Five Themes of Geography

Geographer’s Questions Where are things located? Why are they located there? Why care?

Absolute Location Relative Location Location: What is it? Latitude Longitude Relative Location Where a place is located in relationship to other places

Location: How is it used? It answers the question “Where are things located?”

Regions: What is it? Divides the world into areas that have at least one common characteristic that separates it from the surrounding areas

Regions: How is it used? Used to make comparisons by dividing the world into different region based on political divisions, physical features, cultural characteristics, or many other types of characteristics

Climatic Region

Appalachian Region

Sonoran Desert Region

Describes the physical and human characteristics of a site Place: What is it? Describes the physical and human characteristics of a site

Place: How is it used? Used to describe the physical characteristics as nature created (mountains, rivers, soil, beaches) Used to describe the human characteristics of the people who live in an area (buildings, roads, clothing, work people do)

Place

Your Community Physical Features Human Features

C ubs make the bleacher bums cheer, afternoons at Wrigley Field H ot dogs on every corner from Bridgeport to Evanston I nland body of water called Lake Michigan C onnects the city to the waters of the wide world A ssembler, retailer, railroader, meatpacker, banker G reat buildings like the Sears Tower, Shedd Aquarium, Hancock Center, Soldier Field O riginally flowing into Lake Michigan, the Chicago River now flows to the Mississippi River Basin

The way people, goods, and ideas travel from place to place Movement: What is it? The way people, goods, and ideas travel from place to place

Movement: How is it used? Used to help geographers understand the relationship among places Looks at all types of movement and the effects they have on the people

Interaction: What is it? Refers to the way the earth appears as a result of how humans have changed it

Interaction: What is it? Humans adapt to the environment Humans modify the environment Humans depend on the environment

Interaction: How is it used? Used to describe how humans interact with the environment – what changes have been made to the environment because of humans http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=0b6b55e6a27f3f200bb5

Mountain top Removal Coal Mining

Palm Island - Djoubti

Changes in Dubai Images of Dubai

Which Theme? Describes how people, goods, and ideas move from place to place Refers to how people use their environment and how the environment affects the lives of people is used to describe how an area has at least one common characteristic describes where you are on a map using latitude and longitude includes the physical features of an area andthe human features of an area describes where a place is located in relationship to other places

Match ‘Em Up _____ The Great Plains used to be a wide open area with no settlements or farms. Today towns and cities dot the Great Plains, and much of the land is used for farming. _____ Areas that receive very little rainfall are called deserts. _____ Texas is south of Oklahoma.

Match ‘Em Up ____ Hawaii is made up of islands, and it offers a variety of tourist attractions. _____ Goods are shipped in large tractor-trailer trucks across interstate highways. _____ Maine has many different economic areas, including heavy forests and tourist areas.

Match ‘Em Up _____ The country of Guam is at 13o N latitude and 145o E longitude. _____ One way to communicate information is to write letters to our friends and relatives. _____ The building of new houses on areas that had always been forests frequently makes it difficult for animals to find homes.

Match ‘Em Up _____ Swiss chalets and high mountains called the Alps are two of the ways we can identify the country of Switzerland.

Other things to remember: Label the 7 continents and 4 oceans What is located at 0o latitude? What is located at 0o longitude? What is the latitude of the North Pole? South Pole? What is located at 180o longitude? What is the relative location of Brandon?