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Geography Standards: Grades 5-8
The World in Spatial Terms (Essential Element No. 1)
The geographically informed person knows and understands:
Standard 1--How to use maps and other geographic representations, tools, and
technologies to acquire, process, and report information from a spatial perspective.
By the end of eighth grade, the student knows and understands:
Knowledge Statement 1--The characteristics, functions, and applications of maps, globes, aerial and other
photographs, satellite-produced images, and models.
Knowledge Statement 2--How to make and use maps, globes, graphs, charts, models, and databases to analyze
spatial distributions and patterns.
Knowledge Statement 3--The relative advantages and
disadvantages of using maps, globes, aerial and other photographs, satellite-produced images, and models to solve
geographic problems.
Standard 2--How to use mental maps to organize information about people, places,
and environments in a spatial context.
By the end of eighth grade, the student knows and understands:
Knowledge Statement 1--The distribution of major physical and human features at different scales (local
to global).
Knowledge Statement 2--How to translate mental maps into appropriate graphics to display geographic information
and answer geographic questions.
Knowledge Statement 3--How perception influences people's mental maps and attitudes about places.
Standard 3--How to analyze the spatial organization of people, places, and
environments on Earth's surface.
By the end of eighth grade, the student knows and understands:
Knowledge Statement 1--How to use the elements of space to describe spatial patterns.
Knowledge Statement 2--How to use spatial concepts to explain spatial structure.
Knowledge Statement 3--How spatial processes shape patterns of spatial organization.
Knowledge Statement 4--How to model spatial organization.
Places and Regions (Essential Element No. 2)
The geographically informed person knows and understands:
Standard 4--The physical and human characteristics of places.
By the end of eighth grade, the student knows and understands:
Knowledge Statement 1--How different physical processes shape places.
Knowledge Statement 2--How different human groups alter places in distinctive ways.
Knowledge Statement 3--The role of technology in shaping the characteristics of places.
Standard 5--That people create regions to interpret Earth's complexity.
By the end of eighth grade, the student knows and understands:
Knowledge Statement 1--The elements and types of regions.
Knowledge Statement 2--How and why regions change.
Knowledge Statement 3--The connections among regions.
Knowledge Statement 4--The influences and effects of
regional labels and images.
Standard 6--How culture and experience influence people's perception of places
and regions.
By the end of eighth grade, the student knows and understands:
Knowledge Statement 1--How personal characteristics affect our perception of places and regions.
Knowledge Statement 2--How culture and technology affect perception of places and regions.
Knowledge Statement 3--How places and regions serve as cultural symbols.
Physical Systems (Essential Element No. 3)
The geographically informed person knows and understands:
Standard 7--The physical processes that shape the patterns of Earth's surface.
By the end of eighth grade, the student knows and understands:
Knowledge Statement 1--How physical processes shape patterns in the physical environment.
Knowledge Statement 2--How Earth-Sun relationships affect physical processes and patterns on Earth.
Knowledge Statement 3--How physical processes influence the formation and distribution of resources.
Knowledge Statement 4--How to predict the consequences of physical processes on Earth's surface.
Standard 8--The characteristics and spatial distribution of ecosystems on Earth's
surface.
By the end of eighth grade, the student knows and understands:
Knowledge Statement 1--The local and global pattern of ecosystems.
Knowledge Statement 2--How ecosystems work.
Knowledge Statement 3--How physical processes produce changes in ecosystems.
Knowledge Statement 4--How human activities influence changes in ecosystems.
Human Systems (Essential Element No. 4)
The geographically informed person knows and understands:
Standard 9--The characteristics, distribution, and migration of human populations
on Earth's surface.
By the end of eighth grade, the student knows and understands:
Knowledge Statement 1--The demographic structure of a population.
Knowledge Statement 2--The reasons for spatial variations in population distribution.
Knowledge Statement 3--The types and historical patterns of human migration.
Knowledge Statement 4--The effects of migration on the characteristics of places.
Standard 10--The characteristics, distribution, and complexity of Earth's cultural
mosaics.
By the end of eighth grade, the student knows and understands:
Knowledge Statement 1--The spatial distribution of culture at different scales (local to global).
Knowledge Statement 2--How to read elements of the landscape as a mirror of culture.
Knowledge Statement 3--The processes of cultural diffusion.
Standard 11--The patterns and networks of economic interdependence on Earth's
surface.
By the end of eighth grade, the student knows and understands:
Knowledge Statement 1--Ways to classify economic activity.
Knowledge Statement 2--The basis for global interdependence.
Knowledge Statement 3--Reasons for the spatial patterns of economic activities.
Knowledge Statement 4--How changes in technology, transportation, and communication affect the location
of economic activities.
Standard 12--The processes, patterns, and functions of human settlement.
By the end of eighth grade, the student knows and understands:
Knowledge Statement 1--The spatial patterns of settlement in different regions of the world.
Knowledge Statement 2--What human events led to the development of cities.
Knowledge Statement 3--The causes and consequences of urbanization.
Knowledge Statement 4--The internal spatial structure of urban areas.
Standard 13--How the forces of cooperation and conflict among people influence
the division and control of Earth's surface.
By the end of eighth grade, the student knows and understands:
Knowledge Statement 1--The multiple territorial divisions of the student's own world.
Knowledge Statement 2--How cooperation and conflict among people contribute to political divisions of Earth's
surface.
Knowledge Statement 3--How cooperation and conflict among people contribute to economic and social divisions
of Earth's surface.
Environment and Society (Essential Element No. 5)
The geographically informed person knows and understands:
Standard 14--How human actions modify the physical environment.
By the end of eighth grade, the student knows and understands:
Knowledge Statement 1--The consequences of human modification of the physical environment.
Knowledge Statement 2--How human modification of the physical environment in one place often leads to changes
in other places.
Knowledge Statement 3--The role of technology in the
human modification of the physical environment.
Standard 15--How physical systems affect human systems.
By the end of eighth grade, the student knows and understands:
Knowledge Statement 1--Human responses to variations in physical systems.
Knowledge Statement 2--How the characteristics of different physical environments provide opportunities
for or place constraints on human activities.
Knowledge Statement 3--How natural hazards affect human activities.
Standard 16--The changes that occur in the meaning, use, distribution, and
importance of resources.
By the end of eighth grade, the student knows and understands:
Knowledge Statement 1--The worldwide distribution and use of resources.
Knowledge Statement 2--Why people have different viewpoints regarding resource use.
Knowledge Statement 3--How technology affects the definition of, access to, and use of resources.
Knowledge Statement 4--The fundamental role of energy resources in society.
The Uses of Geography (Essential Element No. 6)
The geographically informed person knows and understands:
Standard 17--How to apply geography to interpret the past.
By the end of eighth grade, the student knows and understands:
Knowledge Statement 1--How the spatial organization of a society changes over time.
Knowledge Statement 2--How people's differing perceptions of places, peoples, and resources have affected
events and conditions in the past.
Knowledge Statement 3--How geographic contexts have
influenced events and conditions in the past.
Standard 18--How to apply geography to interpret the present and plan for the
future.
By the end of eighth grade, the student knows and understands:
Knowledge Statement 1--How the interaction of physical and human systems may shape present and future conditions
on Earth.
Knowledge Statement 2--How varying points of view on geographic context influence plans for change.
Knowledge Statement 3--How to apply the geographic point of view to solve social and environmental problems
by making geographically informed decisions.
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