Intro to Geography
Learn to think geographically. This course builds spatial literacy through maps, data, Earth systems, climate patterns, hazards, and human systems, then culminates in sustainability and applied synthesis.
Click a phase/pill to see how weekly instruction can be expressed through each framework.
How this course lives in AVID (WICOR)
Students write short justifications, inquire through geographic questions, collaborate on map analyses, stay organized with evidence artifacts, and read maps and texts with purpose.
How this course lives in Cognia
Learners engage through clear weekly targets, frequent evidence checks, supportive culture, explicit instruction pathways, and iterative improvement through feedback.
Establish geographic thinking as a method: location, scale, patterns, and human environment interaction, with clear expectations for Tuesday and Thursday routines.
Students learn geography as a way of reasoning, they practice asking geographic questions and begin building a shared vocabulary for space, place, and systems.
Why is geography important? How does location and place shape what is possible?
- Geography, spatial thinking, place, region, scale
- Absolute location, relative location, pattern
- Human environment interaction
- Course orientation, expectations, evidence norms (how explanations are graded).
- Introduce the five geographic questions (where, why there, why it matters, how it connects, what changes).
- Mini lab: map a familiar place (campus or community) with 5 annotated geographic observations.
- Case-based application: a local or regional issue (growth, flooding, transportation, access).
- Small-group reasoning: students produce a one-paragraph geographic explanation using evidence.
- Exit evidence: 3 claims, 3 supports, 1 uncertainty (what you still need to know).
- World political and physical maps, local area map.
- Slides: “Geographic Questions” and “Evidence sentence frames.”
- World Builders style: Issue 01 opener, “Geography is a lens.”
- Personal geography map (annotated) and share-out.
- Quick gallery walk: patterns and constraints students notice.
- What changes when you change scale (street, city, state, world)?
- What makes a geographic explanation stronger than an opinion?
- Formative only: short written explanation scored with a simple clarity rubric.
- Signal hierarchy: one purpose, one target, one evidence artifact for the week.
- Constraint-aware: limit concepts, maximize practice explaining with evidence.
Build fluency with absolute and relative location, scale, regions, and how geographers describe spatial patterns.
Students learn to describe and explain patterns, then practice making defensible regional claims that are evidence-based.
How do geographers describe patterns and regions? What changes when scale changes?
- Absolute location, relative location, scale
- Region (formal, functional, perceptual), pattern, distribution
- Distance decay, accessibility
- Pattern vocabulary, clustered, linear, dispersed, and what each suggests.
- Region types with examples, students build a region claim using a provided dataset or map.
- Applied lab: build and defend a “region boundary” using evidence layers (economy, culture, climate, access).
- Short writing: region claim, evidence, counterexample.
- Choropleth examples, dot-density examples, simple thematic maps.
- Slides: pattern types and region claim frames.
- World Builders style: “Regions are tools, not truths.”
- Formative: one region claim with two evidence supports.
- Make the “claim-evidence” expectation visible in every artifact.
- Use consistent legends and map layouts to reduce cognitive friction.
Students learn how maps encode choices and distortions, then practice selecting and interpreting projections for specific purposes.
Students gain cartographic literacy: projection tradeoffs, map elements, and how to avoid common interpretation errors.
How do map choices shape what we think is true?
- Projection, distortion, scale, legend, orientation
- Choropleth, dot density, proportional symbol
- Reference map, thematic map
- Projection purpose: preserving area, shape, distance, direction.
- Quick comparison: Mercator vs equal-area, students annotate what changes.
- Map elements check: title, legend, source, date, scale bar.
- Cartography lab: match map purpose to projection and justify the choice.
- Short writing: “This map is good for…, but it risks…”
- Projection comparison images, printed map sets for stations.
- Slides: projection decision tree.
- World Builders style: “Maps are arguments.”
- Formative: 6-item interpretation check (map purpose, legend, distortion).
- Signal map purpose first, then introduce projection details.
- Keep station cards visually consistent to reduce load.
Introduce GIS thinking (layers, attributes, spatial questions), then practice using map layers to answer applied questions.
Students learn spatial data as layered evidence, they practice asking answerable geographic questions using overlays and attributes.
How does layered spatial data change what we can know?
- GIS, layer, attribute, spatial query
- Vector, raster, metadata, scale
- Buffer, overlay, hotspot
- GIS basics: layer logic, what counts as a good layer, metadata and trust.
- Demo: answer one question using 3 layers (example: flooding risk, access, elevation).
- Group lab: students choose a question, then build an evidence stack (layers + short justification).
- Share-out: “Our conclusion is…, because layers show…”
- Optional: ArcGIS Online, Google My Maps, or QGIS demo.
- Slides: layer stack templates and evidence rules.
- World Builders style: “Layers reveal patterns.”
- Formative: 1-layer stack submission (question, layers, conclusion, limitation).
- Constraint-aware: 3 layers maximum in the first lab.
- Signal hierarchy: question first, layers second, conclusion last.
Introduce Earth as interacting systems, students explain feedbacks and constraints that shape environments and patterns.
Students learn systems thinking as geographic reasoning: atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, biosphere, with interactions and feedbacks.
How do Earth systems interact to produce geographic patterns?
- System, feedback, interaction, equilibrium
- Atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, biosphere
- Energy balance, water cycle
- Systems model: inputs, outputs, feedback, lag.
- Mini lab: map one system interaction chain (example: ocean temperature to rainfall patterns).
- Applied case: a regional system interaction (coastal erosion, drought, flood cycles).
- Short writing: explain the interaction chain and identify a leverage point.
- System diagrams, simple process visuals.
- World Builders style: “Earth is a machine of interactions.”
- Formative: interaction chain diagram with a written explanation.
- Use consistent diagram grammar (arrows, labels, causes, consequences).
- Reduce jargon, increase examples and visual cues.
Students distinguish weather from climate, analyze climate controls, then interpret biome patterns and constraints.
Students interpret climate as a pattern driver, then connect climate zones to biome distributions and human constraints.
Why do climates and biomes form in predictable patterns?
- Weather, climate, climate zone, biome
- Latitude, elevation, ocean current, prevailing winds
- Precipitation, temperature range, seasonality
- Climate controls and global patterns.
- Map lab: read climate maps and explain pattern causes.
- Biome analysis: connect climate to ecosystems and human activity constraints.
- Short case: agriculture, settlement, or risk in a biome context.
- Climate graphs, climate zone maps, biome maps.
- World Builders style: “Climate writes the first draft of possibility.”
- Formative: climate and biome explanation with one supporting map reference.
- Signal the difference between weather and climate early and often.
- Use a stable visual legend and reduce text density.
Integrate landform and water systems with hazard risk, emphasizing hazard, exposure, and vulnerability as a reusable framework.
Students learn that hazards become disasters when they intersect with human exposure and vulnerability, and that risk is shaped by planning and policy choices.
Why do natural hazards affect some places more severely than others?
- Landform, erosion, deposition, watershed, floodplain, aquifer
- Natural hazard, risk, vulnerability, exposure, mitigation
- Landform processes and water systems, tectonics, erosion, deposition, watersheds and groundwater.
- Map work: watershed and floodplain identification.
- Risk framework: hazard vs risk vs vulnerability vs exposure.
- Scenario analysis: students propose mitigation strategies and justify with geographic evidence.
- Plate boundary maps, watershed maps, hazard maps (flood, hurricane, earthquake).
- World Builders style: “When nature meets people.”
- Watershed and floodplain analysis.
- Hazard risk scenario: identify hazard, exposure, vulnerability, mitigation.
- Formative: scenario write-up graded for correct use of the risk framework.
- Signal separation: natural processes vs human decisions.
- Constraint-aware: choose fewer hazards, go deeper with evidence and mitigation logic.
Synthesis checkpoint, integrate Weeks 1 to 7, then assess geographic reasoning with maps, systems, and applied scenarios.
This week consolidates geographic thinking, reinforces conceptual connections, and assesses application rather than recall.
How do geographic tools, systems, and patterns work together to explain outcomes?
- Structured review as integration, using one case to revisit tools, systems, and hazards.
- Stations: maps and projections, spatial data, Earth systems and climate, hazards and risk.
- Midterm exam: map interpretation, short explanations, applied scenario analysis.
- Midterm (Week 8 Thursday).
- Feedback: whole-class debrief focusing on reasoning quality and common misconceptions.
- Signal hierarchy: review, practice, assessment should be visually distinct.
- Constraint-aware: fewer prompts, deeper reasoning, clear rubrics.
Apply spatial data literacy to population patterns, demographic change, and migration, emphasizing careful interpretation.
Students interpret demographic visuals, connect population patterns to services and planning, and analyze migration as a spatial response to constraint and opportunity.
How do population patterns and demographic change shape societies and places?
- Population density, distribution, fertility, mortality, life expectancy
- Demographic transition, age structure, population pyramid
- Migration, push factors, pull factors
- Population distribution maps, density and constraints.
- Population pyramids: interpret growth, stability, decline.
- Demographic transition model as a descriptive tool.
- Migration case: routes, impacts, remittances, and local effects.
- Signal structure vs change vs movement, keep visuals consistent.
- Reduce indicators, deepen interpretation quality.
Study culture as a geographic system, map cultural patterns, analyze diffusion, and read cultural landscapes with evidence.
How does culture shape places, landscapes, and human interaction across space?
- Culture, cultural trait, cultural complex, cultural landscape
- Diffusion (relocation, contagious, hierarchical)
- Globalization, glocalization, identity
- Cultural patterns with language and religion maps, overlap and gradients.
- Evidence rules: avoid stereotypes, ground claims in maps and artifacts.
- Diffusion processes and examples.
- Cultural landscape photo analysis, architecture, place names, land use.
- Image-first design, minimal text, strong captions and evidence prompts.
- Signal patterns, then processes, then examples.
Analyze political space: states, nations, sovereignty, boundaries, and geopolitics, grounded in spatial reasoning.
How does the organization of political space shape power, conflict, and cooperation?
- State, nation, nation-state, sovereignty
- Boundary, border, territory, territoriality
- Geopolitics, supranational organization
- Centripetal force, centrifugal force
- States and nations, boundary types, disputed borders, enclaves and exclaves.
- Map-based classification activity.
- Geopolitics and political interaction, centripetal and centrifugal forces.
- Supranational organizations and applied case examples.
- Keep discussions evidence-based, map-centered, and non-partisan in tone.
- Limit cases, go deeper with spatial logic and consequences.
Understand economies as spatial systems, then analyze trade networks and supply chains with geographic vulnerability and resilience.
How does geography shape economic activity, trade, and development?
- Primary, secondary, tertiary, quaternary sectors
- Comparative advantage, supply chain, trade network
- Globalization, development, GDP per capita, inequality
- Economic sectors and location logic (resources, labor, infrastructure, technology).
- Spatial patterns of wealth and development with maps.
- Trade routes and supply chain networks.
- Applied example: disruption and ripple effects across regions.
- Use network visuals, arrows and nodes, consistent legends.
- Avoid deep theory, focus on spatial logic and examples.
Cities as systems, urbanization, city structure models as tools, then applied planning challenges and evidence-based evaluation.
Why do cities grow where they do, and how does urban form shape opportunity and inequality?
- Urbanization, metropolitan area, megacity, urban hierarchy
- CBD, suburbanization, sprawl, infrastructure
- Segregation, land use
- Urban growth patterns, location factors, city structure models as analytic tools.
- Image analysis: urban expansion over time.
- Urban challenges: housing, transit, access, environmental stress.
- Planning tradeoffs, compare cities across regions.
- Balance model clarity with real-world complexity, do not treat models as rules.
- Signal growth, structure, challenge, and planning as distinct layers.
Capstone integration, sustainability as a geographic design problem with constraints, tradeoffs, and long-term consequences.
How can geographic thinking support sustainable decision-making over time?
- Human environment interaction, sustainability, resilience
- Carrying capacity, resource management, environmental impact
- Adaptation, mitigation, tradeoff, long-term planning
- Re-thread course toolkit into a sustainability decision framework.
- Systems interaction and constraints, identify leverage points.
- Applied cases: water management, energy, land use, urban growth.
- Tradeoff mapping and defensible recommendation writing.
- Do not present sustainability as a checklist or ideology, treat it as constraint-aware planning.
- Signal constraints, choices, outcomes with consistent visual grammar.
Culminating assessment of geographic reasoning, students integrate tools, systems, and human environment decisions through an applied case.
How can geographic thinking be applied to explain complex real-world problems?
- Applied synthesis workshop, exemplar responses, criteria for strong explanations.
- Practice: one comprehensive case using maps, data, and systems reasoning.
- Final exam or portfolio presentation (map and data interpretation, written explanation, applied case analysis).
- Closure: transfer of geographic skills to careers and daily decision-making.
- Final (Week 15 Thursday).
- Optional portfolio option with rubric for maps, claims, evidence, and clarity.
- Constraint-aware: fewer prompts, deeper reasoning, clear scoring.
- Signal synthesis, assessment, and reflection as distinct phases.