Human Geography 12

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Big Ideas

Grandes idées

Analyzing data from a variety of sources allows us to better understand our globally connected world.

Demographic patterns and population distribution are influenced by physical features and natural resources.

Human activities alter landscapes in a variety of ways.

A geographic region can encompass a variety of physical features and/or human interactions.

Curricular Competencies

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Students are expected to be able to do the following:

Use geographic inquiry processes and skills to ask questions; gather, interpret, and analyze data and ideas; and communicate findings and decisions

Sample topics:
- Map skills:
  - Use a map for navigation.
  - Understand a map legend.
  - Use map scales.
  - Understand latitude and longitude.
  - Understand topographic maps and contour lines.
- Mapping software and GIS tools
- Interpreting satellite images and photos

Assess the significance of places by identifying the physical and/or human features that characterize them (sense of place)

Assess a variety of interpretations of geographic evidence after investigating different perspectives, reliability of sources, and adequacy of evidence

Sample activities:
- Research a contentious geographic issue by examining different sides of the issue, comparing the evidence, and reaching a conclusion. The following are some possible issues to research:
  - buying local versus imported produce
  - environmental impact of living in cities versus living in rural areas
  - impact of climate change on northern regions versus equatorial regions
- Compare different versions of a world map and talk about what the differences mean (e.g., Mercator projection makes Africa and Greenland look the same size even though they aren’t).

(evidence and interpretation)

Draw conclusions about the variation and distribution of geographic phenomena over time and space

Key questions:
- What are some reasons that a company might move manufacturing of certain goods from one country to another?
- Is resource use and development always harmful to the landscape?
- How have our Canadian eating patterns changed over the last 100 years? Where did our food come from then? Where does it come from now? What do we eat now that we didn’t used to eat? Where does it come from?
Sample activities:
- Research a specific product (e.g., toothbrush, basketball, avocado). Where is it grown/sourced, manufactured and then sold?
- Find historical photos of the town you live in/were born in and compare them with how the town looks now. What changes happened and why?
- Compare political systems in Canada with those in another country. What differences in values and beliefs might account for the very different ways countries govern themselves?

(patterns and trends)

Evaluate how particular geographic actions or events influence human practices or outcomes (geographical value judgments)

Evaluate features or aspects of geographic phenomena or locations to explain what makes them worthy of attention or recognition

Key questions:
- What key features do cities have? Why are so many people moving to cities?
- Which farming methods are most sustainable?
- Why is English the main language of business, academia, and the Internet around the world?
- Why are so many human communities situated along coastlines?
Sample activities:
- Explore a piece of music, a piece of art, or a story from somewhere else in the world, and describe the place it came from and the artist who created it. How does it reflect the place it came from?
- Research the significance of key cultural places (e.g., the Vatican, the Taj Mahal, Saint Basil’s Cathedral, the Great Wall of China). Why are they significant and to whom?

(geographical importance)

Identify and assess how human and environmental factors and events influence each other (interactions and associations)

Make reasoned ethical judgments about controversial actions in the past or present, and determine whether we have a responsibility to respond (geographical value judgments)

Content

Students are expected to know the following:

demographic patterns of growth, decline, and movement

relationships between cultural traits, use of physical space, and impacts on the environment

relationship between First Peoples and the environment

global agricultural practices

industrialization, trade, and natural resource demands

factors behind increased urbanization and its influence on societies and environments

relationships between natural resources and patterns of population settlement and economic development

political organization of geographic regions

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