National Geography Education Standards

Sally Ride EarthKAM addresses many geography standards as presented in Geography for Life, National Geography Education Standards, Geography Education Standards Project, National Geographic Research and Exploration, Washington, D.C., 1994.

• The World in Spatial Terms
• Places and Regions
• Physical Systems
• Human Systems
• Environment and Society
• The Uses of Geography

• Standard 1: How to use maps and other geographic representations, tools, and technology to acquire, process, and report information from a spatial perspective.
  • The characteristics, functions, and applications of maps, globes, aerial and other photographs, satellite-produced images, and models.
  • How to make and use maps, globes, graphs, charts, models, and databases to analyze spatial distributions and patterns.
  • The relative advantages and disadvantages of using maps, globes, aerial and other photographs, satellite-produced images, and models to solve geographic problems.
• Standard 2: How to use mental maps to organize information about people, places and environments in a spatial context.
  • The distribution of major physical and human features at different scales (local to global).
• Standard 3: How to analyze the spatial organization of people, places, and environments on Earth's surface.
  • How to use the elements of space to describe spatial patterns.
  • How to use spatial concepts to explain spatial structure.
  • How spatial processes shape patterns of spatial organization.

• Standard 4: The physical and human characteristics of places.
  • How different physical processes shape places.
  • How different human groups alter places in distinctive ways.
  • The role of technology in shaping the characteristics of places.
• Standard 5: That people create regions to interpret Earth's complexity.
  • The elements and types of regions.
  • How and why regions change.
  • The connections among regions.
• Standard 6: How culture and experience influence people's perceptions of places and regions.
  • How places and regions serve as cultural symbols

• Standard 7: The physical processes that shape the patterns of Earth's surface.
  • How physical processes shape patterns in the physical environment.
  • How physical processes influence the formation and distribution of resources.
• Standard 8: The characteristics and spatial distribution of ecosystems on Earth's surface.
  • The local and global patterns of ecosystems.
  • How physical processes produce changes in ecosystems.
  • How human activities influence changes in ecosystems.

• Standard 9: The characteristics, distribution, and migration of human populations on Earth's surface.
  • The reasons for spatial variations in population distribution.
• Standard 10: The characteristics, distribution, and complexity of Earth's cultural mosaics.
  • The spatial distribution of culture at different scales (local to global).
  • How to read elements of the landscape as a mirror of culture.
• Standard 11: The patterns and networks of economic interdependence on Earth's surface.
  • The basis for global interdependence.
  • Reasons for the spatial patterns of economic activities.
  • How changes in technology, transportation, and communication affect the location of economic activities.
• Standard 12: The processes, patterns, and functions of human settlement.
  • The spatial patterns of settlement in different regions of the world.
  • The causes and consequences of urbanization.
  • The internal spatial structure of urban settlements.

• Standard 14: How human actions modify the physical environment.
  • The consequences of human modification of the physical environment.
  • How human modification of the physical environment in one place often lead to changes in other places.
• Standard 15: How physical systems affect human systems.
  • Human responses to variations in physical systems.
  • How the characteristics of different physical environments provide opportunities for or place constraints on human activities.
  • How natural hazards affect human activities.
• Standard 16: The changes that occur in the meaning, use, distribution, and importance of resources.
  • Why people have different viewpoints regarding resource use.

• Standard 17: How to apply geography to interpret the past.
  • How the spatial organization of a society changes over time.
  • How geographic contexts have influenced events and conditions in the past.
• Standard 18: How to apply geography to interpret the present and plan for the future.
  • How the interactions of physical and human systems may shape present and future conditions on Sally Ride EarthKAM