Minnesota Academic Standards in Geography

Minnesota Academic Standards in Geography

GEOGRAPHY

What is Geography?
Geography is the science of space and place on Earth’s surface. It is an integrative discipline that brings together the physical and human dimensions of our world. Geography’s subject matter is the spatial arrangement of the physical and human phenomena that make up the world’s environments and gives character to places, large and small. Geography describes the changing patterns of places in words, maps, numbers and graphics, explains how these patterns come to be, and unravels their meaning.

Geography captures the imagination. It stimulates curiosity about the world and the world’s diverse inhabitants and places as well as about local regions and global issues. It enables us to understand our home by opening windows on the rest of the world.

Why study Geography?
To be successful contributors to a democratic society, all individuals need to have an understanding of geography, which means that they need to have an understanding of the spatial context of people, places and environments on Earth.

The geographically literate person knows where important things are, why they are located in those places and the significance of the locational patterns of the world. Furthermore, she comprehends the nature and significance of multiple connections between people and places around the world.

This statement on the nature of geographic education is based on Geography for Life: National Geography Standards developed by the Geography Education Standards Project on behalf of the American Geographical Society, Association of American Geographers, National Council for Geographic Education and the National Geographic Society.

Rockford Middle School Curriculum Map: Social Studies 8 Geography
Minnesota Graduation Standards

V. GEOGRAPHY
Sub-Strand Standard

A. Concepts of Location
1- The student will identify and locate major physical and cultural features that played an important role in the history of the United States.
3- The student will identify and locate major countries, events and cultural features that played an important role in the history of the United States.

B. Maps and Globes
1- The student will use maps and globes to demonstrate specific and increasingly complex geographic knowledge.
2- The student will make and use maps to acquire, process, and report on the spatial organization of people and places on Earth.

C. Physical Features and Processes
1- The student will use basic terminology describing basic physical and cultural features of continents studied.
2- The student will identify and locate geographic features associated with the development of the United States.
4- The student will identify physical characteristics of places and use this knowledge to define regions, their relationships among regions, and their patterns of change.
5- The student will give examples of physical systems and describe their role in shaping life on Earth.

D. Interconnections
1- The student will give examples that demonstrate how people are connected to each other and the environment.
2- The student will identify examples of the changing relationships between patterns of settlement, land use and topographic features in the United States.
5- The student will describe how humans influence the environment and in turn are influenced by it.
6- The student will demonstrate how various regional frameworks are used to analyze the variation in culture and human occupation of the Earth’s surface.
7- The student will demonstrate how various regional frameworks are used to analyze the variation in physical environment.

E. Essential Skills
The student will use maps, globes, geographic information systems and other sources of information to analyze the natures of places at a variety of scales.

IV. HISTORICAL SKILLS

A. Concepts of Time
The student will acquire skills of chronological thinking.

B. Historical Resources
The student will begin to use historical resources.

C. Historical Inquiry
2- The student will analyze historical evidence and draw conclusions.
3- The student will present and explain the findings of a research project.