Ohio Test Prep - Social Studies

Main Ideas

To successfully master this module, you need to:

A. Analyze the cultural, physical, economic and political characteristics that define regions and describe reasons that regions change over time.

Regions are defined by cultural, physical, economic and political characteristics. Developments in technology, trade and economics have led to new geographic considerations. You should be able to identify characteristics that define geographic regions and classify those characteristics into cultural, physical, economic and political categories.

B. Analyze geographic changes brought about by human activity using appropriate maps and other geographic data.

Humans have changed the characteristics of their environment. Data can reveal geographic change
caused by human activity. Centers of industry have shifted to access natural resources.
Agricultural areas no longer serve as the centers of our economic activities. Instead, urban areas
with their access to industry, communication and transportation are the centers of our economy.

C. Analyze the patterns and processes of movement of people, products and ideas.

Migration includes moving within a country or region as well as immigration to another country. In studying the movement of people, products and ideas, we study the reasons for these movements. Push factors are reasons that cause people to migrate. Pull factors are reasons that draw people to a new place.

To learn more about these benchmarks, read Chapter 7: Geography, pp. 95-110 in Mastering the Ohio Graduation Test Social Studies.