| HGA | Standards | Grade 9-12 |
THE USES OF GEOGRAPHY
Geography Standard 17: How to apply geography to interpret the past
By the end of the twelfth grade, the student knows and understands:
Therefore, the student is able to:
A. Explain how the processes of spatial change have affected history, as exemplified by being able to
Trace the spatial diffusion of a phenomenon and the effects it has had on regions of contact (e.g., the spread of bubonic plague in the world; the diffusion of tobacco smoking from North America to Europe, Africa, and Asia)
Use maps and other data to describe the development of the national transportation systems that led to regional integration in the United States (e.g., the construction of a canal system in the early nineteenth century, the transcontinental railroad in the 1860s, the national interstate highway system in the mid-twentieth century)
Trace the geographic effects of migration streams and counterstreams of rural African Americans from the South to urban centers in the North and West throughout the twentieth century
B. Assess how peoples changing perceptions of geographic features have led to changes in human societies, as exemplified by being able to
Compare the attitudes of different religions toward the environment and resource use and how religions have affected world economic development patterns and caused cultural conflict or encouraged social integration
Research and develop a case study to illustrate how technology has enabled people to increase their control over nature and how that has changed land-use patterns (e.g., large-scale agriculture in Ukraine and northern China, strip-mining in Russia, center-pivot irrigation in the southwestern United States)
Prepare a series of maps to illustrate the Russian perception of encirclement by enemies and how this perception influenced the development of Russian (and Soviet) foreign policy
C. Analyze the ways in which physical and human features have influenced the evolution of significant historic events and movements, as exemplified by being able to
Assess the role and general effects of imperialism, colonization, and decolonization on the economic and political developments of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries (e.g., European disregard for existing African political boundaries in the organization of colonies and subsequent independent nations; the exploitation of indigenous peoples in the European colonization of the Americas)
Examine the historical and geographical forces responsible for the industrial revolution in England in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries (e.g., the availability of resources, capital, labor, markets, technology)
Evaluate the physical and human factors that have led to famines and large-scale refugee movements (e.g., the plight of the Irish in the wake of the potato famine in 1845 to 1850, the cyclical famines in China, the droughts and famines in the Sahel in the 1970s and 1980s)
Geography Standard 18: How to apply geography to interpret the present and plan for the future
Therefore, the student is able to:
A. Develop policies that are designed to guide the use and management of Earths resources and that reflect multiple points of view, as exemplified by being able to
Prepare a panel simulation with participants who represent different points of view on sustainable development to explain the effects of such a concept in a variety of situations (e.g., toward cutting the rain forests in Indonesia in response to a demand for lumber in foreign markets, or mining rutile sands along the coast in eastern Australia near the Great Barrier Reef)
Explain the extent and geographic impact of changes in the global economy on the lives of affluent and poor people (e.g., in African, Asian, and South American cities) to demonstrate the inequities of urban life, resource use, and access to political and economic power in developing countries
Use a variety of resources, including maps, graphs, and news clippings, to describe the impact of a natural disaster on a developed country versus a developing country, to understand the private and public reaction to the disaster, and to evaluate the policies that have been formulated to cope with a recurrence of the disaster (e.g., compare the 1991 eruption of Mount Unzen in western Japan with the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo in central Luzon, the Philippines; the 1993 floods in the Mississippi Valley with the 1993 floods in the Rhine River Valley; Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and the 1992 monsoon-caused floods in Bangladesh)
B. Develop plans to solve local and regional problems that have spatial dimensions, as exemplified by being able to
Develop plans to safeguard people and property in the event of a major natural disaster (e.g., use maps to prepare an evacuation plan for low-lying islands threatened by hurricanes)
Use a series of maps or a geographic information system (GIS) to obtain information on soil, hydrology and drainage, sources of water, and other factors and then use the information to choose the best site for a sanitary landfill in an urban region
Design a mass-transit system to move large groups of people from the site of a new sports arena in a city, taking into account such factors as where people live, present transportation facilities, and carrying capacities
C. Analyze a variety of contemporary issues in terms of Earths physical and human systems, as exemplified by being able to
Explain the processes of land degradation and desertification as the interaction of physical systems (e.g., dry lands, drought, and desiccation) and human systems (e.g., exceeding the ability of vulnerable land to support settlement)
List the consequences of population growth or decline in a developed economy for both human and physical systems (e.g., dependency problems, exceeding available resources, contracting economic markets)
Wrtie a scenario predicting the likely consequence of a world temperature increase of 3 F on humans, other living things (including plants and phytoplankton), and physical systems
D. Use geography knowledge and skills to analyze problems and make decisions within a spatial context, as exemplified by being able to
Develop a strategy to substitute alternative sustainable activities for present economic activities in regions of significant resource depletion (e.g., propose alternatives to fishing in Atlantic Canada, where fish populations have been depleted; alternatives to irrigated farming in the area served by the Ogallala Aquifer, which has been used too intensively)
Prepare a mock State Department-style briefing on a specific world region (e.g., outline broad global and region-specific patterns in the locations, distribution, and relationships of countries, their borders, relief features, climatic patterns, ecosystems, and population distribution and density, as well as the urban arrangement and communication networks within them, and evaluate the future of the region based on appropriate sustainable approaches to economic, social, and political development)
Examine tourism in a developed or a developing country to identify conflicts over resource use, the relative advantages and disadvantages of tourism to local resident and the costs and benefits of tourism from several points of view (e.g., those of the owner of a diving shop, a hotel maid, a tourist, and a local fisherman) to put together a position paper for or against developing tourism in a new location