Economic Geography
TEKS Alignment - §113.43. World Geography Studies (One Credit), Beginning 2011-2012.
(5) Geography. The student understands how political, economic, and social processes shape cultural patterns and characteristics in various places and regions. The student is expected to:
(B) interpret political, economic, social, and demographic indicators (gross domestic product per capita, life expectancy, literacy, and infant mortality) to determine the level of development and standard of living in nations using the terms Human Development Index, less developed, newly industrialized, and more developed.
(10) Economics. The student understands the distribution, characteristics, and interactions of the economic systems in the world. The student is expected to:
(A) describe the forces that determine the distribution of goods and services in free enterprise, socialist, and communist economic systems;
(C) compare the ways people satisfy their basic needs through the production of goods and services such as subsistence agriculture versus commercial agriculture or cottage industries versus commercial industries;
(11) Economics. The student understands how geography influences economic activities. The student is expected to:
(A) understand the connections between levels of development and economic activities (primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary);
(12) Economics. The student understands the economic importance of, and issues related to, the location and management of resources. The student is expected to:
(A) analyze how the creation, distribution, and management of key natural resources affects the location and patterns of movement of products, money, and people;
| Key Vocabulary | |
|---|---|
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Gross Domestic Product |
Commercial industries |
Once you have reviewed the module summary, TEKS alignment goals, and key terms and definitions use the left menu navigation to access all module resources.
Economics
Southeast Asia is a rapidly transitioning region in the world – especially in terms of its economy. Ideally positioned between two of the most rapidly industrializing nations on earth, Southeast Asia is in a prime position to take advantage of China and India’s need for inexpensive labor, resources, and markets.
The resources in this module give a brief introduction to the economics of this region, and include a photo analysis of key economic activities, a number of maps depicting economic and demographic information, a few graphics comparing Southeast Asia’s status with the rest of the world, and two videos analyzing the economy of two of this region’s countries.
The case study focuses on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) – a regional economic development organization that has helped ASEAN nations reach their potential by creating peace, stability and economic cooperation in the region. Born during the turmoil of the Vietnam conflict, ASEAN was founded by 5 surrounding nations that realized how detrimental external control could be to the region. The ASEAN has been the most successful economic organization in the developing world.
The lesson for this module enables students to understand how to compare countries and their levels of development. Utilizing “Development Diamonds” - a graphing technique to depict 4 separate criteria: literacy rate, life expectancy, GDP per capita and school life expectancy - students are able to see a visual representation of the development of each country – making it easier for them to compare countries within the region and with the rest of the world.