The overarching goal of this course is to help Arizona's K-12 teachers help their students learn geography for life in the modern world. Arizona's Geography Standards were developed by the Arizona State Department of Education through a statewide committee composed of K-12 educators and experts in social studies. Imagine trying to do business with the more than billion Chinese customers without understanding anything about their culture. Imagine insulting your international business partner simply by the way you dress or shake hands. Knowing that customs and places vary, and that students know how to acquire this information, is a necessary first step to functionality in our global world.
All persons start out genuinely curious about our Earth.
Geography standards stimulates our inner desire to learn about our co-inhabitants and the places where they life. To make ethical decisions in a world with 6 billion, we must make decisions that preserve a high quality of life. Geography is the only subject in the K-12 curriculum whose focus rests on the interdependency of Earth's physical and human systems. A geographic perspective demands that humans cooperate in the best interests of all of Earth's places. The specific goal of this class is to help Arizona's teachers learn of the rich curriculum available to help students master geography standards.