Sweden Geography Curriculum - Years 7-9 (Åk 7-9)

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 students develop knowledge of geographical conditions, a geographical frame of reference, and spatial awareness. Through teaching, students should develop knowledge about and be able to make comparisons between different places, regions, and living conditions. Students should also develop an awareness of the contexts where geographical knowledge is important and useful.

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

Teaching should contribute to students developing familiarity with how to switch between different temporal and spatial perspectives. Students should develop knowledge about how people, society, and nature interact and the consequences for nature and people's living conditions. Teaching should give students 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. Students should have the opportunity to see the world from a holistic perspective. Teaching should also provide students with knowledge to make geographical analyses of the surrounding world and present results using geographical concepts.

Students should develop knowledge about why conflicts of interest over natural resources occur. Teaching should also contribute to students 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 students 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 by 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

Living Environments:

• The Earth's climatic and vegetation zones and how climate affects people's living conditions.
• Climate change, different explanations for this, and the consequences of changes on people, society, and the environment in different parts of the world.
• Where different goods and services are produced and consumed, and how goods are transported. How people support themselves and how trading patterns have changed over time.
• How the Earth's population is distributed across the globe, and the causes and consequences of the unequal distribution of population. Migration and urbanization, and the causes and consequences of this.

Geography, its methods, concepts, and ways of working:

• Names and locations of more important countries in different continents, water, islands, mountains, deserts, regions, and places.
• Maps and their construction using graticule, colors, symbols, and different scales. Topographical and different thematic maps.
• Methods for collecting, processing, assessing, and presenting geographical data, covering climate, health, and trade, using maps, Geographical Information Systems (GIS), and geographical tools available on the internet, such as satellite images.
• Field studies of the natural and cultural landscape, such as community planning in local communities.
• Keywords and concepts needed to read, write, and discuss geography.

Environment, people, and issues concerning sustainability:

• Vulnerable areas and risks and threats posed by nature, such as flooding, drought, and earthquakes, and the consequences of this on the natural and cultural landscape.
• Ways in which vulnerable places can be identified, and how individuals, groups, and society can reduce risk.
• Conflicts of interest over natural resources, such as access to water and land.
• Renewable sources of energy, such as solar and wind energy and alternative fuels.
• The incidence of and causes of poverty and ill health in different parts of the world.
• Relationships between poverty, ill-health and factors such as population density, climate, and natural resources.

Knowledge Requirements (End of Year 9): (See the scraped PDF for detailed grade level requirements - E, D, C, B, and A) These requirements cover the student's ability to analyze human and natural processes, use geographical tools and methods, understand sustainability issues, and reason about geographical concepts.