Tools are thoughts as much thoughts are tools. In many ways we are extensions of our tools. Given the facts of the Information Age, data and technologies are so pervasive in our lives and the lives of most of the world's people that we, indeed, do see and understand the natural and social worlds only within the framework of the tools we use. Social studies education must help students understand the role of technology in their lives. The study of area distribution, the examination of particular places, and the delineation of regions help students understand how earth space is organized.
People use similar earth space or areas in different ways.
They line or interconnect the different areas with transportation and communication routes. They move themselves, messages, and goods and services over the routes. They conduct their government and engage in various types of activities, such as religious or recreational, within particular spatial arrangements. The discipline most involved with spatial relationships is geography. Geography is concerned with understanding the location and spatial arrangements of places and landscapes on the earth.