THEMES OF G… · Web viewPhysical characteristics include mountains, rivers ... All places on...
30
Location
Transcript of THEMES OF G… · Web viewPhysical characteristics include mountains, rivers ... All places on...
Location
Place
Human Interaction
Movement
Region
THE FIVE THEMES OF GEOGRAPHYLisa Keys-Mathews
Department of GeographyUniversity of North Alabama
To specifically serve the teacher population, a publication entitled Guidelines for Geographic Education was published in 1984 and its contents became known popularly as the "Five Themes of Geography." These themes are:
Location o Relative Location o Absolute Location
Place o Human Characteristics o Physical Characteristics
Human-Environmental Interactions o Humans adapt to the environment o Humans modify the environment o Humans depend on the environment
Movement o People o Goods o Ideas
Regions o Formal o Functional o Vernacular (perceptual)
The five themes served as a framework upon which the content of geography can be taught and served the K-12 population until the national geography standards were published in 1994. Since the six elements of the national standards embrace the five themes, they remain a valuable tool for students to use in developing a "geographic perspective," while the standards strengthen instructional planning.
LOCATION"Where are we?" is the question that the theme Location answers. Location may be absolute or it may be relative. These locations, whether relative or absolute, may be of people or places.
An absolute location is a latitude and longitude (a global location) or a street address (local location).
Florence, AL is 34o46' North latitude and 87.40' West longitude Paris, France is 48o51' North latitude and 2.20' East longitude Marshall Islands are 10o00' North latitude and 165o00' East longitude Relative locations are described by landmarks, time, direction or distance from one place to another and may associate a particular place with another.
PLACEWhat kind of place is it? What do you think of when you imagine China? Japan? Russia? Saudi Arabia?
Places have both human and physical characteristics, as well as images.
Physical characteristics include mountains, rivers, soil, beaches, wildlife, soil. Places have human characteristics also. These characteristics are derived from the ideas and actions of people that result in changes to the environment, such as buildings, roads, clothing, and food habits.
The image people have of a place is based on their experiences, both intellectual and emotional. People's descriptions of a place reveal their values, attitudes, and perceptions.
How is your hometown connected to other places? What are the human and physical characteristics of Florence? How do these shape our lives?
HUMAN/ENVIRONMENTAL INTERACTIONHow do humans and the environment affect each other? We change the environment and then sometime Mother Nature changes it back. For example, floods in the mid-West, Hurricane Emily (Hatteras), and earthquakes and mudslides in California.
There are three key concepts to human/environmental interaction:
Humans adapt on the environment. Humans modify the environment. Humans depend to the environment.People depend on the Tennessee River for our water and transportation. People modify our environment by heating and coolings buildings for comfort. People adapt to the environment by wearing clothing that is suitable for summer and winter; rain and shine.
All places on Earth have advantages and disadvantages for human settlement. One person's advantage may be another person's disadvantage. Some like the excitement of large cities whereas others prefer remoteness. Environment is not just trees, spotted owls, and rain forests. Environment is a feeling. What is the environment of a big city? Boston? Los Angeles? Dallas?
Given the choice, where would you live? Why? What is the environment? How do people interact with the environment? How do the physical features affect us?
How have we adapted to or changed our landscape? For example, in the Sudan even though everything is seemingly barren, the land sustains farmers and nomadic herders. People and animals have adapted to a hot, dry climate.
MOVEMENTThe movement of people, the import and export of goods, and mass communication have all played major roles in shaping our world. People everywhere interact. They travel from place to place and they communicate. We live in a global village and global economy.
People interact with each other through movement. Humans occupy places unevenly on Earth because of the environment but also because we are social beings. We interact with each other through travel, trade, information flows (E-Mail) and political events.
Not only do humans move but also ideas move; fashions move; fads move. What is an example of an idea that moves? Fashion? Fad? How do we depend on people in other places? How would our lives change if our movement options changed? What would happen if we traveled by camel or horse? How do we move from place to place? How do we actually get food?
REGIONA region is the basic unit of study in geography. A region is an area that displays a coherent unity in terms of the government, language, or possibly the landform or situation. Regions are human constructs that can be mapped and analyzed.
There are three basic types of regions.
Formal regions are those defined by governmental or administrative boundaries (i. e., United States, Birmingham, Brazil). These regional boundaries are not open to dispute, therefore physical regions fall under this category (i. e., The Rockies, the Great Lakes States).
Functional regions are those defined by a function (i. e., TVA, United Airlines Service area or a newspaper service area). If the function ceases to exists, the region no longer exists.
Vernacular regions are those loosely defined by people's perception (i. e., The South, The Middle East).
What region do we live in? What type of region is it? What are its characteristics? South, North Alabama, the Shoals, the University community? What states do you define as the South? The Northeast? The Bible Belt? What characteristics and perceptions go along with these regions?
The five themes of geography were created in 1984 by the National Council for Geographic Education and the Association of American Geographers to facilitate and organize the teaching of geography in the K-12 classroom. While they have been supplanted by the National Geography Standards1, they provide an effective organization of the teaching of geography.
1. Location
Most geographic study begins with learning the location of places. Location can be absolute or relative.
Absolute location provides a definite reference to locate a place. The reference can be latitude and longitude2, a street address, or even the Township and Range3 system.
Relative location describes a place with respect to its environment and its connection to other places.
2. Place
Place describes the human and physical characteristics of a location.
Physical characteristics include a description such things as the mountains, rivers, beaches, topography, and animal and plant life of a place.
Human characteristics include the human-designed cultural features of a place, from land use and architecture to forms of livelihood and religion to food and folk ways to transportation and communication networks.
3. Human-Environment Interaction
This theme considers how humans adapt to and modify the environment. Humans shape the landscape through their interaction with the land; this has both positive and negative effects on the environment.
4. Movement
Humans move, a lot! In addition, ideas, fads, goods, resources, and communication all travel distances. This theme studies movement and migration across the planet.
5. Region
Region divides the world into manageable units for geographic study. Regions have some sort of characteristic that unifies the area. Regions can be formal, functional, or vernacular.
Formal regions are those that are designated by official boundaries, such as cities, states, counties, and countries. For the most part, they are clearly indicated and publicly known.
Functional regions are defined by their connections. For example, the circulation area for a major city area is the functional region of that paper.
Vernacular regions are perceived regions, such as "The South," "The Midwest," or the "Middle East;" they have no formal boundaries but are understood in our mental maps4 of the world.
Location Where is it?
Absolute: A location can be absolute (specific) as in coordinates of a map using longitude and latitude
Relative: A location can be relative - examples: next door, nearby, a short drive, down the road a ways. Or, it can be in the same general location as another location - example: next to the post office.
Place A place is an area that is defined by everything in it. All places have features that give them personality and distinguish them from other places.
If you refer to your school as a place, then that place would include walls, windows, gym, cafeteria, classrooms, people, clothing, books, maps, mops, brooms, hallways, mice (if you have them) and everything else in the school, including the languages spoken.
Region A region is an area that is defined by certain similar characteristics. Those unifying or similar characteristics can be physical, natural, human, or cultural.
Movement Movement refers to the way people, products, information and ideas move from one place to another. This can be local such as how did you get to school today, or it can be global such as how did humans get to North America?
Human-Environment Interaction Human-environment interaction looks at the relationships between people and their environment; how people adapt to the environment and how they change it.
How do people depend on the environment? (Example: In ancient times, the annual flooding of the Nile River produced good soil for growing crops.)
How to people adapt to the environment? (Example: The ancient Egyptians rebuilt their homes each year, after the annual flooding. As time went on, they built their homes above the flood plain.)
How do people modify the environment? (Example: The ancient Egyptians built irrigation ditches to help water the crops. In modern times, Egypt built a dam to control the flood waters of the Nile River.)
Congratulations! Your group is going to become experts on this topic. Here are some questions your group will need to answer:
1. What are some of the pictures on your poster? (describe them)
2. What are some questions you have? (If your group can’t think of any, please use some questions written by your classmates).
3. How does your group think these pictures relate to one another? (Why do you think they are on the same poster…..give details!)
4. If your group could give these pictures a one word title, what would it be, and why?
Final group discussion questions:1. What did you learn while watching the video segment
and reading on your topic?
2. Do the video and reading support (agree with) or refute (disagree with) your ideas?
3. Is there anything new you would like to share with your classmates? Why is this important for your classmates to know?
The Five Themes of Geography Name___________#____
What are the Five Themes of Geography?1.2.3.4.5. Put the themes in order from most important to least important. *Be sure to give reasons to support why you think this.
Most Important
Least Important
Reasons to support your opinion
