STANDARD 6.6: Social Studies

STANDARD 6.6 (GEOGRAPHY) ALL STUDENTS WILL APPLY KNOWLEDGE OF SPATIAL RELATIONSHIPS AND OTHER GEOGRAPHIC SKILLS TO UNDERSTAND HUMAN BEHAVIOR IN RELATION TO THE PHYSICAL AND CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT.

Descriptive Statement: The study of geography is based on the principle that thinking in and understanding spatial terms will enable students to understand the many relationships of place, people, and environments. By taking an active, questioning approach to the world around them, students learn to devise their own mental world-view. As students engage in critical thinking to interpret patterns in the evolution of significant historic events and the movement of human populations on the Earth’s surface, their understanding of geography, history, economics, and civics deepens. Furthermore, the use of geographic tools and technology assists students to understand the reasons for, and the economic, political and social consequences of, human impact on the environment in different areas of the world.

This section is organized around five strands adapted from the National Geography Standards (Geography Education Standards Project. 1994. Geography for Life. Washington, D.C.)

The World in Spatial Terms
Places and Regions
Physical Systems
Human Systems
Environment and Society

Cumulative Progress Indicators

Building upon knowledge and skills gained in preceding grades, by the end of Grade 12, students will:

A. The World in Spatial Terms

1. Discuss the application of geographic tools and supporting technologies, such as GIS, GPS, the Internet, and CD databases.

2. Use maps of physical and human characteristics of the world to answer complex geographical questions.

3. Analyze, explain, and solve geographical problems using maps, supporting technologies, and other graphical representations.

4. Use geographic tools and technologies to pose and answer questions about spatial distributions and patterns on Earth.

5. Apply spatial thinking to understand the interrelationship of history, geography economics, and the environment, including domestic and international migrations, changing environmental preferences and settlement patterns, and frictions between population groups.

B. Places and Regions

1. Analyze and compare the functions and spatial arrangements of cities both locally and globally.

2. Evaluate how human interaction with the physical environment shapes the features of places and regions.

3. Analyze why places and regions are important factors to individual and social identity.

C. Physical Systems

1. Assess relationships between soil, climate, plant, and animal life and how this impacts the distribution of ecosystems.

2. Analyze the effects of both physical and human changes in ecosystems, such as acid rain, ozone layer, carbon-dioxide levels, and clean water issues.

D. Human Systems

1. Analyze the impact of human migration on physical and human systems.

2. Explain the spatial-technological processes of cultural convergence (cultural adaptations over distances) and divergence (separating effects of cultural diffusion over distances).

3. Analyze the historic movement patterns of people and their goods and their relationship to economic activity.

4. Analyze the processes that change urban areas.

5. Analyze how cooperation and conflict influence the control of economic, political, and social entities on Earth.

E. Environment and Society

1. Discuss the global impacts of human modification of the physical environment (e.g., the built environment).

2. Discuss the importance of maintaining biodiversity.

3. Analyze examples of changes in the physical environment that have altered the capacity of the environment to support human activity, including pollution, salinization, deforestation, species extinction, population growth, and natural disasters.

4. Compare and contrast the historical movement patterns of people and goods in the world, United States, and New Jersey and analyze the basis for increasing global interdependence.

5. Evaluate policies and programs related to the use of local, national and global resources.

6. Analyze the human need for respect for and informed management of all resources (sustainability), including human populations, energy, air, land, and water to insure that the earth will support future generations.

7. Describe how and why historical and cultural knowledge can help to improve present and future environmental maintenance.

8. Delineate and evaluate the environmental impact of technological change in human history (e.g., printing press, electricity and electronics, automobiles, computer, and medical technology).

Link to Standard 6.6 Grade 5-8

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