Geographic skills help us to make reasoned political decisions. Whether the issues involve the evaluation of foreign affairs and international economic policy or local zoning and land use, the skills enable us to collect and analyze information, come to an informed conclusion, and make reasoned decisions on a course of action. Geographic skills also aid in the development and presentation of effective, persuasive arguments for and against mattter of public policy. Asking 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 should be asked to speculate about possible answers to questions because speculation leads to the development of hypotheses that link the asking and answering stages of the process.
Hypotheses guide the search for information.
It is important that students develop and practice the skills of asking such questions for themselves. The task can be approached by giving students practice in distinguishing geographic from nongeographic questions and by presenting students with issues and asking them to develop geographic questions. At higher grade levels students can identify geographic problems and ways in which an application of geography can help solve problems or resolve issues. Acquiring Geographic 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. To answer geographic questions, students should start by gathering information from a variety of sources in a variety of ways.