Unpacked Content
Knowledge
Students know:
- Geographic patterns in the environment that result from processes within the atmosphere, biosphere, lithosphere, and hydrosphere of Earth's physical systems.
- Earth-Sun relationships regarding seasons, fall hurricanes, monsoon rainfalls, and tornadoes.
- Processes that shape the physical environment, including long-range effects of extreme weather phenomena, such as plate tectonics, glaciers, ocean and atmospheric circulation, El Niño long-range effects—erosion on agriculture, typhoons on coastal ecosystems.
- Characteristics and physical processes that influence the spatial distribution of ecosystems and biomes on Earth's surface.
- How ecosystems vary from place to place and over time, such as alteration or destruction of natural habitats due to effects of floods and forest fires, reduction of species diversity due to loss of natural habitats, reduction of wetlands due to replacement by farms, reduction of forest and farmland due to replacement by housing developments, reduction of previously cleared land due to reforestation efforts.
- Geographic issues in different regions that result from human and natural processes.
Skills
Students are able to:
- Interpret reasons for spatial patterns of Earth's regions.
- Compare variations between and within geographic regions.
- Explain processes that shape the physical environment.
- Compare and explain geographic issues in different regions.
Understanding
Students understand that:
- Spatial patterns are caused by human and physical processes in the atmosphere, biosphere, lithosphere, and the hydrosphere.
Vocabulary
- geographic or spatial patterns
- regions
- compare
- geographic issues
- human and natural processes
