World Regions Introduction

Learning about the World Despite differences in appearance, language or ways of life, the people of the world share basic needs for food, clothing, shelter.

What is Social Studies? ★ Civics and Government ★ History ★ Economics ★ Geography ★ Culture and Society

Why Geography Matters By studying geography, you can find answers to questions about Earth and the people who live on it. Geographers, the people who study geography, try to understand relationships between people and places on Earth and between different places.

Remember: MR HELP Movement Regions Human Environment Location Place

Location Everything on Earth has its own location, or where it can be found. The relative location of a place tells where it is in relation to other places. The Absolute location, or exact location, of place is its “global address” where it is on the whole Earth.

Place Every location on Earth has a place identity made up of unique features. Landforms, bodies of water, climate, plant and animal life are some of the physical features. Buildings, roads, and people are some of a place’s human features.

Regions Areas on Earth that differ from each other because of their features are called regions. Such features can be physical, human, economic, cultural, or political.

Movement People, products, and ideas move from place to place by transportation and communication. Geography helps you understand how people came to live where they do.

Movement Continued It also helps you understand the causes and effects of movement. A cause is an action that makes something else happen. An effect is what happens as a result of that action

Human-Environment Interactions Humans and their surrounding affect each other. People modify, or change, their surroundings by building cities, for example. Surroundings can affect people, causing them to adapt, or change to fit, the way they act, such as wearing warm clothing in cold places.

Why History Matters Many things contribute to the way people live, and one of the most important is history, or what happened in the past. History affects all people. Some beliefs and customs, or ways of doing things, have been passed down from generation to generation.

Relating Events in Time In history, time is the main subject of concern. The time order in which events in history take place is called chronology. Historians, the people who study history, analyze the chronology of events to find links between the past and the present.

Finding Evidence Historians look for evidence, or clues, about the past in the objects and records that people have left behind. Historians analyze buildings, works of art, photographs, and everyday tools, not just books and papers. They listen or read the stories people tell about their pasts.

Finding Evidence Cont. A story told aloud by a person who did not write down what happened or who did not have a written language is an Oral History.

Identifying Perspective By reading the words and studying the objects of people in the past, historians begin to understand perspectives. Perspectives are different points of view.

Understanding Frames of Reference Historians have a frame of reference, their own perspective, as they study their past. People need to be careful not to judge the actions of people in the past based on the way people act today

Frames of Ref. cont. Historical empathy is the ability to understand people of the past in their own frame of reference.

Drawing Conclusions To understand an event in the past, historians need to analyze its causes and effects. When you analyze something you break it into its parts and look closely at how those parts connect with one another Then you can summarize and draw a conclusion about how or why it happened.

Why Culture and Society Matter As you study world regions, you will compare and contrast how people live. The ways people act, speak and what they believe make up a culture. Each human group, or society, has a culture that is unique in some ways.

Why culture & Society matter cont... Their heritage is the wealth of ideas that have been passed down through their history.

We will be studying... The United States Canada Middle (Central) America South America Australia

Why Civics and Government Matter To keep order and resolve conflicts in a society, people need a government. A government is a system of leaders and laws that helps people live safely together in their community, state, or country.

Why Civics and Government Matter Cont... There a different kinds of government in the world. Citizens rights and responsibilities vary from one kind of government to the next. Civic participation means being concerned with and involved in issues related to your community, state, or country, or the entire world.

Why Economics Matters To support its people, a society must have an economy. Economics is the study of the way that goods and wealth are produced, distributed, and used in the world. The people must be able to make, buy, sell, and trade goods and services to get what they need and want.