These lesson plans are designed to meet the standards set by the Maryland State Department of Education's (MSDE) 6th & 7th Grade Social Studies Revised Framework.
Lesson 1
| Grade Level, Course, & Unit | 6th Grade, Geography, Geographic Thinking |
| Enduring Understandings | Course: Place and Region: The physical and human attributes that make a specific location, or place, unique. The shared attributes that link places into coherent and distinct areas, or regions. |
| Unit: Geographers ask questions about movement, place and region, human systems, and human interaction with the environment to interpret the world we live in. | |
| MSDE Standards | 3.0: Geography: Students shall inquire about the role of culture, technology, and the environment in the location, distribution, and impact of human activities using geographic tools and spatial thinking in order to demonstrate a significance of place. |
| 6.0: Skills and Processes: Students will inquire about civics, geography, economics, history, and people and nations of the world using disciplinary literacy skills and processes to critically evaluate content through a variety of source materials across disciplines and use reading, writing, and other forms of communication to develop, defend, and critique arguments in order to take informed action. | |
| Curriculum Indicators | Examining maps to determine the physical attributes of the United States through physical location, climate, and landforms. |
| Essential Questions | Unit: How would a geographer interpret Earth and the land now called the United States? |
| Content Topic: Can a map accurately define a place? | |
| Learning Objectives: Students will be able to | 1. Define “place” and “region” as geographic concepts. |
| 2. Examine physical maps to determine the physical attributes of the United States through physical location, climate, and landforms. |
Download Place and Region - Lesson 1
Lesson 2
| Grade Level, Course, & Unit | 6th Grade, Geography, Geographic Thinking |
| Enduring Understandings | Place and Region: The physical and human attributes that make a specific location, or place, unique. The shared attributes that link places into coherent and distinct areas, or regions. |
Unit: Geographers ask questions about movement, place and region, human systems, and human interaction with the environment to interpret the world we live in. | |
| MSDE Standards | 3.0: Geography: Students shall inquire about the role of culture, technology, and the environment in the location, distribution, and impact of human activities using geographic tools and spatial thinking in order to demonstrate a significance of place. |
| 6.0: Skills and Processes: Students will inquire about civics, geography, economics, history, and people and nations of the world using disciplinary literacy skills and processes to critically evaluate content through a variety of source materials across disciplines and use reading, writing, and other forms of communication to develop, defend, and critique arguments in order to take informed action. | |
| Curriculum Indicators | Examining maps and data to determine the cultural attributes of the United States through population density and land use. |
| Essential Questions | Unit: How would a geographer interpret Earth and the land now called the United States? |
| Content Topic: Can a map accurately define a place? | |
| Learning Objectives: Students will be able to | 1. Define and apply key geographic terms to describe the physical and cultural features of a region, including physical location, climate, physical landforms, population density, and land use. |
| 2. Examine maps and data to determine the cultural attributes of the United States through population density and land use. |
Download Place and Region - Lesson 2
Lesson 3
| Grade Level, Course, & Unit | 6th Grade, Geography, Geographic Thinking |
| Enduring Understandings | Place and Region: The physical and human attributes that make a specific location, or place, unique.The shared attributes that link places into coherent and distinct areas, or regions.” |
Unit: Geographers ask questions about movement, place and region, human systems, and human interaction with the environment to interpret the world we live in. | |
| MSDE Standards | 3.0: Geography: Students shall inquire about the role of culture, technology, and the environment in the location, distribution, and impact of human activities using geographic tools and spatial thinking in order to demonstrate a significance of place. |
| 6.0: Skills and Processes: Students will inquire about civics, geography, economics, history, and people and nations of the world using disciplinary literacy skills and processes to critically evaluate content through a variety of source materials across disciplines and use reading, writing, and other forms of communication to develop, defend, and critique arguments in order to take informed action. | |
| Curriculum Indicators | Analyzing how physical and human attributes define various form, functional, and perceptual regions of the United States. |
| Essential Questions | Unit: How would a geographer interpret Earth and the land now called the United States? |
| Content Topic: Can a map accurately define a place? | |
| Learning Objectives: Students will be able to | 1. Describe three ways that geographers define regions: physical attributes, cultural attributes, and historical attributes. |
| 2. Analyze whether physical, cultural, or historical attributes are most important to describing a region. |
Download Place and Region - Lesson 3
Lesson 4
| Grade Level, Course, & Unit | 6th Grade, Geography, Geographic Thinking |
| Enduring Understandings | Place and Region: The physical and human attributes that make a specific location, or place, unique.The shared attributes that link places into coherent and distinct areas, or regions.” |
| Unit: Geographers ask questions about movement, place and region, human systems, and human interaction with the environment to interpret the world we live in. | |
| MSDE Standards | 3.0: Geography: Students shall inquire about the role of culture, technology, and the environment in the location, distribution, and impact of human activities using geographic tools and spatial thinking in order to demonstrate a significance of place. |
| Standard 2.0: Peoples of the Nations and World: Students shall inquire about the people of the United States and the world using a historically grounded, multidisciplinary approach in order to recognize multiple narratives and acknowledge the diversity and commonality of the human experience. | |
| Curriculum Indicators | Analyzing how digital communications have altered the perception of place |
| Essential Questions | Unit: How would a geographer interpret Earth and the land now called the United States? |
| Content Topic: Can a map accurately define a place? | |
| Learning Objectives: Students will be able to | 1. Explain why digital communications (e.g., mobile phones, emails, social media, video calls, etc.) have changed how we think about places. |
| 2. Analyze whether digital spaces (e.g., online games, social media, virtual reality, online museum exhibitions, etc.) where people communicate are “places” using our definition of place. |