Swedish Mellanstadiet (Grade 4) Geography Syllabus

Geography

The conditions for life on Earth are unique, changeable and vulnerable. It is the responsibility of all people to use the Earth's resources to support sustainable development. Interaction between people and their surroundings has given rise to many different living environments. Geography gives us knowledge of these environments and can contribute to an understanding of people's living conditions.

Aim

Teaching in geography should aim at helping pupils develop knowledge of geographical conditions, a geographical frame of reference, and spatial awareness. Through teaching, pupils should develop knowledge about and be able to make comparisons between different places, regions, and living conditions. Pupils should also develop an awareness of the contexts where geographical knowledge is important and useful.

Teaching should provide pupils with the opportunity to develop knowledge about different human activities and natural processes that impact the Earth's surface. It should also contribute to pupils gaining experience in interpreting and assessing the consequences of different changes taking place in geographical space.

Teaching should contribute to pupils developing familiarity with how to switch between different temporal and spatial perspectives. Pupils should develop knowledge about how people, society, and nature interact and the consequences for nature and people's living conditions. Teaching should give pupils knowledge about maps and enable them to recognize important names, locations, and size relationships so they can orient themselves and draw conclusions about natural and cultural landscapes, and about people's living conditions. Pupils should have the opportunity to see the world from a holistic perspective. Teaching should also provide pupils with knowledge in making geographical analyses of the surrounding world and presenting results using geographical concepts.

Pupils should develop knowledge about why conflicts of interest over natural resources occur. Teaching should also contribute to pupils developing knowledge of how we can influence the future in the direction of a more acceptable living environment for all people.

Teaching in geography should give pupils the opportunities to develop their ability to:

• Analyze how natural processes and human activities form and change living environments in different parts of the world.
• Explore and analyze the interaction between people, society, and nature in different parts of the world.
• Make geographical analyses of the surrounding world and evaluate the results using maps and other geographical sources, theories, methods, and techniques.
• Assess solutions to different environmental and development issues based on considerations concerning ethics and sustainable development.

Core Content (Years 4-6)

Living Environments:

• The Earth's surface and how it is formed and changed by human land use and natural processes, such as plate tectonics and erosion. The consequences for people and nature.
• The Swedish, Nordic, and other European natural and cultural landscapes. Underlying processes and their characteristic features and extent.
• The Earth's natural resources, such as water, land available for cultivation, forests, and fossil fuels. Where different resources exist and what they are used for. The importance of water, its distribution, and recycling.
• The distribution of population in Sweden, the Nordic area, and other parts of Europe, as well as the causes and consequences of this distribution.

Geography, Its Methods, Concepts, and Ways of Working:

• Names and locations of places, mountains, oceans, and watercourses in Sweden, and also the main features of other parts of the Nordic area.
• Names and locations of different countries in Europe, and also more important islands, water, mountains, regions, and places.
• Maps, how they are constructed using colors, symbols, and scale. Topographical and thematic maps.
• Collection and measurement of geographical data from the local area, such as age distribution, flow of traffic, and consumption of water.
• Field studies to examine the natural and cultural landscapes, such as how land is used in the local environment.
• Keywords and concepts needed to read, write, and discuss geography.

Environment, People, and Issues Concerning Sustainability:

• How choices and priorities in everyday life can impact the environment and contribute to sustainable development.
• Unequal living conditions in the world, such as varying access to education, healthcare, and natural resources, and also some of the underlying causes. Work of individual people and organizations to improve people's living conditions.

Knowledge Requirements: The document provides detailed knowledge requirements for grades A-E, outlining the expected level of understanding and skills for each grade level. These are not reproduced here as they are lengthy and the prompt requests only content relevant to grade 4.