Students will examine physical and human geographic factors that influenced the origins, major events, diffusion, and global consequences of new ideas in agriculture, science, culture, politics, industry, and technology.
Detect the causes and events of political revolutions in two distinct regions of the world and use maps, timelines, and/or other graphic representations to document the spread of political ideas that resulted from those events to other regions of the world. [Origins, Change Over Time, Spatial Variation, Diffusion]
EXAMPLES: Governmental change for the following countries and the impact of the changes on other countries and regions: England (1680s); United States (1760s and 1780s); France (1780s and 1790s); Mexico (1820s) and Brazil (1820s); China (1910s); Russia (1910s); Iran (1970s); potential revolutions in Venezuela and the countries of Central Asia (Present).
Prepare maps, timelines, and/or other graphic representations showing the origin and spread of specific innovations. Assess the impact of these innovations on the human and physical environments of the regions to which they spread.[Origin, Change Over Time, Diffusion, Spatial Interaction, Cultural Landscape, Sense of Place]
EXAMPLES: Map and analyze the following inventions, plot their diffusion, and discuss their impact on various areas of the world: Gun powder (Asia – 1st century); paper (Asia – 1st century); printing press (Europe – 1400s); steam engine (Europe – 1700s); pasteurization (Europe – 1800s); electricity (North America – 1800s); immunization (Europe – 1800–1900s); atomic energy (North America and Europe – 1900s); computer and digital technology (North America and Asia – 1950–Present)
Map the spread of innovative art forms and scientific thought from their origins to other world regions. Analyze how the spread of these ideas influenced developments in art and science for different places and regions of the world. [Diffusion, Change Over Time, Spatial Interaction]
EXAMPLES: Italian Renaissance and its importance (1500s); European Renaissance and the development of scientific ideas – Europe (1600–1800 AD); England and the Industrial Revolution and its diffusion (1700–Present); compare and contrast the spread of Asian, African, and Latin American art forms (1900s–Present); why did 20th century music—jazz, etc, develop in North America (1900s–Present)
Analyze how transportation and communication changes have led to both cultural convergence* and divergence** in the world. [Diffusion, Change Over Time, Spatial Interaction]
EXAMPLES: Railroads promoting convergence (Australia, India, North America – 1800–1900s); automobile and airplane promoting convergence among places connected and divergence for places not connected (North America–1900s); computer technology, television, cell phones, and satellite communications promoting convergence and sometimes divergence (North America, Africa – 1900–Present)
Analyze and assess the impact of the four major agricultural revolutions*** on the world’s human and physical environments. [Human Environment Interactions, Human Livelihoods, Cultural Hearths, Spatial Organization, Change Over Time}
EXAMPLES: American Indians’ use of fire on the Great Plains (before 1800); Plant domestication in irrigation-based civilization cultural hearths; industrial agriculture on the delta of the Amu Darya River in Uzbekistan and its effects on the Aral Sea (1900s); genetic manipulation of rice in India (1900s)
Compare and contrast the impact of the Industrial Revolution on developed countries with the economic processes acting upon less developed countries in the contemporary world. [Human Livelihoods, National Character, Origin, Diffusion, Change Over Time, Human Environment Interactions]
EXAMPLES: The abundance of productive land in the U.S. compared to the limited productive land in less developed countries; the historically scarce labor supply in the U.S. that led to immigration and mechanization compared to the abundance of labor and high unemployment in contemporary less developed countries; the historic elimination of temperate latitude forests by colonial powers and the U.S. to fuel development and the current use of tropical forests in less developed countries.
* Convergence—The process by which cultures becoming more alike.
** Divergence—The process by which cultures becoming less alike.
*** Four Major Agricultural Revolutions – In historical order: (1) Fire used to alter natural vegetation; (2) Domestication of plants; (3) Industrialization and mechanization of agriculture with use of fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides; (4) Applied microscopia for selective genetic manipulation.