STUDY GUIDE
GRADE 7
ENGLISH SOCIAL STUDIES
CORE CONCEPTS PART ONE: GEOGRAPHY:
1.1: The Study of Earth
Geography: The Study of human and nonhuman features of Earth.
Cardinal Directions: North, east, south and west.
Sphere: round-shaped body.
Latitude: Distance north or south of the equator OR lines running east to west.
Longitude: Distance east or west of the prime meridian OR lines running north to
south.
Degree: Units that measure angles.
Hemisphere: Half of the earth.

What do geographers study?
o Geographers try to answer two basic questions: Where are things
located? Why are they there? They study oceans, plant life,
landforms, countries and cities.
1.2 Geography’s Five Themes
Location:
Absolute Location: describes a place’s exact position on Earth in terms of
longitude and latitude.
Relative Location: location of a place relative to another place.
Place: the mix of human and nonhuman features at a given location.
Region: an area with at least one unifying physical or human feature such as
climate, landforms, population or history.
Movement: explores how people, goods and ideas move from one place to
another.
Human-environment interaction: considers how people affect their environment,
or their natural surroundings, and how their environment affects them.
1.3 Ways to Show Earth’s Surface:
Scale: the area a given space on the map corresponds to in the real world.
Aerial Photograph: photographic images of Earth’s surface taken from the air.
Satellite Image: pictures of Earth’s surface taken from a satellite in orbit.
Projection: ways to map Earth on a flat surface.
(GIS) Geographic Information System: computer-based systems that store and
use information linked to geographic locations.
Distortion: loss of accuracy in the size or position of objects on a map.

How are maps different from globes?
o Maps are projections of Earth on a flat surface, whereas globes are
spherical in shape and is a model representation of the Earth.
1.4 Understanding Maps:
Key: explains the symbols and shading on the map.
Locator Map: shows a larger area than the main map.
Scale Bar: shows how much space on the map represents a given distance on the
land.
Compass Rose: a diagram of a compass showing direction. (north, south, east,
west).
1.5 Types of Maps
Physical map: shows physical or natural features.
Elevation: height above sea level.
Political Map: show political units, such as countries or states, centers of
government and other major cities.
Special-purpose map: the location or distribution of human and physical
features.

What are the elements of a physical map?
o Elements of a physical map include physical or natural features,
elevation, compass rose, major rivers, etc;

What are the elements of a political map?
o Political units, countries, states, major cities.
CORE CONCEPTS PART TWO: OUR PLANET, EARTH
2.1 Earth in Space:
Orbit: the path one object makes as it revolves around another.
Axis: imaginary line between the North and South Poles, tilted relative to its
orbit.
Solstice: a point at which days are longest in one hemisphere and shortest in the
other.
Revolution: complete journey around the sun.
Equinox: is a point at which everywhere on Earth, days and nights are nearly
equal in length.
2.2 Time and Earth’s Rotation:
Rotation: complete turn or Earth rotating around its axis.
Time Zone: areas sharing the same time zone.
2.3 Earth’s Structure:
Core: a very hot metal at the center of the earth.
Atmosphere: a thick layer of gases or air surrounding Earth’s surface.
Mantle: a thick, rocky layer around the core.
Landform: shapes and types of land.
Crust: thin layer of rocks and minerals that surrounds the mantle.
2.4 Forces on Earth’s Surface:
Weathering: a process that breaks rocks down into tiny pieces. (Two kinds:
chemical and mechanical)
Erosion: a process in which water, ice, or wind remove small pieces of rock.
Plateau: a large, mostly flat area that rises above the surrounding land.
Valley: are stretches of low land between mountains or hills.
Deposition: the process of depositing material eroded and carried by water, ice
or wind.
Plain: large areas of flat or gentle rolling land often formed by the deposition of
material carried downstream by rivers.
Delta: flat plains built on the sea bed where a river fans out and deposits material
over many years.
2.5 Forces Inside Earth:
Plate Tectonics: The theory that states that Earth’s crust is made up of huge
blocks called plates.
Magma: molten, nearly melted rock.
Plate: huge blocks that make up the earth’s crust.
Fault: the boundaries between plates.