Oklahoma Academic Standard 4. The student will identify basic economic activities of the United States.

Objective 4.2 Describe the patterns and networks of economic interdependence among regions of the United  States.

A.  Identify and locate on a map the major cities of the United States, including their relative location to natural resources and transportation routes.

In a Nutshell

The objective requires students to be able to locate the major cities of the United States including their relative location to natural resources. Students should examine the various transportation systems and their hubs that connect population centers and producing regions of the United States. Students should be able to recognize that the growth of major cities and job opportunities combined with the need to connect with other places creates the transportation hubs and routes in the United States.

Teacher Action 

Student Action 

• Assist students in understanding how economic actions can influence the ways people modify and adapt to their environment. 

• Guide students to describe the spatial patterns of economic activities caused by interactions with other places.

• Provide opportunities for students to create and use maps, data graphs and charts, photographs, and other geographic representations to explain spatial relationships of physical and human places. 

• Describe the spatial patterns of economic activities caused by interactions with natural resources and transportation routes.

• Explain how environmental factors affected historical events and continue to impact contemporary human activities. 

• Use information from multiple print and/or digital sources representing natural resources and transportation routes of the United States in order to ask and answer geographic questions about the growth of major cities of the United States.

Key Concepts 

Misconceptions 

Suggested Focus by Region: 

• Northeast: cities such as New York, NY, Boston, MA, Philadelphia, PA; seaports,river transportation; natural resources such as good soils, forests, water, climate, fish

• Southeast: cities such as New Orleans, LA, Charlotte, NC, Atlanta, GA; transportation by rivers and seaports; natural resources such as fish, forests, coal, warm climate, adequate rainfall and long growing seasons

• Midwest: cities such as Chicago, IL, Detroit, MI, Cleveland, OH, St. Louis, MO; transportation by rivers, Great Lakes, railroads; natural resources such as grasslands, good soils, adequate rainfall, iron ore

• Southwest: cities such as Houston, TX, San Antonio, TX, Dallas, TX, Phoenix, AZ; transportation routes established by Indian and early military trails, railways, seaport; natural resources such as minerals including copper, gold, silver, fossil fuels including oil and natural gas

• West: cities such as Los Angeles, CA, San Francisco, Denver, CO, Seattle, WA; transportation by seaports, rivers and railways; natural resources such as good soils, warm climate, adequate water for irrigation, minerals

• Some students may not easily recognize the relationship of the growth of cities to earlier transportation routes and the proximity to needed natural resources. For example, students may have the misconception that New York City is highly populated due to its cultural and financial enterprises, without realizing that New York City became highly populated due to its nearness to early transportation routes and natural harbors.

Instructional Resources