Nebraska State Geography Standards
The World in Spatial Terms
SS 12.3.1 Students will analyze where (spatial) and why people, places, and environments are organized on the Earth’s surface.
SS 12.3.1.a Analyze geographical information sources (e.g., map, globe, atlas, remote sensing, GPS, and GIS)
SS 12.3.1.b Apply map scale as a geographical tool and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of projections (e.g., large scale/small scale, Peters, Mercator, plane, conical, cylindrical)
SS 12.3.1.c Analyze mental maps and spatial relationships. (e.g., city development, urban planning based on railroads, location of natural resources)
SS 12.3.1.d Apply spatial thinking to investigate issues and justify decisions. (e.g., consolidation of schools, closing of post offices)
Places and Regions
SS 12.3.2 Students will examine how regions form and change over time
SS 12.3.2.b Examine the importance of places and regions to individual and social identity (e.g., nationalism, national monuments, local legends, parks, sub-cultures, nationalism, territoriality, iconography)
SS 12.3.2.c Analyze the changes in places and regions over time (e.g., migration, urbanization, fertility and mortality, industrialization)
12.3.2.d Analyze the interdependence of places and regions. (e.g., international trade, NAFTA, EU)
SS 12.3.2.e Analyze critical issues and problems of places and regions. (e.g., current events)
SS 12.3.2.f Apply regional analysis of geographic issues and questions. (e.g., discussing current events and issues of the day in a geographical context)
Physical Systems
SS 12.3.3 Students will interpret how natural processes interact to create the natural environment.
SS 12.3.3.a Identify and explain components of Earth’s physical system (i.e., atmosphere, lithosphere, biosphere, and hydrosphere)
SS 12.3.3.b Explain plate tectonics/continental drift and predict changes over time to the earth’s land and oceans
SS 12.3.3.c Identify and explain world patterns of extreme events
SS 12.3.3.d Identify and explain global ocean and atmospheric systems
SS 12.3.3.e Compare and contrast world climate regions
Human Systems
SS 12.3.4.a Distinguish population characteristics by world regions, country, and regions within countries (e.g., demographic transition, fertility, mortality, migration rates, population pyramids)
SS 12.3.4.b Analyze the push and pull factors (economic, political, and cultural) driving human migration and the impacts on the source regions and destinations (e.g., the impact of migration to North America, South America, Australia and New Zealand)
SS 12.3.4.c Compare and contrast changes in human settlement patterns over time
SS 12.3.4.d Compare and contrast internal structures of cities in developed and developing countries
SS 12.3.4.e Evaluate the spread of cultural traits to distinguish between convergence and divergence of cultures (e.g., convergence: spread of democratic ideas, patronage of chain coffee houses, introduction of fast food restaurants worldwide; divergence: restrictions on the change of local language)
SS 12.3.4.f Determine the level of development and standard of living in nations using economic, social, and demographic indicators (e.g., gross domestic product per capita, life expectancy, literacy, infant mortality)
SS 12.3.4.g Evaluate the benefits and challenges of globalization (e.g., regional specialization, trade, multinational businesses, pandemics, loss of local cultures)
SS 12.3.4.h Identify and analyze patterns of power and influence of sovereign nations and organized nation groups (e.g., NATO, United Nations, European Union)
SS 12.3.4.i Identify and explain the factors that contribute to cooperation and conflict within and between countries
Human/Environment Interaction
SS 12.3.5 Students will evaluate interrelationships between people and the environment.
SS 12.3.5.a Analyze the consequences of extreme weather and other natural disasters such as El Nino, floods, tsunamis, droughts, and volcanoes
SS 12.3.5.b Evaluate ways that humans depend on, adapt to, and modify the physical environment (e.g., agriculture, water supply, raw materials for economic development, land use practices, the use of technology to overcome climate, terrain, distances, and resource availability)
SS 12.3.5.c Evaluate successful solutions and problems related to the physical environment from a geographical perspective (e.g., the role of irrigation, contour farming and hybrid seeds in expansion of agriculture in the Midwest; the role of air conditioning in the industrialization of the South; recent global climate change theories, and evidence that supports and refutes such theories)
SS 12.3.5.d Investigate the role of technology in the supply of, and substitution for, natural resources (e.g., PVC replacing copper pipes, synthetics for natural rubber, horizontal drilling, fracking, and the use of tar sands in oil recovery)
SS 12.3.5.e Analyze the impacts of technological innovations in shaping human interaction on the physical environment (e.g., agriculture, air conditioning, desalinization)
Application of Geography to Issues and Events
SS 12.3.6 Students will analyze issues and/or events using the geographic knowledge and skills to make informed decisions.
SS 12.3.6.a Apply geographic knowledge and skills (e.g., ask geographic questions, acquire, analyze, and present geographic information)
SS 12.3.6.b Identify and evaluate how geographic knowledge and geographic techniques are applied to improve our lives or solve problems (e.g., use global information systems (GIS), global positioning systems (GPS), satellite images, and maps to find the best location for a new store, identify potential customers, or determine the optimum usage of irrigation and fertilizers, mapping cases of cholera to determine that city water supply was contaminated)