Geography for Life

Geography’s Key Concepts, Skills and Perspectives

& ISSEarthKAM

• A vision of what geography education should be …

• who sees meaning in the arrangement of things in space…

Can you identify London, Amsterdam, Rome, Moscow, and Berlin?

A geographically informed person…

• Who sees relations between

places

& environments

people

A geographically informed person…

• Who uses geographic skills…

A geographically informed person…

• And who applies spatial and ecological perspectives to life situations.

A geographically informed person…

• Six essential elements– World in Spatial

Terms– Places and Regions– Physical Systems– Human Systems– Environment &

Society– Uses of Geography

The World in Spatial Terms

• Std 1: Using maps, globes and geographic representations to acquire, process, report information

• Std 2: Use mental maps to organize information

• Std 3: Analyze the spatial organization of people, places, and environments

Spatial Relations

• Skills needed to recognize spatial distribution and spatial patterns

• Identify shapes

• Recalling and representing layouts

• Connecting locations

• Associating and correlating spatially distributed phenomena

Spatial Relations (cont.)

• Comprehending & using spatial hierarchies• Regionalizing• Comprehending distance decay and

nearest neighbor effects• Imagining maps from verbal descriptions• Sketch mapping• Comparing maps• Overlaying and dissolving maps

Places & Regions

• Std 4: Human & physical characteristics of places

• Std 5: People create regions to interpret Earth’s complexity

• Std 6: Culture & experience influence people’s perceptions of places/regions

Physical Systems• Std 7: Physical

processes that shape patterns of Earth’s surface

• Std 8: Characteristics and distribution of ecosystems

Human Systems• Std 9: Char’s,

distribution, migration of humans

• Std 10: Char’s, distribution of cultures

• Std 11: Patterns and networks of economic interdependence

• Std 12: Processes, patterns, functions of human settlements

• Std 13: Conflict and cooperation

Environment & Society• Std 14: How human

actions modify the physical environment

• Std 15: How physical systems affect human systems

• Std 16: The meaning, use, distribution and importance of resources

Uses of Geography• Std 17: How to apply

geography to interpret the past

• Std 18: How to apply geography to interpret the present and plan for the future

Fit to Your State Curriculum?