1. The National Geography Standards
Geography For Life
The National
Geography Standards

2. The Six Essential Elements
North Carolina Geographic Alliance
PowerPoint Presentations
2007

3. The World in Spatial Terms
Geography studies the relationships between people, places, and environments by mapping information about them into a spatial context.

4. The World in Spatial Terms
The geographically informed person knows and understands:
How to use maps and other geographic representations, tools and technologies to acquire, process, and report information from a spatial perspective
How to use mental maps to organize information about people, places, and environments in a spatial context
How to analyze the spatial organization of people, places, and environments on Earth’s surface

5. Places and Regions
The identities and lives of individuals are rooted in particular places and in those human constructs called regions

6. Places and Regions
The geographically informed person knows and understands
The physical and human characteristics of places
That people create regions to interpret Earth’s complexity
How culture and experience influence people’s perceptions of places and regions

7. Physical Systems
Physical processes shape Earth’s surface and interact with plant and animal life to create, sustain, and modify ecosystems

8. Physical Systems
The geographically informed person knows and understands
The physical processes that shape the patterns of Earth’s surface
The characteristics and spatial distributions of ecosystems on Earth’s surface

9. Human Systems
People are central to geography in that human activities help shape Earth’s surface, human settlements and structures are part of Earth’s surface and humans compete for control of Earth’s surface.

10. Human Systems
The geographically informed person knows and understands:
The characteristics, distribution, and migration of human populations on Earth’s surface
The characteristics, distribution, and complexity of Earth’s cultural mosaics
The patterns and networks of economic interdependence on Earth’s surface
The processes, patterns, and functions of human settlement
How the forces of cooperation and conflict among people influence the division and control of Earth’s surface

11. Environment and Society
The physical environment is modified by human activities, largely as a consequence of the ways in which human societies value and use Earth’s natural resources, and human activities are also influenced by Earth’s physical features and processes.

12. Environment and Society
The geographically informed person knows and understands:
How human activities modify the physical environment
How physical systems affect human systems
The changes that occur in the meaning, use, distribution, and importance of resources

13. The Uses of Geography
Knowledge of geography enables people to develop an understanding of the relationships between people, places, and environments over time - that is, of Earth as it was, is, and might be.

14. The Uses of Geography How to apply geography to interpret the past
The geographically informed person knows and understands:
How to apply geography to interpret the past
How to apply geography to interpret the present and plan for the future

15. The World in Spatial Terms
Maps are the language of geography. They show the physical landscape and the human imprint on the land.

16. Places and Regions
Regions can be based on physical or human characteristics. Regions are places that share common characteristics such as land forms, river systems, religions, languages, or ethnicity.
Regions, as human constructs, can and do change.

17. Physical Systems
Physical processes have shaped the Earth. These dynamic processes continue to change the landscape. Often humans coexist with natural hazards created by these natural processes.

18. Physical Systems
Ecosystems share common plant and animal life as well as physical characteristics such as climate and geology.

19. Human Systems
The characteristics and complexity of Earth’s cultural mosaics.

20. The processes, patterns and functions of human settlement
Human Systems
The processes, patterns and functions of human settlement

21. Environment and Society
How humans interact with their environments

22. How to apply geography to interpret the past
The Uses of Geography
How to apply geography to interpret the past

23. The Uses of Geography
The New Yorker

24. The geographically informed person is aware of the the world and is better able to make well-informed decisions and understand the consequences of those decisions.