Author Description

This booklet is both an executive summary of "Geography for Life: National Geography Standards 1994" and an introduction to geography as an essential part of every child's education, and as an integral part of the lives of all U.S. citizens. The publication is illustrated on every page with photographs, paintings, graphs, and maps. It defines the power of geography and its beauty as the seeing, understanding, and appreciating of the web of relationships among people, places, and environments. Understanding geography, the path to competency in geography, and the components of geography are discussed. The 18 National Geography Standards are grouped into 6 essential elements: (1) the world in spatial terms; (2) places and regions; (3) physical systems; (4) human systems; (5) environment and society; and (6) the uses of geography. The skills and standards of each element are outlined. Using the standards for places and regions for grades K-4, the booklet demonstrates how a geography standard works and explains what the different parts of the standard and its structure mean. Two imperatives drive the National Standards for Geography: (1) geographic understanding must be set into a process of lifelong learning; (2) geographic understanding must be set into life contexts like school, family, society, and occupation. (DK)