New Hampshire Social Curriculum Frameworks
Introduction Broad Goals Civics and Government Economics Geography History
Purpose
Geography is the study of Earth's surface and the processes that shape it; the relationships between people and the environment; and the connections among people and places. Students of geography seek answers to the following questions: Where is something located? Why is it there? How did it get there? What is the significance of its location? and How is it related to other people, places, and environments? To answer these questions, students need to acquire information from primary and secondary sources including maps and other graphic tools; learn the skills of observation and speculation; analyze, synthesize, and evaluate geographic information; employ statistical analysis; and develop and test geographic generalizations.
Curriculum Standard 10. Students will demonstrate the ability to use maps, mental maps, globes, and other graphic tools and technologies to acquire, process, report, and analyze geographic information.
Proficiency Standards
End-of-Grade 6 (Elementary)
Students will be able to:
- Identify and use the major graphic elements of maps and globes and describe different types of map scales and map projections.
- Locate on a grid system particular geographic features in their neighborhood and community.
- Describe the absolute and relative location of their community and places within it.
- Locate on a map or globe the continents; major nations; smaller political entities (for example, provinces, states, cities); and major oceans, rivers, and mountain ranges.
- Sketch and label maps from memory of New Hampshire, the United States, and North America that show the relative location, size, and shape of important geographic features.
- Describe basic spatial units of measurement and use them to calculate area and estimate and calculate distances between locations on a map in miles, kilometers, time, and cost.
- Employ coordinates, including latitude and longitude, to construct maps and plot locations.
- Employ photographs to classify areas as rural, suburban, and urban, and to identify similarities and differences in land use in those areas.
End-of-Grade 10 (Secondary)
In addition to the above, students will be able to:
- Compare the purpose, nature, and intended use of maps provided by different sources.
- Employ appropriate maps and other data displays, including tables, graphs, charts, and diagrams, to locate and analyze current world events.
- Employ maps and other images to identify, analyze, and communicate why various human geographic features are located in particular areas.
- Locate, using maps, plans, and schematics, the major components of the infrastructure of their community and region.
- Sketch a world map from memory and identify major landforms, water systems, and concentrations of resources.
Curriculum Standard 11
Students will demonstrate an understanding of the physical and human geographic features that define places and regions.
Proficiency Standards
By the end of grade six students will be able to:
- Employ observation, maps, and other tools to identify and compare the physical features of particular places including, soils, landforms, vegetation, wildlife, and climate.
- Identify and discuss the human geographic features of neighborhoods and places including population density, economic activities, forms of shelter, and modes of transportation and communication.
- Identify and discuss similarities and differences in cultural landscapes found in different places in the world.
- Discuss the attachments people have for a particular place and region as well as their sense of belonging in certain places and regions.
- Discuss how people define regions in terms of physical and cultural criteria and how they use the concept of regions in their study of Earth.
- Identify and compare landform, climate, and natural vegetation regions.
In addition to the above, by the end of grade 10 students will be able to:
- Discuss the impact of different levels of technology on the human and physical geographic features of places and regions.
- Explain how industrialization, population, and urbanization define places and regions.
- Analyze how language, tradition, and other cultural elements shape peoples' perceptions and opinions about places and regions.
- Use maps to demonstrate how place and regional boundaries change.
Curriculum Standard 12. Students will demonstrate an understanding of landform patterns and water systems on Earth's surface; the physical processes that shape these patterns; and the characteristics and distribution of ecosystems.
Proficiency Standards
By the end of grade six students will be able to:
- Identify and describe the major landforms and water systems found on Earth's surface.
- Describe the roles of water, wind, ice, temperature, and slope in shaping the physical features of Earth's major landforms and discuss how glaciers, wind, and water have shaped the physical landscape of New Hampshire.
- Discuss how changing Earth-Sun and Earth-Moon relationships influence seasons, length of day, weather and climate, the water cycle, and tides.
- Discuss potential outcomes of the continued movement of Earth's crust or tectonic plates including continental drift, earthquakes, and volcanic activity.
- Describe the components of Earth's physical systems--the atmosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere.
- Define a local ecosystem and explain how its components are interrelated.
- Describe cycles of succession in a variety of ecosystems (for example, forest, lake, grassland).
- Describe the characteristics of various biomes (for example, tropical rain forest, major desert), and discuss the groups of plants and animals associated with these large-scale ecosystems.
In addition to the above, by the end of grade 10 students will be able to:
- Describe how physical characteristics, including climate, soil, ocean currents, and salinity, affect the number, kind, and distribution of plants and animals in an ecosystem.
- Evaluate the relationship between the carrying capacity of different ecosystems and optimal land use patterns.
- Identify the locations of the world's known fossil fuel reserves and describe the processes that produced these fuels.
- Discuss interactions among the atmosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere.
Curriculum Standard 13. Students will demonstrate an understanding of the impact of human systems on Earth's surface including the characteristics, distribution, and migration of human populations; the nature and complexity of patterns of cultural diffusion; patterns and networks of economic interdependence; processes, patterns, and functions of human settlement; and the forces of cooperation and conflict that shape human geographic divisions.
Proficiency Standards
By the end of grade six students will be able to:
- Describe Earth's human systems including the urban, agricultural, political, economic, communication, and transportation systems.
- Discuss the relationship between physical features and the location of human systems including the distribution of population in coastal areas, river valleys, and mountain ranges.
- Employ demographic and cultural characteristics, including age, gender, ethnicity, and language, to describe populations.
- Describe and compare housing and land use patterns in rural, urban, and suburban areas in the United States and other regions of the world.
- Define the major components of culture and write a description of their culture.
- Describe the location and boundaries of various economic activities, including agriculture, mining, manufacturing, fishing, forestry, and tourism, and discuss the relative importance of these activities in New Hampshire and the United States.
- Identify and explain the importance of the nature and location of transportation and communication networks to economic activity.
In addition to the above, by the end of grade 10 students will be able to:
- Analyze the locations of and interconnections among Earth's human systems.
- Discuss the population characteristics of a country or region including such demographic factors as birth and death rates, population growth rate, doubling time, and life expectancy.
- Examine and discuss the interrelationships between and among settlement, migration, and population-distribution patterns and landforms, climates, and patterns of vegetation.
- Evaluate, take, and defend positions concerning the ways changing population patterns can influence the environment and society.
- Describe, by examining the development of major industries in the United States, how geography and the factors of production have contributed to the location of certain types of manufacturing in particular places and regions.
- Analyze how various factors, including resources, boundaries, strategic locations, culture, and politics, contribute to cooperation and conflict within and between countries.
Curriculum Standard 14. Students will demonstrate an understanding of the connections between Earth's physical and human systems; the consequences of the interaction between human and physical systems; and changes in the meaning, use, distribution, and importance of resources.
Proficiency Standards
By the end of grade six students will be able to:
- Identify and discuss ways people depend upon, use, and alter the physical environment.
- Identify and discuss the relationship between habitat and the increase, decrease, or stability of populations of species of plants and animals.
- Identify features of the physical environment in their community and region that first attracted settlers and have supported subsequent development.
- Evaluate the effects of weather and climate on agricultural activities, types of housing, fuel consumption, and other activities in their community and state.
- Explain how natural hazards and disasters affect the way people live and discuss what types of natural disasters may occur in their community, region, state, nation, and the world.
- Explain what a resource is, describe the characteristics of resources, and discuss the use of renewable and non-renewable resources in various parts of the world.
- Identify and discuss, using historical and contemporary examples, connections between the location of human systems and natural resources.
In addition to the above, by the end of grade 10 students will be able to:
- Analyze patterns of land use in terms of physical and human geographic features; distances to raw materials; proximity to population centers; and absence of physical barriers.
- Identify and evaluate the significance of the major forces of technology that have been used to modify physical systems in the past and in the present including fire; animals; the plow; explosives; steam power; diesel machinery; and electricity.
- Compare the ability of various ecosystems to absorb the impacts of human activities.
- Discuss how settlement patterns and other land use decisions reflect the perceptions of people both in the past and in the present.
- Analyze the relationship between resources and the exploration, colonization, and settlement of different areas of the world.
- Identify the location of major resources in the world today and analyze the impact of resource distribution patterns on world trade, standards of living, and international relations.
- Discuss how changes in a physical or human system can have regional and worldwide implications (for example, the effect of a volcanic eruption on the world's climate).
Curriculum Standard 15. Students will demonstrate the ability to apply their knowledge of geographic concepts, skills, and technology to interpret the past and the present and to plan for the future.
Proficiency Standards
By the end of grade six students will be able to:
- Identify, using maps, illustrations, photographs, and documents from different time periods, how land use in their community has changed and discuss reasons for these changes.
- Describe changes in the ways people have earned their living in New Hampshire from the pre-colonial time to the present and identify and discuss corresponding changes that have occurred in physical and human systems.
- Use maps and narratives to place historic and contemporary events in a spatial context.
- Discuss the relationships among population growth, technology, and resource use.
In addition to the above, by the end of grade 10 students will be able to:
- Evaluate sites within their community or region in order to identify the best location for a particular activity (for example, school, factory, shopping area, waste treatment plant).
- Analyze urban growth patterns around the world over time including changes in the location, conditions, and functions of urban centers.
- Describe how knowledge of major ecosystems can facilitate land management and contribute to an understanding of such issues as acid rain, endangered species, and global warming.
- Use the concept of sustainable development to analyze how different countries respond to changes in population and the needs of society.
- Use geographic criteria to compare developed and developing nations.
- Use geographic criteria to analyze daily activities and public policies that affect the world's environment and resources.
- Evaluate, using spatial and environmental perspectives, the potential short- and long-term impact of current issues and policies related to population changes and human development; food and agriculture; oceans and coasts; and changes in weather and climate.
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