Geography Standard Four:

Students will develop an understanding of the characters and use of regions and the connections between and among them [REGIONS].

Regions are areas containing places with common characteristics. They are a major way we simplify a geographically-complex world. Regions can be used for analysis and synthesis. They have practical applications as in political administration or organizing economic behavior. Understanding regions and their use will allow students to better analyze and predict patterns and connections between and among people, places, and environments.

The complexity of the standard will increase at each succeeding grade cluster:

• K-3:
  • Students will use the concepts of place and region to explain simple patterns of connections between and among places across the country and the world.
• 4-5:
  • Students will apply geographic skills to develop a profile of the local community by placing it in the context of physical, cultural, and other types of regions.
• 6-8:
  • Students will understand the process affecting the location of economic activities in different world regions.
  • Students will explain how conflict and cooperation among people contributes to the division of the Earth's surface into distinctive cultural regions and political territories.
• 9-12:
  • Students will apply knowledge of the types of regions and methods of drawing boundaries to interpret the Earth's changing complexity.