OVERVIEW
In Grade 8 geography, students will build on what they have learned in earlier grades
about Earth’s physical features and processes in order to explore the relationship between
these features/processes and human settlement patterns around the world. They will
focus on where people live and why they live there, and on the impact of human settlement
and land use on the environment. They will enhance their ability to apply a geographic
perspective to their investigation of issues, including issues related to human settlement
and sustainability and to global development and quality of life. In addition, students
will study factors that affect economic development and quality of life on a global scale
and will examine responses to global inequalities. Students will be introduced to new
types of maps and graphs, including choropleth maps, scatter graphs, and population
pyramids, and, at the same time, will continue to develop their ability to use a variety
of sources, tools, and spatial technologies to study various geographic issues.
The Grade 8 geography expectations provide opportunities for students to explore a
number of concepts connected to the citizenship education framework (see page 10),
including democracy, equity, freedom, perspective, power and authority, relationships, rights
and responsibilities, and stewardship.
The following chart presents an overview of Grade 8 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