World Geography

Sixth graders systematically study the world by addressing standards that emphasize political and physical geography and embed five major concepts:  location, place, human interaction with the environment, movement, and regions.  Students systematically learn geography around the world continent by continent, similar to the way in which atlases are organized.  They also learn about each continent in an order that reflects, first, the early development of the river valley civilizations in the Mediterranean area and in Northern and Western Europe.  In so doing, students are better prepared for the study of early civilizations around the Mediterranean area in grade 7. 

In grade 6, students address standards that emphasize physical and political geography and embed five major concepts:  location, place, human interaction with the environment, movement, and regions.  Location refers both to absolute location indicated by latitude and longitude and to relative location, indicated by direction, distance, or travel time.  The concept of place refers to the physical and man-made characteristics of a place such as a town or city.  Human interaction with the environment encompasses the many ways in which people have adapted to their surroundings or altered them for economic reasons.  The movement of people, goods, and ideas is the fourth concept.  The fifth, region, refers to ways of categorizing areas of the earth, such as by climate or religion.

Grade 6 Concepts and Skills

Students should be able to:

Apply concepts and skills learned in previous grades.

History and Geography

• Use map and globe skills learned in pre-kindergarten to grade five to interpret different kinds of projections, as well as topographic, landform, political, population, and climate maps. 
• Use geographic terms correctly, such as delta, glacier, location, settlement, region, natural resource, human resource, mountain, hill, plain, plateau, river, island, isthmus, peninsula, erosion, climate, drought, monsoon, hurricane, ocean and wind currents, tropics, rain forest, tundra, desert, continent, region, country, nation, and  urbanization. 
• Interpret geographic information from a graph or char and construct a graph or chart that conveys geographic information (e.g. about rainfall, temperature, or population size data).
• Explain the difference between absolute and relative location and give examples of different ways to indicate relative location for countries or cities across the world.
• Identify how current world atlases are organized and the kind of information they provide for each continent and country.
• Identify what time zones are, when and how the precise measurement of longitude was scientifically and historically determined, the function and location of the International Date Line, and the function of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England, and give examples of differences in time in countries in different parts of the world.
• Use the following demographic terms correctly: ethnic group, religious group, and linguistic group. 

 Civics and Government

• Define what a nation is and give examples of the different ways nations are            formed.
• Give examples of several well-known international organizations (e.g. the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the British Commonwealth, and the United Nations) and explain their purposes and functions.

Economics

• Provide examples of currencies from several countries and explain why International trade requires a system for exchanging currency between nations.         
• Give examples of products that are traded among nations, and examples of barriers to trade in these or other products.
• Define supply and demand and describe how changes in supply and demand affect prices of specific products.

Supply is what producers or sellers want or sell or exchange.  Demand is what consumers or buyers want to get in exchange or buy.

• Identify the key elements of a market economy.

In a market economy, the major decisions about production and distribution are made in a decentralized manner by individual households and business firms following their own self-interest.

• Describe how different economic systems (traditional, command, market, mixed) try to answer the basic economic questions of what to produce, how to produce, and for whom to produce.
• Compare the standard of living in various countries today using gross domestic product per capita as an indicator.

Africa

Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mayotte (Fr.), Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Reunion (Fr.), Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Western Sahara, Zambia, Zimbabwe

A.1 On a map of the world, locate the continent of Africa, the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Great Rift Valley.  On a map of Africa, locate the northern, eastern, western, central, and southern regions of Africa, the Sahara Desert, the Nile River, Lake Victoria, Mount Kilimanjaro, and the Cape of Good Hope.  (G)

A.2 Use a map key to locate countries and major cities in Africa. (G, E)

A.3 Explain how the following five factors have influenced settlement and the economies of major African regions and countries. (G, E)

A. absolute and relative locations                  D. major natural resources

B. climate                                           E.  population size

C. major physical characteristics

A.4 Identify the locations and time periods of the sub-Saharan empires of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay.  ((H, G)

A.5 Identify when modern African countries became independent nations and explain how independence was achieved. (H, G)

Western Asia (The Middle East)

Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Cyprus, Georgia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, area governed by the Palestinian Authority, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Yemen

WA.1 On a map of the world, locate Western Asia, or the Middle East.  On a map of the Middle East, locate the Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea, Caspian Sea, Red Sea, Indian Ocean, Arabian Peninsula, and the Persian Gulf. (G)

WA.2 Use a map key to locate countries and major cities in the Middle East. (G, E)

WA.3 Explain how the following five factors have influenced settlement and the economies of major Middle Eastern countries. (G, E)

A. absolute and relative location

B. climate

C. major physical characteristics

D. major natural resources

E. population size

WA.4 Locate and describe the various ethnic and religious groups of the Middle East.  (G, H, C, E)

WA.5 Identify when the countries in the Middle East became independent nations and explain how independence was achieved. (H, G)

Central and South Asia

Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan

CSA.1 On a map of the world, locate Central and South Asia.  On a map of Central and South Asia, locate the Indian Ocean, the Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal, the Ganges River, the Indo-Gangetic Plain, the Northern Mountains, the Deccan Plateau, the Himalayan Mountains, and the Steppes. (G)

CSA.2 Use a map key to locate the countries and major cities in Central and South Asia. (G, E)

CSA.3 Explain how the following five factors have influenced settlement and the economies of major Central and South Asian countries. (G, E)

A. absolute and relative location

B. climate

C. major physical characteristics

D. major natural resources

E. population size

CSA.4 Identify when India, Pakistan, Bhutan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and the Central Asian republics first became independent and how independence was achieved.  Explain the relationship of the Central Asian republics to the former Soviet Union. (H, G)

Southeast Asia and Oceania

Brunei, Cambodia, Guam (U.S.), Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Northern Mariana Islands (U.S.), Palau, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam

SEAO.1 On a map of the world, locate Southeast Asia, the Indian Ocean, Australia, New Zealand, Antarctica, the major Pacific Islands, the Pacific Ocean, and the Coral Sea.  On a map of Southeast Asia and Oceania, locate the Bay of Bengal, the South China Sea, the Great Victoria Desert, and the Great Barrier Reef.  (G)

SEAO.2 Use a map key to locate countries and major cities in the various regions of Southeast Asia, Australia, and the major Pacific Islands. (G, E)

A. absolute and relative location

B. climate

C. major physical characteristics

D. major natural resources

E. population size

SEAO.3 Explain how the following five factors have influenced settlement and the economies of major countries of Southeast Asia and Oceania.  ((G, E)

SEAO.4 Identify when countries in Southeast Asia and Oceania became independent countries and describe how independence was achieved. (G, H)

North and East Asia

 China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, Russia, South Korea

NEA.1 On a map of the world, locate North and East Asia, the Pacific Ocean, and the Arctic Ocean.  On a map of East Asia, locate the Sea of Japan, the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea, the Gobi Desert, the Himalayas, and the Huang He (Yellow) and Chang Jiang (Yantgtze) Rivers.  On a map of North Asia, locate Siberia and the Yenisey, Lena and Kolyma rivers.  (G)

NEA.2 Use a map key to locate the countries and major cities in the various regions of East Asia. (G, E)

NEA.3 Explain how the following five factors have influenced settlement and the economies of major East Asian countries. (G, E)

A. absolute and relative location

B. climate

C. major physical characteristics

D. major natural resources

E. population size

NEA.4 Identify when Taiwan, North Korea, South Korea, and Mongolia became independent countries and describe how independence was achieved. (G, H)

Europe

Albania, Andorra, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, channel Islands (U.K.), Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar (U.K.), Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Sam Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Vatican City, Yugoslavia

E.1 On a map of the world, locate the continent of Europe.  On a map of Europe, locate the Atlantic Ocean, Arctic Ocean, Norwegian Sea, and Barents Sea.  Locate the Volga, Danube, Ural, Rhine, Elbe, Seine, Po, and Thames Rivers.  Locate the Alps, Pyrenees, and Balkan Mountains.  Locate the countries in the northern, southern, central, eastern, and western regions of Europe. (G)

E.2 Use a map key to locate countries and major cities in Europe.  (G) 

E.3 Explain how the following five factors have influenced settlement and the economies of major European countries. (G, E)

A. absolute and relative location

B. climate

C. major physical characteristics

D. major natural resources

E. population size