Through the study of geography, students learn to read maps and interpret information at geographical scales, from local to global.  They are able to use data from maps, tables, graphs and texts to recognize patterns and solve problems.  Students also can integrate concepts from many different areas of science, social science and the humanities and apply critical thinking to understand and dealing with current issues of local, national and international importance. 

Geography helps students learn about the world

Knowing something about where places are and what they are like is important.  As a major import and export nation, with significant commitments across the globe, Canada needs citizens who have basic knowledge of other parts of the world as well as our own country.  We also need to understand international relationships and the role Canada plays in them. 

Geography contributes to international understanding

The world's economies are increasingly linked in an international network of trade and exchange.  If our competitors know more about us than we do about them, they have an advantage in serving our markets and negotiating trade agreements and we are placed at a disadvantage in reaching their markets.  Well-planned geographic education at all grade levels will help to make us aware of other countries and cultures and prepare our students to take their place in the global community. 

Geography helps us understand Citizenship

Knowledge of geography helps us to be better citizens. Through geography we learn to locate important events. We can understand the relationship between geography and national or international policies and we can use geographical knowledge to make informed decisions regarding the best use of the nation's resources.  Finally, geographic knowledge helps us to ask important questions about policies that lead to changes in landscape and land use. Geographically informed students will be effective leaders for our country. 

Geography helps understand economics

There is a close relationship between geography and economics. The location of natural resources, the shape of transportation networks and the technology they use, the level of industrialization or energy production and many other geographical factors influence the kind of economy a country or region will have.  Trade patterns are fundamental elements of both geography and economics. 

Geography helps understand history

Geography provides important clues to the past.  Landforms and climate are related to migration patterns, land use and the rise and fall of civilizations.  How people use the land also has a strong bearing on the economic progress of countries and regions.  Thus, knowing what the landscape was like in the past is important for understanding historical processes, as is knowing who lived in a place, how they lived and how they used the land.

Geography helps understand environment

Many human geographers examine the relationship between humans and the environments in which they live and physical geographers are concerned with how natural systems work. Geographers conduct research to understand the impact of environmental factors on individual and group behaviour, to identify the ways in which humans change the environments in which they live and to determine the long-term environmental impacts of social processes such as population growth and technological development.  These are key issues for determining government and private sector environmental policies with which citizens should be acquainted.