Virginia SOLs for World Geography

WG.1: The student will demonstrate skills for historical thinking, geographical analysis, economic decision making, and responsible citizenship by;

a) synthesizing evidence from artifacts and primary and secondary sources to obtain information about the world’s countries, cities, and environments;

g) analyzing multiple connections across time and place

Issues may include, Movement, Region, Human-Environment Interactions, Location, and place

• Location: Defined according to its position on the earth’s surface; where is it?

• Place: Locations having distinctive features that give them meaning and character that differ from other locations; what is it like?

• Region: A unit on the earth's surface that has unifying characteristics; how are places similar or different?

• Movement: The way people, products, and information move from one place to another; how do people, goods, and ideas move from one location to another?

• Human-Environment Interaction: The relationship between people and their environment; how do people relate to the physical world?

Cartographers use a variety of sources to collect information about a location. Describe the impact of the location’s geography on its social and cultural development. Tools and sources to consider for data collection may include the following:

• GIS (Geographic Information Systems)

• Field work

• Satellite images

• Photographs

• Maps, globes

• Databases

• Primary sources

• Diagrams

WG.3 - The student will apply the concept of a region by

d) explaining how different cultures use maps and place names to reflect their regional perspectives

e) describing the location of places in terms of reference points (e.g., the equator, prime meridian)

Maps and other visual images reflect changes in perspective over time.

People use maps to illustrate their perspectives of the world.

Place names

• Taiwan, Republic of China

• Palestine, Israel, West Bank, Gaza

• Arabian Gulf vs. Persian Gulf

• Sea of Japan vs. East Sea

• Middle East vs. North Africa and Southwest Asia

Boundaries

• Africa: In 1914; in present day after independence in the late twentieth century

• Europe: Before World War II; after World War II; since 1990

• Russia and the former Soviet Union

• Middle East: Before 1948; after 1967

mental map: An individual’s internalized representation of aspects of Earth’s surface

WG.16: The student will apply social science skills to analyze the patterns of urban development by

a.) applying the concepts of site and situation to major cities in each region

Situation: Relative location (the location of a place with respect to other geographic features, regions, resources, and transport routes)