World Geography students acquire proficiency with tools of thinking which promote both an appreciation of alternative views and intelligent response. World Geography students are introduced to a successful geographic inquiry process. This process involves asking geographic questions, acquiring geographic information, organizing geographic information, analyzing geographic information, and answering geographic questions. Successful geographic inquiry involves the ability and willingness to ask, speculate on, and answer questions about why things are where they are, and how they got there. Students are asked to speculate about possible answers to questions, because speculations leads to the development of hypotheses that link the asking and answering stages of the process.
Hypotheses guide the search for information.
Geographic information is information about locations, the physical and human characteristics of those locations, and the geographic activities and conditions of the people who live in those places. Analyzing geographic information involves seeking patterns, relationships and connections. Successful geographic inquiry culminates in the development of generalizations and conclusions based on the data collected, organized and analyzed. Humans want to understand the intrinsic nature of their home the earth. World geography enables them to understand where they are, literally and figuratively.