Overarching+goals+of+our+atlas

The need for geographic literacy has never been greater or more obvious than in today’s tightly interrelated world. Students must understand the world’s physical features, how they blend with social systems and how they affect economics, politics and human interaction. Isolated geographic facts are not enough. To grasp geography and its effect on individuals and societies, students must know the broad concepts of spatial patterns, mapping population and physical systems (land, air, water). The combination of geographic facts and broad concepts provides a deeper understanding of geography and its effects on individuals and societies. **Post on the discussion board above your thoughts on these Goals.**

__Overarching Goals of our Atlas:__ for students to understand the effects and interactions of geography and society, with an emphasis on Nevada and the United States, they should be able to: NOW, we may or amy not hit these goals ... I have them listed here simply to facilitate some discussion on the Atlas Pages.
 * 1) Identify physical characteristics of places, both local and global (e.g., locations, roads, regions, bodies of water).
 * 2) Identify the characteristics and purposes of geographic representations including maps, globes, graphs, photographs, and be able to locate specific places using each.
 * 3) Identify components of Earth’s physical systems.
 * 4) Describe physical components of ecosystems.
 * 5) Identify ways people depend on and interact with the physical environment (e.g., farming, fishing, hydroelectric power).
 * 6) Identify opportunities and constraints of the physical environment.
 * 7) Explain the difference between renewable and nonrenewable resources.
 * 8) Identify changes in geographic characteristics of a local region (e.g., town, community).
 * 9) Compare the physical characteristics of places including soils, land forms, vegetation, wildlife, climate, natural hazards.
 * 10) Describe how physical and human processes shape spatial patterns including erosion, agriculture and settlement.
 * 11) Explain how physical and living components interact in a variety of ecosystems including desert, prairie, flood plain, forest, tundra.
 * 12) Describe how natural events in the physical environment affect human activities.
 * 13) Describe the relationships among location of resources, population distribution and economic activities (e.g., transportation, trade, communications).
 * 14) Explain how human activity affects the environment.
 * 15) Identify different settlement patterns in Nevada and the United States and relate them to physical features and resources.
 * 16) Analyze how human processes influence settlement patterns including migration and population growth.
 * 17) Explain how interactions of geographic factors have shaped present conditions.
 * 18) Explain how changes in components of an ecosystem affect the system overall.

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