Social Studies Curriculum

Area Studies Electives

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Adopted January 1999

Global Geography

Course Description:

Global Geography is an ideal course for those curious about our world.  The course concentrates on developing geographic skills and concepts so that students can ask questions about the world and then gather, organize, analyze and apply the geographic information.  For example, students will study world population growth and distribution, patterns of migration, how climate affects human habitation and distribution, and how people use resources. 

The course title and description have been approved by the Anchorage School Board.  This course outline is meant to serve as an example of one possibility for organizing this class.  It does not represent the only way the course may be organized.  Each course outline has been written by a different teacher so there will be differences in the approach used from one course to another.

Course Goals:

Through this course students will:

• Become conversant with geographic subject matter
• Understand that the five themes of geography serve as subject matter organizers.
• Recognize that geography is the study of space and spatial relationships. Where is it and why is it there?
• Use geographic vocabulary appropriately, in oral, written, and graphic communication.
• Utilize a range of skills to identify, access, analyze, and present information.
• Apply the principles of geography to real-life situations and current events.
• Analyze new situations by drawing on geographic knowledge and skills to solve problems.
• Understand the complexity of the global community.
• Understand the concept of global interdependence.
• Understand the concept of “region” as an organizing principle.
• Interpret the interaction between physical and human environment

Course Objectives:

The student will:

• Utilize multiple sources of graphic and written information to list geographic questions and organize a procedure to answer them.
• Plan and organize a geographic research project (e.g., specify a problem, pose a research question or hypothesis, and identify data sources).
• Gather data in the field by multiple procedures: Observing, identifying, naming, describing, organizing, sketching, interviewing, recording, measuring.
• Gather data from maps, photographs, videos, and other media, charts, aerial photographs, and other non book sources, and then use the data to identify, name, describe, organize, sketch, measure, and evaluate items of geographic interest.
• Select and design appropriate forms of maps, graphs, diagrams, tables, and charts to organize geographic information.
• Make inferences and draw conclusions from maps and other geographic representations.
• Use quantitative methods of analysis to interpret geographic information.
• Use the processes of analysis, synthesis, evaluation, and explanation to interpret geographic information from a variety of sources.
• Formulate valid generalizations from the results of various kinds of geographic inquiry.
• Evaluate the answers to geographic questions.
• Explain the results of geographic inquiry both orally and in writing.
• Identify geographic questions in need of further investigation and develop new hypotheses as the conclusion to a process of inquiry.

Course Outline:

1. The world in spatial terms-relationships between people, places, and environments.
   1. Maps and other geographic representations, tools, and technologies.
   2. Mental maps and the influence of perception
   3. Spatial distribution and the organization of people, places, and environments on Earth’s surface.
      1. Interdependence
      2. Patterns and processes of migration and diffusion.
2. Places and Regions
   1. Physical and human characteristics of places.
      1. Meaning and significance of place
      2. Changing characteristics
      3. Point of View
      4. Social, cultural and economic processes shape the features of places.
      5. Human interaction with physical environments
   2. People create regions to interpret Earth’s complexity.
      1. Multiple criteria can be used to define a region.
      2. Structure of regional systems
      3. How physical and human regional systems are interconnected
      4. Changes in regions and contributing factors.
      5. Using regions to analyze geographic issues.
   3. Culture and experience influence people’s perceptions of places and regions.
      1. Importance to individual human identity and to unifying or fragmenting society.
      2. Influences on different points of view of individuals about regions.
      3. Changing perceptions of places and regions reflect cultural change.
3. Physical Systems
   1. Physical processes shape the patterns of Earth’s surface.
      1. Dynamics of the atmosphere, biosphere, lithosphere, and hydrosphere.
      2. Interactions of Earth’s physical systems
      3. How physical processes affect different regions of the world.
   2. Characteristics and spatial distribution of ecosystems on Earth’s surface.
      1. Distribution and characteristics of ecosystems
      2. Biodiversity and productivity of ecosystems
      3. Environmental issues
4. Human Systems
   1. Characteristics, distribution, and migration of human populations on Earth’s surface.
      1. Trends in world population numbers and patterns
      2. Impact of human migration on physical and human systems
   2. Characteristics, distribution, and complexity of Earth’s cultural mosaics.
      1. Impact of culture on ways of life in different regions.
      2. Cultures shape the character of a region.
      3. Cultural convergence and divergence
   3. Patterns and networks of economic interdependence on Earth’s surface.
      1. Classification, characteristics and spatial distribution of economic systems.
      2. Centers of economic activity
      3. Economic interdependence of the world’s countries
   4. Processes, patterns, and functions of human settlement.
      1. Urban areas
      2. Differing characteristics of settlement in developing and developed countries.
   5. Forces of cooperation and conflict among people influence the division and control of Earth’s surface.
      1. Role of cooperation and conflict in shaping the distribution of social, political, and economic spaces on Earth at different scales.
      2. . Role of differing points of view and self-interest in conflict over territory and resources.
5. Environment and Society
   1. Human actions modify the physical environment.
      1. Role of technology in the capacity of the physical environment to accommodate human modification.
      2. Global impacts of human modification of the physical environment.
      3. Developing possible solutions to scenarios of environmental change induced by human modification of the physical environment.
   2. Physical systems affect human systems
      1. Capacity to support human activity.
      2. Strategies to respond to constraints placed on human systems by the physical environment
      3. How humans perceive and react to natural hazards
   3. Changes that occur in the meaning, use, distribution, and importance of resources.
      1. How the spatial distribution of resources affects patterns of human settlement
      2. How resource development and use change over time.
      3. Geographic results of policies and programs for resource use and management.
6. Uses of Geography
   1. Applying geography to interpret the past and present and plan for the future.
      1. Changing perceptions of places and environments affect the spatial behavior of people.
      2. Different points of view influence the development of policies designed to use and manage Earth’s resources.
      3. Contemporary issues in the context of spatial and environmental perspectives.
      4. Using geographic knowledge, skills, and perspectives to analyze problems and make decisions.

Source: Geography for Life, National Geography Standards, 1994

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