Describe types of regions at the local, regional, and global level

·        Describe how cultures influence the characteristics of regions and how human characteristics make specific regions of the world distinctive (e.g., the Sunbelt’s warm climate and popularity with retired people)

·        Explain factors that contribute to changing regional characteristics and boundaries

Understands how physical processes shape the Earth’s natural landscapes and environments.

·        Identifies types of Earth’s physical processes such as tectonic activity, changing landforms

·        Know the process that produce renewable and nonrenewable resources (e.g., fossil fuels, hydroelectric power, soil fertility)

·        Consider the effect of weathering and erosion, the hydrologic cycle and climate change

·        Analyze physical patterns and ecosystems found locally, regionally and globally

·        Examine the consequences of a specific physical process operating on Earth’s surface (e.g., effects on an extreme weather phenomenon such as hurricane’s impact on a coastal ecosystem; effects of heavy rainfall on hillslopes; effects of the continued movement of Earth’s tectonic plates)

Understands how physical systems and the physical environment affect human systems.

·        Describe how the characteristics of different physical environments affect human activities including ways in which people adapt to living in different physical environments

·        Describe the impact and interaction of natural hazards and disasters on human settlements and systems

·        Evaluate the limits and opportunities of physical environments for human activities

Understands how human activities impact and modify the physical environment.

·        Describe effects of human modification on the physical environment including global warming, deforestation, desertification, and urbanization

·        Explain the ways in which human induced changes in the physical environment in one place can cause changes in other places

·        Analyze the environmental consequences of humans changing the physical environment

Understand the nature, distribution and migration of human populations on Earth’s surfaces.

·        Identify the characteristics of populations at a variety of scales including ethnicity, age, distribution, number of males and females, and life expectancy

·        Define demographic concepts including population, population distribution, population density, growth rate, family size, and infant mortality

·        Describe the causes and effects of human migration such as “push and pull” factors

·        Analyze contemporary population issues

·        Predict the consequences of population changes on the Earth’s physical and cultural environments

Textbook:
ISBN#:
Publisher:
Geography: The World and Its People 0-07-821540-4 Glenco/McGraw-Hill