7th Grade World Geography

Class overview

Welcome to the 2020-21 school year! This year you will gain a greater understanding of World Geography. We will approach this through a look at world regions (continental areas). Please understand, this is more than just placing countries and cities on a map. We will be looking at how humans interact with the environment, the different environmental challenges for different areas, how humans have adapted the land and water to improve living conditions, how populations are distributed, and political systems in the various areas.

Four themes of World Geography

The Four Themes we will use this year (from the SC Dept of Education)

  1. Places and Regions (PR)-The PR theme encourages the study of the experiences of humans organized into geographic regions. Regions describe places that are characterized by similar physical and human conditions.

  2. Environment and Resources (ER) – The ER theme encourages the study of Earth’s physical systems (climate, landform, vegetation) and how human activities modify the environment, bringing both benefits and costs. The distribution of natural resources varies spatially and temporally, resulting in different political and economic relationships.

  3. Human Systems (HS) – The HS theme encourages the study of various human activities and characteristics across Earth’s surface. The spatial distribution and movement of populations and the resultant changes form the basis of understanding. Cultural characteristics, economic systems, political systems, and settlement patterns are further examples of how human landscapes vary spatially.

  4. Applied Geography (AG) – The AG theme encourages the study of how geographic literacy and geographic skills such as mapping are used to solve problems. An understanding of past and present spatial organizations of Earth enables people to better understand and plan for the changes in human and physical phenomena in the future.