| WG.2 |
The student will analyze how selected physical and ecological processes shape the Earth’s surface by |
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identifying regional climatic patterns and weather phenomena and their effects on people and places; |
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describing how humans influence the environment and are influenced by it; |
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explaining how technology affects one’s ability to modify the environment and adapt to it. |
| WG.3 |
The student will apply the concept of a region by |
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explaining how characteristics of regions have led to regional labels; |
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explaining how regional landscapes reflect cultural characteristics of their inhabitants; |
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analyzing how cultural characteristics, including the world’s major languages and religions, link or divide regions. |
| WG.4 |
The student will locate and analyze physical, economic, and cultural characteristics of world regions: Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe, United States and Canada, North Africa and Southwest Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, Russia and Central Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, East Asia, Australia and the Pacific Islands, and Antarctica. |
| WG.10 |
The student will analyze how the forces of conflict and cooperation affect the division and control of the Earth’s surface by |
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explaining and analyzing reasons for the different spatial divisions at the local and regional levels; |
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explaining and analyzing the different spatial divisions at the national and international levels; |
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analyzing ways cooperation occurs to solve problems and settle disputes. |
Identify the following common characteristics that define climate:
• Temperature;
• Precipitation
• Seasons (hot/cold, wet/dry)
Explain how the interplay of the following elements influence regional climate patterns:
• Influence of latitude;
• Influence of winds
• Influence of elevation
• Proximity to water
Label and describe the following world climate regions:
• Low latitudes — e.g., tropical wet, tropical wet and dry, arid, semiarid, highland
• Middle latitudes — e.g., semiarid, arid, Mediterranean (dry summer subtropical), humid continental, marine west coast, highland
• High latitudes — e.g., subarctic, tundra (subpolar), icecap
Identify the climate that would probably exist in the following vegetation regions:
• Rain forest
• Savanna
• Desert
• Steppe
• Middle latitude forests
• Taiga
• Tundra
Identify the regions where the following weather phenomena occur and are unique to that region:
• Monsoons — South and Southeast Asia
• Typhoons — Pacific Ocean
• Hurricanes — Atlantic Ocean
• Tornadoes — United States
Explain how climate and weather phenomena affect the following areas of people’s lives in different regions:
• Crops
• Clothing
• Housing
• Natural hazards
Explain how the following physical and ecological processes shaped the Earth’s surface:
• Earthquakes
• Floods
• Volcanoes
• Erosion
Explain the following ways humans influence their environment:
• Water diversion/management
- Aral Sea
- Colorado River
- Aswan High Dam
- Canals
- Reservoirs
- Irrigation
• Changing landscapes
- Agricultural terracing (e.g., China, Southeast Asia)
- Polders (e.g., Netherlands)
- Deforestation (e.g., Nepal, Brazil, Malaysia)
- Desertification (e.g., Africa, Asia)
• Environmental changes
- Acid rain (e.g., forests in Germany, Scandinavia, China and Eastern North America)
- Pollution (e.g., Mexico City, Chernobyl, oil spills)
Explain how the environment has the following impact on humans:
• Settlement patterns
• Housing materials
• Agricultural activity
• Types of recreation
• Transportation patterns
Explain the following technological innovations and how they have expanded the capacity of people to modify and adapt to their physical environment:
• Agriculture (e.g. fertilizers, mechanization)
• Energy usage (e.g. fossil fuels, nuclear)
• Transportation (e.g. road building, railways)
• Automobiles (e.g. parking lots, suburbs)
• Airplanes (e.g. airport expansion, noise)
Explain that regions are areas of Earth’s surface that share unifying characteristics.
Explain that geographers create and use regions as organizing concepts to simplify the world for study and understanding.
Show the following examples of physical regions:
• Sahara
• Taiga
• Rain forest
• Great Plains
• Low Countries
Show the following examples of cultural regions:
• Language
- Latin America
- Francophone world
• Ethnic
- Chinatowns
- Kurdistan
• Religion
- Islam
- Buddhism
• Economic
- Wheat Belts
- European Union (EU)
• Political
- North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
- Organization of African Unity (OAU)
Explain how regional labels reflect people’s perceptions of the following areas:
• Middle East
• Sun Belt
• Rust Belt
Explain how the following regional landscapes reflect the cultural characteristics of their inhabitants:
• Architectural structures
- Religious buildings (e.g., mosques, churches, synagogues, temples, pagodas)
- Dwellings (e.g., tiled roofs in Mediterranean, chalets in Switzerland, thatched roofs in Pacific Islands, tents and yurts in Central and Southwest Asia, castles in Europe)
• Statues and monuments of local, national, or global significance
- Taj Mahal (India)
- Kaaba (Mecca)
- Western Wall (Jerusalem)
- Dome of the Rock (Jerusalem)
- Church of the Holy Sepulcher (Jerusalem)
- Pyramids (Egypt)
- Kremlin (Moscow)
- Eiffel Tower (Paris)
- Virginia State Capitol Building (Richmond)
- Washington Monument (Washington, D.C.)
- White House (Washington, D.C.)
- Lincoln Memorial (Washington, D.C.)
- Statue of Liberty (New York City)
Describe how cultural characteristics link or divide regions, and identify examples reflected in each of the following:
• Language:
- Arab world — Arabic
- Hispanic America — Spanish
- Brazil — Portuguese
- Canada — French/English
- Switzerland — multiple languages
- English — world language
• Ethnic heritage:
- former Yugoslavia — Serbs, Croats, Bosnians, Albanians
- Burundi and Rwanda — Hutus and Tutsis
- United States, Switzerland — unity in multiple-ethnicity countries
- Korea and Japan — predominantly single ethnicity
- Cyprus — Greeks and Turks
• Religion as a unifying force:
- Hinduism
- Buddhism
- Judaism
- Christianity
- Islam
• Religion as a divisive force:
- Conflicts between Hindus and Muslims in Pakistan and India
- Conflicts between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland
- Jews, Christians, and Muslims all claiming Jerusalem as their religious heritage site
Compare and contrast differing sets of ideas, beliefs, and behaviors.
Describe how physical, economic, and cultural characteristics influence regional development.
Use the information provided in each regional plan.
Explain the following ways human interaction with the environment affects the development of a region:
• Human interaction with environment
- Deforestation — Amazon Basin, Nepal, Malaysia
- Acid rain — Black Forest
- Decreased soil fertility — Aswan High Dam
Explain how each of the following criteria contributes to the determination of a country’s relative importance:
• GDP (Gross Domestic Product)
• Land size
• Populations size
• Resources
Explain how the following elements of the physical environment, such as major bodies of water and mountains, influence the economic and cultural characteristics of regions:
• Water:
- Rio Grande — Boundary
- Ob River — Flows northward into Arctic Ocean
- Zambezi River — Water power
- Ganges and Brahmaputra Rivers — Flood hazard
• Mountains:
- Rocky Mountains — Create rain shadows on leeward slopes
- Himalayas — Block moisture to create steppes and deserts in Central Asia
Describe divisions as regions of the Earth’s surface over which groups of people establish social, economic, and political control.
Summarize the following examples of spatial divisions at the local and regional levels:
• Neighborhoods
• Election districts
• School districts
• Regional districts (e.g., bus lines, waste disposal, conservation districts, planning districts, area code zones)
• Cities
• Counties
• States
Explain the following reasons for spatial divisions:
• Desire for government closer to home
• Need to solve local problems
• Need to administer resources more efficiently
Explain that spatial divisions may generate conflict or cooperation. Explain the following reasons for the conflict and cooperation at the local and regional levels:
• Reasons for conflict:
- Boundary disputes
- Cultural differences
- Economic differences
- Competition for scarce resources
- Political advantages (e.g., gerrymandering)
• Reasons for cooperation:
- Natural disasters
- Economic advantages (attract new businesses)
- Cultural similarities, ethnic neighborhoods
- Addressing regional issues (e.g., waste management, magnet schools, transportation)
Describe the following examples of spatial divisions at the national and international levels:
• Countries
• Economic and political alliances:
- North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
- European Union (EU)
- Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)
- North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
- Commonwealth of Nations
- United Nations
- Red Cross/Red Crescent
- Organization of American States (OAS)
- League of Arab States &nbs | 
