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"Geography for Life: National Geography Standards 1994" is a major contribution to social studies and geographical education. It specifies what students in American schools should learn and be able to do with regard to geography. There are six essential elements of geography into which 18 standards are grouped.

ELEMENT 1: THE WORLD IN SPATIAL TERMS

Maps, photographs, and satellite images are principal tools for investigating the relationships between people, places, and environments. When information is shown using those tools, it is in a spatial context. The spatial context for geography is the Earth. The geographically informed person knows and understands: (Standard 1) How to use maps and other geographic representations, tools, and technologies to acquire, process, and report information from a spatial perspective. (Standard 2) How to use mental maps to organize information about people, places, and environments in a spatial context. (Standard 3) How to analyze the spatial organization of people, places, and environments on Earth's surface.

ELEMENT 2: PLACES AND REGIONS

People are attached to particular places and regions. Regions and places have been given meaning by people, and in turn those places and regions help people to organize and understand the complex world. The geographically informed person knows and understands: (Standard 4) The physical and human characteristics of places. (Standard 5) That people create regions to interpret Earth's complexity. (Standard 6) How culture and experience influence people's perceptions of places and regions.

ELEMENT 3: PHYSICAL SYSTEMS

The Earth is always changing. Many of the changes are the result of physical processes. Geography includes four types of physical processes that are important to understanding the Earth. The atmosphere (weather and climate), the lithosphere (plate tectonics, erosion), the hydrosphere (oceans, water cycle), and biosphere (ecosystems, vegetation) are the physical systems that shape and change the surface of the Earth. The geographically informed person knows and understands: (Standard 7) The physical processes that shape the patterns of Earth's surface. (Standard 8) The characteristics and spatial distribution of ecosystems on Earth's surface.

ELEMENT 4: HUMAN SYSTEMS

Human systems are in constant change on the Earth. People migrate, increase, decrease, or stabilize their numbers in different places, and learn ways of living that distinguish a group from other groups. Human systems are comprised primarily of population, culture, settlement, and the cooperation, conflicts, and relationships among those components. The geographically informed person knows and understands: (Standard 9) The characteristics, distribution, and migration of human populations on Earth's surface. (Standard 10) The characteristics, distribution, and complexity of Earth's cultural mosaics. (Standard 11) The patterns and networks of economic interdependence on Earth's surface. (Standard 12) The processes, patterns, and functions of human settlement. (Standard 13) How the forces of cooperation and conflict among people influence the division and control of Earth's surface.

ELEMENT 5: ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIETY

Human history has witnessed many different instances of people interacting with the environment. People sometimes adjust their lives to fit the environmental conditions, while in other settings the natural environment has been greatly altered to meet the needs of people. Some societies have benefited greatly from environmental resources and others have created environmental hazards and crises in the way the resources have been used. The geographically informed person knows and understands: (Standard 14) How human actions modify the physical environment. (Standard 15) How physical systems affect human systems. (Standard 16) The changes that occur in the meaning, use, distribution, and importance of resources.

ELEMENT 6: THE USES OF GEOGRAPHY

Geography provides a means to look at the past, present, and future. Events and issues, regardless of their past, present, or future nature, have a geographical context. The geographical context is important to explaining what happened and where, and what the consequences were or might be, both historically and geographically. The geographically informed person knows and understands: (Standard 17) How to apply geography to interpret the past. (Standard 18) How to apply geography to interpret the present and plan for the future.