OVERVIEW
In Grade 7 geography, students will explore opportunities and challenges presented by the
physical environment and the ways in which people around the world have responded to
them. They will develop an understanding of patterns in Earth’s physicals features and of
the physical processes and human activities that create and change these features. Building
on their knowledge of natural resources, students will study the extraction/harvesting
and use of these resources on a global scale. They will examine the relationship between
Earth’s physical features and the distribution and use of natural resources while exploring
ways of preserving global resources. In this grade, students will be introduced to the
geographic inquiry process and to the concepts of geographic thinking. They will apply
the concept of geographic perspective while investigating the impact of natural events
and human activities on the physical environment and also various effects of natural
resource extraction/harvesting and use. Students will continue to develop their spatial
skills, extracting and analysing information from a variety of sources, including different
types of maps and graphs, photographs and digital representations, and geographic
information systems (GIS).
The Grade 7 geography expectations provide opportunities for students to explore a
number of concepts connected to the citizenship education framework (see page 10),
including advocacy, collaboration and cooperation, perspective, and stewardship.
The following chart presents an overview of Grade 7 geography and is meant to provide
a starting point for planning instruction. For each overall expectation (listed in the first
column), it identifies a related concept (or concepts) of geographic thinking and a big idea
(see pages 14 and 13 for an explanation of big ideas and the concepts of disciplinary
thinking and page 60 for definitions of the concepts of geographic thinking). General
framing questions are provided for each strand to stimulate students’ curiosity and critical
thinking and to heighten the relevance of what they are studying. These broad and
often open-ended questions can be used to frame a set of expectations, a strand, or a
cross-disciplinary unit. The final column suggests ways in which spatial skills can be
introduced and/or developed at this grade level and indicates specific expectations
with which they can be used (see page 25 for a description of spatial skills).
- Teacher: Bouyela Education Corporation