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ALABAMA
COURSE OF STUDY: GEOGRAPHY
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"This
one-semester study of geography in the Seventh Grade emphasizes the knowledge
and skills necessary to develop a geographic perspective. By the
end of this course, students should understand the fundamental physical
and human patterns on the Earth's surface as well as the processes that
created these patterns. Representative areas of the world should
be selected for detailed studies of the content standards. In this
course students learn how to apply a geographic perspective to the past,
present, and future. This Seventh Grade study of geography supports
the study of world history in the Eighth and Ninth Grades as well as the
study of U.S. history in the Tenth and Eleventh Grades. The six essential
elements of geography are used to organize the content standards.
Geographic skills and perspectives (Geography for Life, 1994) are
interwoven throughout the content standards." (Alabama Course
of Study Social Studies, Bulletin 1998, No 18, p. 72.)
Geographic
Elements
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The
World in Spatial Terms
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The structuring of
geographic information, the ordering of knowledge into real and mental
maps, and the spatial analysis of that information. |
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Places
& Regions
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The basic units of
geography and how those units are organized differently by different people. |
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Physical
Systems
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Physical and environmental
phenomena, such as land forms and climate, and their interaction through
ecosystems, renewable resources, and the hydrologic cycle. |
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Human
Systems
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Human populations
and their economic activities, migration patterns, settlement patterns,
territorial arrangements, and political conflicts. |
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Environment
& Society
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Interaction between
physical and human systems and identification of the central role of resources
in environment-society links. |
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Uses
of Geography
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A component to understand
the past, interpret the present, and plan for the future. |
Geographic
skills provide the necessary tools and techniques for students to think
geographically. They enable students to observe patterns, associations,
and spatial order as they are asking geographic questions; acquiring, organizing,
and analyzing geographic information; and answering geographic questions.
Geographic
perspectives specifically addressed in this course are a spatial perspective
and an ecological perspective. Students will gain experience in applying
a spatial perspective through the inquiry of where and why (space and place)
the human experience occurred in a particular place. An ecological perspective
will be developed and applied through the examination of the connections
and relationships between and among the living and nonliving elements on
Earth.
Technology
use is vital to this course. The use of spatial databases, Internet
resources, census information, remotely sensed imagery, and virtual maps
including daily television weather maps will enhance instruction.
Students will also benefit from the integration of content from other subject
areas, such as mathematics, earth science, and language arts.
The
World in Spatial Terms
1.
Students will explain map essentials: type, size, shape, distance, direction,
location, scale, symbols.
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Reference and thematic
maps, topographic and planimetric maps.
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Globes
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Map projections
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Aerial photographs
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Satellite images
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Latitude and longitude
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Cardinal and intermediate
directions
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Fractional, graphic, and
verbal scale
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Conventional symbols used
in atlases
2.
Students will illustrate spatial information using data, symbols, and colors
to create thematic maps.
Examples include:
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Patterns of population
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Economics
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Rainfall
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Vegetation
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Landforms
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Hurricane tracks over several seasons
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International trade in comodities
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3.
Students will illustrate graphically and
analyze the distribution of major physical and human features
on Earth's surface using different scales. Examples include:
Physical Features
Continents
Mountain Chains
Oceans
Rivers
Climate
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Human Features
Countries
Cities
Population
Economy
Language
Religion
Resources
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4.
Students will evaluate the spatial arrangement of urban and rural land-use
patterns in the student's
local community or in a nearby community.
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Commercial
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Residential
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Industrial
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Agricultural
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Mining
Places
& Regions
5.
Students will locate selected countries, cities, and physical features
on maps, globes, and
satellite
images.
6.
Students will identify physical and human criteria used to define regions
at different spatial scales.
Examples include:
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Hemispheres
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Regions within continents or countries
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City boundaries
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School Districts
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Developed and less developed regions
of the world
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7.
Students will evaluate the impact of human activity on landscapes over
time using maps, graphs,
and satellite-produced images. Examples include:
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Agricultural patterns in different areas
of the world
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Tree clearing in rain forests
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Damming of rivers
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Destruction of wildlife habitats
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Urban growth
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Land use change
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8.
Students will compare the physical and human characteristics of places
using observation
data and geographic resources. Examples include:
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Soils
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Landforms
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Vegetation
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Wildlife
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Religion
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Language
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Politics
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Population
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Land Use
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9.
Students will relate place names with cultural and/or political perspectives.
Examples include:
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Names given to places or regions that
symbolize an event or principle
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Names given to places to honor a person
of cause
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10.
Students will relate the use of technology to the way culture
groups perceive and use
places
and regions. For example air conditioning in the southern
United States increased productivity and encouraged migration into the
South.
Physical
Systems
11.
Students will explain patterns in the physical environment within the context
of physical
processes. Examples include:
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Tectonic processes
and continental drift
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Ocean and atmospheric
circulation
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Erosion
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Earth-Sun relationships
and seasons
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Weather and climate
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Renewable and
non-renewable resources
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12.
Students will predict the short- and long-range effects of extreme weather
phenomena and human
activity on the physical environment. Examples include:
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A hurricane's impact on coastal ecosystems
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Heavy rainfall on hill slopes after
deforestation
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13.
Students will describe ecosystems and explain why they differ from place
to place. Differences include:
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Soils
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Climates
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Topography
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Populations
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14.
Students will identify changes over time in a nearby ecosystem resulting
from human
intervention. Examples include:
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Natural wetlands being
replaced by farms
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Forests and farmland being
replaced by housing development
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Human
Systems
15.
Students will describe human populations on Earth's surface.
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Characteristics examples:
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Birth rate
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Death rate
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Life expectancy
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Population density
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Distribution examples:
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Dot and choropleth maps of population concentration
or dispersal
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Population pyramids
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Migration examples include:
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Rural to urban
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Southerners into northern areas of the United
States in the 20th century
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Northerns into the southern region in the late
20th century
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Movement of Mongols across Asia and into Europe
in the 13th century
16.
Students will identify ways in which communities reflect the cultural background
of their
inhabitants. Examples include:
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Distinctive building
styles
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Billboards in
Spanish
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Foreign language
advertisements
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Ethnic restaurants
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17.
Students will relate economic activity of a region within its geographic
context. Examples include:
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Mining coal and
other resources
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Irrigation and agriculture
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Sport franchise
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Impact on
the local or regional community of the gain or loss of certain economic
activities
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18.
Evaluate trading patterns of the United States and other countries related
to locations. Examples include:
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Petroleum
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Wheat
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Cotton
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Automobiles
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Textile
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19.
Discuss major industries in the United States from the perspective of how
geography and the
factors of production helped determine the locations of manufacturing plants.
Examples include those producing:
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Steel
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Aircraft
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Automobiles
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Food products
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Textiles
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Apparel
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20.
Identify major agricultural and urban settlement types and the geographic
reasons for their location.
Examples include:
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Plantations
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Subsistence
farming
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Truck
farming communities
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Port
cities
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Governmental
centers
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Planned
cities
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Single
industry city
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21.
Explain factors that contribute to conflict within and between countries.
Examples include:
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Use of land
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Economic competition for scarce resources
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Boundary disputes
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Cultural differences
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Control of strategic locations
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Environment
& Society
22.
Evaluate the environmental effects of human actions on the four basic components
of
Earth's physical systems. The four basic components are:
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Atmosphere
examples:
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Effects
of ozone depletion
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Effects
of Climate change
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Biosphere
examples:
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Effects
of deforestation
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Reduction
in biodiversity
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Lithosphere
examples:
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Effects
of land degradation
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Gully erosion
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Hydrosphere
examples:
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Effects
of pesticides and non-point pollution washed into river systems
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Decline
of quality ground-water
23.
Identify the significance of major technological innovations that have
been used to modify the
physical environment, both in the past and in the present. Examples
include the effects of
the introduction of:
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Fire
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Steam Power
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Diesel machinery
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Electricity
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Work Animals
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Explosives
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24.
Explain how the characteristics of different physical environments affect
human activities. For example:
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How
people in Siberia, Alaska, and other high latitude places deal with the
characteristics of tundra environments such as frost heaves, freezing of
public utilities, very short growing seasons
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How
people in low latitudes deal with the tropical heat and high humity withmid-day
siestas.
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25.
Explain the ways humans prepare for natural hazards. Examples include:
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Earthquake
preparedness
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Constructing
houses on stilts in flood prone areas
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Designation
of hurricane or tornado shelters
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Designation
of evacuation routes in hurricane- or tornado-prone areas
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26.
Describe world patterns of resource distribution and utilization by mapping
and discussing such
natural resources in terms of the locations of major deposits. Examples
include:
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Petroleum
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Coal
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Copper
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Iron
ore
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27.
Relate the importance of energy resources to the development of human societies.
Examples include:
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Wood
and water to people settling in new lands
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Natural
gas for heating and cooling buildings
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Coal
for factories
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The
Uses of Geography
28.
Identify changes over time indicating the process of urban growth in the
United States.
Items to discuss include:
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Site characteristics
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Situations
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Function
29.
Assess the role of different land survey systems in establishing contemporary
landscape patterns
by examining maps. For example, compare the history and landscape
of a metes-and-bounds state, such as Georgia with a rectangular land survey
system such as Alabama.
30.
Evaluate the geographic impact of using major energy sources in the twenty-first
century. Examples
include:
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Petroleum
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Coal
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Nuclear power
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Solar energy
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31.
Analyze a geographic issue developing sound arguments in favor of recommendations
for
specific actions on the issue. Examples include:
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Building
a dam and reservoir
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Construction
to revitalize a downtown area
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Siting
a new landfill
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32.
Assess the balance between the negative impact of human habitation on the
environment and the need for natural resources thought essential to sustain
human life.
Created
by Lisa Keys Mathews.
Last revision 10/03/98. lkm