What is geography? What should geographically informed students be able to do? At what age?
Way back in 1994 the Geography Education Standards Project got geographers and educators to agree on these and other questions that define how geography can be taught, learned, and applied so that each student has "Geography for Life." A concise summary of their recommendations follows below. The 272 page color illustrated Geography For Life book is available for $9 from the:
National Council
of Geographic Education
206-A Martin Hall
Jacksonville State Univresity
700 Pelham Road North
Jacksonville, AL 36265-1602
An internet discussion group about the standards is available. Subscribe by e-mailing LISTSERV@TAMVMI.TAMU.EDU Type SUBSCRIBE GEOLIFE followed by your name in the message.
Information about the National Geography Standards can also be obtained by consulting the home pages of the National Geographic Society or the National Council for Geographic Education as well as our own GeoTeacher newsletter.
National Geography Standards
SEEING THE WORLD IN SPATIAL TERMS
1. How to use maps, globes, and other graphic tools and technologies to acquire, process, and report information from a spatial perspective.
2. How to use mental maps of Earth to put people, places, and environments in their spatial context.
3. How to analyze the spatial organization of Earth's surface.
PLACES AND REGIONS
4. The physical and human characteristics of place.
5. That people create and define regions to interpret Earth's changing complexity.
6. That culture and experience influence people's perception of places and regions.
PHYSICAL SYSTEMS
7. The physical processes that shape patterns on Earth's surface.
8. The characteristics and distribution of ecosystems of Earth's surface.
HUMAN SYSTEMS
9. The characteristics, distribution, and migration of human populations on Earth's surface.
10. The nature and complexity of Earth's cultural mosaics.
11. The patterns and networks of economic interdependence on Earth's surface.
12. The processes, patterns, and functions of human settlement.
13. The forces of cooperation and conflict that shape the divisions of Earth's surface.
ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIETY
14. How Earth's physical and human systems are connected and interact.
15. The consequences of the interaction between human and physical systems.
16. Changes in meaning, distribution, and importance of resources.
APPLYING GEOGRAPHY
17. How to apply geography to interpret the past.
18. How to apply geography to interpret the present and plan for the future.
GEOGRAPHIC SKILLS
Geographic skills are also listed in the new standards. These include:
1. Asking geographic questions
2. Acquiring geographic information
3. Organizing geographic information
4. Analyzing geographic information
5. Answering geographic questions
Overlying the knowledge content and the skills are the spatial and the environmental perspectives. They give us a frame of reference for looking at the world by helping us to understand spatial patterns and processes as well as the interconnections and interdependence among the living and non-living elements of earth. These are the two lenses of our geographic vision.