【People's Education Press】Senior High School Geography Optional Compulsory Module Volume 1

📚 Content Summary

This course is an optional compulsory module for high school geography, systematically covering core topics in physical geography such as Earth's movements, landform formation, atmospheric motion, water movement, and the integrity and diversity of natural environments.

Explore natural laws, uncover the mysteries of Earth's motion and surface evolution.

Author: People's Education Press Curriculum Textbook Research Institute, Geography Curriculum Textbook Research and Development Center

Acknowledgments: Approved by the National Textbook Committee Expert Committee (2019)

🎯 Learning Objectives

1. Accurately describe the direction, period, and velocity characteristics of Earth's rotation and revolution, and explain the meaning of the obliquity of the ecliptic.
2. Draw the trajectory of the solar zenith point’s return movement and apply time zone calculation methods to solve real-world time conversion problems.
3. Analyze and summarize the spatiotemporal patterns of day length and noon solar altitude across the globe.
4. Distinguish between endogenic and exogenic forces and their impacts on landforms, and explain the process of lithospheric material cycling.
5. Accurately identify folds (anticlines, synclines) and faults, and analyze how plate movements shape macro-scale landforms (mountain ranges, ocean trenches, rift valleys).
6. Describe the evolution of fluvial landforms (valleys, alluvial fans, deltas), and evaluate the influence of geological and geomorphological features on human transportation and settlement site selection.
7. Identify and analyze weather systems: Recognize the structures of cold fronts, warm fronts, cyclones (low pressure), and anticyclones (high pressure), and predict weather changes before and after their passage.
8. Construct a global circulation model: Understand the mechanisms behind the three-cell circulation model, accurately label the positions of the seven pressure belts and six wind belts globally, and their seasonal migration patterns.
9. Explain climate origins and landscape associations: Explain how the thermal properties of land and sea affect monsoon circulation, and analyze how atmospheric circulation determines specific regional climate types and corresponding natural landscape characteristics.
10. Identify different types of terrestrial water bodies and apply the principle of water level differences to analyze their mutual replenishment relationships.

🔹 Lesson 1: Laws of Earth's Motion and Their Geographic Significance

Overview: This lesson provides a detailed exploration of Earth's rotational and revolutionary patterns and their geographic implications. It focuses on the geometric characteristics of Earth's motion (direction, period, speed), the formation of the obliquity of the ecliptic, and its resulting solar zenith point return movement. It further delves into the mechanisms behind day-night alternation, time difference calculations, Coriolis effect, and the seasonal and latitudinal variations in day length and noon solar altitude.

Learning Outcomes:

• Accurately describe the direction, period, and velocity characteristics of Earth’s rotation and revolution, and explain the meaning of the obliquity of the ecliptic.
• Draw the trajectory of the solar zenith point’s return movement and apply time zone calculation methods to solve practical time conversion problems.
• Analyze and summarize the spatiotemporal patterns of day length and noon solar altitude across the globe.

🔹 Lesson 2: Mechanisms of Landform Formation and Evolution

Overview: This lesson explores the two major dynamic systems shaping Earth’s surface—endogenic and exogenic forces. Students will begin with the lithospheric material cycle, understanding how geological structures (folds and faults) and plate tectonics establish the global landform framework. The lesson emphasizes the role of fluvial processes in refining landforms (fluvial erosion and deposition landforms). Finally, it connects theory to practice by examining how mountainous and fluvial landscapes profoundly influence human transportation networks and settlement patterns.

Learning Outcomes:

• Distinguish between endogenic and exogenic forces and their effects on landforms, and explain the process of lithospheric material cycling.
• Accurately identify folds (anticlines, synclines) and faults, and analyze how plate movements shape macro-scale landforms (mountain ranges, ocean trenches, rift valleys).
• Describe the evolutionary processes of fluvial landforms (valleys, alluvial fans, deltas), and evaluate the impact of geological and geomorphological features on human transportation and settlement site selection.

🔹 Lesson 3: Atmospheric Circulation and the Global Climate System

Overview: This instructional design covers a complete knowledge system ranging from micro-scale weather systems to macro-scale global atmospheric circulation. Key topics include the formation and weather characteristics of fronts, cyclones, and anticyclones; the three-cell circulation model; seasonal movement patterns of pressure belts and wind belts; and the influence of land-sea distribution on circulation. Ultimately, by analyzing how pressure belts and wind belts shape major global climate types (e.g., tropical rainforest, Mediterranean climate), the lesson reveals the intrinsic relationship between atmospheric motion and natural landscapes.

Learning Outcomes:

• Identify and analyze weather systems: Recognize the structures of cold fronts, warm fronts, cyclones (low pressure), and anticyclones (high pressure), and predict weather changes before and after their passage.
• Construct a global circulation model: Understand the mechanisms of the three-cell circulation model, accurately label the positions of the seven pressure belts and six wind belts globally, and their seasonal migration patterns.
• Explain climate origins and landscape associations: Explain how the thermal properties of land and sea affect monsoon circulation, and analyze how atmospheric circulation determines specific regional climate types and their corresponding natural landscape features.

🔹 Lesson 4: Laws of Water Movement and Ocean-Atmosphere Interaction

Overview: This lesson aims to reveal the dynamic logic of Earth’s hydrosphere, focusing on complex replenishment relationships among terrestrial water bodies, global ocean current distribution patterns, and their profound impacts on the geographical environment. Additionally, from the perspective of ocean-atmosphere interaction, it analyzes the principle of water balance and how phenomena like El Niño and La Niña disrupt global water and heat equilibrium.

Learning Outcomes:

• Identify different types of terrestrial water bodies and apply the principle of water level differences to analyze their mutual replenishment relationships.
• Draw and summarize the distribution patterns of surface ocean currents worldwide, and evaluate their impacts on climate, navigation, and fishery distribution.
• Apply the principle of water balance to solve real geographical problems, and explain the mechanisms behind El Niño and La Niña phenomena and their anomalous climatic effects.

🔹 Lesson 5: Principles of Natural Environment Integrity and Diversity

Overview: This lesson focuses on two core attributes of the natural geographic environment: integrity and diversity. First, it examines how natural environmental components—climate, hydrology, landforms, biology, and soil—evolve uniformly to form an integrated whole, and analyzes the cascading effects when one component is disturbed by human activities (e.g., deforestation, dam construction). Subsequently, it investigates the foundations of regional differences, emphasizing the horizontal zonal differentiation patterns on land (latitudinal and longitudinal zonality) and vertical zonal differentiation in mountainous regions.

Learning Outcomes:

• Use examples (such as lake evolution and the Tibetan antelope in Keke Xili) to illustrate the unified evolution process of natural environmental components and the manifestation of integrity.
• Apply the principle of integrity to evaluate the impacts and responses of human activities (e.g., forest exploitation, dam construction) on the natural environment.
• Memorize and understand the foundational causes of regional differences, and summarize the characteristics of horizontal land zonation (from equator to poles, from coastal to inland).